what we do with your id.

why we ask

the grid only works if everyone on it is a real student at your school. a school email proves the school. a student id and a selfie prove it's you. that's the difference between this and an app full of bots and people three states away.

what actually happens

1. you photograph your student id and take a selfie, inside a flow run by an identity verification company we work with.
2. they check that the id is genuine, that the face matches, and that you're over 18.
3. they send ohhi a yes or a no.
4. the images are deleted on their schedule, which we'll name here once the provider is final.

what ohhi keeps

three things: that you're verified, the date it happened, and a reference number from the provider. that's it.

we never store your id photo, your selfie, or any face scan. those images never sit on an ohhi server. nobody at ohhi can pull up your id, because there's nothing to pull up.

no one on the grid ever sees any of it. other students see a small green check, which only means "this is a verified student" — not your id number, not your legal name, not your age.

illinois and biometrics

a face match is biometric information, and illinois has a specific law about it — the biometric information privacy act. so: before the check starts, we tell you what's being collected and why, how long it's kept, and when it's destroyed, and we ask for your written consent. you can read that screen without agreeing to it.

we don't sell, lease, trade, or otherwise profit from biometric information. ever. there is no version of ohhi where that becomes a revenue line.

if you'd rather not

then don't. with just a school email you can look at the whole grid and every profile. you won't be able to say hi or send a message until you verify — that's the trade, and it's the same trade for everyone you'd be talking to.

if the check doesn't pass, you can try up to three times, and then a person looks at it. an account that fails the age check is closed rather than kept.

if you're removed from ohhi

we keep the provider's reference number so the same person can't sign up again. it isn't your id and it isn't your face — it's a number that means "this verification is not welcome back." that's the mechanism that makes a ban mean something.

questions about any of this go to safety@sayohhi.com and a person answers them.

this is the plain-language version written while we're pre-launch. the verification provider isn't final yet, and the exact retention periods and the full consent text land here — reviewed by a lawyer — before the app opens.