Privacy Policy

Last updated January 26th, 2023

Shortwave Communications, Inc. ("Shortwave," "we," "us," or "our") has prepared this Privacy Policy to explain what Personal Data (defined below) we collect, how we use and share that data, and your choices concerning our data practices. Through our mobile application (the "App") and https://shortwave.com/ (the "Site"), we provide an asynchronous text and media communication service (the "Service").

This Privacy Policy explains what Personal Data (defined below) we collect, how we use and share that data, and your choices concerning our data practices. This Privacy Policy is referenced by our Terms of Service, which is also available on our website.

Before using the Service or submitting any Personal Data to Shortwave, please review this Privacy Policy carefully and contact us if you have any questions. By using the Service, you agree to the practices described in this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree to this Privacy Policy, please do not access the Site or otherwise use the Service.

1. Personal Data We Collect

We collect information that alone or in combination with other information in our possession could be used to identify you ("Personal Data") as follows:

Personal Data You Provide: We collect the following categories of Personal Data from you when you create an account, use the Service, or otherwise communicate with us:

Email Data: we collect your email address and the contents of any emails and messages you draft or receive in our Service, as well as associated metadata (such as the time sent).

Google Data: we will sync with your Gmail account so we can provide the Service. Through this integration, we will have access to your name, profile picture, and your Gmail inbox and any information available there, including the contents of your emails ("Google Data"). Notwithstanding anything else in this Privacy Policy, we (1) only use the Google Data to provide the Service; (2) do not transfer Google Data to third parties except as necessary to provide or improve the Service, as required by law, or in connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets where we provide notice to users; (3) do not use the Google Data for serving advertisements; and (4) do not permit humans to read Google Data, except (a) if we obtain your affirmative consent, (b) as necessary for security purposes or to comply with applicable law, or (c) our use is limited to internal operations and the Google Data (including derivations) have been aggregated and anonymized.

Google Contacts: We will also sync your Google Contacts and will have access to your contacts' names, profile pictures, and email addresses ("Google Contacts"). This allows us to display avatar photos in the application, as well as autocomplete suggestions (e.g. when typing a recipient's name or sending an invite). Google Contact data is subject to the same privacy and security provisions as the Google Data described above.

Customer Support/Survey Data: We may collect information when you contact us with questions or concerns and when you voluntarily respond to questionnaires, surveys or requests for market research seeking your opinion and feedback. Providing this information is optional to you.

Activity Data: When you visit, use, and interact with the Service, we may receive certain information about your visit, use, or interactions. For example, we may monitor the number of people that visit the Service, peak hours of visits, which page(s) are visited, the domains our visitors come from (e.g., google.com, yahoo.com, etc.), and which browsers people use to access the Service (e.g., Chrome, Firefox, Microsoft Internet Explorer, etc.), broad geographical information, and navigation pattern. In particular, the following information is created and automatically logged in our systems:

Log Data: Information that your browser automatically sends whenever you visit the Site. Log Data includes your Internet Protocol address, browser type and settings, the date and time of your request, and how you interacted with the Site.

Authentication Tokens: When you sign in to the Service, we collect and store encrypted Gmail authentication tokens.

Device Data: Includes name of the device, operating system, and browser you are using. Information collected may depend on the type of device you use and its settings.

Usage Data: We collect information about how you use our Service, such as the types of content that you view or engage with, the features you use, the actions you take (i.e., emoji reactions and triage actions), and the time, frequency, and duration of your activities.

Data We Receive From Third Parties: We may receive Personal Data about you from third parties (e.g. Clearbit) and other users, including your job title, employer information (including logo), and location. We may also collect publicly available Personal Data. This may include your and your contacts' social media information, depending on the applicable settings with the relevant social media network.

Cookies: We use cookies to operate and administer our Site, gather usage data on our Site, and improve your experience on it.

Please note that if you limit the ability of websites to set cookies, you may be unable to access certain parts of the Site and you may not be able to benefit from the full functionality of the Site.

Analytics: We use Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google, Inc. ("Google"). Google Analytics uses cookies to help us analyze how users use the Site and enhance your experience when you use the Site. For more information on how Google uses this data, go to www.google.com/policies/privacy/partners/.

Personal Data We Process on Behalf of Business Customers: If one of our business customers (such as your employer) provides you with access to the Service, we process your information pursuant to our Terms of Service and other agreements with the applicable business customer. If you are such an individual and would no longer like your data to be used by one of our business customers that use our Services or you would like to access, correct or request deletion of your data, please contact the business customer that you interact with directly.

2. How We Use Personal Data

We may use Personal Data for the following purposes:

To provide the Service, including sending and viewing email data, organizing your email data, and seeing information about your contacts;
To respond to your inquiries, comments, feedback, or questions;
To solicit referrals for new users from current users and to contact such referrals and other potential users;
To send administrative information to you, for example, information regarding the Service and changes to our terms, conditions, and policies;
To analyze how you interact with our Service;
To maintain and improve the Service;
To develop new products and services;
To prevent fraud, criminal activity, or misuses of our Service, and to ensure the security of our IT systems, architecture, and networks; and
To comply with legal obligations and legal process and to protect our rights, privacy, safety, or property, and/or that of our affiliates, you, or other third parties.

Aggregated Information. We may aggregate Personal Data and use the aggregated information to analyze the effectiveness of our Service, to improve and add features to our Service, and for other similar purposes. In addition, from time to time, we may analyze the general behavior and characteristics of users of our Services and share aggregated information like general user statistics with prospective business partners. We may collect aggregated information through the Service, through cookies, and through other means described in this Privacy Policy.

Marketing. We may contact you to provide information we believe will be of interest to you. For instance, if you elect to provide your email address, we may use that information to send you promotional information about our products and services (e.g. a monthly newsletter). If we do, where required by law, for example if you are in the EU, we will only send you such emails if you consent to us doing so at the time you provide us with your Personal Data. You may opt out of receiving emails by following the instructions contained in each promotional email we send you or by contacting us. If you unsubscribe from our marketing lists, you will no longer receive marketing communications but we will continue to contact you regarding our Site and Services and to respond to your requests.

In certain circumstances we may share the categories of Personal Data described above with the following categories of third parties without further notice to you, unless required by the law, as set forth below:

Vendors and Service Providers: To assist us in meeting business operations needs and to perform certain services and functions, we may share Personal Data with vendors and service providers, including providers of hosting services, payment processors, email communication software and email newsletter services, customer relationship management and customer support services, and web analytics services. Pursuant to our instructions, these parties will access, process, or store Personal Data in the course of performing their duties to us. We take commercially reasonable steps to ensure our service providers adhere to the security standards we apply to your Personal Data.

Business Transfers: If we are involved in a merger, acquisition, financing due diligence, reorganization, bankruptcy, receivership, sale of all or a portion of our assets, or transition of service to another provider (collectively a "Transaction"), your Personal Data and other information may be shared in the diligence process with counterparties and others assisting with the Transaction and transferred to a successor or affiliate as part of that Transaction along with other assets.

Legal Requirements: If required to do so by law or in the good faith belief that such action is necessary to (i) comply with a legal obligation, including to meet national security or law enforcement requirements, (ii) protect and defend our rights or property, (iii) prevent fraud, (iv) act in urgent circumstances to protect the personal safety of users of the Services, or the public, or (v) protect against legal liability.

4. Data Retention

We keep Personal Data for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy, while we have a business need to do so, or as required by law (e.g. for tax, legal, accounting, or other purposes), whichever is longer.

5. Know, Access, and Delete Your Information

Where provided for by law and subject to any applicable exceptions, users (including California residents) may have the following rights:

Know. You can request to know the categories of Personal Data that we have collected about you, the business purpose for collecting your Personal Data, the categories of sources from which the Personal Data was collected, whether we have disclosed your Personal Data for business purposes, the categories of Personal Data so disclosed, and the categories of third parties to whom we have disclosed your Personal Data (we provide this information above);

Access. You can request access to the specific pieces of Personal Data that we have collected about you;

Delete. You can request that we delete the Personal Data we collected from you and opt-out. You can instruct businesses that sell your Personal Data to stop doing so. Shortwave, however, does not sell Personal Data.

If you would like to exercise any of these rights, or want an alternative form of this Privacy Policy, please contact us via email or letter. After we receive your request, we may request additional information from you to verify your identity. Your authorized agent may submit requests in the same manner, although we may require the agent to present signed written permission to act on your behalf, and you may also be required to independently verify your identity with us and confirm that you authorized the agent to submit the request. We will not treat you differently for exercising your rights.

6. Children

Our Service is not directed to children who are under the age of 13. Shortwave does not knowingly collect Personal Data from children under the age of 13. If you have reason to believe that a child under the age of 13 has provided Personal Data to Shortwave through the Service please contact us and we will endeavor to delete that information from our databases.

7. Security

You use the Service at your own risk. We implement commercially reasonable technical, administrative, and organizational measures to protect Personal Data both online and offline from loss, misuse, and unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction. Our systems and policies have been thoroughly assessed by a Google-designated third-party security auditor. This security audit verifies that Shortwave is capable of handling data securely and deleting user data upon user request.

However, no Internet or email transmission is ever fully secure or error free. In particular, email sent to or from us may not be secure. Therefore, you should take special care in deciding what information you send to us via the Service or email. Please keep this in mind when disclosing any Personal Data to Shortwave via the Internet. In addition, we are not responsible for circumvention of any privacy settings or security measures contained on the Service, or third party websites.

8. International Users

By using our Service, you understand and acknowledge that your Personal Data will be transferred from your location to our facilities and servers in the United States.

9. Changes to the Privacy Policy

The Service and our business may change from time to time. As a result we may change this Privacy Policy at any time. When we do we will post an updated version on this page, unless another type of notice is required by the applicable law. By continuing to use our Service or providing us with Personal Data after we have posted an updated Privacy Policy, or notified you by other means if applicable, you consent to the revised Privacy Policy and practices described in it.

10. Contact Us

If you have any questions about our Privacy Policy or information practices, please feel free to contact us at our designated request address: privacy@shortwave.com.

Mailing address: Shortwave Communications, Inc. 440 N Barranca Ave #7952 Covina, CA 91723 USA