Privacy Policy

* Effective: Sep 1st, 2020

Your data and privacy are important to us here at HelloChat Technologies Ltd. (collectively, “HelloChat”, “us”, or “we”). This policy was created to make sure you understand the data we collect about you when you use the HelloChat App (“app”) or visit our website at www.HelloChat.com (the “Services”), what we do with it, and how it is protected.

What’s New?

This policy was last updated as of Sep 1st, 2020. You should read this policy and our Terms of Service in full to make sure you understand any changes that may be important to you.

This policy may be updated from time to time. Whenever we make updates, we will include the date of the most recent modification near the top of this page and may provide you with additional notice of material changes by, for example, providing you with in-app notification.

INFORMATION WE COLLECT

We collect from you directly, when you use our Services, and from third parties.

Information you give us directly. In connection with providing Services to you, we collect certain information from you directly, such as:

Registration information: When you sign up to use the app, you provide us with basic information like your name, username, password, email address, phone number (optional at registration or provided by you later).

Profile information: Such as your individual profile pictures, background photo, interests, emoji status, your name (first and/or last) and any other information you choose to provide on your profile (you may edit and control your profile information displayed to other users within the app through user settings and preferences).

Message content: When you send or receive a message through the app, the text you write and any pictures or videos included in your message are transmitted through our servers. While we do not store the actual text or any of your messages after they have been delivered to the intended recipients, attachments such as pictures and videos are temporarily stored for deliverability purposes.

Conversation attributes: when you create group or private chats, you have the ability to configure certain elements of your conversations, including, for example, things like group name, group profile picture, themes, administrators, and membership limitations.

Membership information: When you join or leave a public group, we collect that information.

HelloChat communications: When you reach out to us (through, for example, in-app reports made by you, emails sent by you to us, or voluntary polls, surveys, or questionnaires initiated by us that you respond to), we collect and store the content and details of that communication, including things like date, time, content and method of communication, identity verification information (if applicable) and resolution (if applicable). When you voluntarily respond to polls, surveys, and questionnaires, the content of personal information you provide may include your address and basic demographic information.

HelloChat Wallet Information: When you sign up to use fund deposited or awarded or transferred to your Wallet in the HelloChat, we collect information necessary to facilitate transactions involving HelloChat (such as the transaction value and the person with whom you are transacting), furthermore, if you are transfering fund into or out of HelloChat Wallet with your personal bank account, we will collect Name, Address, Birthdate as well as all the necessary banking information to complete the transaction.

HelloChat User Verification: Through your interaction with this feature, we may collect the following categories of personal information: Identifiers, including your name, a unique personal identifier, your address and/or telephone number.

Information we get when you use our services. We collect certain information when you use our services to, for example, send a message, join a public group discussion, create a HelloChat Wallet, or participate in a HelloChat sales event. Such information includes things like:

Log and data usage information: We collect and process a record of your activity on our servers. This information may include details such as the date and time a message was sent, who you chatted with, your internet protocol (“IP”) address, and how you use third-party websites or services accessed through the app (like GIFs or emojis you use in app).

Device information. We collect information from and about the device you use to access our Services, which may include information like your hardware model, operating system version, unique device identifiers, and mobile network information.

Location information: Based on your IP address, we may collect information about your general geographical location (which may identify you as being in a particular city or province), but we do not use GPS or similar methods to collect information about your precise location.

Device contacts/address book: when you give us permission to access your device’s contacts or address book to use certain services (such as “Find a friend”), we may collect information from your device’s contacts/address book such as email addresses and phone numbers.

HelloChat Code: When you scan a HelloChat Code (to facilitate the delivery of goods or obtain coupons for example), information about you may be inferred based on the HelloChat Code itself and where it was displayed. For example, if you scan a HelloChat Code located at a particular restaurant, that might indicate that you visited a particular restaurant and enjoy that cuisine.

Cookie information: We may collect information stored or recognized on your computer or mobile phone about things like your website activity and/or browser or device information through the use of cookies and similar technologies like web beacons.

Local storage information: We may collect and/or store information such as photos or videos with an option to download locally on your device through things like browser web storage (including HTML5) and application data caches.

ID Document: When you choose to verify your ID document, HelloChat App will ask you to upload the image of a personal ID document, such as your driver’s license, passport, identity card or resident permit.

Information we get from Third Parties. We may collect information about you from other users, our partners, and third parties as detailed below:

User reports: When another user flags a conversation and reports it to us for investigation (alleging violations of our Community Standards, for example), we may collect information provided to us from the user regarding their complaint, which may include the offending chat and any associated pictures or videos.

Third party information: We may collect and process information about you from third-parties who offer services to you and/or us through the app, such as analytics companies who help us do things like understand what may have gone wrong in the app that caused your app to crash, or companies who offer services that you may choose to use (such as JPEGs, JPGs, PNGs, GIFs or brand polls). To the extent that you use any of these third-party services through the app, the third party’s terms and privacy policies govern the use of those services.

HOW WE USE INFORMATION

We mostly use the information we collect about you to carry out the Services you have requested from us and to continuously improve your in-app experience, but we use the information in other ways too. Here is a more detailed explanation of how we use your information:

Provide, maintain, and protect your in-app experience and use of Services. We use information we collect about you to provide the Services you request from us and to provide the functionality of the app and the features you choose to use. For example, we use the information to deliver your messages, display your intended themes and profile images, and allow you to transact in the HelloChat.

Analyze usage to maintain features that are working well and improve and/or develop new features to enhance your in-app experience. We aim to continuously improve our offerings to bring you the best way to make meaningful connections. Accordingly, we are continuously analyzing how users access and use the app and its features in order to improve existing Services and develop new ones. Our analysis of how you use the app can help us do things like evaluate the popularity and functionality of certain features, identify and fix potential bugs, and understand what our users want.

Communicate with you. The information we collect lets us keep you posted on HelloChat’s latest product announcements, software updates, upcoming events and any messages you have waiting on HelloChat if you haven’t been active for a while. If you indicated that you wished to receive special offers, and information about services that might be of interest to you, HelloChat may occasionally send you messages regarding such offers (like through the HelloChat Team). If you do not wish to continue to receive these offers, you can block, unsubscribe, or email us at privacy@hellochat.com. Changes may require up to ten business days to take effect.

Show and measure services. We may use information to improve our offerings and measurement systems so that we can show you relevant services that may be of interest to you and measure the effectiveness and reach of the services.

Promote Safety and Security. We may use your information to verify identity, determine eligibility to use the Services, and recommend appropriate Services. We also use information for loss prevention, anti-fraud, and to enforce our Terms of Service.

HOW WE SHARE INFORMATION

We may share your information if you ask us to. For example, we send the message you asked us to send to another user or within a group chat, we display your public profile, and if you post content on social networking sites using the HelloChat App, we provide your content as you’ve requested. You should note, however, that the information you choose to share on social networking sites is governed by the privacy policy of that social networking site and is not covered by this privacy policy; and you (not us) will be solely responsible for your use of those sites.

Other than information you’ve asked us to share, we do not share, sell or transfer your personal information without your consent, except as described below:

Third Party products and services on HelloChat. Certain features you use through HelloChat are offered by third-parties and are marked as such. Those features may include things like HelloChat scan codes, GIFs, emojis, smileys, web pages optimized for HelloChat, and polls. When you choose to use these third-party features, those third-parties (and other users of those third party services) may be able to see things like your user profile, content of messages you are sharing on web pages, your poll responses, your public wallet address, and your approximate location. These third-parties may use this information as described in their privacy policies, which can include advertising. You agree that we are not responsible for how these third parties collect or use your information. We may, from time to time, share non-personal aggregated information with third parties.

Our service providers. We use third-party service providers to help operate our business. Examples include suppliers who host our data or provide customer service. We require all service providers to maintain confidentiality. Use of your personal information by our service providers is further limited to the information they need to provide services on our behalf.

Our related companies. We may share some or all of your information with our affiliated companies, subsidiaries, or joint ventures, provided that they are subject to and conditioned upon strict adherence to this Privacy Policy.

To protect HelloChat and its users, or for legal purposes. We may disclose your information: (a) if we think it’s needed to detect, prevent or address illegal activity, or identify, contact or bring legal action against someone who appears to be causing injury to or interfering with the rights or property of HelloChat or HelloChat users; (b) as part of a legal matter or investigation, including an investigation related to a suspected breach of our Terms of Service; (c) when we believe that disclosure is required or permitted by law, including when responding to subpoenas, warrants, production orders, or similar instruments; or (d) if we believe that disclosure is needed to protect your safety or the safety of others, including when there is an emergency involving potential harm, loss of security or serious injury to people or threats of such emergencies.

Merger, financing or sale. We may share your information in connection with a merger, financing, acquisition, dissolution transaction, bankruptcy or proceeding involving sale, transfer, divestiture of all or a portion of our business or assets. If another company acquires our business or assets, that company will have your information collected by us and will assume the rights and obligations regarding your information as allowed by this privacy policy.

HOW LONG WE KEEP YOUR INFORMATION

We keep your personal information for different periods of time depending on why we collected it and how we use it, but we keep it only as long as necessary and relevant for us to provide the Services, maintain our legitimate business operations, and/or or meet our legal obligations. For example, once you send a message through the app and it has been received by the intended recipients, the text of the message is no longer accessible by our servers and will disappear from your app when you logout (so be sure to backup any data you want to keep); however, attachments to that message (such as pictures or videos) are stored for up to 30 days for deliverability purposes.

If you decide you no longer want an account with us, you can delete your account by submitting a request for deactivation by sending an email to support@hellochat.com. Deactivating your account will permanently delete your account. This means, for example, that you won’t get messages or emails from us anymore and will not be searchable anywhere on the app. Once your information has been deleted, you will not be able to restore that information later. You should be aware that certain information about you may still be available on other users’ apps and will not be deleted by us.

USER CONTROLS

You can access and update your information by going to the “Your Account” section on HelloChat. You can also request access, update or correct any inaccuracies by sending an email to support@hellochat.com. We may ask you for certain information in order to verify your identity.

You can control access to your device’s camera and storage through your device’s settings.

You can also control information you share with others through in-app safety controls which allow you to do things like:

block users;

report users who are making you uncomfortable or sending spam; and

ignore new chats from people you don’t know.

SECURITY OF YOUR INFORMATION

We store, use, and maintain your personal information using reasonable security measures designed to protect the security of your personal information. Such measures vary depending on the nature of your information. For example, your account is protected by the password you use to access your HelloChat account. It is important that you protect and maintain your account’s security and immediately tell us of any unauthorized access or use of your account (you can do so by sending an email to support@hellochat.com. When you sign into your account, we also encrypt the transmission of your login information between the app and our servers.

Despite these efforts, you should know that we cannot fully eliminate security risks associated with online transmissions. We cannot guarantee that unauthorized access, hacking, data loss, or other breaches will never occur, and we cannot guarantee the security of your information. You are responsible for helping to protect the security of your information by having a strong password unique to HelloChat that you keep confidential and protecting your device.

CHILDREN

Children under the age of 13 are not permitted to create a HelloChat account or use our Services. We understand the importance of taking extra precautions to protect the privacy and safety of children, so we don’t knowingly collect, use, store, or disclose personal information from children under 13.

DATA TRANSFERS

We store information on servers located in Canada. Accordingly, when you use our Services, your personal information may be sent to Canada. Because of this, your personal information may be available to legal authorities under a lawful order made in that country; and the laws of those countries may be less strict regarding your personal information than the laws where you live.

WHEN THIS POLICY APPLIES

Our Privacy Policy applies to all of the Services offered by HelloChat Technologies Ltd. It does not apply to services offered by other companies or individuals, including products or services that may be displayed to you in search results, through the chat message, or through the promotional and sales event.

PRIVACY CONTACT

If you have any questions, comments, complaints or suggestions, please contact us at:

HelloChat Technologies Ltd. Attention: Privacy Office 11300 No.5 Road, Unit 135 Richmond, British Columbia V7A 5J7 Canada