Privacy Policy for BananaTalk

1. Introduction

Welcome to BananaTalk ("we," "our," or "us"). We are committed to protecting your privacy and ensuring the security of your personal information. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your information when you use our mobile application and web platform (collectively, the "Service").

By using BananaTalk, you agree to the collection and use of information in accordance with this policy. If you do not agree with our policies and practices, please do not use our Service.

2. Information We Collect

2.1 Information You Provide to Us

• Account Information: Name, email address, date of birth, gender, native language, language you want to learn
• Profile Information: Profile photos, bio, MBTI, blood type, interests
• Content: Moments (posts), photos, comments, chat messages, stories
• Social Connections: Information about your followers and people you follow

2.2 Information Collected Automatically

• Location Data: With your permission, we collect precise location data to show your location on moments and help you connect with nearby users
• Device Information: Device type, operating system, unique device identifiers, mobile network information
• Usage Data: How you interact with our Service, features you use, time spent on the app
• Log Data: IP address, browser type, pages visited, time and date of visits

2.3 Website Analytics and Advertising

On our website we collect a small amount of first-party usage data to see which pages help people and where visitors come from:

• Page views and time on page, the page that referred you and any campaign (UTM) tags on the link, and taps on our app-store buttons
• Your device type, operating system and browser family, and the language of the site
• If you are signed in, these events are linked to your account. Bots and BananaTalk administrators are excluded.

We use your IP address only to look up your country and to compute an anonymous visitor ID that changes every month. Your IP address is not stored for analytics. Analytics data is kept for 13 months and then deleted. A random session ID is kept in your browser's session storage for the current tab; it is not a cookie, and we set no analytics cookies of our own.

Separately, login security records keep the IP addresses of your last 20 logins so we can detect and investigate suspicious access.

This product includes GeoLite2 data created by MaxMind, available from https://www.maxmind.com

Google AdSense shows ads on our website (members with a VIP subscription see none). AdSense uses ad cookies. Until you agree, the ads you see are non-personalized. Visitors in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and Switzerland also see Google's own consent message. You can change your choice at any time with the "Privacy choices" link in our footer, and you can manage ad personalization with Google's Ads Settings at https://adssettings.google.com

2.4 Information from Third Parties

• Social Media: If you choose to connect your Facebook account, we may receive information from those platforms in accordance with their policies

3. How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect to:

• Provide, maintain, and improve our Service
• Create and manage your account
• Enable you to share moments, chat with other users, and post stories
• Personalize your experience and show you relevant content
• Connect you with language learning partners
• Show location-based content when you enable location services
• Send you notifications about activity on your account
• Respond to your comments, questions, and customer service requests
• Detect, prevent, and address technical issues and security threats
• Comply with legal obligations
• Analyze usage patterns to improve our Service

4. How We Share Your Information

4.1 Public Information

Content you post as "Public" (moments, comments, profile information) can be viewed by all BananaTalk users and may appear in search results.

4.2 With Other Users

• Your profile information is visible to other users
• Moments you post are visible based on your privacy settings (Public, Friends, Private)
• Chat messages are only visible to participants in the conversation

4.3 Service Providers

We may share your information with third-party service providers who perform services on our behalf, such as:

• Cloud hosting providers
• Analytics services
• Customer support tools
• Communication platforms

4.4 Legal Requirements

We may disclose your information if required by law or in response to valid requests by public authorities.

4.5 Business Transfers

If BananaTalk is involved in a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, your information may be transferred as part of that transaction.

5. Data Retention

We retain your information for as long as your account is active or as needed to provide you with our Service. You may request deletion of your account and data at any time through the app settings.

After account deletion, we may retain certain information as required by law or for legitimate business purposes, such as fraud prevention.

6. Your Rights and Choices

6.1 Access and Update

You can access and update your account information at any time through your profile settings.

6.2 Privacy Settings

You can control who sees your moments by selecting privacy options: Public, Friends, or Private.

6.3 Location Data

You can disable location services through your device settings at any time. This may limit some features of the app.

6.4 Notifications

You can manage notification preferences through the app settings.

6.5 Account Deletion

You may delete your account at any time. Upon deletion, your profile and content will be removed from our Service.

6.6 Data Portability

You have the right to request a copy of your data in a machine-readable format.

6.7 Analytics and Ad Cookies

You can choose at any time whether ads are personalized and whether analytics cookies are used; turning analytics off deletes the analytics cookies already on this device. You can also manage ad personalization in Google's Ads Settings (https://adssettings.google.com): open your privacy choices.

7. Children's Privacy

BananaTalk is not intended for children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you are a parent or guardian and believe your child has provided us with personal information, please contact us, and we will delete such information from our systems.

8. Security

We implement reasonable security measures to protect your information from unauthorized access, alteration, disclosure, or destruction. However, no method of transmission over the internet or electronic storage is 100% secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

Security measures we implement include:

• Encryption of data in transit and at rest
• Regular security audits and updates
• Access controls and authentication
• Secure server infrastructure

9. International Data Transfers

Your information may be transferred to and processed in countries other than your country of residence. These countries may have different data protection laws. By using our Service, you consent to the transfer of your information to these countries.

10. Third-Party Links

Our Service may contain links to third-party websites or services. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of these third parties. We encourage you to read their privacy policies before providing any information.

11. 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. You are advised to review this Privacy Policy periodically for any changes.

Continued use of the Service after changes are posted constitutes your acceptance of the updated Privacy Policy.

13. Your Consent

By using BananaTalk, you consent to our Privacy Policy and agree to its terms.