We treat personal data confidentially and according to the legal privacy regulations as well as this privacy policy.
Data storage
The design of the app CharliesNames generally allows its usage without the submission of any personal data. You can choose to submit personal data, but this choice will always be voluntary. We do not need to know your address, eye color or phone number. Why would we?
- When you start the app, you will receive an automatically generated key which serves as an alias for the identification of the app CharliesNames on your smartphone. This key is stored permanently and allows us to match all data correctly (e.g. if you are only looking for female names, we will store this information using your alias). We also permanently store your phone’s language in order to be able to suggest suitable names to you and to make sure that the app runs in your language. Apart from that we store your operating system (iPhone or Android) for the best possible usability.
- If you add a new baby name, we will obviously store it permanently in our database, but it will be stored anonymously.
- If you submit your surname to find out if it works with your baby’s first name, we will store it until you delete it from our system. You can easily do that in the app under “Your data”.
- As soon as you modify filter information, we overwrite the old information with the new filters and store them: baby’s surname, country, language, sex, letters, name length. This is necessary for the suggestion of suitable names.
- If you connect your app with the app of a partner who is helping you find a name, we will store: the connection status (to know if you are connected), your first name and your partner’s (to address you in the app), your keys (to identify the partner), and the date the connection was made (to know when the partner connection was received and when it was accepted). This data is deleted as soon as you interrupt the connection under “Partner” or if you delete all data in the app under “Your data”.
- As soon as you rate a first name, we store this information as well as the time when the rating was submitted in order to create a favorites list for you, to compare it with your partner’s if applicable and to train the AI. What Charlie is actually interested in, is this: [0, 1426468980, 30158, 8643]. It is hard to believe, but this is in fact what makes him, and therefore the app, intelligent. If you reset the ratings, they will become anonymous.
- In addition, we permanently store your app rating (one to five dummies) and your written feedback as we use this information to improve the app.
- Your click behavior will not be stored.
- The app CharliesNames does not require or store your IP address, however, the server on which CharliesNames is running will store so-called server log files. This includes your IP address, which is required for communication. We also use the server log files to record which data was accessed, when and where it was accessed as well as which operating system was used in order to prevent potential hacking and to protect your data.
- If you do not use CharliesNames for three years, your account will be automatically deactivated and anonymized. Your personal data will be deleted. We use the old name ratings to generate statistics and train our AI.
Location-based data
The use of the app does not involve any determination of the user location by means of the end device sensors such as GPS. We do not care where you are while you are searching for a name for your baby. Really.
Data storage location
The servers on which your data is stored are located in Frankfurt am Main, at Amazon Webservices (AWS), since data privacy is taken seriously in Germany by way of comparison. AWS has a EU-US Privacy Shield certificate and is therefore compliant with data privacy.
Disclosure to third parties
We have deliberately decided against an ad-based business model so that we can offer you great usability and data privacy. We are not going to sell your data.
Measuring reach / statistics
We create internal statistics for ourselves from which we can gather every day e.g. how many name ratings were submitted, how many times the app was downloaded, how many active users we have, which search preferences are popular, with how many dummies the app is rated or which app versions are currently used in total. They tell us, for example, that our users are usually looking for names that have at least 3.8 and not more than 7.3 letters and that most of you are looking for boy names. These statistics are deleted daily. The conclusions we draw from the statistics are once more used for improving the app.
The app stores Google PlayStore and Apple AppStore do measure reach independently from us. We can access this information anonymized in order to optimize the app for various smartphone versions amongst other things.
App authorizations
When downloading CharliesNames, no authorizations are prompted. Because we managed to develop an app that does not need authorizations. This means that your contacts or your location, for example, can not be accessed. You can be sure that we cannot access your data. Personally, this is something we would wish for in other apps, too.
The only exception are in-app purchases. If you would like to support us financially (I am taking this opportunity to thank you very much), the app requires an authorization for the payment scheme of the relevant app store.
Emails
If you send us an email with a question or a request, we will store it on our mail server for an indefinite period of time. This includes the following data: your email address, date and time, subject, and the email text which may contain your contact data. Why? So that we can reply to you and offer you excellent support, of course ;)
Our vendors
We are using the services of the following vendors:
- Amazon Webservices: This is where the application and databank servers are located. As already mentioned above, AWS has an EU-US Privacy Shield certificate and is therefore compliant with data privacy.
- Google Firebase: For sending push notifications such as “Your partner also likes the name XY” and to log important app events to help understand app usability. Google also has an EU-US Privacy Shield certificate.
Integration of YouTube videos
We have integrated our own YouTube videos in CharliesNames, which are stored on youtube.com and which can be played in the app. This was implemented using iFrames with YouTube’s extended data privacy mode activated. This is why YouTube will not store any of your data initially. If you play a video, however, a connection will be established with YouTube and Google’s advertising network DoubleClick and a data transfer will take place on which we have no influence. YouTube stores the data and creates user profiles for market research and advertising purposes. They also use the profiles in order to design the website in a way that it meets the users’ demands. They will raise this data irrespective of whether you have a YouTube/Google account or not. If you have a Google account and are logged in, the data is immediately linked to your account. If you do not want that, you will have to log out before you click on the video. You will find further information regarding the extent to which YouTube collects and processes data as well as the purpose in their data privacy policy: https://www.google.com/intl/en_en/policies/privacy. As already mentioned above, Google is subject to the EU-US Privacy Shield.
Data retrieval
We gladly provide you with information regarding any of your data that we store at any time. With just one click, you can easily view them in the app under “Your data”. You can also export them from there if you wish.
Deleting data
You can delete your app user data such as first and surname, search preferences and the partner connection anytime. This is easily done in the app under “Your data”.
You can find out more under How to delete your data.
Disclaimer
You can revoke the use of your data by us at any time by deleting it in the app under “Your data”.
Complaints
You are entitled to raise a complaint regarding the processing of your personal data by us with a data privacy supervisory authority. The responsible authority in our case is: Bayerisches Landesamt für Datenschutzaufsicht, Promenade 27 (Schloss), 91522 Ansbach, Germany, lda.bayern.de
Questions?
You would like to give us some feedback or have further questions regarding data privacy? Get in touch:
CharliesNames UG (haftungsbeschränkt)
Stephan Batteiger
Brahmsweg 6
85221 Dachau
Germany
Phone: +49 8131 4309251
hello@charlies-names.com
Date: 2023-11-01
