1. Introduction

Welcome to Vocial. We respect your privacy and are committed to protecting your personal data. This privacy policy explains how Vocial ("we", "us", "our") collects, uses, and protects your information when you use our mobile application.

Vocial is operated by Nenad Grujicic in Ontario, Canada. For full contact details, see Section 14.

2. Data We Collect

2.1 Information You Provide

• Account information: Email address, username, display name, profile picture
• Voice recordings: Audio content you create and share on the platform
• User-generated content: Comments, likes, follows, and interactions with other users
• Profile information: Bio, profile theme, and other optional profile details

2.2 Automatically Collected Data

• Device information: Device type, device name, device model, operating system, app version
• Usage data: Features you use, posts you view, session duration
• IP address and geolocation: IP address, country, region, city, timezone, and approximate coordinates (latitude/longitude) collected at registration and each sign-in for language detection and security
• Push notification tokens: Device-specific tokens (provided by Expo) if you enable notifications

2.3 Push Notifications

If you enable push notifications, we collect and store your device's push notification token. Notifications are delivered through Expo's push notification service and may include:

• Notification when someone likes your post
• Notification when someone comments on your post (includes comment preview)
• Notification when someone follows you

Push notifications contain: notification title, message body, and app-specific data (user IDs, post IDs) to enable in-app navigation when you tap the notification. Notification delivery is tracked and undelivered notifications expire after 7 days. Failed notifications are automatically retried.

2.4 Audio Processing

When you create voice posts, we process your audio using AI technology (OpenAI Whisper and GPT-4o-mini) to:

• Transcribe your audio content
• Generate waveform visualizations for display
• Automatically suggest titles using artificial intelligence
• Detect the language of your content for categorization

Audio transcriptions are stored with your voice posts. Audio processing is performed using OpenAI's services (Whisper for transcription, GPT-4o-mini for title generation) in accordance with their privacy policies.

3. How We Use Your Data

We use your data to:

• Provide our service: Enable you to create, share, and discover voice content
• Personalize experience: Recommend content based on your interests and language
• Improve the app: Analyze usage patterns to enhance features and performance
• Communicate with you: Send notifications, updates, and support messages
• Ensure security: Detect and prevent fraud, abuse, and unauthorized access
• Language detection: Use your IP address to automatically set your preferred language
• AI-powered features: Generate suggested titles and categorize content using AI

4. Data Sharing and Third-Party Services

We do not sell your personal data. We share data only in the following circumstances:

4.1 AI Processing

Audio content is sent to OpenAI's services for:

• Whisper API: Transcribes audio to text and detects language
• GPT-4o-mini API: Generates suggested titles based on transcriptions

This processing is subject to OpenAI's privacy policy and data retention practices. Transcriptions and AI-generated titles are stored in our database with your voice posts.

4.2 Service Providers

We use trusted service providers to help us operate the app:

• Supabase: Cloud database, authentication, and file storage for all user data
• Expo Push Notification Service: Delivers push notifications to your device
• OpenAI: AI services for audio transcription and title generation (see Section 4.1)
• ip-api.com: IP geolocation service to determine your location, language, and timezone
• Sentry: Error tracking and performance monitoring to help us identify and fix issues
• Google/Apple OAuth: Optional sign-in services (if you choose to use them)

4.3 Legal Requirements

We may disclose your information if required by law or in response to valid legal requests from law enforcement or government authorities.

4.4 Public Content

Content you post publicly (not in Personal Vault) is visible to other users within the app.

Users can delete their own comments at any time. Post owners can also delete comments left on their posts. Deleted comments are permanently removed from our system.

5. Your Rights and Choices

5.1 Access and Correction

You can access and edit your profile information at any time through the app settings.

5.2 Data Deletion

You can delete your account at any time through Settings > Account > Delete Account. When you delete your account:

• Your profile and public posts will be permanently deleted within 14 days
• Your comments on other users' posts will be automatically removed
• Associated data (likes, follows, notifications) will be removed from our system
• Backups may retain your data for up to 90 days for disaster recovery

5.3 Data Portability

You can request a copy of your data by contacting us at privacy@vocial.app. We will provide your data in a machine-readable format within 30 days.

5.4 Manage Notifications

You can control push notifications through the app settings or your device settings.

5.5 Personal Vault

You can choose to save voice posts to your Personal Vault, which are completely private and only accessible to you.

6. Data Security

We implement industry-standard security measures to protect your data:

• Encryption of data in transit and at rest
• Regular security audits and monitoring
• Access controls and authentication requirements
• Secure data centers with physical security measures

However, no method of transmission over the internet is 100% secure. While we strive to protect your data, we cannot guarantee absolute security.

7. Data Retention

We retain your data for as long as your account is active or as needed to provide services. Specifically:

• Account data: Retained until you delete your account
• Voice posts: Retained until you delete them or your account
• Push notifications: Metadata retained for 30 days after delivery or expiry
• Usage logs: Retained for 90 days for analytics and security
• Backups: Retained for up to 90 days for disaster recovery

8. Children's Privacy

Vocial is not intended for children under 13 years of age. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If we discover that a child under 13 has provided us with personal information, we will delete it immediately.

If you are a parent or guardian and believe your child has provided us with personal information, please contact us at privacy@vocial.app.

9. International Data Transfers

Your data may be processed in countries outside of your residence, including Canada and the United States. We ensure appropriate safeguards are in place to protect your data during international transfers.

10. Analytics

We use internal analytics to understand how users interact with our app and improve our services. We do not use third-party analytics services. All analytics data is aggregated and anonymized.

11. Changes to This Policy

We may update this privacy policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or legal requirements. We will notify you of significant changes by:

• Posting the new policy in the app
• Updating the "Last Updated" date
• Sending you a notification if required by law

Your continued use of the app after changes constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

12. Your Rights Under GDPR (EU Users)

If you are located in the European Union, you have additional rights under GDPR:

• Right to access your personal data
• Right to rectification of inaccurate data
• Right to erasure ("right to be forgotten")
• Right to restrict processing
• Right to data portability
• Right to object to processing
• Right to withdraw consent

To exercise these rights, contact us at privacy@vocial.app.

13. Your Rights Under CCPA (California Users)

If you are a California resident, you have rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act:

• Right to know what personal information is collected
• Right to know if personal information is sold or disclosed
• Right to say no to the sale of personal information
• Right to access your personal information
• Right to equal service and price

We do not sell your personal information.

14. Contact Us

If you have questions, concerns, or requests regarding this privacy policy or your data, please contact us:

Vocial
Operated by Nenad Grujicic
Ontario, Canada
Email: privacy@vocial.app

For general support: support@vocial.app
For legal inquiries: legal@vocial.app