Privacy Policy

Last Updated: January 7, 2025

At Sonaara ("we," "us," or "our"), we are committed to protecting your privacy and ensuring the security of your personal information. This Privacy Policy ("Policy") explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your information when you use our mobile application, website, and services (collectively, the "Services").

By using our Services, you acknowledge that you have read, understood, and agree to the practices described in this Policy. If you do not agree with these practices, please do not use our Services.

1. Information We Collect

1.1 Information You Provide

  • **Registration Information:** name, email, phone number, date of birth, gender
  • **Profile Information:** photos, interests, preferences, bio, and other optional details you choose to provide
  • **Location Data:** current location, preferred meeting areas
  • **Communication Data:** messages, feedback, support inquiries
  • **Device Information:** device type, operating system, browser type (if applicable)
  • **Contact Information:** phone number (for account verification and SMS communications), email address (for account communications and notifications), and any other contact details you provide when creating an account, joining a waitlist, or using our Services

Important: SMS and Email Opt-In

By providing your phone number and/or email address to Sonaara (whether through account registration, phone verification, waitlist signup, or any other means), you expressly consent and opt in to receive communications from us via SMS (text messages), email, and push notifications. This consent includes both transactional messages (such as account verification) and marketing messages (such as promotional offers and updates), subject to your preferences and applicable law.

You can opt out of marketing communications at any time by replying STOP to SMS messages, clicking "Unsubscribe" in emails, or adjusting your preferences in your account settings. However, you may continue to receive essential transactional messages necessary for the operation of your account.

1.2 Automatically Collected Information

  • **Usage Data:** app interactions, features used, time spent, referral URLs
  • **Technical Data:** IP address, unique device identifiers, access times
  • **Location Data:** GPS, Wi-Fi access points, cell towers, approximate and/or precise location as permitted by your device settings
  • **Cookies and Tracking Technologies:** we may use cookies, web beacons, and similar technologies to collect and store information about your use of our Services

2. How We Use Your Information

  • **Provide and Maintain Our Services:** operate, troubleshoot, and improve the Services
  • **Personalize Your Experience:** match you with potential connections based on location and preferences
  • **Verify Identity and Prevent Fraud:** confirm user identities through phone verification, detect suspicious activity, and maintain account security
  • **Communications:** send important notifications, updates, and safety alerts via SMS, email, and push notifications
  • **Marketing Communications:** send promotional offers, feature announcements, event invitations, tips for using the platform, and other marketing messages via SMS and email (with your consent and subject to your preferences)
  • **Transactional Messages:** send account-related messages such as verification codes, password resets, security alerts, account status updates, and other essential communications necessary for the operation of your account
  • **Community Engagement:** notify you about new users in your area, activity updates, connection opportunities, and community-related information
  • **Improve Our Services:** analyze usage to develop new features and enhance user experience
  • **Ensure Platform Safety and Security:** monitor activities to maintain a secure environment
  • **Compliance and Legal Obligations:** adhere to applicable laws, respond to lawful requests, and fulfill regulatory requirements

2.1 Legal Basis for Processing (for users in applicable jurisdictions)

We process your personal information based on the following legal grounds:

  • **Consent:** You have given us explicit consent to process your information for specific purposes, such as receiving marketing communications via SMS and email
  • **Contract Performance:** Processing is necessary to provide the Services you've requested and fulfill our contractual obligations to you
  • **Legitimate Interests:** Processing is necessary for our legitimate business interests, such as improving our Services, preventing fraud, and ensuring platform safety
  • **Legal Compliance:** Processing is necessary to comply with legal obligations, such as responding to lawful requests from authorities

3. Information Sharing and Disclosure

3.1 Visible to Other Users

Your profile information, including photos, first name, age, bio, and general location (e.g., city), is visible to other users in your vicinity.

3.2 Service Providers

We may share your information with trusted third-party vendors and service providers who assist us in:

  • Hosting and maintaining our Services
  • Processing payments and transactions
  • Analytics, metrics, and performance monitoring
  • Customer support and communications
  • Security and fraud prevention
  • **SMS and Email Service Providers:** We use third-party services (such as Twilio for SMS and email delivery services) to send text messages and emails to you. These providers have access to your phone number and/or email address solely for the purpose of delivering communications on our behalf.

These providers only access your information as needed to perform their duties and are obligated to protect it and use it solely for the purposes for which it was disclosed.

3.3 Legal Compliance and Protection

We may disclose your information to law enforcement, government authorities, or third parties if required by law or if we believe such disclosure is necessary to:

  • Comply with legal obligations or regulatory requests
  • Protect the rights, property, or safety of Sonaara, our users, or the public
  • Investigate and defend against legal claims or allegations

3.4 Business Transfers

In the event of a merger, acquisition, reorganization, bankruptcy, or sale of some or all of our assets, your information may be transferred as part of that transaction. We will notify you via email or prominent notice on our Services if such a transfer occurs and becomes subject to a different privacy policy.

3.5 Aggregated and De-Identified Data

We may share aggregated, anonymized, or de-identified information that cannot reasonably be used to identify you. This may be shared with partners, advertisers, or for general business analysis.

4. International Data Transfers

Your information may be transferred to and processed in countries other than the one in which you reside. These countries may have data protection laws that differ from your home country. We take steps to ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place to protect your information, including implementing standard contractual clauses where required by law.

5. Data Security

We implement industry-standard security measures to help protect your data. This includes:

  • Encryption of data in transit and at rest where feasible
  • Regular security assessments and penetration testing
  • Access controls and authentication measures
  • Ongoing monitoring for suspicious activities

However, no method of data transmission or storage is completely secure. We cannot guarantee absolute security.

6. Data Retention

We retain your information only for as long as necessary to provide our Services, fulfill the purposes outlined in this Policy, comply with legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements. You may request deletion of your account, but certain information may be retained for legal, compliance, or security reasons.

7. Your Rights and Choices

You have certain rights regarding your personal information, subject to applicable laws:

  • **Access and Correction:** You may access, update, or correct your information by logging into your account or contacting us.
  • **Deletion:** You may request that we delete your data. We will review and respond to your request as required by law. Learn how to delete your account.
  • **Objection and Restriction:** You may object to or request restrictions on processing of your personal information under certain circumstances.
  • **Data Portability:** You may request a copy of your data in a structured, machine-readable format.
  • **Withdraw Consent:** Where we rely on consent for processing, you can withdraw consent at any time; however, withdrawal does not affect the lawfulness of processing prior to withdrawal.
  • **Opt Out of Marketing Communications:** You may opt out of receiving marketing SMS messages by replying STOP to any text message. You may opt out of marketing emails by clicking "Unsubscribe" at the bottom of any email or by adjusting your preferences in your account settings. Note that you may still receive essential transactional messages even after opting out of marketing communications.

To exercise your rights, please contact us at info@sonaara.com. We may request additional information to verify your identity before processing your request.

7.1 Communication Preferences

You can control the types of communications you receive from us:

  • **SMS Messages:** Reply STOP, END, CANCEL, UNSUBSCRIBE, or QUIT to any SMS to opt out. Reply HELP for assistance.
  • **Email:** Click "Unsubscribe" in any marketing email or manage preferences in your account settings
  • **Push Notifications:** Adjust settings in the app or through your device settings
  • **Account Settings:** Log into your account to manage your communication preferences for different types of messages

Important: Opting out of marketing communications will not affect essential transactional messages necessary for your account, such as security alerts, verification codes, password resets, and important account status updates.

Account Deletion: For detailed information about deleting your account and what happens to your data, please visit our Account Deletion page.

8. Do Not Track

Our Services do not currently respond to "Do Not Track" (DNT) signals. You can configure your browser settings to block cookies or notify you when a cookie is being set.

9. Location Services

Our Services require access to your location to function properly. You can adjust your device or browser settings to control how and when location data is shared. Please note that restricting location data may affect the functionality of certain features.

10. Children's Privacy

Our Services are not intended for users under 18 years of age. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe we have inadvertently collected such information, please contact us so we can promptly delete it.

11. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Policy periodically to reflect changes in our practices, technology, legal requirements, or other factors. We will notify you of significant changes by posting the updated Policy within our Services, and/or by other appropriate means. Your continued use of the Services after any changes become effective constitutes acceptance of those changes.

12. Contact Us

If you have questions, concerns, or requests related to this Privacy Policy or our data practices, please contact us at:

info@sonaara.com