Privacy Policy

Introduction

Welcome to Besties ("we," "our," or "us"). Besties is a social networking application designed for college students. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your information when you use our mobile application.

Please read this Privacy Policy carefully. By using Besties, you agree to the collection and use of information in accordance with this policy.

Information We Collect

Information You Provide to Us

We collect information you provide directly when you:

• Create an account: Email address (must be a valid .edu email), name, profile photos, graduation year, major, and student status.
• Complete your profile: Interests, bio, and other optional profile information you choose to share.
• Use the app: Posts, comments, messages, missed connections, hangout details, and friend requests.
• Contact us: Information you provide when you contact our support team.

Information Collected Automatically

When you use Besties, we automatically collect:

• Device information: Device type, operating system, unique device identifiers, and mobile network information.
• Usage data: How you interact with the app, features you use, and time spent on the app.
• Log data: IP address, access times, and pages viewed.
• Push notification tokens: If you enable push notifications, we collect your device token to send you notifications.

How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect to:

• Create and manage your account
• Verify that you are a college student
• Connect you with other students
• Display your profile to other users
• Enable messaging and social features
• Send push notifications for messages, friend requests, and activity
• Improve and optimize the app
• Respond to your support requests
• Ensure safety and security of our users
• Comply with legal obligations

How We Share Your Information

We share your information in the following ways:

• With other users: Your profile information (name, photos, major, year, interests) is visible to other Besties users. Messages and posts you create are shared with their intended recipients.
• Service providers: We use third-party services to help operate our app, including Firebase (Google) for authentication, database, storage, and cloud functions, and Expo for push notifications.
• Legal requirements: We may disclose your information if required by law or in response to valid legal requests.
• Safety: We may share information to protect the safety of our users or others.

We do not sell or share your personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising.

Third-Party Services

Besties uses the following third-party services:

• Firebase (Google): For user authentication, database storage, file storage, and cloud functions. Firebase Privacy Policy
• Expo: For push notification delivery. Expo Privacy Policy
• Apple Services: For iOS app distribution and in-app features. Apple Privacy Policy
• Google Play Services: For Android app distribution. Google Privacy Policy

These service providers process data only on our behalf and in accordance with our instructions.

Data Security

We implement appropriate technical and organizational security measures to protect your personal information, including:

• Secure HTTPS connections
• Firebase security rules to protect data access
• Email verification to ensure legitimate users
• Encrypted data transmission

However, no method of transmission over the internet is 100% secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

Data Retention and Deletion

We retain your personal information for as long as your account is active or as necessary to provide you with our services.

If you delete your account, we will delete or anonymize your personal information within 30 days, except where retention is required to:

• Comply with legal obligations (such as tax or accounting requirements)
• Detect, prevent, or address fraud or security issues
• Resolve disputes and enforce our agreements

Any information retained for these purposes will be limited to what is strictly necessary and will not be used for marketing or analytics purposes.

When we anonymize data, it means the information cannot reasonably be used to identify you and is used solely for statistical and analytical purposes.

Your Rights and Choices

You have the following rights regarding your information:

• Access: You can access your profile information within the app.
• Update: You can update your profile information at any time.
• Delete: You can delete your account directly within the app by going to Profile → Settings → Delete Account. This will permanently delete your account and associated data within 30 days.
• Notifications: You can manage push notification preferences in the app settings or your device settings.

Account Deletion

You can delete your Besties account at any time directly within the app:

• Open the Besties app
• Go to Profile → Settings → Delete Account
• Confirm your decision to delete

When you delete your account:

• Your personal data will be permanently deleted within 30 days
• Your profile, posts, messages, and other content will be removed
• We will instruct our service providers (Firebase, Expo) to delete your data
• Some information may be retained if required by law or to resolve disputes

You may also request account deletion by contacting us at support@allmybesties.com.

California Privacy Rights (CCPA/CPRA)

If you are a California resident, you have additional rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA):

• Right to Know: You have the right to know what personal information we collect, use, disclose, and sell.
• Right to Delete: You have the right to request deletion of your personal information.
• Right to Correct: You have the right to correct inaccurate personal information.
• Right to Opt-Out: You have the right to opt out of the sale or sharing of your personal information. We do not sell your personal information.
• Right to Non-Discrimination: We will not discriminate against you for exercising your privacy rights.

To exercise these rights, you can delete your account directly in the app, or contact us at support@allmybesties.com. We will respond to your request within 45 days, or notify you if an extension is required as permitted by law. We may need to verify your identity before processing certain requests to protect your personal information.

Children's Privacy

Besties is intended for users 18 years of age and older who are current college students. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18. If you believe we have collected information from someone under 18, please contact us immediately and we will delete it.

Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any changes by posting the new Privacy Policy on this page and updating the "Last updated" date. For material changes, we may also notify you through the app. You are advised to review this Privacy Policy periodically for any changes.

Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, wish to exercise your privacy rights, or have concerns about how your data is handled, please contact us: