I. Important introduction to our privacy policy
This Privacy Policy explains how BeFriend Inc. (“BeFriend” “we”, “our”, or “us”), the company that operates BeFriend, collects, uses, shares, and stores your information when you use the BeFriend website and/or the mobile applications that link to this Privacy Policy (“Services”). When you use our Services, you are agreeing to our rules and policies, including this Privacy Policy and Terms of Use, and you consent to our collecting, processing and storing your information as described below. You must not access or use the Services if you do not agree with our Privacy Policy. You should also read our Terms of Service because they also apply to your use of the Services.
II. Information we collect
There are three basic categories of information we collect:
- Information you choose to give us.
- Information we get when you use our Services.
- Information we get from third parties.
Information You Choose to Give Us
When you interact with our Services, we collect the information that you choose to share with us. For example, most of our Services require you to set up a basic BeFriend account, so we may collect a few important details about you, such as: name, password, a phone number, gender, and your date of birth among others. You’ll also provide us whatever information you send through our Services, such as messages to our users. Keep in mind that the users you send messages and any other content to can always save that content or copy it outside the app. So, the same common sense that applies to the internet at large applies to BeFriend as well: Don’t send messages or share content that you wouldn’t want someone to save or share. When you contact customer support or communicate with us in any other way, we’ll collect whatever information you volunteer as well. Also, BeFriend provides various ways to create an account such as through phone number, Facebook, or Snapchat. If you sign-up with phone number, you are giving us your phone number information. If you sign-up with your Facebook account, we will receive certain information about you from Facebook such as name, profile picture, email, birthday, and interests. If you sign-up with your Snapchat account, we will also receive certain information about you from Snapchat such as name and Bitmoji.
Information We Get When You Use Our Services
When you use our Services, we collect information about which of those Services you’ve used and how you’ve used them. Here’s a fuller explanation of the types of information we may collect when you use our Services:
- Usage Information. We collect information about your activity through our Services. For example, we may collect information about:
- how you interact with our Services, such as which pages you view the most, how often you use our Services, etc.
- how you communicate with other users on BeFriend, such as their names, the time and date of your communications, the number of messages you exchange with your friends, which friends you exchange messages with the most, and your interactions with messages (such as when you open a message).
- Content Information. We collect content you create on our Services and information about the content you create or provide, such as if the recipient has viewed the content and the metadata that is provided with the content.
- Device Information. We collect information from and about the devices you use.
- Camera and Photos. Some of our Services require us to collect images and other information from your device’s camera and photos.
- Location Information. When you use our Services we may collect information about your location with your permission. With your permission, we may also collect information about your precise location using methods that include GPS, wireless networks, cell towers, Wi-Fi access points, and other sensors, such as gyroscopes, accelerometers, and compasses.
- Information Collected by Cookies and Other Technologies. Like most online services and mobile applications, we may use cookies and other technologies, such as web beacons, web storage, and unique advertising identifiers, to collect information about your activity, browser, and device. Most web browsers are set to accept cookies by default. If you prefer, you can usually remove or reject browser cookies through the settings on your browser or device. Keep in mind, though, that removing or rejecting cookies could affect the availability and functionality of our services.
- Log Information. We also collect log information when you use our website. That information includes, among other things:
- details about how you’ve used our services.
- device information, such as your web browser type and language.
- access times and pages viewed.
- In App Purchase. When you subscribe to a paid service or make any other type of purchase or make a purchase directly from us (rather than through a platform such as iOS or Android), you provide us or our payment information.
Keeping your information private and secure is of our utmost importance. We take deep measures to ensure that we only collect information that you explicitly give us permission to. We will never try to trick you into giving us information nor will we abuse the information you give us. While we collect information to help you take full advantage of our product features, we understand if you feel uncomfortable giving us permission. If so, you are encouraged to deny giving us permission. You also have the ability to delete any information you have given us from our servers; for example, if you have given us permission to your Contacts, but no longer wish to have them stored in our servers, let us know at [email protected]. You can also delete your account or any other information from our servers by reaching us at that email.
Information We Collect from Third Parties
We may collect information about you from other users and third parties. For example, if another user uploads their contact list, we may combine information from that user’s contact list with other information we have collected about you.
III. How we use information
The information we collect is used to provide you with an amazing set of products and services that we relentlessly improve. Here are some ways we do that:
- develop, operate, improve, deliver, maintain, and protect our products and services.
- enhance the safety and security of our products and services.
- verify your identity and prevent fraud or other unauthorized or illegal activity.
- use the information we’ve collected from cookies and other technology to enhance our services and your experience with them.
- enforce our Terms of Service and other usage policies.
IV. How we share information
We may share information about you in the following ways:
- With other users on BeFriend. We may share the following information with other users:
- information about you, such as your name, interests, bio, gender, among others.
- any additional information you have directed us to share.
- content you post or send.
- With our business partners, and the general public.
- We may share the following information:
- public information like your name and album pictures.
- content that you have made public
- With third parties. We may share your information with the following third parties:
- With service providers. We may share information about you with service providers who perform services on our behalf.
- With business partners. We may share information about you with business partners that provide services and functionality.
- With third parties for legal reasons. We may share information about you if we reasonably believe that disclosing the information is needed to:
- 。comply with any valid legal process, governmental request, or applicable law, rule, or regulation.
- 。investigate, remedy, or enforce potential Terms of Service violations. protect the rights, property, and safety of us, our users, or others.
- 。detect and resolve any fraud or security concerns.
- With third parties as part of a merger or acquisition. If BeFriend gets involved in a merger, asset sale, financing, liquidation or bankruptcy, or acquisition of all or some portion of our business to another company, we may share your information with that company before and after the transaction closes.
We may also share with third parties—such as advertisers—aggregated, non-personally identifiable, or de-identified information.
V. Third-party Content and Integrations
Our services may also contain third-party links and search results, include third-party integrations, or offer a co-branded or third-party-branded service. Through these links, third-party integrations, and co-branded or third-party-branded services, you may be providing information (including personal information) directly to the third party, us, or both. You acknowledge and agree that we are not responsible for how those third parties collect or use your information. As always, we encourage you to review the privacy policies of every third-party service that you visit or use, including those third parties you interact with through our services.
VI. Revisions to the privacy policy
We may change this Privacy Policy from time to time.