Privacy policy

Last updated 8 November 2026

Motive shows students every society event at their uni and which of their friends are going. This policy covers the Motive app and this website, including signing up for an event here as a guest.

Who we are

Motive is run by Alexander Ess, a sole trader in the United Kingdom ("we", "us"). We decide how your personal data is used, which makes us the controller under UK data protection law. For anything about your data, email [email protected].

What we collect

If you use the app

• Your uni email address. You sign in with it, and it shows you're a student. It also tells us which uni you're at, which decides whose societies and events your lists show.
• Your profile: photo, or the drawn face and colour you pick instead of one, first name, last name, degree level (Bachelors, Masters or PhD), course, and your year of study if you're an undergraduate.
• Societies: the ones you follow and belong to, and your role in them. A society's admins can put you on its member list (below). If you register a society, we also keep its name, description, logo, category and links, and your committee role.
• Events: the ones you sign up for or join the waitlist of, when you checked in or an admin ticked you off at the door, and whether you've chosen to show or hide each one from your friends. The events you save for later, which only you ever see (not your friends, and not the society). If you run a society, we also keep the events you publish. From these we work out a weekly streak: how many weeks in a row you've been to an event. It isn't stored; it's counted each time it's shown.
• What you're into: when you first set up, you can pick some topics so we can suggest societies to follow. We use them once, on your phone, and don't keep them.
• Friends: who you've added, by scanning a code or with a friend link. Friend codes are random and replaced every few minutes. A friend link you send adds anyone who opens it and taps Add, and works for 7 days; we keep who used it, and when, until a day after it runs out. When you remove a friend, we keep a note of it so a link of yours can't add them back; we delete it if either of you deletes your account, or you become friends again.
• Discounts: when you tap "Use discount" on a pass in Eats, which restaurant and which of its discounts it was, and when. The restaurants you save, which only you ever see (not staff, and not the restaurant).
• Safety: who you've blocked, and anything you report, with the reason you chose.
• Notifications: if you allow them, a notification token for each phone you use Motive on, so we can send it a notification, and which notifications you've switched off. The token identifies the device, not you, and we delete it when you sign out, delete your account, or stop using that phone.
• Google Calendar: if you connect it, a key from Google that lets us manage one calendar, called Motive, in your Google account, and a note of which events we've put there. We store the key encrypted. It can't see any other calendar or anything else in your account, and we never learn your Google email address.
• Technical data: our database provider logs sign-ins and requests, including IP addresses and device details, to keep the service secure. The app keeps you signed in with a token stored on your phone.

The app uses your camera only to scan event codes and friend codes, and to take a profile photo when you choose to. Photos from your library are uploaded only when you pick one. We don't track your location, and we don't use analytics, advertising or tracking tools.

If you run a society

Committees can use the society dashboard at getmotive.uk/dashboard, signing in with the same emailed code as the app. Besides the events it already holds, it keeps the committee's own records: placeholders for events not yet published, room bookings, marketing tasks, and reimbursements, which record who on the committee is owed money, what for, how much and how far the claim has got. We record which admin logged each one. Motive doesn't move money or book rooms; the students' union and the uni still do that.

The dashboard also helps a committee fill in the students' union's risk assessment for an event. It keeps what the committee writes there: the organiser's name and email address, the names of the first aiders, and the hazards and who is responsible for each, and records which admin last saved it. It doesn't keep the organiser's phone number: that is typed into the downloaded form, which the committee sends to the union itself.

If a society adds you as an admin before you've joined

A society's admin can add you by your uni email before you have an account, or before you've said OK to faith, political and cultural societies when it's one of those. We keep that address, the society, what you'd be allowed to do and who added you, and send you one email about it. If they add you again a day or more later, we email you again. The society's admins who manage its admins can see the address while it's waiting. When you sign in with it (and, for a society like that, give your consent), you become an admin and we delete the invitation.

If a society puts you on its member list

A society's admins can add their members by uni email, one at a time or from the list they already keep, such as a spreadsheet. If you're on Motive, you become a member of the society there and follow it; you can leave from its page. Members are the only people who see a society's members-only events. At an event that checks membership at the door, scanning its check-in code shows on your own screen whether you're on the society's member list, and the society's admins see the same against your name on the event's list. We don't keep that answer: it's read from the member list each time. If you aren't on Motive yet, or it's a faith, political or cultural society and you haven't said OK to those, we keep your email address against that society and who added it, and nothing else, until you join (and, for a society like that, give your consent), when you become a member and we delete it. We don't email you about it. The society's admins who edit its details can see the addresses still waiting, and take them off.

If you sign up for an event as a guest

On an event's web page you give your first and last name, your year, your course and your email address. We email you a six-digit code to confirm the address, and your browser keeps a token so you can come back and drop out. To stop abuse, we keep the IP address the code was requested from for a day, and Cloudflare Turnstile checks that a person is filling in the form. On an event that can say something about your religion, politics or background, you also tick a box to give your consent (below).

If you sign in for a restaurant on Eats

Motive staff add the email address you give them to your restaurant, so you can sign in to the dashboard. We email it a six-digit code each time you sign in, and your browser keeps a token so you stay signed in. To stop abuse, we keep the IP address the code was requested from for a day. You don't get a Motive account, and you can't see anything about students beyond the totals described below.

If you apply to an event

Some events take applications instead of sign-ups. When you apply, in the app or on the event's web page, we keep your answers to the society's questions and any files the society asks you to attach, such as your CV or a screenshot of a membership or a payment, as a PDF or a picture, along with whether the society accepted you. On the web page we ask for your university email. A file holds whatever you put in it, so leave out anything the society doesn't need, such as your date of birth, a photo, or your religion, health or background. The society's admins who run its events may also keep a short note on your application, such as why they accepted it.

If you're accepted, the society can ask you to confirm your spot by a deadline. We keep the deadline and when you confirmed, remind you 12 hours before it, and free the spot if it passes unconfirmed. If you applied on the web page, the button in those emails is a personal link: it lets whoever opens it confirm or give up your spot, so don't forward it.

A society can also ask everyone with a spot at an event to confirm it by the end of a day before the event. It works the same way: we keep the deadline and when you confirmed, the society's admins see who has and hasn't, we ask you by notification and email (by email only if you signed up on the web page) and remind you 12 hours before, and a spot that passes unconfirmed is freed. We tell you if that happens, and you can sign up again.

Religion, politics and background

Some societies can say something about your religion, political opinions or ethnic background, for example a faith society or a political one. UK law calls this special category data, and we treat it with extra care:

• The first time you follow, join or register one of these societies, or sign up for one of their events or an event marked as sensitive, the app asks for your explicit consent. You can also give it with the switch in Edit profile. We record when you gave it, and it's the legal basis we rely on for this data. Without it, Motive doesn't let you do any of these.
• Guests give their consent with a tick box on the event's page, and we record when.
• Your friends don't see these societies or events unless you choose to show them.
• A notification or email about one of these never names the society or the event on your lock screen, in a notification or in an email subject line, because whoever is next to you can read it. It says only that something you signed up for has changed, and you have to open Motive, or the email itself, to see which.
• If you connect Google Calendar, every event you have a spot at goes into your Motive calendar there, and every event a society you run publishes unless you turn that off, these ones included, with its name and society. The app says so before you connect, and nothing is sent to Google unless you do.
• You can withdraw your consent at any time by turning the switch off in Edit profile. We then delete your follows, memberships and sign-ups for these societies and events straight away. Withdrawing doesn't affect what we did before.

Who sees what

• Other members see your profile: photo or face, first name, degree level and course, how many friends you have, which of their own friends are also yours, and your weekly streak. The streak they see leaves out any event your friends can't see you at, so it never points at a sensitive event or one you've hidden. They never see your last name or your year. They don't see your profile at all if either of you has blocked the other. Members never see how many people are going to an event, or who, except for their friends. They see when an event is full or nearly full, and how many spots are left once there are fewer than five. Members of another uni don't have your uni's societies or events in their lists, but can open one from a link, and can find your profile the same way.
• Your friends see the societies you're in and follow on your profile, the events you've been to, and that you're going to an event when they look at it, unless you hide them. Sensitive societies and events stay hidden until you choose to show them.
• A society's admins (students on its committee) see its member list, with full names, and the email addresses on it that haven't joined Motive yet; everyone signed up for its events, guests included, and who checked in. On a list of who's signed up they see full names and years; nobody else in the app does. They also see who gave up a spot, left a waitlist, didn't confirm in time or was removed by an admin, and, at an event by application, each applicant's email address. They can export an event's list, with names, emails, courses, years, answers to its application questions and their notes on applications, as a spreadsheet to run the event, and its admins who run events can download the files applicants attached. In the spreadsheet each file is a link that only opens for the society's admins who run its events. Once exported or downloaded, that copy is the society's responsibility.
• Applications to an event are seen by the society's admins who run its events, and no one else: not other members, not your friends, and not Motive staff when it comes to the files you attach. An admin opens a file through a link that works for five minutes, or downloads an event's files together. The admins' notes on your application are seen by them and Motive staff, never by you in the app, but you can ask us for a copy (see Your rights). Whether you applied, and whether you got a spot, is never shown to your friends; once you're accepted, you're going like anyone else.
• A society's admins also see the dashboard's records for their society. Reimbursements are visible to every admin; placeholders, room bookings, marketing and risk assessments to the admins who manage events.
• Restaurants on Eats see what's on your screen when you show them your pass: your first name and your photo or face. The app sends them nothing. Motive staff see how many times each restaurant's discount has been used, and by how many people. The restaurant's own staff can sign in to the dashboard and see the same totals for their restaurant: in all, per discount, for the last 30 days and week by week. Once 25 or more students have used a restaurant's discounts, its page tells members how many students have. Nobody is shown who used one, and your friends and other members see nothing about you.
• Motive staff see society applications, including the applicant's email, and reports. They can also stand in for any society's admins, so everything in the point above is open to them for every society. That is how a committee that has lost its admins gets one back.
• Anyone can see an event's public web page: its details, the societies running it, what its tickets cost and whether it's full (or how many spots are left, once there are fewer than five), but never how many are going, or who. Members-only events have no public page. Motive takes no payment: tickets are bought on the society's own page, under that site's terms.

We never sell your data, and we don't share it with advertisers.

Why we use it, and our legal basis

• To run Motive for you: your account, profile, societies, events, applications, friends, guest sign-ups and the emails with your codes. This is necessary to provide the service you asked for (contract).
• To tell you about events you signed up or applied for: we email you to confirm it, again if you have a spot and the event moves or is cancelled, if a spot opens up for you on its waitlist, when the society decides on your application, and if its admins take you off the list. In the app you get notifications as well, including when an event you're on the waitlist for moves or is cancelled. You can switch notifications and emails off there, kind by kind (an event moving, being cancelled and you being taken off its list share one switch). Guests have no app, so their emails always go. This is part of the service you asked for (contract).
• To count how often a restaurant's discount is used: so we can show the restaurant, in totals only, that the offer is worth keeping, and show members how many students have used it. This is in our legitimate interests.
• To keep Motive safe: blocking, reports, removing accounts that break our Terms, limits on how many codes can be sent, and security logs. This is in our and our members' legitimate interests.
• Religion, politics and background: your explicit consent, as described above.
• When the law requires it: legal obligation.

We don't make decisions about you by automated means that have legal or similarly significant effects.

Companies that process data for us

• Supabase hosts our database, sign-in, and photo and application file storage, in London.
• Resend sends our emails, such as sign-in codes, guest codes, restaurant sign-in codes, emails about events you signed up or applied for, and admin invitations.
• Expo delivers notifications to your phone, passing them to Apple or Google to put on your screen. They get the notification token and what the notification says.
• Cloudflare hosts this website and runs Turnstile, which checks that a person is filling in the guest form.
• Apple distributes the app and provides the maps in it on iPhone.
• Google distributes the app on Android and provides the maps in it there. Showing a map sends Google your phone's IP address and device details. Google also puts notifications on an Android phone's screen. If you connect Google Calendar, we send Google the name, time, place and society of each event you have a spot at, and of each event a society you run publishes unless you turn that off, to keep in your own Google account. Google holds that under its own privacy policy, as it does the rest of your account, not on our instructions.

They only process data on our instructions, under data processing agreements. Supabase, Resend, Cloudflare and Expo are companies based in the United States, so data may be processed outside the UK, for example when their staff provide support. Where that happens, the transfer is protected by the UK-US data bridge, the UK's International Data Transfer Addendum or an equivalent safeguard.

How long we keep it

• Your account: until you delete it from the You tab. That deletes your profile, photos, friends, memberships, sign-ups, applications and blocks straight away, and any files you attached to applications within the hour. When you change your photo, the old one is deleted. Deleted data may stay in our provider's routine backups for up to 7 days, until they're overwritten.
• Restaurant sign-ins: the address until staff take it off the restaurant, or the restaurant leaves Eats. Sign-in codes, with the IP address they were requested from, for a day, and a browser's sign-in until 30 days after it was last used, or you sign out.
• Accounts that were never used: asking for a sign-in code creates an account. If the code is never used, we delete the account after a week.
• Notification tokens: until you sign out, turn notifications off for Motive, or delete your account. We also delete one that hasn't been used for 90 days, and one your phone tells us is no longer valid.
• Google Calendar: until you disconnect it in the app, remove Motive's access in your Google account, or delete your Motive account. When you disconnect or delete your account, we delete the Motive calendar from your Google account, hand the key back to Google and delete our copy, usually within a few minutes.
• Guest sign-ups: we erase your name, email, course and year 90 days after the event. Your spot stays in the event's numbers without them. You can drop out before the event, and ask us to delete your details sooner. If you join Motive with the same email and confirm it, your spots move to your account, with the name, course and year you gave, which the society sees until your profile has its own. We still erase them 90 days after the event. Confirmation codes expire after 10 minutes, and we delete them, with the IP address, after a day.
• Admin invitations: until you take one up, or 30 days after it was sent, whichever comes first. One the society cancels goes a day later.
• Member lists: your membership lasts until you leave, the society takes you off its list, or you delete your account. An email address waiting on a list for someone who hasn't joined Motive is deleted when they join, when the society takes it off, or after a year.
• Friend links: a day after the link runs out.
• Saved events and restaurants: until you unsave one, it's deleted, or you delete your account.
• Discounts you've used: until you delete your account, or we take the restaurant off Eats.
• Society records: reimbursements, room bookings, marketing tasks and placeholders stay until an admin deletes them, or the society is deleted. If the admin who logged one deletes their account, the record stays without their name, because the society may still owe the money.
• Risk assessments stay with their event, and are deleted with it or with the society.
• Applications: we delete your answers, the files you attached and any note the society kept 90 days after the event, and with them any application that was declined or never answered. If you withdraw an application, your answers and any note go straight away and your files within the hour. If you're accepted, your spot stays like any other sign-up.
• Reports: while the account they're about exists, and for a year after it's deleted, so a removed person can't wipe the record by joining again. Reports about an event or a society go when it does.
• Removed accounts: if we remove an account for breaking our Terms, we keep a one-way hash of its email address, so it can't be used to sign up again.

Age

Motive is for people aged 16 or over. If we learn that someone under 16 has an account or has signed up as a guest, we delete their details.

Some students at uni are 16 or 17, so Motive gives everyone the same protective settings rather than a separate set for adults: your friends only see what you choose to show, sensitive societies and events are hidden from them unless you show them, we don't track your location, and we don't use advertising, analytics or profiling.

Your rights

You have the right to:

• get a copy of your personal data
• have it corrected (you can edit your profile in the app)
• have it deleted (you can delete your account in the app or by email)
• restrict or object to how we use it
• have it moved to another service
• withdraw your consent at any time, without affecting what we did before

Email [email protected] to use any of these. We reply within one month. If you're unhappy with how we've handled your data, you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint or on 0303 123 1113. We'd appreciate the chance to put it right first.

Cookies and storage

The app stores your sign-in on your phone. This website stores a token in your browser only after you sign up for an event, so you can manage your spot, or when you sign in to the society dashboard, to keep you signed in until you sign out. While you sign in to the dashboard, that tab also remembers for up to ten minutes which address the code went to, so reloading the page doesn't lose it. Cloudflare Turnstile may set a cookie that's needed to check the form is being filled in by a person. We don't use advertising or analytics cookies.

Changes

If we change this policy, we'll update the date at the top, and we'll tell you in the app if the change is significant.