Privacy Policy

Hotly, Inc. ("Hotly", "we", "us", or "our") is committed to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your information when you use our mobile application and website (collectively, the "Services").

Please read this Privacy Policy carefully. By using the Services, you consent to the collection and use of your information as described in this Privacy Policy.

I. Information We Collect

Personal Information

We may collect personal information that you voluntarily provide when using our Services, including:

• Name and username
• Email address
• Phone number
• Profile picture
• Payment information
• Information from the service you sign in with (Google or Apple), such as your name, email address and profile picture
• Notes, replies and anything else you send through the Services, which the creator or fan you are writing to can see
• For creators, payout details, which Stripe collects and stores to verify your identity and pay you
• Any other information you choose to provide

Automatically Collected Information

When you access our Services, we may automatically collect certain information, including:

• Device information (type, operating system, unique identifiers)
• IP address and location data
• Browser type and version
• Usage data (pages visited, time spent, features used)
• A device identifier worked out from your browser and device settings, which lets us recognise the same device across visits
• Cookies, pixels and similar tracking technologies (see Section VII)

Paid Video Calls

You book a Call while signed in, so we link it to your Hotly account (your name and email address). We also collect the Call's date and time, the creator, and your payment status. Card details are handled by Stripe; Hotly does not store card numbers.

Zoom Information (Creators)

When a creator connects a Zoom account, we receive and store a Zoom account identifier and access credentials that let Hotly manage meetings on that account. For each booked Call, we store the Zoom meeting ID, the join link and the passcode. Hotly does not access Zoom recordings, contacts, chat, calendars or meeting content, and does not receive Call audio or video.

II. How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect for various purposes, including:

• Providing, maintaining, and improving our Services
• Processing transactions and sending related information
• Sending promotional communications (with your consent)
• Responding to your comments, questions, and requests
• Monitoring and analyzing usage patterns and trends
• Detecting, preventing, and addressing technical issues
• Protecting against fraudulent or illegal activity
• Measuring how well our ads work, and showing Hotly ads to you and to people with similar interests on other websites and apps
• Scheduling Calls, creating, updating and cancelling the Zoom meetings for them, and sending booking confirmations, reminders and updates

III. Sharing Your Information

We may share your information in the following circumstances:

• Service Providers: With third-party vendors who perform services on our behalf (payment processing, data analysis, email delivery, hosting)
• Advertising Partners: If you signed up as a creator on Hotly or joined a waitlist, we may share your email address with Meta and Google in hashed (scrambled) form. They use it to match you to an account on their services, so they can show Hotly ads to you or to people like you and tell us how our ads performed. We do not share the email addresses of people who buy from creators, or what they bought, and we never share phone numbers with advertising partners. Our analytics and advertising partners also collect information directly from hotly.com, as described in Section VII.
• Paid Video Calls: We share your name, email address and booking details with the creator you book, and the join link with you. We send Zoom the meeting details needed to create the meeting on the creator's account (date, time, length and a meeting title). When you join a Call, Zoom collects information about you under its own privacy statement, and the creator, as the meeting host, can see the name you join with and the other details Zoom shows hosts. We do not sell or rent Zoom data.
• Legal Requirements: When required by law or to respond to legal process or government requests
• Protection of Rights: To protect our rights, privacy, safety, or property, or that of our users or others
• Business Transfers: In connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets
• With Your Consent: When you have given us explicit permission to share your information

IV. Data Security

We implement appropriate technical and organizational security measures to protect your personal information against unauthorized access, alteration, disclosure, or destruction. However, no method of transmission over the Internet or electronic storage is 100% secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

Zoom access credentials are encrypted when stored and are used only by Hotly's servers to manage meetings for booked Calls.

V. Data Retention

We retain your personal information for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined in this Privacy Policy, unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law. When we no longer need your information, we will securely delete or anonymize it.

Zoom access credentials are deleted when a creator disconnects Zoom in Hotly. If a creator removes the Hotly app from their Zoom account instead, Hotly's access ends straight away, and we delete the stored credentials when they ask us at care@hotly.com. Booking records, including Zoom meeting IDs, are kept with the related payment records for as long as needed for accounting, refunds and disputes.

VI. Your Rights and Choices

Depending on your location, you may have certain rights regarding your personal information:

• Access: Request access to your personal information
• Correction: Request correction of inaccurate information
• Deletion: Request deletion of your personal information
• Opt-Out: Opt out of marketing communications
• Data Portability: Request a copy of your data in a portable format

Disconnecting Zoom. Creators can disconnect Zoom at any time from Dashboard → Calls in Hotly, which deletes the stored Zoom access credentials. You can also remove the Hotly app in the Zoom App Marketplace (Manage → Added Apps → Remove), which ends Hotly's access straight away; email us and we will delete the stored credentials too. To request access to or deletion of any other data, contact us at care@hotly.com.

VII. Cookies and Tracking Technologies

We use cookies and similar tracking technologies to collect and store information about your preferences and activity on our Services. You can control cookies through your browser settings, but disabling cookies may affect your ability to use certain features of our Services.

We use these analytics and advertising tools on hotly.com:

• Google Analytics and Google Ads (Google): to count visits, see which ads lead to sign-ups and purchases, and show Hotly ads to people who have visited hotly.com (remarketing).
• Meta Pixel and Conversions API (Meta): to measure our ads on Facebook and Instagram and show Hotly ads to people who have visited hotly.com, or to people like them.
• Microsoft Clarity (Microsoft): to see how visitors use our pages through behavioral metrics, heatmaps and session replay, so we can improve the site and our marketing.
• Amplitude: to understand which pages and features are used.

Third-party vendors, including Google and Meta, use cookies, web beacons, device identifiers and similar technologies to collect or receive information from hotly.com and elsewhere on the internet, such as the pages you visit and the actions you take. They use it to provide measurement services and to show ads, including Hotly ads on other websites and apps, based on your past visits. To learn more, see how Google uses information from sites that use its services, the Meta Privacy Policy and the Microsoft Privacy Statement.

Opting out of ads based on your activity. You can turn off personalized ads in Google Ads Settings and Meta Ad Preferences, stop Google Analytics with the Google Analytics opt-out add-on, or opt out of many advertising companies at once through the Digital Advertising Alliance, the Network Advertising Initiative or, in Europe, Your Online Choices. On a phone, you can also limit ad tracking in your device settings. To ask us not to share your hashed email address with advertising partners, email care@hotly.com.

VIII. Children's Privacy

Our Services are not intended for children under 13 years of age. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If we learn that we have collected personal information from a child under 13, we will take steps to delete such information promptly.

IX. International Data Transfers

Your information may be transferred to and processed in countries other than your country of residence. These countries may have data protection laws that are different from the laws of your country. By using our Services, you consent to the transfer of your information to these countries.

X. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. If we make material changes, we will notify you by updating the "Last Updated" date at the top of this policy and, where appropriate, provide additional notice. Your continued use of the Services after any changes indicates your acceptance of the updated Privacy Policy.

Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or our privacy practices, please contact us at care@hotly.com.