What leaves this phone.

Updated 7 September 2026

What Relay is

Relay helps you notice music around you and share what you are into, not a map of where you go. You can browse Around and Echoes, save tracks to Found, and leave Thanks without an account.

Location

If you turn Location on, Relay sends a short-lived ping so it can find people Relaying nearby. Other people never receive your coordinates, exact distance, or a map. While you are Relaying, that ping can continue in the background. iOS may show the blue location bar. Location stays on-device for the matching step; Relay does not keep a trail of where you have been to show you later.

Microphone

START RELAY does not turn on the microphone. Apple Music and Spotify do not use the microphone. Other is optional: when you choose it, Relay asks for microphone access and listens for a few seconds so it can recognise what is playing. Relay does not keep the recording. A fingerprint may go to Apple ShazamKit so the song can be identified.

Account

An anonymous session on this phone is enough for the core product. Continuing with Apple or Google unlocks Share as You, keeps saved tracks and Thanks with your account, and enables persistent Inner Circle, Groups, Following, and profile features. We store the sign-in identity Supabase needs. Your account is not publicly viewable unless you choose to publish a Relay profile.

Name, status, and photos

Share as You is your identity in Around and Groups: a name, a status stored exactly as you write it, and up to three optional photos. The first photo can appear on Around. Photos are stored in Relay's cloud and scanned before they are kept. If you separately make your profile public, its name, status, photos, and public listening can also appear there. Profile visibility never publishes live location or distance.

Saved tracks and Thanks

Save adds a track or video to Found. Relay stores where or who you found it through at that moment. If the source was anonymous, it stays anonymous later. Thanks attaches to the track or video, not to a person, and never requires login. Signing in syncs what you save and your Thanks to your Relay account.

Inner Circle

Inner Circle is a mutual, intentional connection. One invite link can be accepted by more than one person until its owner revokes it or it expires. Every recipient previews and explicitly accepts for themselves; recipients cannot see who else accepted. Relay does not automatically add people to your Inner Circle. Remove severs a connection. Block severs it and prevents another invite from reconnecting it.

Groups and Following

Joining a Group adds only that Group membership; it does not add Inner Circle connections or follows. Groups show activity from members who are actively Relaying and respect Anonymous identity. Following is one-way and shows only the chosen person's public profile activity. It never shares the follower's activity back automatically. Relay does not publish Group rosters or follower counts in this version.

Public profiles

A signed-in person can choose a public handle and publish a Relay profile. A public profile can show that person's current and recent listening while they are Relaying, including when they chose to appear Anonymous in Around or a Group. The profile shows their deliberate profile identity, but never receives coordinates, nearby distance, or a live place label. Making the profile private removes public access.

Notifications

If you choose to hear when someone in your Inner Circle starts Relaying, Relay stores a push token for this device. You can skip that. Tokens are not used for marketing.

Safety and reporting

You can report a public profile, a person shown nearby, or a Thanks message from the relevant screen. Reports are private, are not shown to the person reported, and are reviewed by Relay. You can also remove or block an Inner Circle connection. For urgent safety or moderation help, contact hello@jointhebench.co.

Relay Radio

Relay Radio is a house-owned channel, not someone standing near you. It is not placed on a map and does not count as people around you.

Apple Music and Spotify

These are listening services, not your Relay account. Relay may peek Apple Music on this phone when Music is actually playing. Spotify currently-playing is not used to decide Live, because it can include other devices. Connecting a service is optional and only for playback destinations and, when you choose, recents.

Who else sees data

Supabase hosts the Relay backend (sessions, nearby matching, saved tracks in Found, Thanks, Inner Circle, Groups, Following, public-profile choices, and optional photos). Apple provides Sign in with Apple, ShazamKit, Music, and push delivery. Google provides Sign in with Google if you choose it, and photo scanning when you add photos. Spotify and YouTube see what you ask them to play or search. Relay does not sell this data and does not run a separate analytics SDK.

Early access list

If you join the early access list from joinrelay.social, your email is sent to the founder so an invite can be sent. It is not sold or used for marketing lists.

Deletion and contact

Settings lets you permanently delete your Relay account and its associated profile, photos, Found, Thanks, connections, and Relay activity. You can also delete an anonymous session's Relay data and start fresh. Sign out only returns this phone to an anonymous session; it does not delete your account. A retired @name may remain unavailable so an old profile link can never point to someone else. For privacy requests, moderation help, or to remove an early access email, contact hello@jointhebench.co.