Effective date: April 9, 2024
The website fide.co and the Fide mobile application (collectively, the “Application") is owned and operated by Focal App, Inc. d/b/a Fide (“Company,” “we,” “our,” or “us”). The Application provides a mobile application which allows communication with your friends and other users of the Application and provides information related to the mobile application (the “Services”).
This Privacy Policy informs you of our policies regarding the collection, use, and disclosure of personal information when you use our Application and Services and the choices you have associated with that information.
We collect your information only when you provide it to us, arrange your settings to share it with us, or when you are using the Application. We collect only the minimum amount of information necessary to perform and improve the Services. We do not sell or rent your information to third parties.
Table of Contents
Information We Collect
Personal Information
While using our Services, we may ask you to provide us, or we may collect certain personal information that can be used to contact or identify you (“Personal Information”).
We collect the following Personal Information when you register for an account with the Application, when you choose to provide to us or allow us to access such information, when you contact us to request information regarding our Services, or when you otherwise use the Services.
When you sign up for an account on the Application, we will collect your name, mobile phone number, date of birth, and mobile device id (collectively “Identifiers”).
When using the Application, you may choose to provide us with your name, phone number, a photograph or video for a profile image, your contact list if choose to share it with us, feedback, survey responses, other information you may voluntarily share in your profile or in any messages to us (collectively, “User Information”).
When you access and use the Application, we will collect information on how you use the Application, such as when you use the Application, who you friend with, your login behavior, your messaging behavior, the time of your visit, pages visited, and time spent on each page of the webpages or on the application (collectively, “Usage Information”)
We also collect analytical information such as referring site details, network location, browser type, operating system, IP address, and device information when you use the Application (collectively “Analytical Information”).
How We Use Your Information
We use your Personal Information to provide you the Services, and to receive and respond to your inquiries about products, services, or support. To address your questions, we may subsequently need to request additional information. We may use your Personal Information to contact you about products or services that we believe may be of interest to you. We will use your Personal Information to register your account. We may also review your Personal Information, including content you send in messages, for any reason including safety and moderation purposes. We may use User Information to provide you more personalized Services, ensure we comply with local laws, to improve our Services, to contact you about our Services, and for security purposes. We may also use your contacts to help you find your friends in the Application and to allow you to text invites to friends. We use your Usage Information to track your movement on the Application to improve our product, improve our layout and page arrangement, and improve the functionality and features of the Application. When you use the Application and Services, we automatically collect and use Analytical Information in order for us to track your movement on the Application to improve our product, improve our layout and page arrangement; receive information on your browser type to ensure our Application remains compatible with the browsers used by our customers; improve your experience with our Services; and to promote our Services. We use your Analytical Information in the aggregate to determine market trends and trends in customer behavior.
Your Choices
You may limit collection of certain of your Personal Information by not sharing it with us. However, please be advised that if you limit the collection of your information, all of the features of the Services may not be available (such as identifying and linking with your contacts), the Services may not function properly, and we may not be able to respond to your questions. We store your information for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined in this Privacy Policy unless a longer period is permitted or required by law.
Cookies
We do not currently use cookies at this time. In general, you can find out more about cookies and how to manage them by visiting www.AboutCookies.org. You can understand which third parties have currently enabled cookies for your browser or mobile device and how to opt-out of some of those cookies by accessing the Network Advertising Initiative’s website or the Digital Advertising Alliance’s website. For more information on mobile specific opt-out choices, visit the Network Advertising Initiative’s Mobile Choices website.
Google Analytics
We use Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google, Inc. Google Analytics uses Cookies or other tracking technologies to help us analyze how users interact with the Application and Services, compile reports on their activity, and provide other services related to their activity and usage. The technologies used by Google may collect information such as your IP address, time of visit, whether you are a returning visitor, and any referring website. The technologies used by Google Analytics do not gather information that personally identifies you. The information generated by Google Analytics will be transmitted to and stored by Google and will be subject to Google’s privacy policies. To learn more about Google’s partner services and to learn how to opt-out of tracking of analytics by Google, click here.
Interest-Based Ads
Unaffiliated third parties may use cookies and other technologies on third-party websites to collect information about your online activities over time and across different websites you visit in order to provide you with interest-based advertising. You can generally opt-out of receiving interest-based advertisements from members of the Network Advertising Initiative by clicking here or the Digital Advertising Alliance by clicking here. When you opt-out using these links, please note that you may still receive advertisements. However, advertisements will not be personalized based on your interests.
Do Not Track
Some internet browsers incorporate a “Do Not Track” feature that signals to websites you visit that you do not want to have your online activity tracked. Given that there is not a uniform way that browsers communicate the “Do Not Track” signal, the website does not currently interpret, respond to, or alter its practices when it receives “Do Not Track” signals.
Service Providers
We may employ third-party companies and individuals to facilitate our Services ("Service Providers"), to provide the Services on our behalf, and to assist us in analyzing how our Services are used. We take commercially reasonable measures to contract with Service Providers that implement commercially reasonable protections when processing your Personal Information.
Links to Other Sites
Our Services 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 website. We strongly advise you to review the Privacy Policy of every website you visit. We have no control over and assume no responsibility for the content, privacy policies, or practices of any third-party websites or services.
Security
We maintain reasonable technical safeguards to protect the security, integrity, and privacy of your Personal Information. However, no method of Internet transmission or electronic storage is 100% secure or error-free, so it is never possible to guarantee absolute security.
Notice to Nevada Residents
Nevada law allows Nevada residents to opt out of the sale of certain types of personal information. Subject to several exceptions, Nevada law defines “sale” to mean the exchange of certain types of personal information for monetary consideration to a person for the person to license or sell the information to additional persons. We do not currently sell personal information as defined in the Nevada law. However, if you are a Nevada resident, you still may submit a verified request to opt out of sales and we will record your instructions and incorporate them in the future if our policy changes. Opt-out requests may be sent to us through one of the methods provided in the “Contact Us” section below and put “Nevada Opt-Out” in the subject line.
Notice to Utah residents
We do not disclose your personal information to any third party for such third party’s direct marketing purposes.
Commitment to Children’s Privacy
In compliance with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, 15 U.S.C. §§ 6501-06 and 16 C.F.R., §§ 312.1-312.12, this Application does not collect information from children under thirteen (13) years of age, and we do not intentionally collect information from persons under thirteen (13) years of age. Use of the Services is limited to users that are thirteen (13) years of age and older. By using the Application, you represent and warrant that you are either (a) eighteen (18) years of age or over, or (b) that you are between 13-18 years of age and have the consent of your parent or guardian to use the Application.
Notice to Residents of the European Economic Area, EU, and UK
We are not offering the Application to users who reside in the European Union, the European Economic Area, and the United Kingdom. We do not target advertising to residents of these regions. Residents of the European Union, the European Economic Area, and the United Kingdom are not allowed to use the Application.
Notice to California Residents
The CCPA defines “personal information” to mean information that identifies, relates to, describes, is reasonably capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly, with a particular California resident or household. Personal information does not include publicly available, deidentified or aggregated information. For purposes of this “Notice to California Residents” section we will refer to this information as “Personal Information.”
The CCPA defines “personal information” to mean information that identifies, relates to, describes, is reasonably capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly, with a particular California resident or household. Personal information does not include publicly available, deidentified or aggregated information. For purposes of this “Notice to California Residents” section we will refer to this information as “Personal Information.”
Right to Know About Personal Information Collected, Disclosed, or Sold
If you are a California resident, you have the right to request that we disclose what Personal Information we have collected about you in the 12-month period preceding your request. This right includes the right to request any or all of the following:
Specific pieces of Personal Information that we have collected about you;
Categories of Personal Information that we have collected about you;
Categories of sources from which the Personal Information was collected;
Categories of Personal Information that we sold (if applicable) or disclosed for a business purpose about you;
Categories of third parties to whom the Personal Information was sold (if applicable) or disclosed for a business purpose; and
The business or commercial purpose for collecting or, if applicable, selling Personal Information.
The CCPA defines “sell” to mean selling, renting, releasing, disclosing, disseminating, making available, transferring, or otherwise communicating orally, in writing, or by electronic or other means, a California resident’s Personal Information to another business or a third party for monetary or other valuable consideration.
Collection of Personal Information
We currently collect and, in the 12 months prior to the “last updated” date of this Privacy Policy, have collected the following categories of Personal Information about California residents directly from them and from advertising networks, internet service providers, operating systems and platforms, and social networks:
Identifiers (name, Internet protocol address)
Unique personal identifiers (device identifier; mobile ad identifiers, or other similar technology; telephone numbers)
Internet or other electronic network activity information (browsing history; search history; and information regarding consumer’s interaction with website, application, or advertisement)
Geolocation data (in the form of IP address)
Characteristics of protected classifications under California or federal law (age)
In addition to the purposes stated above in the section “Collecting and Using Information” we currently collect, and have collected, the above categories of Personal Information for the following business or commercial purposes:
Auditing related to a current interaction with the consumer and concurrent transactions, including, but not limited to, counting ad impressions to unique visitors, verifying positioning and quality of ad impressions, and auditing compliance with this specification and other standards
Detecting security incidents, protecting against malicious, deceptive, fraudulent, or illegal activity, and prosecuting those responsible for that activity
Debugging to identify and repair errors that impair existing intended functionality
Short-term, transient use, provided that the personal information is not disclosed to another third party and is not used to build a profile about a consumer or otherwise alter an individual consumer’s experience outside the current interaction, including, but not limited to, the contextual customization of ads shown as part of the same interaction
Performing services on behalf of the business or service provider, including maintaining or servicing accounts, providing customer service, processing, or fulfilling orders and transactions, verifying customer information, processing payments, providing financing, providing advertising or marketing services, providing analytic services, or providing similar services on behalf of the business or service provider
Undertaking internal research for technological development and demonstration.
Undertaking activities to verify or maintain the quality or safety of a service or device that is owned, manufactured, manufactured for, or controlled by the business, and to improve, upgrade, or enhance the service or device that is owned, manufactured, manufactured for, or controlled by the business
Advancing a person’s commercial or economic interests, such as by inducing another person to buy, rent, lease, join, subscribe to, provide, or exchange products, goods, property, information, or services, or enabling or effecting, directly or indirectly, a commercial transaction
Disclosure of Personal Information
The following table identifies the categories of Personal Information that we disclosed for a business purpose in the 12 months preceding the “last updated” date of this Privacy Policy and, for each category, the category of third parties to whom the Personal Information was disclosed. We did not sell Personal Information to third parties in the 12 months preceding the “last updated” date of this Privacy Policy.
Category of Personal Information
Category of Third Parties to Whom Information was Disclosed
Name
Cloud computing service provider
Photograph and biometric identifiers
Cloud computing service provider
IP address
Cloud computing service provider
Fraud detection and prevention provider
Analytics Service Provider
Device identifier
Cloud computing service provider
Analytics Service Provider
Telephone number
Cloud computing service provider
Website Browsing history
Cloud computing service provider
Analytics Service Provider
Online Marketing/Advertising Service Providers
Information regarding consumer's interaction with website, application, or advertisement
Cloud computing service provider
Marketing service provider
Analytics Service Provider
Online Marketing/Advertising Service Providers
Geolocation data (from IP address)
Cloud computing service provider
Age
Cloud computing service provider
Right to Request Deletion of Personal Information
If you are a California resident, you have the right to request that we delete the Personal Information about you that we have collected. However, per the CCPA, we are not required to comply with a request to delete if it is necessary for us to maintain the Personal Information in order to, for example, complete a transaction, detect security incidents, comply with a legal obligation, or otherwise use the Personal Information, internally, in a lawful manner that is compatible with the context in which you provided the information.
How to Submit a Request to Know or Delete
Because we operate exclusively online, you may submit a request to know or delete in the Settings page of the Application.
Our Process for Verifying a Request to Know or Delete
If we determine that your request is subject to an exemption or exception, we will notify you of our determination. If we determine that your request is not subject to an exemption or exception, we will comply with your request upon verification of your identity and, to the extent applicable, the identity of the California resident on whose behalf you are making such request. We will verify your identity either to a “reasonable degree of certainty” or a “reasonably high degree of certainty” depending on the sensitivity of the Personal Information and the risk of harm to you by unauthorized disclosure or deletion as applicable.
Registered users of the Application may only submit a request to know or delete through the link provided only when you are logged into your account through the Application. For unregistered visitors to the Application, for requests to know categories of Personal Information and for requests to delete Personal Information that is not sensitive and does not pose a risk of harm by unauthorized deletion, we will verify your identity to a “reasonable degree of certainty” by verifying at least two data points that you previously provided to us and which we have determined to be reliable for the purpose of verifying identities.
For requests to know specific pieces of Personal Information or for requests to delete Personal Information that is sensitive and poses a risk of harm by unauthorized deletion, we will verify your identity to a “reasonably high degree of certainty” by verifying at least three pieces of Personal Information previously provided to us and which we have determined to be reliable for the purpose of verifying identities. In addition, you will be required to submit a signed declaration under penalty of perjury stating that you are the individual whose Personal Information is being requested.
Right to Opt-Out of Sale of Personal Information
If you are a California resident, you have the right to direct businesses to stop selling your Personal Information. We do not sell Personal Information as it is defined in the CCPA, so this right is not available and does not currently apply to our collection and use of Personal Information.
Right to Non-Discrimination for the Exercise of a California Resident’s Privacy Rights
We will not discriminate against California residents if they exercise any of the rights provided in the CCPA as described in this section “Notice to California Residents.” As such, we will not deny goods or services to that California resident; charge different prices or rates for goods or services, including through the use of discounts or other benefits or imposing penalties; provide a different level or quality of goods or services to the California resident; or suggest that the California resident will receive a different price or rate for goods or services or a different level or quality of goods or services. However, we are permitted to charge a California resident a different price or rate or provide a different level or quality of goods or services, if that difference is reasonably related to the value provided to us by the individual’s data.
Authorized Agents
If you are submitting a request on behalf of a California resident, please submit the request through one of the designated methods discussed above. After submitting the request, and if the request is not subject to an exemption or exception, we will require additional information to verify your authority to act on behalf of the California resident.
Shine the Light Law
We do not disclose personal information obtained through our Application or Services to third parties for their direct marketing purposes. Accordingly, we have no obligations under California Civil Code § 1798.83.
Accessibility
We are committed to ensuring this Privacy Policy is accessible to individuals with disabilities. If you wish to access this Privacy Policy in an alternative format, please contact us as described below.
Changes to this Privacy Policy
We reserve the right to change, modify or otherwise update this policy at any time. Unless otherwise noted, any changes to this Privacy Policy will be effective immediately. If any changes are material, we may provide you notice of such changes by posting notice on the website or by other means.
How to Contact Us
Please contact us per below for questions or concerns about our privacy policies or practices.
Focal App Inc., d/b/a Fide
hello@fide.co