HedChat
Privacy Policy
Welcome to HedChat! This policy applies to you and us HedChat (“we” or “us”) the provider of the HedChat iOS and Android mobile application ("App"), irrespective of your country of residence or location.
This Policy describes our privacy practices in plain language, keeping legal and technical jargon to a minimum to make sure you understand the information we collect, why we collect it, how it is used and your choices regarding your information.
Who We Are
The person that is responsible for your information under this Privacy Policy (the “data controller”) is:
HedChat
Web: [Hedchat.com]
E-Mail: [Info@hedchat.com]
Collection and processing of data
Personal data is only collected and processed if you provide this information voluntarily, for example as part of a registration, login, enquiry or when you chat with others. Thus, only data that is required to fulfil the functionality of the HedChat APP will be collected and processed by us.
Relevant legal basis
If the legal basis is not stated, the following applies:
• consent,
• to fulfil our services
• to carry out contractual measures,
• to fulfil our legal obligations and
• to protect our legitimate interests.
Installation of our APP
Our APP can be downloaded from the "Google Playstore" and "Apple App Store". Downloading our APP may require prior registration with the respective App store and/or installation of the respective App store software.
a) APP installation via the Google Playstore
You can use the Google service "Google Play" of Google Inc, 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway Mountain View, CA 94043, US, if you are resident outside the EU and Google Ireland Limited ("Google"), Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland if you are a resident within the EU, to install our APP.
As far as we are aware, Google collects and processes the following data;
• License check,
• network access,
• network connection,
• WLAN connections,
• location information,
It cannot be ruled out that Google also transmits the information to a server in a third country. We cannot influence which personal data Google processes with your registration and the provision of downloads in the respective app store and app store software. The responsible party in this respect is solely Google as the operator of the Google Play Store.
APP installation via the Apple App Store
You can use the Apple App service "App Store" a service of Apple Inc., 1 Infinite Loop, Cupertino, CA 95014, US, if you are resident outside the EU and Apple Distribution International Ltd, Hollyhill Industrial Estate, Hollyhill Ln, Knocknaheeney, Cork, Ireland, if you are a resident within the EU, to install our APP.
As far as we are aware, Apple collects and processes the following data;
• device identifiers,
• IP addresses,
• location information,
It cannot be excluded that Apple also transmits the information to a server in a third country. This could in particular be Apple Inc. One Apple Park Way, Cupertino, California, USA, 95014. We cannot influence which personal data Apple processes with your registration and the provision of downloads in the respective app store and app store software. The responsible party in this respect is solely Apple as the operator of the Apple App Store.
Registration and data storage
When you start the App for the first time, you have the option to register. The following information is requested for this purpose:
• Username,
• Email,
• Full name,
• Mobile number,
• Password,
• Birthdate, and
• Gender.
Starting the App
If you are a registered user, every time you start the App, your data is synchronized, and your device communicates with our server through a signed token. The data is in particular, your device and your registration information. The transmission takes place automatically and is a prerequisite for the secure functioning of the App and is therefore mandatory.
Device information
We collect information from and about the device(s) you use to access our APP, including hardware and software information such as IP address, device ID and type, device-specific and APP settings and properties, APP crashes, information about your wireless and mobile network connection such as your service provider and signal strength; information about device sensors such as accelerometer, gyroscope and compass.
Push notifications with Google Firebase Cloud Messaging.
Our APP is able to send you so-called push notifications to your device. This is information that can be displayed on your device even when the app is not open. Our APP uses Google Firebase Cloud Messaging to send push notifications. If you activate push notifications in our APP, your IP address and your device ID as well as the selected topics, if any, are transmitted to Google. If you are using an Android end device, you will then receive push notifications via the "Firebase Cloud Messaging" push service integrated into Android. If you use an iOS end device, the push request is forwarded to Apple's servers, which send you push notifications via the "Apple Push Notification Services" service.
Authorizations and Access
We may request access or permission to certain functions from your mobile device including your location, photo library, microphone and camera access. You can revoke authorizations and access granted at any time via the device settings of your device.
Personal data we collect
We collect basic profile details about you, such as:
• Username,
• Email,
• Full name,
• Mobile number,
• Password,
• Birthdate, and
• Gender.
We also collect information generated as you use our services, for example access logs, as well as information from third parties. If you want additional info, we go into more detail below.
Information you give us
You choose to give us certain information when using our services. This includes:
• When you create an account, you provide us with at least your login credentials, as well as some basic details necessary for the service to work.
• When you complete your profile, you can share with us additional information, as well as content such as photos and text. Some of the information you choose to provide us may be considered “special” or “sensitive” in certain jurisdictions, for example your racial or ethnic origins, sexual orientation, and religious beliefs. By choosing to provide this information, you consent to our processing of that information. You have choices about the information on your profile. You don’t have to provide additional information on your profile; however, profile information helps you to get more from our Services. It’s your choice whether to include sensitive information on your profile and to make that sensitive information public. Please do not upload or add personal information to your profile that you would not want to be available.
• If you contact our customer care team, we collect the information you give us during the interaction. Sometimes, we monitor or record these interactions for training purposes and to ensure a high quality of service.
• Of course, we also process your chats with other users as well as the content you publish, as part of the operation of the services.
Information we receive from others
In addition to the information, you provide us directly, we receive information about you from others, including:
• Other users may provide information about you as they use our services. For instance, we may collect information about you from other users if they contact us about you.
• We collect information about your activity on our services, for instance how you use them (e.g., date and time you logged in, features you’ve been using, searches, clicks and pages which have been shown to you, referring webpage address, advertising that you click on) and how you interact with other users (e.g., users you connect and interact with, time and date of your exchanges, number of messages you send and receive).
How We Use Information
The main reason we use your information is to deliver and improve our services. Additionally, we use your info to help keep you safe and to provide you with advertising that may be of interest to you and as follows:
• To administer your account and provide our services to you;
• Create and manage your account;
• Provide you with customer support and respond to your requests;
• Complete your transactions;
• Communicate with you about our services;
• To help you connect with other users and to engage with them;
• Analyze your profile, activity on the service;
• Show users’ profiles to one another;
• Register you and display your profile on new features;
• Communicate with you;
• To improve our services and develop new ones;
• Conduct research and analysis of users’ behavior to improve our services and content (for instance, we may decide to change the look and feel or even substantially modify a given feature based on users’ behavior);
• Develop new features and services;
• To prevent, detect and fight fraud or other illegal or unauthorized activities;
• Address ongoing or alleged misbehavior;
• Perform data analysis to better understand and design countermeasures against these activities;
• Retain data related to fraudulent activities to prevent against recurrences;
• To ensure legal compliance;
• Comply with legal requirements;
• Assist law enforcement; and
• Enforce or exercise our rights, for example our Terms.
How We Share Information
Our goal is to help you make connections, the main sharing of users’ information is, of course, with other users. We also share some users’ information with service providers and partners who assist us in operating the services, and, in some cases, legal authorities. Read on for more details about how your information is shared with others.
• With other users
You share information with other users when you voluntarily disclose information on the service. Please be careful with your information and make sure that the content you share is stuff that you’re comfortable being publicly viewable since neither you nor we can control what others do with your information once you share it. If you choose to limit the audience for all or part of your profile or for certain content or information about you, then it will be visible according to your settings.
• With our service providers and partners
We use third parties to help us operate and improve our services. These third parties assist us with various tasks, including data hosting and maintenance, analytics, customer care, marketing, advertising, payment processing and security operations. We may also share information with partners who distribute and assist us in advertising our services. For instance, we may share limited information on you in hashed, non-human readable form to advertising partners. We follow a strict vetting process prior to engaging any service provider or working with any partner. All of our service providers and partners must agree to strict confidentiality obligations.
• For corporate transactions
We may transfer your information if we are involved, whether in whole or in part, in a merger, sale, acquisition, divestiture, restructuring, reorganization, dissolution, bankruptcy or other change of ownership or control.
• When required by law
We may disclose your information if reasonably necessary: (i) to comply with a legal process, such as a court order, subpoena or search warrant, government / law enforcement investigation or other legal requirements; (ii) to assist in the prevention or detection of crime (subject in each case to applicable law); or (iii) to protect the safety of any person.
• To enforce legal rights
We may also share information: (i) if disclosure would mitigate our liability in an actual or threatened lawsuit; (ii) as necessary to protect our legal rights and legal rights of our users, business partners or other interested parties; (iii) to enforce our agreements with you; and (iv) to investigate, prevent, or take other action regarding illegal activity, suspected fraud or other wrongdoing.
• With your consent or at your request
We may ask for your consent to share your information with third parties. In any such case, we will make it clear why we want to share the information. We may use and share non-personal information (meaning information that, by itself, does not identify who you are such as device information, general demographics, general behavioral data, geolocation in de-identified form), as well as personal information in hashed, non-human readable form, under any of the above circumstances. We may also share this information with third parties (notably advertisers) to develop and deliver targeted advertising on our services and on websites or applications of third parties, and to analyze and report on advertising you see. We may combine this information with additional non-personal information or personal information in hashed, non-human readable form collected from other sources.
How we protect your information
We work hard to protect you from unauthorized access to or alteration, disclosure, or destruction of your personal information. As with all technology companies, although we take steps to secure your information, we do not promise, and you should not expect, that your personal information will always remain secure.
We regularly monitor our systems for possible vulnerabilities and attacks and regularly review our information collection, storage, and processing practices to update our physical, technical and organizational security measures.
We may suspend your use of all or part of the services without notice if we suspect or detect any breach of security. If you believe that your account or information is no longer secure, please notify us immediately.
How long we retain your information
We keep your personal information only as long as we need it for legitimate business purposes and as permitted by applicable law. To protect the safety and security of our users on and off our services, we implement a safety retention window of three months following account deletion. During this period, account information will be retained although the account will of course not be visible on the services anymore.
In practice, we delete or anonymize your information upon deletion of your account (following the safety retention window) or after two years of continuous inactivity, unless:
• we must keep it to comply with applicable law (for instance, some “traffic data” is kept for one year to comply with statutory data retention obligations);
• we must keep it to evidence our compliance with applicable law (for instance, records of consents to our Terms, Privacy Policy and other similar consents are kept for 10 years);
• there is an outstanding issue, claim or dispute requiring us to keep the relevant information until it is resolved; or
• the information must be kept for our legitimate business interests, such as fraud prevention and enhancing users’ safety and security. For example, information may need to be kept to prevent a user who was banned for unsafe behavior or security incidents from opening a new account.
Keep in mind that even though our systems are designed to carry out data deletion processes according to the above guidelines, we cannot promise that all data will be deleted within a specific time-frame due to technical constraints.
Updating your information
If you believe that the information, we hold about you is inaccurate or that we are no longer entitled to use it and want to request its rectification, deletion or object to its processing, please do so within your user account or by contact us. For your protection and the protection of all of our users, we may ask you to provide proof of identity before we can answer the above requests.
Keep in mind, we may reject requests for certain reasons, including if the request is unlawful or if it may infringe on trade secrets or intellectual property or the privacy of another user. Also, we may not be able to accommodate certain requests to object to the processing of personal information, notably where such requests would not allow us to provide our service to you anymore.
Obligation to provide personal data
You are not obliged to provide us with personal data. However, depending on the individual case, the provision of certain personal data may be necessary for the provision of the above services. If you do not provide us with this personal data, we may not be able to provide the service.
Uninstall
You can stop all information collection by an app by uninstalling it using the standard uninstall process for your device. If you uninstall the app from your mobile device, the unique identifier associated with your device will continue to be stored. If you re-install the application on the same mobile device, we will be able to re-associate this identifier to your previous transactions and activities.
Accountability
In certain countries, including in the European Union, you have a right to lodge a complaint with the appropriate data protection authority if you have concerns about how we process your personal information. The data protection authority you can lodge a complaint with notably may be that of your habitual residence, where you work or where we are established.
Automated individual decision-making including profiling
We do not make automated decisions in individual cases, including profiling.
Accuracy
It is important that the data we hold about you is accurate and current, therefore please keep us informed of any changes to your personal data.
What are your rights?
Please contact us at any time with questions and suggestions regarding data protection and to enforce your rights as a data subject. This includes:
• the right to information,
• the right to erasure,
• the right to rectification,
• the right to data portability,
• the right to restriction of data processing,
• the right to object to data processing.
To assert these rights, please contact us. The same applies if you have questions about data processing in our company.
When you send a data subject access request
The legal basis for the processing of your personal data in the context of handling your data subject access request is our legal obligation and the legal basis for the subsequent documentation of the data subject access request is both our legitimate interest and our legal obligation.
The purpose of processing your personal data in the context of processing data when you send a data subject access request is to respond to your request. The subsequent documentation of the data subject access request serves to fulfil the legally required accountability.
Your personal data will be deleted as soon as they are no longer required to achieve the purpose for which they were collected. In the case of the processing of a data subject access request, this is three years after the end of the respective process.
You have the possibility at any time to object to the processing of your personal data in the context of the processing of a data subject access request for the future. In this case, however, we will not be able to further process your request. The documentation of the legally compliant processing of the respective data subject access request is mandatory. Consequently, there is no possibility for you to object.
Data Breaches/Notification
Databases or data sets that include Personal Data may be breached inadvertently or through wrongful intrusion. Upon becoming aware of a data breach, we will notify all affected individuals whose Personal Data may have been compromised, and the notice will be accompanied by a description of action being taken to reconcile any damage as a result of the data breach. Notices will be provided as expeditiously as possible after which the breach was discovered.
Children’s Privacy
Our services are restricted to users who are 13 years of age or older. We do not permit users under the age of 13 on our platform and we do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under the age of 13. If you suspect that a user is under the age of 13, please contact us.
Changes
Because we’re always looking for new and innovative ways to help you build meaningful connections, this policy may change over time. We will notify you before any material changes take effect so that you have time to review the changes.
Queries and Complaints
Any comments or queries on this policy should be directed to us using the following contact details:
HedChat
Web: [Hedchat.com]
E-Mail: [Info@hedchat.com]
If you believe that we have not complied with this policy or acted otherwise than in accordance with data protection law, then you should notify us.
This Privacy Policy was last updated on Thursday, September 1, 2023