Privacy Policy

Privacy Policy

Last updated: Jan 1 2024


Friending warrants to respect everyone’s privacy and to handle all the personal data with the utmost discretion and confidence . We inform you that all personal and any other data you provide can only be used by Friending and will not be disclosed to any third party, unless it is legally requested by the authorities or prescribed by a specific law. We are strongly committed to the protection of your internet data and will take all the technical, organizational and security measures to protect the information you share. For example, the use of SSL encryption for the overall protection of personal data is one of these,measures. However, you are also responsible for your own data and your privacy. Please, for your own safety, exercise the greatest discretion with regard to your personal data provided for the registration and throughout our services, as well as to your user name and password being indispensable for accessing and using the services. If you are visiting from the European Union or other regions with laws governing data collection and use, please note that you are agreeing to the transfer of your personal data, including sensitive data, by Friending from your region to countries which do not have data protection laws that provide the same level of protection that exists in countries in the European Economic Area, including the United States. By providing your personal information, you consent to any transfer and processing in accordance with this Policy.

 

Interpretation and Definitions

Interpretation The words of which the initial letter is capitalized have meanings defined under the following conditions. The following definitions shall have the same meaning regardless of whether they appear in singular or in plural.

Definitions For the purposes of this Privacy Policy:

friending (the "Service") is owned and operated by Friending, LLC (the "Company").

  • Account means a unique account created for You to access our Service or parts of our Service.
  • Company (referred to as either "the Company", "We", "Us" or "Our" in this Agreement) refers to Friending, LLC 2028 East Ben White Boulevard, Austin, Texas 78741 For the purpose of the GDPR, the Company is the Data Controller.
  • Consumer, for the purpose of the CCPA (California Consumer Privacy Act), means a natural person who is a California resident. A resident, as defined in the law, includes (1) every individual who is in the USA for other than a temporary or transitory purpose, and (2) every individual who is domiciled in the USA who is outside the USA for a temporary or transitory purpose.
  • Cookies are small files that are placed on Your computer, mobile device or any other device by a website, containing the details of Your browsing history on that website among its many uses.
  • Country refers to: Austin, United States
  • Data Controller, for the purposes of the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), refers to the Company as the legal person which alone or jointly with others determines the purposes and means of the processing of Personal Data.
  • Device means any device that can access the Service such as a computer, a cellphone or a digital tablet.
  • Do Not Track (DNT) is a concept that has been promoted by US regulatory authorities, in particular the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC), for the Internet industry to develop and implement a mechanism for allowing internet users to control the tracking of their online activities across websites.
  • Personal Data is any information that relates to an identified or identifiable individual. For the purposes for GDPR, Personal Data means any information relating to You such as a name, an identification number, location data, online identifier or to one or more factors specific to the physical, physiological, genetic, mental, economic, cultural or social identity. For the purposes of the CCPA, Personal Data means any information that identifies, relates to, describes or is capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly, with You.
  • Sale, for the purpose of the CCPA (California Consumer Privacy Act), means selling, renting, releasing, disclosing, disseminating, making available, transferring, or otherwise communicating orally, in writing, or by electronic or other means, a Consumer's personal information to another business or a third party for monetary or other valuable consideration.
  • Service refers to the Platform.
  • Service Provider means any natural or legal person who processes the data on behalf of the Company. It refers to third-party companies or individuals employed by the Company to facilitate the Service, to provide the Service on behalf of the Company, to perform services related to the Service or to assist the Company in analyzing how the Service is used. For the purpose of the GDPR, Service Providers are considered Data Processors.
  • Third-party Social Media Service refers to any website or any social network website through which a User can log in or create an account to use the Service.
  • Usage Data refers to data collected automatically, either generated by the use of the Service or from the Service infrastructure itself (for example, the duration of a page visit).
  • Website refers to friending, accessible from https://friending.com/
  • You means the individual accessing or using the Service, or the company, or other legal entity on behalf of which such individual is accessing or using the Service, as applicable. Under GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), You can be referred to as the Data Subject or as the User as you are the individual using the Service.

Collecting and Using Your Personal Data

Age Consent

friending is intended only for users who are 18+. If you have reason to believe someone under the age of 18 is using friending, please contact us at legal@friending.com. If you are under the age of 18, you must have your parent's or legal guardian's permission to use the Services. Please have them read this agreement with you.

Types of Data Collected

Personal Data While using Our Service, We may ask You to provide Us with certain personally identifiable information that can be used to contact or identify You. Personally identifiable information may include, but is not limited to:

  • Name / Username
  • Phone number
  • Email Addresses
  • Age
  • Password
  • Usage Data

Phone number: We collect and use your phone number to send you non-marketing SMS messages related to your account and interactions with our app. Your phone number and message history are stored securely and will not be shared with third parties except as necessary to provide the SMS service. You have the right to [access, correct, or] delete your phone number from our records at any time by deleting your account.

Usage Data Usage Data is collected automatically when using the Service. Usage Data may include information such as Your Device's Internet Protocol address (e.g. IP address), browser type, browser version, the pages of our Service that You visit, the time and date of Your visit, the time spent on those pages, unique device identifiers and other diagnostic data. When You access the Service by or through a mobile device, We may collect certain information automatically, including, but not limited to, the type of mobile device You use, Your mobile device unique ID, the IP address of Your mobile device, Your mobile operating system, the type of mobile Internet browser You use, unique device identifiers and other diagnostic data. We may also collect information that Your browser sends whenever You visit our Service or when You access the Service by or through a mobile device.

We also collect information from mobile devices for a better user experience, although these features are completely optional:

Location (GPS): Location data helps to create an accurate representation of your interests, and this can be used to bring more targeted and relevant ads to potential customers.

Consent for Accessing Data

Upon your explicit consent, we may request access to the contacts on your device. This access serves several purposes:

  • Invitations: Facilitate the process of inviting your friends to join the friending platform.
  • Discovery of Existing Connections: Enable you to discover existing friends or acquaintances who are already part of the friending community.
  • Enhanced Networking: By retaining and processing your contacts' data, we aim to enhance your networking experience on the friending platform. This includes:
    • Identifying mutual friends.
    • Suggesting potential connections based on friends of friends or other commonalities.

Your decision to provide access to your contacts is entirely voluntary. Here are some things you should know if you choose to grant us this access:

  • Service Enhancement: We use this data primarily to enrich your user experience and help you find meaningful connections on the platform. Our goal is to foster genuine interactions and community growth.
  • Data Retention: While we retain your contacts' information to improve our services, we're committed to ensuring the security of this data. We implement best practice security measures and work diligently to prevent unauthorized access.
  • Data Privacy: Your contacts' information is not shared with any external parties or used for any other undisclosed activities.
  • Revoking Consent: You can revoke this consent at any point through your device or application settings, though this may limit some functionality of the app.

Please note that your contacts will not be automatically notified or contacted by friending unless you specifically initiate such an action.

No mobile information will be shared with third parties/affiliates for marketing/promotional purposes. All the above categories exclude text messaging originator opt-in data and consent; this information will not be shared with any third parties.

Information from Third-Party Social Media Services The Company may allow You to create an account and log in to use the Service through the following Third-party Social Media Services:

  • Google
  • Facebook

If You decide to register through or otherwise grant us access to a Third-Party Social Media Service, We may collect Personal data that is already associated with Your Third-Party Social Media Service's account, such as Your name, Your email address, Your activities or Your contact list associated with that account. You may also have the option of sharing additional information with the Company through Your Third-Party Social Media Service's account. If You choose to provide such information and Personal Data, during registration or otherwise, You are giving the Company permission to use, share, and store it in a manner consistent with this Privacy Policy.

Tracking Technologies and Cookies We use Cookies and similar tracking technologies to track the activity on Our Service and store certain information. Tracking technologies used are beacons, tags, and scripts to collect and track information and to improve and analyze Our Service. The technologies We use may include:

  • Cookies or Browser Cookies. A cookie is a small file placed on Your Device. You can instruct Your browser to refuse all Cookies or to indicate when a Cookie is being sent. However, if You do not accept Cookies, You may not be able to use some parts of our Service. Unless you have adjusted Your browser setting so that it will refuse Cookies, our Service may use Cookies.
  • Web Beacons. Certain sections of our Service and our emails may contain small electronic files known as web beacons (also referred to as clear gifs, pixel tags, and single-pixel gifs) that permit the Company, for example, to count users who have visited those pages or opened an email and for other related website statistics (for example, recording the popularity of a certain section and verifying system and server integrity). Cookies can be "Persistent" or "Session" Cookies. Persistent Cookies remain on Your personal computer or mobile device when You go offline, while Session Cookies are deleted as soon as You close Your web browser. You can learn more about cookies here: Cookies by TermsFeed Generator We use both Session and Persistent Cookies for the purposes set out below:
  • Necessary / Essential Cookies Type: Session Cookies Administered by: Us Purpose: These Cookies are essential to provide You with services available through the Website and to enable You to use some of its features. They help to authenticate users and prevent fraudulent use of user accounts. Without these Cookies, the services that You have asked for cannot be provided, and We only use these Cookies to provide You with those services.
  • Cookies Policy / Notice Acceptance Cookies Type: Persistent Cookies Administered by: Us Purpose: These Cookies identify if users have accepted the use of cookies on the Website.
  • Functionality Cookies Type: Persistent Cookies Administered by: Us Purpose: These Cookies allow us to remember choices You make when You use the Website, such as remembering your login details or language preference. The purpose of these Cookies is to provide You with a more personal experience and to avoid You having to re-enter your preferences every time You use the Website.
  • Tracking and Performance Cookies Type: Persistent Cookies Administered by: Third-Parties Purpose: These Cookies are used to track information about traffic to the Website and how users use the Website. The information gathered via these Cookies may directly or indirectly identify you as an individual visitor. This is because the information collected is typically linked to a pseudonymous identifier associated with the device you use to access the Website. We may also use these Cookies to test new pages, features or new functionality of the Website to see how our users react to them. For more information about the cookies we use and your choices regarding cookies, please visit our Cookies Policy or the Cookies section of our Privacy Policy.

Use of Your Personal Data The Company may use Personal Data for the following purposes:

  • To provide and maintain our Service, including to monitor the usage of our Service.
  • To manage Your Account: to manage Your registration as a user of the Service. The Personal Data You provide can give You access to different functionalities of the Service that are available to You as a registered user.
  • For the performance of a contract: the development, compliance and undertaking of the purchase contract for the products, items or services You have purchased or of any other contract with Us through the Service.
  • To contact You: To contact You by email or other equivalent forms of electronic communication, such as a mobile application's push notifications regarding updates or informative communications related to the functionalities, products or contracted services, including the security updates, when necessary or reasonable for their implementation.
  • To provide You with news, special offers and general information about other goods, services and events which we offer that are similar to those that you have already purchased or enquired about unless You have opted not to receive such information.
  • To manage Your requests: To attend and manage Your requests to Us.

Retention of Your Personal Data The Company will retain Your Personal Data only for as long as is necessary for the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy. We will retain and use Your Personal Data to the extent necessary to comply with our legal obligations (for example, if we are required to retain your data to comply with applicable laws), resolve disputes, and enforce our legal agreements and policies. The Company will also retain Usage Data for internal analysis purposes. Usage Data is generally retained for a shorter period of time, except when this data is used to strengthen the security or to improve the functionality of Our Service, or We are legally obligated to retain this data for longer time periods.

Other legal requirements The Company may disclose Your Personal Data in the good faith belief that such action is necessary to:

  • Comply with a legal obligation
  • Protect and defend the rights or property of the Company
  • Prevent or investigate possible wrongdoing in connection with the Service
  • Protect the personal safety of Users of the Service or the public
  • Protect against legal liability Security of Your Personal Data The security of Your Personal Data is important to Us, but remember that no method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage is 100% secure. While We strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect Your Personal Data, We cannot guarantee its absolute security. Detailed Information on the Processing of Your Personal Data The Service Providers We use may have access to Your Personal Data. These third-party vendors collect, store, use, process and transfer information about Your activity on Our Service in accordance with their Privacy Policies. Analytics We may use third-party Service providers to monitor and analyze the use of our Service.
  • Google Analytics Google Analytics is a web analytics service offered by Google that tracks and reports website traffic. Google uses the data collected to track and monitor the use of our Service. This data is shared with other Google services. Google may use the collected data to contextualize and personalize the ads of its own advertising network. You can opt-out of having made your activity on the Service available to Google Analytics by installing the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on. The add-on prevents the Google Analytics JavaScript (ga.js, analytics.js and dc.js) from sharing information with Google Analytics about visits activity. For more information on the privacy practices of Google, please visit the Google Privacy & Terms web page: https://policies.google.com/privacy
  • Amplitude Their Privacy Policy can be viewed at https://amplitude.com/privacy
  • Firebase Their Privacy Policy can be viewed at https://firebase.google.com/support/privacy

Email Marketing We may use Your Personal Data to contact You with newsletters, marketing or promotional materials and other information that may be of interest to You. You may opt-out of receiving any, or all, of these communications from Us by following the unsubscribe link or instructions provided in any email We send or by contacting Us. We may use Email Marketing Service Providers to manage and send emails to You.

  • Mailchimp Mailchimp is an email marketing sending service provided by The Rocket Science Group LLC. For more information on the privacy practices of Mailchimp, please visit their Privacy policy: https://mailchimp.com/legal/privacy/
  • Invisible reCAPTCHA We use an invisible captcha service named reCAPTCHA. reCAPTCHA is operated by Google. The reCAPTCHA service may collect information from You and from Your Device for security purposes. The information gathered by reCAPTCHA is held in accordance with the Privacy Policy of Google: https://www.google.com/intl/en/policies/privacy/

Profile Verification Information

  • For safety and security and to ensure you have the best possible user experience, we require Users to verify their accounts and might ask for your phone number and, in some instances, we might also ask that you carry out photo verification. We want to make sure you are not a robot! And we also want to avoid fake Friending accounts being created which can be used for malicious activities and cybercrime – they threaten the Friending network and spoil things for everyone. This verification might be required by us for the prevention of fraud. You can also verify your photo on a voluntary basis (to add the ‘verified’ badge to your profile).
  • If you choose to verify your profile photo, we will scan each photo that you submit. We do not add the verification photos to your profile. We retain the scans so that we can verify you in the future and for our record-keeping purposes until we no longer need them for such purposes or for three years after your last interaction with us, whichever occurs first. After the applicable retention period expires, we take commercially reasonable steps to permanently and securely delete the scans from our systems.

GDPR Privacy Legal Basis for Processing Personal Data under GDPR We may process Personal Data under the following conditions:

  • Consent: You have given Your consent for processing Personal Data for one or more specific purposes.
  • Performance of a contract: Provision of Personal Data is necessary for the performance of an agreement with You and/or for any pre-contractual obligations thereof.
  • Legal obligations: Processing Personal Data is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which the Company is subject.
  • Vital interests: Processing Personal Data is necessary in order to protect Your vital interests or of another natural person.
  • Public interests: Processing Personal Data is related to a task that is carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the Company.
  • Legitimate interests: Processing Personal Data is necessary for the purposes of the legitimate interests pursued by the Company. In any case, the Company will gladly help to clarify the specific legal basis that applies to the processing, and in particular whether the provision of Personal Data is a statutory or contractual requirement, or a requirement necessary to enter into a contract. Your Rights under the GDPR The Company undertakes to respect the confidentiality of Your Personal Data and to guarantee You can exercise Your rights. You have the right under this Privacy Policy, and by law if You are within the EU, to:
  • Request access to Your Personal Data. The right to access, update or delete the information We have on You. Whenever made possible, you can access, update or request deletion of Your Personal Data directly within Your account settings section. If you are unable to perform these actions yourself, please contact Us to assist You. This also enables You to receive a copy of the Personal Data We hold about You.
  • Request correction of the Personal Data that We hold about You. You have the right to have any incomplete or inaccurate information We hold about You corrected.
  • Object to processing of Your Personal Data. This right exists where We are relying on a legitimate interest as the legal basis for Our processing and there is something about Your particular situation, which makes You want to object to our processing of Your Personal Data on this ground. You also have the right to object where We are processing Your Personal Data for direct marketing purposes.
  • Request erasure of Your Personal Data. You have the right to ask Us to delete or remove Personal Data when there is no good reason for Us to continue processing it.
  • Request the transfer of Your Personal Data. We will provide to You, or to a third-party You have chosen, Your Personal Data in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format. Please note that this right only applies to automated information which You initially provided consent for Us to use or where We used the information to perform a contract with You.
  • Withdraw Your consent. You have the right to withdraw Your consent on using your Personal Data. If You withdraw Your consent, We may not be able to provide You with access to certain specific functionalities of the Service.

Exercising of Your GDPR Data Protection Rights You may exercise Your rights of access, rectification, cancellation and opposition by contacting Us. Please note that we may ask You to verify Your identity before responding to such requests. If You make a request, We will try our best to respond to You as soon as possible. You have the right to complain to a Data Protection Authority about Our collection and use of Your Personal Data. For more information, if You are in the European Economic Area (EEA), please contact Your local data protection authority in the EEA.

Sources of Personal Information We obtain the categories of personal information listed above from the following categories of sources:

  • Directly from You. For example, from the forms You complete on our Service, preferences You express or provide through our Service, or from Your purchases on our Service.
  • Indirectly from You. For example, from observing Your activity on our Service.
  • Automatically from You. For example, through cookies We or our Service Providers set on Your Device as You navigate through our Service.
  • From Service Providers. For example, third-party vendors to monitor and analyze the use of our Service, third-party vendors for payment processing, or other third-party vendors that We use to provide the Service to You.

Use of Personal Information for Business Purposes or Commercial Purposes We may use or disclose personal information We collect for "business purposes" or "commercial purposes" (as defined under the CCPA), which may include the following examples:

  • To operate our Service and provide You with our Service.
  • To provide You with support and to respond to Your inquiries, including to investigate and address Your concerns and monitor and improve our Service.
  • To fulfill or meet the reason You provided the information. For example, if You share Your contact information to ask a question about our Service, We will use that personal information to respond to Your inquiry. If You provide Your personal information to purchase a product or service, We will use that information to process Your payment and facilitate delivery.
  • To respond to law enforcement requests and as required by applicable law, court order, or governmental regulations.
  • As described to You when collecting Your personal information or as otherwise set forth in the CCPA.
  • For internal administrative and auditing purposes.
  • To detect security incidents and protect against malicious, deceptive, fraudulent or illegal activity, including, when necessary, to prosecute those responsible for such activities. Please note that the examples provided above are illustrative and not intended to be exhaustive. For more details on how we use this information, please refer to the "Use of Your Personal Data" section. If We decide to collect additional categories of personal information or use the personal information We collected for materially different, unrelated, or incompatible purposes We will update this Privacy Policy.

Exercising Your CCPA Data Protection Rights In order to exercise any of Your rights under the CCPA, and if You are a California resident, You can contact Us:

  • By email: legal@friending.com. Only You, or a person registered with the California Secretary of State that You authorize to act on Your behalf, may make a verifiable request related to Your personal information. Your request to Us must:
  • Provide sufficient information that allows Us to reasonably verify You are the person about whom We collected personal information or an authorized representative
  • Describe Your request with sufficient detail that allows Us to properly understand, evaluate, and respond to it We cannot respond to Your request or provide You with the required information if We cannot:
  • Verify Your identity or authority to make the request
  • And confirm that the personal information relates to You We will disclose and deliver the required information free of charge within 45 days of receiving Your verifiable request. The time period to provide the required information may be extended once by an additional 45 days when reasonable necessary and with prior notice. Any disclosures We provide will only cover the 12-month period preceding the verifiable request's receipt. For data portability requests, We will select a format to provide Your personal information that is readily useable and should allow You to transmit the information from one entity to another entity without hindrance.

"Do Not Track" Policy as Required by California Online Privacy Protection Act (CalOPPA) Our Service does not respond to Do Not Track signals. However, some third party websites do keep track of Your browsing activities. If You are visiting such websites, You can set Your preferences in Your web browser to inform websites that You do not want to be tracked. You can enable or disable DNT by visiting the preferences or settings page of Your web browser.

Your California Privacy Rights (California's Shine the Light law) Under California Civil Code Section 1798 (California's Shine the Light law), California residents with an established business relationship with us can request information once a year about sharing their Personal Data with third parties for the third parties' direct marketing purposes. If you'd like to request more information under the California Shine the Light law, and if You are a California resident, You can contact Us using the contact information provided below.

California Privacy Rights for Minor Users (California Business and Professions Code Section 22581) California Business and Professions Code section 22581 allow California residents under the age of 18 who are registered users of online sites, services or applications to request and obtain removal of content or information they have publicly posted. To request removal of such data, and if You are a California resident, You can contact Us using the contact information provided below, and include the email address associated with Your account. Be aware that Your request does not guarantee complete or comprehensive removal of content or information posted online and that the law may not permit or require removal in certain circumstances.

Links to Other Websites Our Service may contain links to other websites that are not operated by Us. If You click on a third party link, You will be directed to that third party's site. We strongly advise You to review the Privacy Policy of every site You visit. We have no control over and assume no responsibility for the content, privacy policies or practices of any third party sites or services.

Changes to this Privacy Policy We may update Our Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify You of any changes by posting the new Privacy Policy on this page. We will let You know via email and/or a prominent notice on Our Service, prior to the change becoming effective and update the "Last updated" date at the top of this Privacy Policy. You are advised to review this Privacy Policy periodically for any changes. Changes to this Privacy Policy are effective when they are posted on this page.

Submissions and Privacy In the event that you submit or post any ideas, creative suggestions, designs, photographs, information, advertisements, data or proposals, including ideas for new or improved products, services, features, technologies or promotions, you expressly agree that such submissions will automatically be treated as non-confidential and non-proprietary and will become the sole property of Are You In without any compensation or credit to you whatsoever. Are You In and its affiliates shall have no obligations with respect to such submissions or posts and may use the ideas contained in such submissions or posts for any purposes in any medium in perpetuity, including, but not limited to, developing, manufacturing, and marketing products and services using such ideas.

Copyright Infringement Notice If you are a copyright owner or such owner’s agent and believe any material on our website/app constitutes an infringement on your copyright, please contact us setting forth the following information: (a) a physical or electronic signature of the copyright owner or a person authorized to act on his behalf; (b) identification of the material that is claimed to be infringing; (c) your contact information, including your address, telephone number, and an email; (d) a statement by you that you have a good faith belief that use of the material is not authorized by the copyright owners; and (e) the a statement that the information in the notification is accurate, and, under penalty of perjury you are authorized to act on behalf of the owner

No Warranties The website/app is provided to you "AS IS" and "AS AVAILABLE" and with all faults and defects without warranty of any kind. To the maximum extent permitted under applicable law, Are You In, on its own behalf and on behalf of its affiliates and its and their respective licensors and service providers, expressly disclaims all warranties, whether express, implied, statutory or otherwise, with respect to the website/app, including all implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title and non-infringement, and warranties that may arise out of course of dealing, course of performance, usage or trade practice. Without limitation to the foregoing, Are You In provides no warranty or undertaking, and makes no representation of any kind that the website/app will meet your requirements, achieve any intended results, be compatible or work with any other software, , systems or services, operate without interruption, meet any performance or reliability standards or be error free or that any errors or defects can or will be corrected.

SMS verification service

Our SMS verification service designed to enhance the security of your sign-ins and sign-ups. By opting in, you can expect to receive a single SMS message containing a verification code to confirm your phone number during the sign-in or sign-up process.

You can cancel the SMS service at any time. Simply text "STOP" to the shortcode. Upon sending "STOP," we will confirm your unsubscribe status via SMS. Following this confirmation, you will no longer receive SMS messages from us. To rejoin, sign up as you did initially, and we will resume sending SMS messages to you.

If you experience issues with the messaging program, reply with the keyword HELP for more assistance, or reach out directly to support@friending.com.

Carriers are not liable for delayed or undelivered messages.

As always, message and data rates may apply for messages sent to you from us and to us from you. For questions about your text plan or data plan, contact your wireless provider.

How to contact us:

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us by email or postal mail as follows:

Friending LLC.

2028 East Ben White Boulevard, Suite 240

Austin, Texas 78741

hello@friending.com