Privacy Policy

Last updated October 16, 2026

Dwell (“we”, “us”) shows short videos and pages about homes for sale and helps you reach the agent who lists a home. This policy explains what we collect when you use the Dwell app for iPhone, our website and our social media message flows, what we do with it, and the choices you have.

What we collect

• Your account. In the app you need an account only to contact an agent, request a tour, comment, shop together with someone or get notifications. You sign in with Apple, or with your email address and a one-time code we email you. On our website you can sign in with your email address and a one-time code to save homes; they are the same saved homes as in the app. We keep your email address (with Sign in with Apple this may be Apple’s private relay address), the identifier Apple gives us, the first and last name you enter or share through Sign in with Apple, the profile picture you upload or choose, whether you turned on notifications in the app, and the homes you save and like. Homes you save or like without an account stay on your phone and are added to your account when you sign in. Signed in, your reactions to homes (love, maybe, pass) and your notes on them are kept on your account too.
• Contact and tour requests. When you contact an agent or ask to see a home, in the app or on our website: your name, phone number, email if you give one, your message, the day and time of day you choose for a tour, which home it is about, and the exact consent wording you agreed to and when. In the app these requests are linked to your account. On our website, sending the form creates an anonymous session (a random identifier kept in a cookie) so the request can be stored.
• Comments. The comments and replies you post, the comments you heart, the comments you report and the reason you choose, and the people you block. We also keep the result of our review of each comment and any restriction placed on your account for breaking our community rules.
• Shared links. When you share a home while signed in, we create a link with its own code and keep which home it is, when you shared it, your account and the message you add (up to 140 characters). Whoever opens the link sees your first name and, once our automatic review allows it, your message. Shared without an account, the link carries nothing about you.
• Notifications and match alerts. Notifications need an account. When you turn them on in the app, we store the push token Apple gives your iPhone for our app, with the app version, so we can send your notifications through Apple’s push service; it is removed when you turn notifications off in the app, sign out or delete your account. When you turn on match alerts, we keep your search filters (neighborhoods or ZIP codes, price, bedrooms, bathrooms, home types, size, features, listing date and stage) and how often you want alerts on your account, so we can tell you about new homes that match. We also keep a record of each notification we send you (its text, which homes or activity it covered and when), so the same news is never sent twice and we keep to our limits.
• Shop together. When you invite someone to shop for homes with you, we keep the invite: the name you type for them, when you sent it and who joined. The link goes out from your own phone, through the share sheet; we do not text or email anyone. Anyone who opens your invite link sees your first name while the invite is open.
• Feedback. When you use Send feedback in the app: your message, the screen you sent it from, the app version, a random identifier created for this installation of the app, and your account identifier if you are signed in.
• Social media message flows. When you reply in one of our Instagram or TikTok message flows, our automation partner (ManyChat) sends us your answers (name, phone number, email if you give one, buying or renting, area, budget range, timeline and whether you already work with an agent) and an identifier for the conversation. We do not receive your password or messages outside that flow.
• How you use our website. On our website we record which homes you view, which videos you play and for how long, which photos you open, the filters and map areas you search, when you open or send the contact form, what you share, and the campaign tags in the link that brought you (for example, which of our accounts or posts). These records carry a random identifier stored in your browser, not your name; when you are signed in on our website, they are also linked to your account, as are the homes you save there. When website analytics (Mixpanel, PostHog) is on, it receives the same records with your browser and device type and an approximate location (city or region) estimated from your IP address, and Mixpanel may record a replay of how the page is used, with everything you type masked. Website error reports (Sentry) include the page and browser details, not your name.

How you use the app. The app records the same kind of usage as the website (which homes you open, which tours you play and for how long, saves, searches and filter changes, when you contact an agent or request a tour) under a random per-install identifier, and, once you sign in, your account id, and sends it to our analytics provider (Mixpanel), which may also record a replay of how the screens are used with everything you type masked. The app does not use advertising identifiers, does not track you across other companies’ apps or websites, and does not ask for your location. To find homes, your search filters and what you type in Search are sent to our servers, which answer and do not keep them unless you turn on match alerts (above). Your compare list and monthly cost settings stay on your phone; we do not receive them, and deleting the app removes them. So do your reactions and notes while you are not signed in. Our App Clip (the light version that opens from a link to a home without installing the app) collects nothing: the homes you like or save in it stay on your phone until the full app, if you install it, takes them over.

How we use it

• To pass your contact or tour request to the listing agent so they can reach you.
• To run your account: sign-in, your profile, saved and liked homes, comments, shared links and Shop together.
• To order the For You feed for you when you are signed in: we look at the homes you liked, saved, reacted to, shared or asked about, and favor homes with similar attributes (price, size, bedrooms, bathrooms, home type, neighborhood and features). A small share of accounts, chosen at random, see the standard order instead so we can tell whether this helps. Without an account, For You uses the standard order, which uses nothing about you.
• To send the notifications you turned on: new homes that match your alert, news about homes you saved (a price change, a pending sale, a new open house) and activity in your Shop together group (someone joined, loved a home or added a note).
• To show how many people liked, saved, shared or commented on a home. These are totals only; we never show who liked or saved a home.
• To review comments and the messages sent with shared links before others see them, handle reports and blocks, and enforce our community rules.
• To read your feedback and improve the app.
• To measure which homes, videos and social posts bring people to homes on our website, and to keep the service reliable and secure.
• To comply with the law and enforce our Terms.

We rank homes only on home attributes and your own actions toward homes. We do not use or infer protected characteristics, and we never rank or notify based on them. We do not use your information for advertising.

Automatic review of comments and messages

Before a comment is shown to others, we send its text, the text of the comment it replies to and the home’s neighborhood and city to Anthropic, an AI service, which tells us whether the comment follows our community rules or should wait for our team. The message you add to a shared link is checked the same way, with the home’s neighborhood and city, before anyone who opens the link sees it; a message that does not pass is simply not shown. Anthropic does not receive your name, email or account details, and processes the text under its commercial terms only to provide this service to us. Our team also reviews comments and reports.

Who we share it with

• Other people using Dwell. Comments are public: each one is shown with your first name, the first letter of your last name and your profile picture, in the app and on that home’s page on our website. A link you share shows your first name and your checked message to whoever opens it. The people in your Shop together group see the homes you save, your reactions and your notes, with your first name, the first letter of your last name and your profile picture.
• Listing agents and their brokerages, when you contact an agent or request a tour. The agent receives your name, phone number, the home’s address and your message, including the tour day and time you chose, and, for social media requests, your answers about what you are looking for. From then on the agent handles your information under their own policies.
• Service providers that run the product for us: Supabase (database, sign-in and file storage) and Vercel (website and server hosting); Resend (the sign-in codes we email you and the emails that pass your request to the agent); Anthropic (automatic review of comments); Apple (Sign in with Apple, the maps and street-level views in the app, and the Apple Push Notification service, which receives your push token and the text of each notification to deliver it); Mux (video streaming) and Mapbox (maps on our website), which receive your IP address and device or browser details when they deliver videos or maps; ManyChat (social media message flows); Twilio (text messages, when they are sent); Slack (where our team receives new requests); Mixpanel (analytics and session replays for the app and the website); PostHog and Sentry (website analytics and error reports). Each is bound by its terms with us to use your information only to provide its service to us and to protect it with the same or equal protection as this policy.
• Legal and safety requests, and a successor if our business changes hands.

We do not sell your personal information and we do not share it for cross-context behavioral advertising.

Text messages

Texts are sent only after you opt in. The program terms, frequency, and how to stop are on the SMS program page. Reply STOP to any message to opt out, HELP for help.

Cookies, browser storage and logs

Our website keeps a random identifier in your browser’s storage to record usage, a cookie for the anonymous session created when you send a contact request, and sign-in cookies that keep you signed in after you sign in with your email. When website analytics is on, Mixpanel keeps its own identifier in browser storage, and PostHog keeps its own identifier in a cookie and in browser storage. We do not use advertising cookies, and we do not let third parties track you across other websites. Our website does not currently respond to browser Do Not Track signals. Like most online services, our hosting providers record technical details such as your IP address, the time of a request and your device or browser type when the app or website contacts our servers, to keep the service running and secure.

How long we keep it

We keep your account information, profile picture, saved and liked homes, comments, shared links, reactions, notes, Shop together group, alert search and the record of the notifications we sent you for as long as your account exists, unless you delete them sooner, leave the group, or we remove a comment that breaks our rules. A Shop together invite stops working after 30 days or once someone has used it. We keep contact and tour requests as a record of what was sent to the agent. We keep feedback and website usage records to improve the service. You can ask us to delete any of this at any time.

Deleting your account

In the app, go to Profile, then Delete account. We delete your sign-in account, profile, profile picture, saved and liked homes, comments, comment hearts, reports and blocks, the links you shared and their messages, your Shop together membership, the invites you sent, your reactions and notes, your push tokens, your alert search and the record of the notifications we sent you. We remove your name, phone number, email and message from your contact and tour requests, keeping only an anonymous record that a request was made for that home. We remove your account from feedback you sent and from usage records; the text of your feedback stays. The app also clears what it kept on your phone.

We cannot take back a request that was already delivered to an agent, so ask the agent directly if you want them to delete it. In the same way, deleting your account does not remove requests and text replies already posted to our team’s Slack channel: email dwell@valid.co and we will delete them there. Requests you sent from our website or through a social media message flow are not linked to an app account: email dwell@valid.co and we will delete them. We keep a list of phone numbers that replied STOP so we never text them again. Copies may remain in our providers’ backups and logs for a limited time before they are overwritten.

Your choices and rights

• Turn notifications off in the app or in your iPhone’s Settings, and turn match alerts off or change how often they come in Profile.
• Delete any of your comments, or block a commenter, from the comment’s menu.
• Opt out of texts at any time by replying STOP.
• Withdraw your consent at any time: delete your account in the app, or email dwell@valid.co to ask us to delete your data, including requests you made without an account. Withdrawing consent does not affect what we did before.
• California residents may request access to, deletion of, or correction of their personal information, and will not be treated differently for exercising these rights. Email us to make a request; we will verify it before acting.

Children

The service is not directed to children under 16 and we do not knowingly collect their data. If you believe a child has given us personal information, email dwell@valid.co and we will delete it.

Changes and contact

We will post changes here with a new date. Questions or requests: dwell@valid.co.