Privacy Policy

1. What kinds of information do we collect?

We collect various types of information to provide and improve our Services to you. We only collect data that is necessary for the app's functionality and to enhance your user experience. We are committed to data minimization principles.

• Personal Information:
  • Name
  • Email address
  • Bio
  • Profile picture
• Health and Fitness Data (Sensitive Personal Information):
  • Information related to your physical health, fitness activities, and wellness goals. This may include data such as weight, height, body measurements, exercise routines, nutrition information, sleep patterns, and other health-related metrics you choose to track or provide.
  • We may also collect data from connected wearable devices or third-party health apps if you explicitly consent to share this information with us.
• Content Data:
  • Captions
  • Other content you create or interact with on the platform
• Social Interaction Data:
  • Following/follower relationships
  • Subscription/subscriber relationships
  • Engagement metrics (e.g., views, likes, shares)
• Technical Information:
  • Device information (model, operating system, unique device identifiers)
  • IP address
  • Browser type (if accessing through a web browser)
  • Usage patterns (pages visited, features used, time spent on the app)
  • Cookie data and advertising identifiers
  • Device-specific settings related to the app
• Location Data:
  • GPS location (city-level or more precise coordinates, only when you permit it) for features like suggesting local fitness groups or tracking workout routes.
• Payment Information:
  • When you make purchases or receive payments as a creator, we collect information necessary to process those transactions. This may include your payment card details or other financial account information.
• Third-Party Integrations:
  • If you choose to connect our Services with third-party health apps or devices (e.g., Apple Health, Google Fit, Fitbit), we may collect data from those services with your explicit consent. The specific data collected will depend on the third-party service and your privacy settings within that service.

We acknowledge that health data is considered sensitive personal information and requires a higher level of protection. We implement appropriate security measures to safeguard this data.

2. How do we use the information we collect?

We use your information for the following purposes:

• Provide and Maintain the Services:
  • Create and manage your account.
  • Enable core app functionality.
  • Process your requests and transactions.
• Personalize Your Experience:
  • Customize your feed with relevant health, fitness, and social content.
  • Provide personalized workout and nutrition recommendations based on your data and goals.
  • Suggest relevant creators or communities for you to follow.
• Track and Analyze Progress:
  • Monitor your fitness progress and health goals.
  • Provide insights and analytics related to your activity and health data.
• Enable Social Features:
  • Allow you to follow creators and other users.
  • Facilitate sharing of content and engagement with communities.
• Process Payments and Manage Creator Monetization:
  • Process payments for in-app purchases or subscriptions.
  • Facilitate payments to creators based on their active subscribers.
• Improve Our Services:
  • Analyze user data to understand trends and improve our content recommendation algorithms.
  • Conduct internal research to develop new features and enhance existing ones. (Data used for research is aggregated and anonymized whenever possible. You may have the option to opt-out of this use, as described in Section 4).
  • Use AI and machine learning to analyze user data and provide personalized recommendations.
• Ensure Platform Safety and Prevent Misuse:
  • Monitor activity to detect and prevent fraud, abuse, and violations of our Terms of Service.
  • Enforce our community guidelines.
• Communicate with You:
  • Send you important notifications about your account and the Services.
  • Provide customer support.
  • Send relevant updates, newsletters, and marketing communications (you can opt-out of marketing communications as described in Section 4).
• Marketing and Advertising:
  • We may use your data to display targeted advertising within the app.
  • We may share aggregated and anonymized data with third-party advertisers.
  • We may send you marketing emails based on your activity and preferences (you can opt-out of these emails).

3. How do we share the information we collect?

We share your information only in these specific circumstances:

• With Other Users:
  • We share information with other users based on your privacy settings. For example, if your profile is public, other users can see your profile information and public posts.
  • All profiles are public by default and there is no way to hide your profile from other users other than account deletion or account deactivation. This is necessary for the social features of the platform to function.
• With Third-Party Service Providers:
  • We use third-party service providers to help us operate and improve our Services. These providers may include:
    • Cloud hosting and deployment: Vercel
    • Backend and database: Firebase
    • Analytics: Google Analytics
    • Payment processing: Stripe
    • Email services: Google Workspace
  • These providers are contractually obligated to protect user data and are only authorized to use it for the specific purposes for which it was shared.
• With Advertisers:
  • We may share aggregated and anonymized data with advertisers so that individuals cannot be identified.
• For Legal Reasons:
  • We may disclose your information if required to do so by law, such as to comply with a subpoena, court order, or other legal process.
  • We may also disclose your information if we believe it is necessary to investigate, prevent, or take action regarding illegal activities, suspected fraud, situations involving potential threats to the safety of any person, violations of our Terms of Service, or as otherwise required by law.
• During a Business Transaction:
  • If we are involved in a merger, acquisition, sale of assets, or other business transaction, your information may be transferred as part of that transaction. We will notify you via email and/or a prominent notice on our Services of any change in ownership or uses of your personal information, as well as any choices you may have regarding your personal information.

4. Your Rights and Choices

Depending on your location, you may have the following rights regarding your personal data:

• Access: You have the right to access the personal data we hold about you.
• Rectification: You have the right to request that we correct any inaccurate or incomplete personal data we hold about you.
• Erasure ("Right to be Forgotten"): You have the right to request that we erase your personal data under certain conditions, such as when the data is no longer necessary for the purposes for which it was collected or if you withdraw your consent.
• Restriction of Processing: You have the right to request that we restrict the processing of your personal data under certain conditions, such as when you contest the accuracy of the data or when the processing is unlawful.
• Data Portability: You have the right to receive a copy of your personal data in a structured, commonly used, and machine-readable format and to transmit that data to another controller.
• Objection: You have the right to object to the processing of your personal data under certain conditions, such as when the processing is based on legitimate interests or for direct marketing purposes.
• Automated Decision-Making: You have the right not to be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing, including profiling, which produces legal effects concerning you or similarly significantly affects you.
• Withdraw Consent: If we rely on your consent to process your personal data, you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time. Withdrawing your consent will not affect the lawfulness of any processing we conducted prior to your withdrawal, nor will it affect the processing of your personal data conducted in reliance on lawful processing grounds other than consent.

Exercising Your Rights:

• You can exercise these rights by contacting us at reid@besterme.com or through the in-app settings (where applicable).
• We will respond to your request within a reasonable timeframe and in accordance with applicable law.

Account Deactivation and Deletion:

• You can deactivate or delete your account at any time through the in-app settings.
• Deactivation: Deactivating your account hides your profile and content from other users, but it does not delete your data. You can reactivate your account at any time by logging back into the app.
• Deletion: When you choose to delete your account, a 30-day grace period begins. During this time, your account will not be visible to other users. You can reactivate your account within this 30-day window by logging back in. If you do not reactivate within 30 days, your account and personal data will be permanently deleted, except for certain information that we are required to retain by law or for legitimate business purposes (see Section 5 for more details on data retention).

Marketing Communications:

• You can opt-out of receiving marketing emails from us by clicking the "unsubscribe" link at the bottom of any marketing email.

Do Not Track:

• Some web browsers offer a "Do Not Track" ("DNT") signal. Our Services do not currently respond to DNT signals.

5. Data Security and Retention

Data Security:

• We take the security of your data very seriously.
• We implement appropriate technical and organizational measures to protect your personal data from unauthorized access, use, disclosure, alteration, or destruction.
• These measures include:
  • Encryption of data in transit and at rest
  • Regular security audits and vulnerability assessments
• However, no method of transmission over the internet or method of electronic storage is 100% secure. Therefore, we cannot guarantee the absolute security of your data.

Data Retention:

• We retain your personal data for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes for which it was collected, as described in this Privacy Policy, or as required by law.
• The specific retention periods for different types of data depend on the nature of the data and the purposes for which it is processed.
• Examples of retention periods:
  • Account Information: We retain your account information for as long as your account is active.
  • Health and Fitness Data: We retain your health and fitness data for as long as necessary to provide you with the Services and as required by law.
  • Content Data: We retain your content data for as long as your account is active and as necessary to provide the Services.
  • Social Interaction Data: We retain your social interaction data for as long as your account is active and as necessary to provide the Services.
  • Technical Information: We retain technical information for as long as necessary to improve our Services and ensure platform security.
  • Payment Information: We retain payment information for as long as necessary to process transactions and comply with legal and regulatory requirements.
• After you delete your account, we will delete or anonymize your personal data, except for certain information that we are required to retain by law or for legitimate business purposes. For example, we may retain:
  • Information necessary to comply with legal obligations (e.g., tax or accounting requirements)
  • Information necessary to prevent fraud or abuse
  • Anonymized or aggregated data that does not identify you

6. Children and Teens

Our services are not intended for individuals under the age of 13 (or the age of digital consent in your jurisdiction, if higher). We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If we become aware that a child under 13 has provided us with personal information, we will take steps to delete such information. If you believe that we might have any information from or about a child under 13, please contact us at reid@besterme.com.

7. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or for legal compliance. We will notify you of any material changes through:

• A prominent notice on our platform
• Direct notification through your registered email
• Updates to the "Last Updated" date at the top of this policy

We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically for any updates. Your continued use of the Services after the revised Privacy Policy has become effective indicates that you have read, understood, and agreed to the current version of the Privacy Policy.

8. Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, your data, or our data protection practices, please contact us:

• By email: reid@besterme.com

While we are a small company and not required to have a Data Protection Officer (DPO) under GDPR, we are committed to protecting your privacy. Please reach out to us at the email address above for any data privacy concerns, and we will do our best to address them promptly and transparently.

9. Jurisdiction-Specific Rights

In addition to the rights outlined in Section 4, you may have additional rights under the laws of your specific jurisdiction.

California Residents:

California residents have specific rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA), including:

• The right to know what personal information we collect, use, disclose, and sell.
• The right to delete your personal information.
• The right to opt-out of the sale or sharing of your personal information.
• The right to limit the use of sensitive personal information.
• The right to non-discrimination for exercising your privacy rights.

Shine the Light Law:

California's "Shine the Light" law (Civil Code Section § 1798.83) permits users of our Services that are California residents to request certain information regarding our disclosure of personal information to third parties for their direct marketing purposes. To make such a request, please send an email to reid@besterme.com.

To exercise these rights, contact us at reid@besterme.com.

European Economic Area (EEA) and United Kingdom Residents:

If you are located in the EEA or the United Kingdom, you have certain rights under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the UK GDPR, respectively. These rights are outlined in Section 4 of this Privacy Policy.