1. Scope and Who We Are

This Privacy Policy describes how XPATZ ("XPATZ," "we," "our," or "us") collects, uses, discloses, and protects information when you use our website, iOS application, Android application, and related services.

2. Information We Collect

• Account and identity information: name, username, email address, profile photo, authentication provider identifiers, and account status.
• Profile information: city, ZIP code, languages, interests, profile type, occupation or specialty, biography, and other information you choose to provide.
• Community content: posts, questions, answers, replies, images, reactions, reports, group memberships, and other content or communications you submit.
• Location information: city, state, ZIP code, approximate coordinates derived from a location you provide, and coarse location inferred from an IP address when needed for local results. We do not require continuous background GPS tracking.
• Device and technical information: IP address, browser or device type, operating system, app version, diagnostics, crash information, security events, session identifiers, and push-notification tokens.
• Usage information: pages and features used, searches, interactions, referral information, and timestamps. Optional analytics are collected only when enabled through our consent controls where required.
• Support information: messages, attachments, and contact details you provide when requesting help.

3. How We Collect Information

We collect information directly from you, automatically from your device when you use XPATZ, from sign-in providers such as Apple or Google, and from other users when they interact with your public community content.

4. How We Use Information

• create, authenticate, secure, and support your account;
• display community content and enable posts, answers, reactions, reports, and Spaces;
• personalize feeds, community suggestions, language features, and location-relevant results;
• generate translations, search indexes, and AI-assisted summaries of relevant community discussions;
• deliver in-app, email, and push notifications you request or that are necessary for the service;
• moderate content, investigate abuse, enforce our Terms, and protect users and the platform;
• measure performance, diagnose errors, and improve XPATZ; and
• comply with law and respond to valid legal requests.

5. AI-Assisted Features

XPATZ may process your question and relevant community content using automated systems and third-party AI providers to create search embeddings, translations, summaries, or suggested answers. We limit the information sent to what is reasonably needed for the feature. Do not submit confidential, privileged, or highly sensitive personal information to AI-assisted features. AI output can be incomplete or incorrect and is not professional advice.

6. Public Content and Visibility

Your profile name, username, profile image, city or community location, languages, posts, answers, replies, and reactions may be visible to other users depending on the feature and your choices. Public content may be shared outside XPATZ by other users. Do not post information you want to keep private.

7. When We Disclose Information

We may disclose information:

• to other users when you publish content or interact publicly;
• to vendors that provide hosting, databases, authentication, email, push notifications, analytics, security, error monitoring, location lookup, and AI processing;
• when you direct us to share information or connect to a third-party service;
• to comply with law, legal process, or valid government requests, or to protect rights, safety, and security; and
• in connection with a merger, financing, acquisition, reorganization, or sale of assets, subject to appropriate safeguards.

We do not sell personal information. We do not currently share personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising. Our service providers may process information only to provide services to us and must protect it appropriately.

8. Cookies, Local Storage, and Similar Technologies

We use cookies, local storage, mobile application storage, and similar technologies for sign-in, security, preferences, app continuity, analytics with consent, and other functions described in our Cookie Policy.

9. Communications and Choices

We may send transactional messages about authentication, security, account activity, replies, and support. You can manage optional notifications in your device or account settings and unsubscribe from marketing email using the link in the message. Disabling marketing does not stop necessary account or security communications.

10. Data Retention and Account Deletion

We retain information while your account is active and as reasonably necessary to provide XPATZ, comply with law, resolve disputes, prevent abuse, and enforce agreements. Retention varies by data type and purpose. You can export your information from Settings > Privacy & Security and delete your account from Settings > Danger Zone. Account deletion removes the account and associated content from our active database, subject to limited information we must retain for legal, security, fraud-prevention, or backup purposes.

11. Your Privacy Rights

Depending on where you live, you may have rights to access, correct, delete, or obtain a copy of personal information; object to or restrict certain processing; withdraw consent; or appeal a denied request. You may exercise available controls in the app or contact us. We may verify your identity before completing a request. Authorized agents may submit requests where permitted by law. We will not discriminate against you for exercising applicable privacy rights.

12. Legal Bases and International Processing

Where the GDPR, UK GDPR, or similar laws apply, we process information as needed to perform our contract with you, pursue legitimate interests such as security and service improvement, comply with legal obligations, and obtain consent where required. Information may be processed in the United States and other countries where our providers operate, using legally recognized safeguards when required.

13. Security

We use reasonable administrative, technical, and organizational safeguards designed to protect information. No storage or transmission system is completely secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security.

14. Children

XPATZ is intended for adults and is not directed to anyone under 18. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. Contact us if you believe a child has provided information to XPATZ.

15. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Policy as our services or legal obligations change. We will post the revised Policy, update the date above, and provide additional notice when required by law.

16. Contact Us

Questions or privacy requests may be sent to support@xpatz.org.