Privacy Policy

Scope

This Privacy Policy explains how Popchat handles information when you use Popchat, including popchat.com, popchat.me profile pages, popchat.club club pages and their related services (the “Service”). By using the Service, you acknowledge the practices described here.

Information we collect

Account and contact information: information you provide to create or manage an account, such as an email address, a phone number when provided, your profiles (name, handle, bio, photo), the contact card you choose to share with connections, and account preferences.

User content: prompts, generated output and pops, uploads, club messages, direct messages, comments, likes, follows, reports, feedback, and other content you submit or make available through the Service.

Usage and security information: information about how you use the Service and technical information such as device or browser details, IP address, timestamps, error reports, and security or abuse-prevention logs. Settings → Devices shows the devices signed in to your account.

Shipping address for an order: if you take an offer that ships something to you (such as the free t-shirt with an intro offer), we collect the name, postal address and size you give us, and your card's billing country from Stripe. We use them only to check eligibility for that offer and to send that order, share them only with whoever packs and delivers it, and keep them with the order record for our records. If you also choose to save the address to your account, we keep it there so that you can choose to share it later, for example with someone you buy from on Popchat; we never share a saved address unless you choose to, and you can remove it at any time in Settings → Plan. We do not use your shipping address for advertising or any other purpose without your consent.

Cookies and session data: cookies or similar technologies used to keep you signed in, remember settings, protect accounts, and operate the Service. We also keep a record of your interests, such as the topics you pick when you join or later, clubs, creators, and the kinds of pops you view, play, like, or follow. Some of this is stored in your browser and some on our servers.

Who sees what

Public profiles, public clubs and published pops can be seen by anyone. Private clubs, their messages and their photos are shown only to their members. Direct messages are shown only to the people in the conversation, and a contact card only to people you have connected with in both directions. Popchat staff may access content when needed to operate, secure, or moderate the Service, respond to reports, or comply with law.

Approximate location

We use your IP address and related network signals (for example, the country, region and city our network provider reports) to work out your approximate area, at the level of a city or metro region, never your precise location. We use it to show you local rooms, region pages, clubs and listings near you, to apply region-limited features, to enforce these terms and prevent abuse, and to offer features that are available where you are. This use is necessary to protect our users and the Service and cannot be switched off, though you can choose a different area to browse or set your home area in Settings.

We never collect GPS or precise coordinates, and we strip location data from photos you upload. We keep a short list of the areas where you've used Popchat, with no dates or times, to suggest your home area and local features; you can see and delete it in Settings → Local & places, and we keep it for no more than five years. Ads and sponsored content may be chosen based on the area you are in right now (for example, a local business shown to people around Bryan–College Station); this contextual use is part of operating the Service. Using your places history and interests to personalize ads over time is targeted advertising, and you can opt out of it as described under “Advertising choices” below. We never use location to guess sensitive traits about you.

Interests and ads

What you post, build, join and save on Popchat shapes a list of your interests: hobbies and topics such as trucks, baking or board games, from a fixed list. We work them out automatically, including by passing what you write in clubs (not in direct messages or group chats) to an AI model that only picks topics from that list. The list is kept on your account; you can see it, remove anything on it, or clear it in Settings → Interests, and something you remove isn't learned again. We never use it to guess sensitive things about you, such as religion, politics, health, sexuality, ethnicity or finances.

We use your interests to suggest clubs, pops and people, and to choose ads. Ads on Popchat are chosen by area (the city or region you're in now) and by topic (the club or page you're looking at), and, unless you turn it off, by your interests and the areas you've used Popchat in. Turning off personalized ads in Settings → Interests, or sending a Global Privacy Control signal, stops the use of your interests and history for ads; ads then follow only where you are and what you're looking at. Advertisers never receive your interests or anything that identifies you: they see totals of views, clicks and replies, and any total under a small minimum is shown only as "fewer than" that minimum. Accounts run for kids, and clubs set up for families, never see ads.

If you reply in a sponsored thread, your reply is posted in that club like any other post, and the sponsor can read it like any member of the club.

How we use information

We use information to provide, maintain, secure, and improve the Service; personalize your feed and recommendations; select and measure advertising and sponsored content shown to you, including based on your interests and activity on the Service; authenticate accounts; communicate with you; process and display content you choose to share; check uploaded images for safety; prevent fraud, abuse, and security incidents; comply with legal obligations; and enforce our terms and policies.

Service providers and disclosures

We may use service providers to help host, operate, secure, deliver, support, communicate about, or process content for the Service, including AI model providers that build pops and check uploads, Stripe for payments, and advertising and measurement partners. We may share or make available limited information, such as device identifiers, interest categories, and ad interaction data, with advertising partners to show and measure ads. These providers may process information on our behalf for those purposes. We may also disclose information when reasonably necessary to comply with law, protect rights and safety, investigate abuse or security issues, or enforce our terms.

Security

We use reasonable administrative, technical, and organizational measures intended to protect information. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

Retention

We retain information for as long as reasonably necessary to provide the Service, meet legal obligations, resolve disputes, enforce agreements, and protect the Service and its users. Retention may vary based on the type of information and the reason it was collected.

Your choices and requests

You can update your profiles, photo, contact card and sign-in methods, leave clubs, stop sharing your contact card, and sign out devices in the app. To request access to, correction of, or deletion of personal information, contact [email protected]. We may need to verify your request and may retain information where required or permitted by law or for legitimate operational, security, or recordkeeping purposes.

Advertising choices: depending on where you live (for example, in Texas, California, and other U.S. states with consumer privacy laws), you may have the right to opt out of targeted advertising, of the “sale” or “sharing” of personal information, and of certain profiling, and to appeal a decision we make about your request. To exercise these rights, email [email protected] with the subject “Privacy request”, or use any opt-out control we provide in Settings. We will not discriminate against you for exercising these rights. Where required by law, we honor recognized browser opt-out signals such as Global Privacy Control.

Age requirement

The Service is for people who are at least 18 years old. If you believe a person under 18 has provided personal information through the Service, contact [email protected].

International processing

If the Service or a service provider processes information outside the country where you live, that information may be subject to the laws of the location where it is processed.

Updates to this Policy

We may change this Privacy Policy at any time. When we do, we will post the updated Policy here with a new “Last updated” date, and for material changes we will try to give reasonable notice, for example on the Service or by email. By continuing to use the Service after changes take effect, you acknowledge the updated Policy.

Contact

Questions or requests about this Privacy Policy can be sent to [email protected].