JOINERY Privacy Policy

Please review this policy to understand how we collect, store, protect, and share your information, as well as with whom we share it. We recommend reading this alongside our Terms & Conditions of Use for a comprehensive understanding.

While using the JOINERY mobile application (“App”), our websites, microsites (like joinery.vip), or our digital products and services (such as surveys), collectively referred to as our “Sites,” we gather information about you. Moreover, you can opt to share information with other users, including friends and contacts (“Users”), via the App or Sites. At times, we may also need to share your information.

About Us

The App and Sites are operated by the “JOINERY Connections, Inc” (also referred to in this policy as “we” or “us” or “JOINERY”) which is a controller of personal information collected and processed through the Joinery App and Sites.

Questions regarding this policy can be sent to [email protected] or by post at the following address: JOINERY CONNECTIONS, INC 3839 McKinney Avenue Suite 155-5089 Dallas, TX 75204-1488

1. COLLECTION OF INFORMATION

Registration Information

When you download the App and create an account (“Account”), we may collect certain information (“Registration Information”) about you, such as:

• Name;

• Username;

• Email address;

• Mobile number;

• Gender identity;

• Date, time, and location of birth;

• Sexual preference;

• Photographs;

• Location; and

• Login information for social media accounts that you connect to your JOINERY Account (this could include, for example, your Facebook and Instagram accounts). For more information about this, see “Linking other Accounts to JOINERY” in section 7 below.

After registration, you can review and update your information anytime by logging into JOINERY. However, please note that your date of birth and location (if you’ve granted JOINERY access to your device location) are automatically updated based on your device’s location and cannot be changed directly. It’s your responsibility to maintain accurate account details. If your phone number changes, please remember to update it in your account settings.

The data we collect serves to improve the App and authenticate our Users. Registration details, including sexual preference, name, and username, may be visible to other Users when they view your profile page.

For Users who are California residents, the data we may collect falls within the following categories of “personal information”, as defined by the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA):

• Identifiers, such as name and location;

• Personal information, as defined in the California customer records law, such as contact (including email and telephone number) and financial information;

• Characteristics of protected classifications under California or federal law (if you choose to provide them), such as age, gender identity, marital status, sexual orientation, race, ancestry, national origin, religion, and medical conditions;

• Commercial information, such as transaction information and purchase history;

• Biometric information;

• Internet or network activity information, such as browsing history and interactions with our Sites and App;

• Geolocation data, such as mobile device location;

• Audio, electronic, visual and similar information, such as photos and videos;

• Professional or employment-related information, such as work history and prior employer;

• Non-public education information; and

• Inferences drawn from any of the personal information listed above to create a profile or summary about, for example, an individual’s preferences and characteristics.

Profile Information

We strongly advise all members to be cautious about the information they share. It’s not advisable to include email addresses, URLs, instant messaging details, phone numbers, full names or addresses, credit card details, national identity numbers, driver’s license details, or other sensitive information on your profile. When posting information or using the messaging function, the level of personal information you disclose is your responsibility and at your own risk. For further details on who can access your posts on JOINERY, please refer to Section 4 below.

Profile Verification Information (Including Biometric Information)

To prioritize safety and provide an optimal user experience, we mandate account verification for Users. This process involves providing your phone number and undergoing photo verification with a government ID to prevent the creation of fake profiles. Such verification may be necessary to prevent fraud.

We verify your profile photo by comparing the selfie taken during account verification with a government ID to your uploaded photo. This process may involve facial recognition technology to confirm your identity. The verification photos are not added to your profile but retained for future verification and record-keeping purposes. We keep these scans until they’re no longer needed, typically up to three years after your last interaction with us. After this period, we securely delete the scans from our systems.

Purchases Information

If you opt to purchase any of our premium services, we will securely process your payment information for fraud prevention and audit/tax purposes. JOINERY employs automated decisions as part of its anti-fraud measures to prevent fraudulent payment transactions. Our systems analyze payment transactions for behavior that may violate our Terms & Conditions of Use. If a transaction is deemed likely to breach our Terms & Conditions and appears fraudulent, it may be automatically blocked. In such cases, affected users will be notified that their transaction cannot be processed and may contact JOINERY to challenge the decision.

Geolocation Information

If you’ve granted JOINERY access to your location through your device settings, we’ll gather data on WiFi access points and other location details like longitude and latitude when you use the mobile app. Your device’s coordinates may also be stored to provide specific features. This data aids in identifying your physical location and allows us to personalize the app, simplifying interactions with other Users. It enables us to display general locality information to Users viewing your profile and to show you profiles of Users nearby.

If you’ve granted JOINERY access to your location but want to disable this feature, you can do so using the following methods:

• iPhone app — settings, privacy, location services, Joinery

• Android — settings, location, Joinery, permissions, location

Device and Photos Information

When you use the App, we may gather data about your device, including its unique identifier, model, and operating system, for various purposes outlined in this policy. Additionally, with your permission, the App may access your device’s address book to add contacts. We also collect information about your photos, such as which ones users spend time.

Links

The Website may provide links to other websites operated by third parties who are not related to, affiliated with, or endorsed by JOINERY.  Because JOINERY has no control over such third-party websites, you understand and acknowledge that JOINERY is not responsible for the availability of such websites and bears no responsibility or liability whatsoever for any content, advertising, services, products, or other materials on or available from such websites. Accordingly, you acknowledge and agree that JOINERY shall have no responsibility or liability, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss suffered by you and caused directly or indirectly by such third-party websites.  Further, you understand, acknowledge, and agree that this Agreement does not apply to third-party websites and that your use of such websites is subject to the terms and conditions and policies of the owner or owners of such third-party websites. We monitor your interaction with links on JOINERY, including those leading to third-party services, by tracking clicks or using other methods. Aggregate click statistics, like the number of clicks on a specific link, may be shared.

JOINERY Success Stories, Surveys and other Contributions

Occasionally, we conduct surveys for research purposes and may reach out to see if you’d like to participate. We might also contact you for feedback, testimonials, or to join marketing campaigns, such as featuring in JOINERY advertisements if you’ve found a match on the App. Participation in these activities is optional, and further details will be provided when contacted. If you prefer not to be contacted for surveys or marketing campaigns, please reach out to our Customer Support Team at [email protected].

When you Contact Customer Support

When you reach out to our Customer Support team at [email protected], we’ll collect your email address and may track your IP address, along with the information you provide, to assist with resolving your query. We retain records of our communications with you, including any complaints received from you about other Users (and from other Users about you), for 6 years after your account is deleted.

Cookies and Similar Technologies

When you visit our Sites or use our App, we may automatically collect personal data from you through cookies or similar technologies. Cookies are small files that can be stored on your device or browser, enabling us to recognize and remember you.

For more information about cookies, including how we use them and your choices, please see our Cookie Policy.

2. USE OF YOUR INFORMATION

We may utilize your Registration and other details to:

• Provide our services and features to you.

• Contact you regarding App updates and new features.

• Personalize the App/Sites and delivered content.

• Conduct research and analytics on your App/Sites usage and interactions.

• Test new technologies and processes to enhance the App/Sites.

• Resolve disputes, troubleshoot problems, and enforce our Terms & Conditions.

• Investigate fraud, safeguard our legal rights, and enforce our Terms & Conditions.

• Send you information about available promotions and offers via direct marketing or other communication methods if you’ve opted in (you can opt out at any time).

• Protect our Users and third parties from harm.

Our Matching Algorithms

We’ve designed matching algorithms to forecast your compatibility with other users, enabling us to suggest potential matches we believe are well-suited to you. These algorithms consider various indicators from users’ profiles, such as swiping behavior and mutual matches, to recommend the most relevant profiles for everyone, enhancing the likelihood of meaningful connections. Our algorithms, powered by machine learning, analyze multiple factors to rank profiles and maximize your chances of finding compatible matches. To predict compatibility and generate profile recommendations, we use data including the information provided in your profile (such as age, distance, and gender), your app interactions (indicating activity and availability), and your device coordinates (to determine proximity to other members). If your profile includes sensitive information, such as beliefs, its processing is based on your voluntary and explicit consent.

Moderation Practices

We employ both automated systems and a team of moderators to oversee and evaluate accounts, including photos and profile information, as well as messages, for any content indicating violations of our Terms & Conditions of Use. If an account or message meets specific criteria suggesting a breach of our Terms & Conditions, the associated account may receive a warning, and the user’s access may be limited or blocked accordingly. Users affected by such actions can reach out to Joinery to contest the decision.

Posting content that contradicts our Terms & Conditions of Use may result in termination or restriction of access to your Account.

Lawful Basis

JOINERY controls and operates the Website from its offices in the U.S.A. JOINERY makes no representation that the Website is appropriate or available for use beyond the U.S.A.  If you use the Website from other locations, you are doing so of your own initiative and are responsible for compliance with applicable local laws regarding your online conduct and acceptable content, if and to the extent local laws apply. Subject to the terms of this Agreement, JOINERY reserve the right to limit the availability of, restrict access to, or discontinue the Website and/or any Content, program, product, service, or other feature described or available on the Website to any person, entity, geographic area, or jurisdiction, at any time and in JOINERY’s sole discretion, and to limit the quantities of any content, program, product, service, or other feature that JOINERY provides. Some content, programs, services, or features may be available on this Website only on a subscription or fee basis.

3. DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION

Our policy is to not disclose your Registration Information or personal data, except in the limited circumstances described here:

Aggregated Information — We may share aggregated information with third parties that includes your personal data (but which doesn’t identify you directly) together with other information, including log data for industry analysis and demographic profiling.

Service Providers

We enlist trusted third-party Service Providers to perform functions and offer services to us. The selection of suppliers with whom JOINERY shares User personal data depends on various factors, including the specific App, Sites, or services engaged by the User. For instance, to facilitate our services, we commonly engage the following suppliers:

• Billing services — for purchasing paid features (e.g., Apple, Google Play)

• Authentication services — for account verification (e.g., Twilio)

• Social media providers — for connecting Joinery accounts with platforms (e.g., Facebook, Instagram, Spotify)

• IT services — certain third-party software providers (e.g., Person for selfie to government ID verification)

We conduct thorough due diligence on all Service Providers to ensure they maintain adequate data protection and information security measures. We only furnish them with the necessary personal data for the services they provide. Additionally, steps are taken to ensure the shared data remains non-attributable to the greatest extent feasible. Our suppliers are also bound by stringent contractual obligations, including strict data retention limits.

Marketing Services Providers

We collaborate with Marketing Services Providers (e.g., Facebook) to support our marketing and advertising efforts on third-party websites and applications, as well as to gauge the effectiveness of our campaigns.

This partnership enables us to:

• Exclude existing JOINERY account holders from new user acquisition campaigns.

• Display JOINERY ads to users who have visited our App/Sites but haven’t signed up yet.

• Create Lookalike Audiences based on your characteristics.

• Include you in custom audiences targeted with JOINERY advertising content.

We share limited personal data with these Marketing Services Providers, including:

• Your device’s advertising identifier.

• Estimated location based on your IP address.

• Age and gender.

• Site or App visit data and actions taken (e.g., app downloads, account creations, purchases).

• A hashed version of your email address for custom audiences.

Hashing encrypts information into random characters, protecting email addresses. This hashed data is matched with the Marketing Service Provider’s user list, serving ads to matched users. Matched and unmatched hashes are then deleted by the Provider.

For more details on cookies and tracking technologies, including preference management, refer to our Cookie Policy.

These third parties may also utilize collected data for their own purposes, such as aggregating data for advertising-related services provided to other clients.

Facebook

In cases where we share data with Facebook as our Marketing Service Provider (e.g., through the Facebook “Like” function), we operate as Joint Data Controllers with Facebook for this processing. As per this arrangement, JOINERY provides this notice, but you should reach out to Facebook if you wish to exercise your data protection rights. You can find further information, including how Facebook facilitates the exercise of your data protection rights and subsequent processing as an independent data controller, in Facebook’s Data Policy. For additional details on our arrangement with Facebook, please contact [email protected].

The data mentioned above may encompass actions you take on our website, such as interactions with our Sites, or other information collected from cookies or similar technologies, including the Facebook pixel. This enables us to gauge the effectiveness of our advertising, enhance our marketing practices, and deliver more relevant advertising to you and similar audiences (including on social media platforms like Facebook).

4. WHAT OTHERS MAY SEE ABOUT YOU

Our App is crafted to facilitate seamless connections and interactions among Users.

While using the JOINERY App, it’s important to understand that anything you post or submit may be publicly viewable and accessible to both Users and non-users. We urge Users to exercise caution when sharing information that could potentially become public.

Exercise caution when posting sensitive details on your profile, such as religious affiliation and health information. You may also opt to include sensitive information, like religion and political views, by adding certain JOINERY badges to your profile. While this information is voluntary, including your sexual preferences, there’s no obligation to provide it. Please note that photos posted on JOINERY can also reveal personal details. By voluntarily providing sensitive information, including through profile badges, you explicitly consent to its processing and disclosure to other Users.

Your JOINERY profile and associated information, including details added through third-party accounts (e.g., Facebook, Instagram, Spotify), may be viewed and shared by Users, whether or not they’re App users. For instance, a User might recommend you as a match to their Facebook friend(s) by sharing a screenshot of your profile picture, irrespective of whether these friend(s) use the App.

5. AGE

You must be at least 18 years old to use JOINERY.

JOINERY does not knowingly collect information about or market to children, minors, or anyone under the age of 18. If we discover that a child, minor, or anyone under 18 has registered with us and provided personal information, we will take immediate steps to terminate their registration.

6. SECURITY

At JOINERY, we prioritize the security of your information by implementing appropriate measures to prevent loss, misuse, unauthorized access, or disclosure. We employ reasonable security protocols, such as secured servers with firewalls, to maintain the confidentiality of your personal data.

However, it’s essential to acknowledge that no website or Internet transmission can be entirely 100% secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute protection against unauthorized access, hacking, data loss, or other breaches. Nonetheless, here are some helpful tips to enhance your data security:

• Always remember to log out of your Account after each use to prevent unauthorized access.

• Avoid sharing your JOINERY Account password with anyone else.

• Periodically change your password for added security.

If you suspect that someone has gained access to your password or Account, please follow the outlined steps here. Please note that while we strive to ensure the security of your personal data during transmission to our site, any transmission is done at your own risk.

7. LINKING OTHER ACCOUNTS TO JOINERY

Linking social media accounts to your JOINERY account

You have the option to connect your Joinery account with Instagram, Facebook, or Spotify. This enables you to share select information directly from these accounts to your Joinery profile, such as Instagram photos or your top Spotify artists.

We only receive the limited information permitted by Instagram or Spotify (as outlined by these platforms and agreed upon by you during the initial connection process).

If you decide to unlink your Joinery account from Instagram, Facebook, or Spotify, simply visit the settings in your respective account and follow the provided instructions to revoke JOINERY app access permissions. Please be aware that any information previously added to your JOINERY account from these platforms will remain unless you delete it within your JOINERYv account.

8. OUR CALIFORNIA PRIVACY RIGHTS

For Users who are California residents, you have the following rights (in addition to those listed at section 10 below) under the California Consumer Privacy Act, and you have the right to be free from unlawful discrimination for exercising your rights under the Act:

You have the right to request that we disclose certain information to you and explain how we have collected, used, and shared your personal information over the past 12 months.

You have the right to request that we delete your personal information that we collected from you, subject to certain exceptions.

California’s “Shine the Light” law, Civil Code section 1798.83, requires certain businesses to respond to requests from California customers asking about the businesses’ practices related to disclosing personal information to third parties for the third parties’ direct marketing purposes. If you wish to find out about any rights you may have under California Civil Code section 1798.83, you can write to us at [email protected].

From time to time, as part of a joint promotion with a third party, we may, if you participate in such promotion, disclose your contact information to the third party to allow them to market their products or services to you. Where this is a condition for participation in a promotion, we will always let you know before when you enter the promotion. Please follow the instructions provided to you by third parties to unsubscribe from their messages.

In addition, under California law, operators of online services are required to disclose how they respond to “do not track” signals or other similar mechanisms that provide consumers the ability to exercise choice regarding the collection of personal information of a consumer over time and across third party online services, to the extent the operator engages in that collection.

At this time, we do not track our Users’ personal information over time and across third-party online services. This law also requires operators of online services to disclose whether third parties may collect personal information about their users’ online activities over time and across different online services when the users use the operator’s service. We do not knowingly permit third parties to collect personal information about an individual User’s online activities over time and across different online services when using the App.

9. YOUR RIGHTS

Privacy laws applicable in the United States may give you the following rights:

• Right to be informed: what personal data an organization is processing and why (we provide this information to you in this Privacy Policy).

• Right of access: you can request a copy of your data.

• Right of rectification: if the data held is inaccurate, you have the right to have it corrected.

• Right to erasure: you have the right to have your data deleted in certain circumstances.

• Right to restrict processing: in limited circumstances, you have the right to request that processing is stopped but the data retained.

• Right to data portability: you can request a copy of certain data in a machine-readable form that can be transferred to another provider.

• Right to object: in certain circumstances (including where data is processed on the basis of legitimate interests or for the purposes of marketing) you may object to that processing.

• Rights related to automated decision-making, including profiling: there are several rights in this area where processing carried out on a solely automated basis results in a decision that has legal or significant effects for the individual. In these circumstances, your rights include the right to ensure that there is human intervention in the decision-making process.

You should make yourself aware of your rights under applicable privacy laws in the United States.

If you want to exercise any of your rights listed above please email us at [email protected]. You can also contact us by mail at the following address: JOINERY CONNECTIONS, INC 3839 McKinney Avenue Suite 155-5089 Dallas, TX 75204-1488. For your protection and the protection of all of our Users, we may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity before we can answer the above requests.

If you have a concern about how we have processed your request or your personal data, you should contact us in the first instance via the contact details listed above.

10. DATA LOCATIONS

Your data is processed and stored in the United States. If you want more information about the nature of our safeguards, please email  [email protected].

11. DATA RETENTION AND DELETION

We retain your personal information only for as long as necessary, based on the legal grounds outlined in Section 2 above and as permitted by applicable laws. Refer to “Profile Verification Information (Including Biometric Information)” in Section 1 to understand our retention policy regarding biometric data.

When you delete your Account, it becomes inaccessible on the App. However, for a period of up to 28 days, you can still restore your Account if deleted accidentally. After this period, we initiate the deletion process for your personal information from our systems, except in the following circumstances:

• Legal obligations: We may retain data for tax and accounting purposes if you made purchases within the App.

• Compliance: We may keep information to demonstrate compliance with applicable laws, such as records of blocked accounts and associated behavior.

• Outstanding matters: Information may be retained if there are unresolved issues, claims, or disputes.

• Legitimate business interests: Data may be retained for fraud prevention and enhancing Users’ safety, such as preventing banned users from creating new accounts.

Warning: Despite removing information from your profile or deleting your Account, copies of the information may remain accessible if it was previously shared, copied, or stored by others. We are unable to control this and do not assume any liability for such occurrences. Additionally, if you granted third-party applications or websites access to your personal information, they may retain it in accordance with their terms of service or privacy policies.

12. CHANGES TO THIS POLICY

As JOINERY continues to develop, we may update this Privacy Policy periodically. The latest version of the policy will dictate how we utilize your information and will always be accessible at joinery.vip/privacy. If we make a significant change to this policy, as determined solely by us, we will notify you. This notification may include an email sent to the email linked to your Account or a notice posted within Joinery.

Effective date

This Privacy Policy was last updated on: November 11, 2024