Privacy Policy
We handle your data as sparingly as possible. This policy describes what data Linkvite processes, why, on which legal basis, with which service providers and for how long.
Last updated: October 24, 2026
Who is responsible
Controller for data processing on linkvite.de (Art. 4(7) GDPR): Linkvite, owner Yousef Cherri Saalgasse 38 65183 Wiesbaden Germany Email: hello@linkvite.de We have not appointed a data protection officer because we are not required to. For any privacy question, an email to the address above is enough.
What data we process
Account email, event content (title, date, location, design, your own photos), the guest list and your guests' replies, and technical logs (IP address, browser info) for security. Third-party trackers or advertising cookies only with your consent, and never on invitations or guest pages (section 18). If you tap “Unlock” in the studio before signing in, we keep your draft (names, date, place, design) on our server for at most seven days, so it is there after you sign in, even on another device. Once the invitation is saved, we delete this copy. An unlocked invitation stays online for at least 24 months after the date of the celebration. After that we take the guest page offline; your guests' replies stay in your account until you delete the invitation or your account. How long we keep which data is listed in section 21.
Hosting, database and error reports
Linkvite runs on Vercel Inc. (USA). Our server functions (pages, interfaces, nightly clean-up) are pinned to the Frankfurt region. Whenever a page is requested, Vercel processes technically necessary data: IP address, time, requested address, browser details. Vercel keeps these access logs only briefly, to fend off attacks and find errors. Delivery through Vercel's global network may pass through data centres outside the EU. Accounts, invitations, guest lists, replies and purchases are stored in a database run by Neon Inc. (USA) in the Frankfurt region (AWS eu-central-1). If something goes wrong, the site sends an error report to Sentry (Functional Software, Inc., USA), stored in Sentry's EU region in Frankfurt. A report contains the error message, the page address, browser and device details. We deliberately switch off sending personal data (IP address, cookies), and we do not use session recordings. The legal basis is our legitimate interest in a secure, working service (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR) and, where your account and your invitation are concerned, our contract with you (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR). We conclude data processing agreements with all three providers (Art. 28 GDPR). For transfers to the USA see section 20.
Account and sign-in
For your account we store your email address, your name if you give one and, if you set one, your password only as a secure hash. If you sign in with a link or code by email, we send that email via Resend (section 8); the key is valid for 24 hours. We use this data to run your account, save your invitations and send you emails about your order (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR). To prevent abuse we count sign-in attempts and requests per address for a few minutes (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR).
Signing in with Apple or Google
If you sign in with Apple or Google, the provider sends us your name and email address (with Apple, optionally a hidden relay address). Nothing else: no access to contacts, calendars or other data. We only use these details to create your account and sign you in (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR). The privacy policies of Apple or Google also apply to the sign-in itself. You can disconnect at any time in your Apple or Google account.
Your invitation and your guests
What hosts process through Linkvite: the guest list (names and, if wanted, email address or phone number), guests' replies (yes or no, number of people, names of companions, meal choice, message, custom questions) and whether and how often a personal link was opened. Only the host sees this in their area; other guests do not. Note for guests: whoever invites you decides which details are asked and is responsible for the guest list. We store your reply so the host can plan, and use it for nothing else: no advertising, no sharing, no profiles. If a company invites you, we process your data on its behalf (Art. 28 GDPR); on request we conclude a data processing agreement with companies for this. Draft to yourself: if you send your draft to yourself via WhatsApp without an account, we store its details (for example names, date, place and design) on our server for up to 30 days after the last change so the link works. Anyone who has the link can open and edit the draft. When you save it in your account, we delete this copy (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR). Our legal basis is the contract with the host and the host's legitimate interest in planning their celebration (Art. 6(1)(b) and (f) GDPR). If you want your reply deleted, contact the host or write to us.
Meal choices and allergies
In the reply form you can choose a meal preference (for example vegetarian, vegan, halal) and enter allergies or intolerances. These details are always optional. Allergies are health data, and a meal preference can reveal something about your religion; both are special categories under Art. 9 GDPR. We process them only if you enter them yourself, and only so the host can plan the food. By entering them you consent to this (Art. 9(2)(a) GDPR). You can change or clear them at any time through your link. Only the host sees them; our team's statistics show numbers only, never individual entries.
Emails to guests
If someone invites you by email through Linkvite, we send the invitation and at most two reminders on behalf of the hosts. We use the sending service Resend (Resend, Inc., USA) for this. We store when an email went out and the sending service's ID so we can match bounces. We do not measure whether you open an email or click a link. Every email ends with “No more emails about this event”: one tap is enough and nothing more arrives about this event. If an email permanently does not arrive or you mark it as spam, we also send nothing more to that address. Replies to the email go straight to the hosts. For every email Linkvite sends (sign-in, order, invitations) we keep a log: time, type of email, recipient address, subject, whether it was delivered and, for an event or order, its ID. We do not store the email text, sign-in codes or links there. The log serves as proof and for troubleshooting (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR), and we delete it after twelve months.
Your own photos and images
If you upload a photo or logo for your card, we resize it on our server and remove all metadata, including the location where it was taken. Images are stored in a private Vercel store (Vercel Blob). An image address without our signature does not work; every address we hand out is valid only for a short time. Anyone with the link to your invitation can see the images. This store is in the Frankfurt region. Images of a draft that was never saved and not viewed for 14 days are deleted. If you delete the invitation or your account, we delete its images too. You need the consent of people shown in your photos (Terms § 5). The legal basis is our contract with you (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR).
Map and place search
When you search for the venue in the studio, our server sends the search text to Photon, the place search of komoot GmbH (Germany). For the map image in the invitation, our server fetches map tiles for the venue's coordinates once from MapTiler AG (Switzerland) and stores the finished image with us. Both services only receive the place, never your name, your guests or your IP address. Guests load the map from our address, not from MapTiler. If a guest taps “Directions” or “Add to calendar”, the chosen service (for example Google Maps, Apple Maps, Google Calendar) opens only then, under its own privacy terms. Switzerland is covered by an adequacy decision of the EU Commission. The legal basis is our contract with you (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR).
Payment processing
Payments are handled exclusively by Stripe (Stripe Payments Europe, Ltd., Ireland). Linkvite stores neither card details nor bank details. For the payment Stripe processes your email address, payment details, the amount, device and connection details, and sets its own cookies at checkout to prevent fraud. Stripe is independently responsible for the payment itself; Stripe's privacy policy applies (stripe.com/privacy). Stripe may transfer data to the USA and is certified under the EU-US Data Privacy Framework. From Stripe we only learn whether and what was paid, and we store the purchase (plan, amount, time, invoice details). The legal basis is our contract with you (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR) and our duty to keep accounting records (Art. 6(1)(c) GDPR).
Custom design
If you order a custom design, we store your wishes (style, motifs, colours, typeface, additions) and the inspiration images you upload, and use them to design your card (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR). For the card artwork we use an AI image service by OpenAI (OpenAI Ireland Ltd., Ireland; processing also in the USA, OpenAI is certified under the EU-US Data Privacy Framework). We pass on your wishes as text and your inspiration images, never your name, your email address, the names on the card, date, place or your guests. Please do not upload photos of people as inspiration. We never pass any other customer data to OpenAI.
Template ideas
With “Request a design” you can send us an idea for a template. We store the occasion and your text. We only store your email address if you tick “Let me know when the design is ready”, and for one purpose only: we write to you once when the template exists (Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR). After that we delete the address. You can withdraw your consent at any time by email.
Contact form
If you write to us through the contact form, we send your name, your email address, the topic and your message as an email to our mailbox. For this we use the email service Resend (Resend, Inc., USA). We only use the details to reply to you (Art. 6(1)(b) and (f) GDPR) and do not store them in a database of our own; the email stays in our mailbox until your question is settled. You can also write to us directly by email.
Contact via WhatsApp
You can write to us via WhatsApp Business. Our pages load nothing from WhatsApp for this: the link only opens the WhatsApp app (Meta Platforms Ireland Ltd.) after you tap it. If you write to us there, WhatsApp processes your phone number and message under its own privacy policy, including in the USA. We use your message only to answer your question (Art. 6(1)(b) and (f) GDPR). If you prefer not to, simply send us an email.
Visitor statistics without cookies
To improve Linkvite we count page views, steps in the studio (for example, which template was chosen) and how long a page is actively used (only while the tab is visible), how far a page is scrolled and which button is tapped, with our own measurement on our server in Frankfurt. We set no cookies and store nothing on your device. Your IP address is not stored: from IP address and browser identifier, together with a key that changes daily, we form a checksum that only counts visits within one day and cannot be traced back to you. Our host Vercel roughly derives country and city from the connection; we store only these two details so we can see where visits come from. In the studio we also count which steps are opened and how long they are actively used, which input fields are tapped (never what is typed), whether sign-in by code succeeds and whether technical errors occur. This measurement uses no third-party services and builds no profiles. Ad measurement with your consent is described in section 18. The data is kept for 13 months, then only daily totals. The legal basis is our legitimate interest in a clear, working website (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR).
New templates and features by email
If you have bought from us, we'll occasionally write to the address from your purchase when there's something new at Linkvite for your celebrations, such as new templates or features, that is, about our own similar offers (§ 7 (3) UWG, legal basis Art. 6 (1) (f) GDPR). We point this out at checkout and in the order confirmation. You can object at any time without incurring any costs other than the transmission costs at basic rates: with the switch under “My account”, via the link in every such email, or with a short email. Your objection takes effect immediately. You will still receive emails about your order, your guests and your account.
Measuring ads (Meta, Google), only with your consent
We advertise on Instagram and Facebook (and perhaps later on Google). To learn whether an ad works, we use, with your consent, the Meta Pixel and the Conversions API of Meta Platforms Ireland Ltd. (Merrion Road, Dublin 4, Ireland) and, if switched on, Google Ads by Google Ireland Limited (Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland). Without your yes we load nothing from Meta or Google. Where: only on our own pages (home page, occasion, campaign and guide pages, prices, custom design, studio), at checkout and on the page after your purchase. Never on invitations, guest pages, the preview link, in your host area, and never in emails to guests. What: page views, viewed templates, the template chosen in the studio, a draft saved to your account, starting checkout and purchases with the amount in euros, plus the page address without identifiers, browser details, IP address and the cookies _fbp and _fbc (90 days each; for Google _gcl_au, 90 days). We report the chosen template and the saved draft from your browser and from our server with the same event ID so Meta counts each only once; only the template's identifier goes to Meta. Our server reports the saved draft, starting checkout and purchases directly to Meta (Conversions API), with your email address and customer number only as a checksum (SHA-256, hashed), so Meta can attribute the purchase to an ad. The content of your invitation (names, texts, place, date) never goes to Meta or Google. We and Meta are joint controllers for collecting and transmitting this data (Art. 26 GDPR, Meta's "Controller Addendum"). Meta alone is responsible for anything it does with it afterwards (facebook.com/privacy/policy). Meta and Google may transfer data to the USA; both are certified under the EU-US Data Privacy Framework. The legal basis is your consent (§ 25(1) TDDDG, Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR). You can withdraw it at any time via "Cookie settings" in the footer of every page or here; we then delete the Meta and Google cookies on this device. Your browser remembers your choice itself (lv-einwilligung) so we do not ask on every visit.
Service providers and transfers outside the EU
We work with these service providers. Processors handle data only on our instructions (Art. 28 GDPR). • Vercel Inc. (USA): hosting, server functions and image storage in Frankfurt, access logs and global delivery. Processor. • Neon Inc. (USA): database in Frankfurt. Processor. • Resend, Inc. (USA): sending emails. Processor. • Functional Software, Inc. (Sentry, USA): error reports, stored in the EU. Processor. • MapTiler AG (Switzerland): map tiles. Processor. • komoot GmbH (Germany): Photon place search, search text only. • Stripe Payments Europe, Ltd. (Ireland): payments. Independent controller. • Apple Distribution International Ltd. (Ireland) and Google Ireland Limited (Ireland): sign-in, only if you choose it. Independent controllers. • Meta Platforms Ireland Ltd. (Ireland) and Google Ireland Limited: ad measurement, only with consent (section 18). • WhatsApp (Meta Platforms Ireland Ltd.): only if you write to us there. • OpenAI Ireland Ltd. (Ireland): artwork for custom designs, without personal details (section 12). Transfers to the USA: Vercel, Resend, Sentry, Stripe, Meta, Google and OpenAI are certified under the EU-US Data Privacy Framework (adequacy decision of the EU Commission, Art. 45 GDPR). For Neon, which is not certified itself, the EU Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses apply (Art. 46 GDPR); most providers additionally secure transfers with these clauses. You can request a copy of the safeguards by email.
How long we keep data
• Account: until you delete it. You can do so yourself at any time under “My account”. • Invitation, guest list and replies: until you delete them or your account. We take the guest page offline 24 months after the date of the celebration. • Guest list of a draft you never unlocked: 12 months after the last change to the draft. The draft itself stays in your account. • Draft before sign-in (copy on the server): at most 7 days. • Draft you send yourself via WhatsApp: 30 days after the last change, or until you save it in your account. • Preview links: 7 days. • Your own images: together with the invitation; images of never-saved drafts after 14 days without being viewed. • Purchases and invoices: 8 to 10 years, as tax and commercial law require (§ 147 AO, § 257 HGB). If you delete your account, the purchase remains without a link to your account. • Email log: 12 months. • Visitor statistics: 13 months, then daily totals only. • Sign-in links and codes: 24 hours. Abuse counters: a few minutes. • Access logs at Vercel and error reports at Sentry: according to the providers' short periods, error reports at most 90 days. • Requests by email, contact form or WhatsApp: until the question is settled, unless we must keep them longer. • Custom design: inspiration images are deleted together with the invitation. We keep the order (your wishes as text) with the purchase records.
Your rights
You have the right of access (Art. 15 GDPR), rectification (Art. 16), erasure (Art. 17), restriction of processing (Art. 18) and data portability (Art. 20). Under “My account” you can download all data about your account yourself and delete the account with all invitations and replies. For anything else, a short email is enough. Objection: where we process data based on our legitimate interest (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR), you can object at any time on grounds relating to your particular situation (Art. 21 GDPR). You can object to notes about similar services without giving reasons. You can withdraw any consent at any time with effect for the future, for example via “Cookie settings” in the footer of every page. Right to lodge a complaint: you can complain to a data protection supervisory authority (Art. 77 GDPR), for example the one where you live or the one responsible for us: Der Hessische Beauftragte für Datenschutz und Informationsfreiheit, Postfach 3163, 65021 Wiesbaden, Germany, datenschutz.hessen.de.