MICHAT PRIVACY POLICY

Welcome to MiChat!

At MICHAT PTE. LIMITED (“MiChat”, “our”, “we”, or “us”), we respect your privacy.

This Privacy Policy (“Privacy Policy”) applies to all of our apps, services, features, software, and website (collectively “Services”), unless specified otherwise. This Privacy Policy helps to explain our information (including message) practices.

This Privacy Policy is incorporated into and forms part of the MiChat Terms of Service (“Terms”) that you have agreed to in order to use MiChat. Any terms used in this Privacy Policy will have the same meaning as the equivalent defined terms in the MiChat Terms of Service, unless otherwise defined in this Privacy Policy or the context requires otherwise. Please note that this Privacy Policy does not apply to Information collected: (a) through any services other than MiChat; (b) through any third party services (including any third party websites) that you may access through MiChat; or (c) by other companies and organisations who advertise their services on MiChat.

1. Information we Collect

MiChat receives or collects information when we operate and provide our Services, including when you install, access, or use our Services.
1.1
Information you provide
(i)
Your Account Information: You provide your mobile phone number to create a MiChat account. You provide us the phone numbers in your mobile address book on a regular basis, including those of both the users of our Services and your other contacts. You confirm you are authorised to provide us such numbers. You may also add other information to your account, such as a profile name, profile picture, and status message.
(ii)
Your Messages: We will retain your messages for a period of 30 days in the ordinary course of providing our Services to you (“Retention Period”). Once your messages (including your chats, photos, videos, voice messages, files, and share location information) are delivered, they will be retained for the Retention Period. After the Retention Period, your messages will only be stored on your own device unless such messages are stored on our servers for legal and/or business purposes in compliance with applicable laws. If a message cannot be delivered immediately (for example, if you are offline), we may keep it on our servers for the Retention Period as we try to deliver it. If a message is still undelivered after the Retention Period, we may delete it. To improve performance and deliver media messages more efficiently, such as when many people are sharing a popular photo or video, we may retain that content on our servers for a longer period of time. We also offer end-to-end encryption for our Services, which is on by default. End-to-end encryption means that your messages are encrypted to protect against us and third parties from reading them.
(iii)
Your Connections: To help you organise how you communicate with others, you can create, join or get added to groups, and such groups get associated with your account information.
(iv)
Customer Support: You may provide us with information related to your use of our Services, including copies of your messages, and how to contact you so we can provide you customer support. For example, you may send us an email with information relating to our app performance or other issues.
1.2
Automatically Collected Information
(i)
Usage and Log Information: We collect service-related, diagnostic, and performance information. This includes information about your activity (such as how you use our Services, how you interact with others using our Services, and the like), log files, and diagnostic, crash, website, and performance logs and reports.
(ii)
Transactional Information: If you pay for our Services, we may receive information and confirmations, such as payment receipts, including from app stores or other third parties processing your payment.
(iii)
Device and Connection Information: We collect device-specific information when you install, access, or use our Services. This includes information such as hardware model, operating system information, browser information, IP address, mobile network information including phone number, and device identifiers. We collect device location information if you use our location features, such as when you choose to share your location with your contacts, view locations nearby or those others have shared with you, and the like, and for diagnostics and troubleshooting purposes such as if you are having trouble with our app’s location features.
(iv)
Cookies: We use cookies to operate and provide our Services, including to provide our Services that are web-based (if any), improve your experiences, understand how our Services are being used, and customise our Services. For example, we may use cookies to provide MiChat for web and desktop and other web-based services (if any). We may also use cookies to understand which of our FAQs are most popular and to show you relevant content related to our Services. Additionally, we may use cookies to remember your choices, such as your language preferences, and otherwise to customise our Services for you.
(v)
Status Information: We collect information about your online and status message changes on our Services, such as whether you are online (your “online status”), when you last used our Services (your “last seen status”), and when you last updated your status message.
1.3
Third-Party Information
(i)
Information Others Provide About you: We receive information other people provide us, which may include information about you. For example, when other users you know use our Services, they may provide your phone number from their mobile address book (just as you may provide theirs), or they may send you a message, send messages to groups to which you belong, or call you.
(ii)
Third-Party Providers: We work with third-party providers to help us operate, provide, improve, understand, customise, support, and market our Services. For example, we work with companies to distribute our apps, provide our infrastructure, delivery, and other systems, supply map and places information, process payments, help us understand how people use our Services, and market our Services. These providers may provide us information about you in certain circumstances; for example, app stores may provide us reports to help us diagnose and fix service issues.
(iii)
Third-Party Services: We allow you to use our Services in connection with third-party services. If you use our Services with such third-party services, we may receive information about you from them; for example, if you use the MiChat share button on a news service to share a news article with your MiChat contacts or groups, or if you choose to access our Services through a mobile carrier’s or device provider’s promotion of our Services. Please note that when you use third-party services, their own terms and privacy policies will govern your use of those services.

2. How we use Information

We use all the information we have to help us operate, provide, improve, understand, customise, support and market our Services.
2.1
Our Services: We operate and provide our Services, including providing customer support, and improving, fixing, and customising our Services. We understand how people use our Services, and analyse and use the information we have to evaluate and improve our Services, research, develop, and test new services and features, and conduct troubleshooting activities. We also use your information to respond to you when you contact us. We use cookies to operate, provide, improve, understand, and customize our Services.
2.2
Safety and Security: We verify accounts and activity, and promote safety and security on and off our Services, such as by investigating suspicious activity or violations of our Terms, and to ensure our Services are being used legally.
2.3
Communications About our Services: We communicate with you about our Services and features and let you know about our terms and policies and other important updates.
2.4
General terms in relation to tracking technologies: We may from time to time partner with third party partners to display their advertising or to manage our advertising on other sites. Our third party partners may use cookies or other tracking technologies in order to provide you with advertising based on your browsing activities and interests. Please note all such third party tracking technologies are governed by the relevant third party’s own privacy policy, and we are not responsible for such third party tracking technologies (including information collected by the relevant third party using such third party tracking technologies). While we may have agreements in place with these third parties in relation to the proper handling and protection of your information, we cannot guarantee their privacy practices as they are third parties.
2.5
Commercial Messaging: We may allow you and third parties, like businesses, to communicate with each other using MiChat, such as through order, transaction, and appointment information, delivery and shipping notifications, product and service updates, and marketing. For example, you may receive flight status information for upcoming travel, a receipt for something you purchased, or a notification when a delivery will be made. Messages you may receive containing marketing could include an offer for something that might interest you. We do not want you to experience spam messaging; as with all of your messages, you can manage and block these communications.

3. Information You and We Share

You share your information as you use and communicate through our Services, and we share your information to help us operate, provide, improve, understand, customise, support, and market our Services.
3.1
Account Information: Your phone number, profile name and photo, online status and status message, last seen status, and receipts may be available to anyone who uses our Services, although you can configure your Services settings to manage certain information available to other users.
3.2
Your Contacts and Others: Users with whom you communicate may store or re-share your information (including your phone number or messages) with others on and off our Services.
3.3
Third-Party Providers: We work with third-party providers to help us operate, provide, improve, understand, customise, support, and market our Services. When we share information with third-party providers, we require them to use your information in accordance with our instructions and terms or with express permission from you.
3.4
Third-Party Services: When you use third-party services that are integrated with our Services, they may receive information about what you share with them. For example, if you interact with a third-party service linked through our Services, you may be providing information directly to such third party. Please note that when you use third-party services, their own terms and privacy policies will govern your use of those services.
3.5
Location-based Services: Our mapping and location-based services (such as "People Nearby" and "Location") may require information about your location in order for us to provide our Services.

4. Affiliated Companies

4.1
You consent to MiChat sharing information with its group companies, comprising all related entities and affiliates of MiChat (“Group Companies”). You consent to any Group Company, using the information MiChat shares with them, to help operate, provide, improve, understand, customise and support our Services. This includes helping improve infrastructure and delivery systems, understanding how our Services are used, securing systems, and fighting spam, abuse, or infringement activities.

5. Assignment, Change of Control, and Transfer

5.1
You acknowledge and consent that all of our rights and obligations under our Privacy Policy are freely assignable by us to any of our affiliates, in connection with a merger, acquisition, restructuring, or sale of assets, or by operation of law or otherwise, and we may transfer your information to any of our affiliates, successor entities, or new owner for the purpose of providing the Services.

6. Managing your Information

If you would like to manage, change, limit or delete your information, we allow you to do that through the following tools:
6.1
Services Settings: You can change your Services settings to manage certain information available to other users. You can manage your contacts and groups, or use our block feature to manage the users with whom you communicate.
6.2
Changing your Profile Name, Picture, and Status Message: You may change your profile name, profile picture, and status message at any time.
6.3
Account deactivation or anonymisation: Your MiChat account is linked to your mobile phone number. If you should cease to use a particular mobile phone number and wish to prevent access by a new user of the mobile phone number to your information, MiChat may offer methods for deactivating or anonymising your account – please refer to MiChat for tips on how to do so (if available) from time to time.

7. Law and Protection

7.1
We may  collect, use, preserve, and share your information if we have a good-faith belief that it is reasonably necessary to: (a) respond pursuant to applicable law or regulations, to legal process, or to government requests; (b) enforce our Terms and any other applicable terms and policies, including for investigations of potential violations; (c) detect, investigate, prevent, and address fraud and other illegal activity, security, or technical issues; or (d) protect the rights, property, and safety of our users, MiChat, our Group Companies, or others.

8. Our Operations

8.1
You agree to our information practices, including the collection, use, processing, and sharing of your information as described in this Privacy Policy, as well as the transfer and processing of your information to other countries globally where we have or use facilities, service providers, or partners, regardless of where you use our Services. You acknowledge that the laws, regulations, and standards of the country in which your information is stored or processed may be different from those of your own country.

9. Updates to our Policy

9.1
We may amend or update our Privacy Policy. We will provide you notice of amendments to this Privacy Policy, as appropriate, and update the “Last Modified” date at the top of this Privacy Policy. Your continued use of our Services confirms your acceptance of our Privacy Policy, as amended. If you do not agree to our Privacy Policy, as amended, you must stop using our Services. Please review our Privacy Policy from time to time.

10. Contact us

10.1
If you have any questions about our Privacy Policy, please contact us officialmichat@gmail.com.

Last modified on 9 March 2018