Privacy Policy
Koitye is an iPhone app for recording marine animals you have seen, and for talking with people you choose to add. This policy explains what information the app handles and how to reach us. It describes the Koitye iOS app.
1. Information you give us
When you create an account or use the online features, you may provide:
- Account details. A username, a mobile phone number, or an email address, depending on how you register, together with a password. We use these to create your account and let you sign in. Verification codes may be sent by SMS or email when a sign-in or security step needs them.
- Profile. A nickname and, if you add one, a profile photo. You can also add a short signature. You can set a gender on your profile. Gender is not required to use Koitye.
- People and groups. Friends you add, groups you create or join, group names, introductions and announcements, and the QR code used to add you.
- Observations. The animal, a place name you type, a note, and photos you add when you record a sighting. You can create a group from a sighting.
- Messages. Text, photos, videos and voice messages you send in a one-to-one chat or a group.
- Feedback and reports. Text and photos you submit in Feedback, and reports you send from a profile or a chat.
2. Device access you can allow or refuse
Koitye asks for a device permission only when a feature needs it. If you refuse, the rest of the app still opens. You can change these later in iPhone Settings > Koitye.
- Camera. Used when you photograph an animal for an observation, update your profile photo, take a picture for a chat, or scan another person’s QR code. The camera is not used in the background.
- Photo library. Used when you choose a photo for an observation, your profile, or a chat. If you save a QR code, Koitye writes that image to your library. Koitye does not upload your whole library. Only the photos you select are used.
- Microphone. Used when you record a voice message in a chat. Koitye does not offer voice or video calls, and it does not listen in the background.
- Contacts. If you allow it, Koitye reads contact names and phone numbers on your iPhone so you can find people you know and add them. Koitye does not use your contacts for advertising.
- Notifications. If you allow them, Koitye can tell you about new messages, friend requests and group notices. You can turn notifications off in iPhone Settings.
Koitye does not collect your precise location. The place in an observation is a name you type.
3. Technical information
Requests to the Koitye service include a random device identifier created by the app. It is used to operate the account and the service. It is not the advertising identifier, and Koitye does not use it to track you across other companies’ apps or websites.
The service may record sign-in activity, such as the time of a sign-in and the IP address of the connection, to keep accounts secure and to investigate abuse. The app also knows which language you selected, so it can show the right text.
This build of Koitye does not include a third-party crash-reporting SDK, and it does not show advertising.
4. How we use information
- To create and protect your account, and to send verification codes you request.
- To show your profile to people you connect with, and to let them add you by username or QR code.
- To deliver messages and group chats to the people you send them to.
- To review feedback and reports, including reports about safety.
- To comply with law.
We do not sell your personal information. We do not use your private messages to build advertising profiles.
Where the law requires a legal basis, we rely on performing the service you asked for, your consent for device permissions, our legitimate interests in keeping the service secure, and legal duties.
5. Who can see your information
- Your nickname and profile photo can be seen by friends, by members of groups you join, and by someone who looks you up to add you.
- A one-to-one message is delivered to that person.
- A group message is visible to the members of that group. People who join later may be able to see earlier messages, depending on the group settings.
People who receive your messages can save them, screenshot them, or forward them. Deleting a message on your own phone may not remove the copy they already have.
6. Service providers and other disclosure
Account data and messages are processed by the Koitye service so the app can sign you in and deliver chats. Phone numbers and email addresses may be processed by the provider that sends a verification code you request. These providers may only use the information to perform that work.
We may also disclose information if you agree, if the law or a valid legal request requires it, if it is necessary to protect someone’s safety, or if the service is transferred to a new operator. If the service is transferred, the new operator will still need a lawful basis to handle your information, and we will tell you when the law requires notice.
The service may be operated from a country other than yours. Where the law requires a safeguard for that transfer, we use one.
7. Your choices
- Edit your nickname, profile photo, signature and gender in your profile.
- Change your password under Me > Security.
- Block someone. A blocked person cannot send you messages. You can review the block list in Security.
- Leave a group. You then stop receiving its new messages.
- Delete an observation from its detail page.
- Delete your account under Me > Security > Delete Account.
If you cannot open the app, email [email protected] from the email on the account, or tell us the phone number or username you registered with. We will help after we confirm the account is yours.
After an account is deleted, the profile is no longer available as an active account. We delete or de-identify personal information within 30 days, unless we need to keep a limited record to meet a legal duty, resolve a dispute, or deal with fraud or a safety report. Messages already delivered to other people can remain on their devices.
Depending on where you live, you may have the right to access, correct, or delete personal information, to object to or restrict certain uses, and to withdraw consent. Withdrawing consent does not undo processing that already happened. If you are in the European Economic Area or the United Kingdom, you can also complain to your local data protection authority. Contact [email protected]. We may need to confirm your identity, and we respond within the time the law allows, normally within 30 days.
8. Children
Koitye is not directed at children under 13, or under a higher age if your country requires one. We do not knowingly keep an account for a child under that age. If you believe a child has an account, email [email protected] and we will delete it.
Sexual content or conduct involving a child is not allowed. This includes child sexual abuse material, grooming, sexual solicitation of a minor, sextortion, and asking for or sharing sexual images of a minor, in private chats and in groups.
If you see this on Koitye, report the profile or the message in the app, or email [email protected]. Describe where you saw it. Do not forward the material. If someone is in immediate danger, contact local emergency services first.
We review child-safety reports first. If we have reason to believe content is child sexual abuse material, we remove it and disable the accounts responsible. Where the law requires a report to a designated organisation or to law enforcement, including the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children in the United States, we make that report. The same email address is the contact for child-safety questions from law enforcement and child-protection organisations.
9. Security
We use reasonable measures to protect account information and messages against unauthorised access, loss and misuse, and we limit access to people who need it to operate the service. No internet service is perfectly secure. If an incident affects your personal information, we will notify you and the authorities when the law requires it.
Use a password you do not use on other services. Koitye will not ask you to send your password or a verification code to someone who claims to be support.
10. This policy and changes
This policy covers the Koitye iPhone app and the account and messaging service it uses. It does not cover websites or apps that other people link to inside a chat.
If we translate this policy and the versions differ, the English version applies, unless local law says otherwise.
We will update the date above when this policy changes. If a change materially affects how we use personal information, we will tell you in the app or by another appropriate means, and we will ask again where the law requires consent.
11. Contact
Questions about this policy or your information: [email protected].
We aim to reply within 15 working days.