Raya

Is Raya safe?

Raya is one of the safer dating apps on privacy, and the membership vetting makes it harder for scammers to get in. Its App Store label has no tracking section at all and lists no data used for third-party advertising. The catch is what you give up to join: your phone contacts, your Instagram follower lists and a committee's judgement of your social circle. We score it 57/100, just ahead of Hinge at 56 and Bumble at 52.

Raya is run by Raya App, Inc., a US company whose terms follow Delaware law. Membership is by application only. Its App Store listing says a "global committee" reviews applications and that a decision can take days or months; accepted members pay for one, six or twelve months. We found no Google Play version, so it is an iPhone app.

What you hand over to join

Most dating apps ask for photos and a few profile answers. Raya asks for your Instagram handle and your phone contacts. Its privacy policy says that by applying you let it read your Instagram username, profile picture, bio, website, the list of your followers, the list of accounts you follow and how many pictures you have posted. That data is used "to verify your identity and to evaluate your real-world connection to our existing members".

Two things follow. First, the people in your contacts are part of the deal. Raya's policy says other users can provide information about you "if, for instance, … you are a contact in their phone", so Raya may hold your number even if you never applied. Second, other members see parts of your Instagram presence, including accounts you both follow. Raya says a private Instagram profile stays private, but mutual follows can still say a lot about who you are.

Apple's privacy label backs up the absence of ad tracking: there is no "Data Used to Track You" section and no third-party advertising purpose. Raya does link purchases, precise location, contact details and app activity to you for its own marketing, and contacts, messages, photos, search history and "sensitive info" for analytics. The policy names Google Analytics and says Raya will "never sell your personal information".

An old policy and few security details

Raya's privacy policy says it was "Updated and Effective May 6, 2020". That is old for an app that has since added maps, events and new features, and it predates most US state privacy laws, so it says little about the rights those laws give. The terms of use were updated in December 2023.

We found no reported breach of Raya data and no published security flaw. But Raya tells you very little about how it protects your data. We found no security page, no bug bounty on HackerOne and no security.txt file. The policy describes "reasonable actions" such as monitoring for attacks, then says Raya has "no liability to you or to any third party arising out of any loss, misuse or alteration of your personal information", and points security reports to its general contact address. The policy also asks users to waive class actions. We score security at 50: nothing has gone wrong in public, but there is little evidence either way.

Retention is clearer than the security section. Raya keeps account data for three months after you delete your account, as a "safety retention window", and deletes or anonymises it after that or after two years of inactivity. If you uninstall without deleting, your device identifier stays on file.

Screenshots, celebrities and who you meet

Raya is famous for its celebrity members, and its rules lean on discretion. The terms ban "taking screenshots or otherwise copying, disclosing or sharing content from the app" and "disclosing the identity of any user", and Raya can remove members for conduct outside the app. Its team and membership committee sign non-disclosure agreements. These are rules, not technical blocks: nothing stops another phone or a quick photo of the screen.

The vetting cuts the fake profiles and romance scams that hit open apps such as Tinder. A scammer needs a believable Instagram account, real connections and a committee's approval. But vetting is not safety screening. The terms say Raya "does not conduct criminal background checks on its users or verify statements made by its users", and it has no responsibility for events promoted through the app.

How to use Raya more safely

1. Try refusing contacts access in your phone settings if you do not want to share your address book (Raya may then have less to judge your application on), and check Instagram for followers you would not want shown as mutual.
2. Keep the map feature off unless you want other members to see where you are.
3. Assume anything you post or send could be photographed, whatever the terms say.
4. Meet in public and tell a friend, as you would with any app; Raya does not check criminal records.
5. Delete the account in the app before you uninstall, and cancel the membership in the App Store.

How we scored it

Privacy (55) is well above most dating apps, because Raya does not track you for ads, but the contact and Instagram uploads keep it in the middle of the scale. Scams and harmful content (56) is helped by vetting. Security (50) is the weakest factor, because Raya publishes almost nothing about how it protects data. The regulatory record (86) is clean, but no large regulator appears to have looked at the app.