Privacy Policy

Hangout Social App ("Hangout", "we", "us", or "our") respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal information.

This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, store, and protect personal information when you access or use the Hangout mobile application, website, and related services (collectively, the "Services").

Hangout is a social discovery and community platform that enables users to discover people, communities, groups, events, activities, and social experiences; create and organize events; communicate with other users; and participate in communities.

By creating an account or using the Services, you acknowledge that you have read and understood this Privacy Policy.

1. Who We Are

The Services are operated by:

For privacy-related questions, requests, or complaints, please contact us using the details above.

2. Information We Collect

We collect information that you provide directly to us, information generated through your use of the Services, and information received from certain third-party services.

2.1 Information You Provide

Depending on how you use Hangout, we may collect:

• Full name
• Username or display name
• Email address
• Mobile or telephone number
• Password or authentication credentials
• Profile photograph
• Date of birth or age
• Gender, where voluntarily provided
• Nationality or country, where applicable
• City, area, or general location

You should avoid posting sensitive personal information publicly unless you are comfortable making that information available to other users.

3. Location Information

Hangout may collect location information to help you discover nearby events, groups, activities, and communities.

Depending on your device settings and the features you use, this may include:

• Approximate location
• City or area
• Location selected manually by you
• GPS or precise device location, if you grant permission
• Locations associated with events you create, join, or attend

You can generally control location permissions through your device settings.

If precise location is not necessary for a particular feature, we may use approximate or manually selected location information instead.

Information about an event location may become visible to other users depending on the event's privacy settings.

4. Information Collected Automatically

When you use Hangout, we may automatically collect certain technical and usage information, including:

• IP address
• Device type and model
• Operating system
• Browser type
• App version
• Date and time of activity

5. Cookies and Similar Technologies

If you use the Hangout website, we may use cookies, SDKs, pixels, local storage, and similar technologies.

These technologies may be used to:

• Keep you signed in
• Remember preferences
• Maintain security
• Understand how users use the Services
• Measure website and application performance
• Analyze traffic
• Improve functionality
• Personalize certain features
• Measure marketing campaigns, where applicable

You may be able to control cookies through your browser settings. Where required by applicable law, we will obtain appropriate consent before placing or using non-essential cookies.

6. How We Use Your Information

Providing the Services

• Create and maintain your account
• Create and display your profile
• Enable discovery of groups, communities, events, and activities
• Allow users to create and manage events
• Allow users to join or register for events
• Facilitate communications between users
• Provide notifications and reminders
• Provide customer support
• Process transactions where applicable

Personalization

We may use information such as your interests, location, event history, and preferences to recommend groups, events, activities, communities, people, or content.

Safety and Security

• Detect fraudulent or suspicious activity
• Prevent abuse and spam
• Investigate violations of our policies
• Protect users and the platform
• Respond to security incidents
• Comply with applicable laws
• Enforce our Terms of Service

Analytics and Improvement

• Understand how users interact with Hangout
• Improve products and features
• Develop new functionality
• Troubleshoot technical problems
• Monitor performance
• Conduct research and statistical analysis

7. Legal Bases for Processing

Where applicable, we process personal information based on one or more lawful grounds, including:

• Your consent
• Performance of a contract or provision of requested services
• Compliance with legal obligations
• Protection of legitimate interests
• Protection of users, our Services, or third parties
• Other lawful grounds permitted under applicable law

8. Public Profiles and User-Generated Content

Hangout is a social platform. Information that you choose to make public may be visible to other users and, depending on the feature and your privacy settings, potentially to people outside Hangout.

Public information may include:

• Name or username
• Profile photograph

You should carefully consider what information you publish publicly.

9. Groups and Events

Hangout allows users to create and participate in groups and events.

Depending on the settings selected by an organizer:

• Group membership may be visible to other members.
• Information submitted during event registration may be shared with the event organizer where necessary to facilitate the event.

10. Messages and Communications

Hangout may provide messaging, comments, group discussions, event discussions, or other communication features.

We may process communications and related metadata:

• To deliver messages
• To maintain the Services
• To prevent spam and abuse
• To investigate reported violations
• To protect users
• To comply with legal obligations

11. Photos, Videos and Other Content

When you upload or publish photographs, videos, reviews, comments, or other content, you grant Hangout the rights necessary to host, store, display, distribute, and technically process that content to provide the Services.

You remain responsible for the content you upload and should ensure that you have appropriate permission before uploading photographs, videos, or personal information relating to other people.

12. Payments and Financial Information

If Hangout offers paid memberships, event tickets, subscriptions, advertisements, or other paid services, payments may be processed by third-party payment providers.

Depending on the payment method, we may receive:

• Transaction amount
• Currency
• Transaction date
• Payment status
• Payment method

We generally do not need to store complete payment-card details when payments are processed by a specialized payment provider.

13. Third-Party Services and Integrations

Hangout may integrate with third-party services such as:

• Apple
• Google
• Social login providers
• Mapping and location providers
• Analytics providers
• Cloud hosting providers
• Communication providers
• Payment processors
• Push-notification providers
• Customer-support platforms
• Advertising or marketing platforms

These providers may process information on our behalf or independently, depending on the nature of the integration.

14. When We Share Personal Information

We do not sell your personal information as a standalone database to third parties.

Service Providers

We may share information with companies providing cloud hosting, analytics, customer support, email, SMS, push notifications, payment processing, security, fraud prevention, content moderation, and technical infrastructure.

Event Organizers

Information may be shared with event organizers when necessary to administer an event or registration.

Other Users

Information you intentionally make public may be visible to other Hangout users.

Legal Requirements

We may disclose information where reasonably necessary to comply with applicable laws, lawful requests, court orders, governmental requests, protect our legal rights, investigate fraud or abuse, or protect the safety of users or other individuals.

Business Transactions

If Hangout or substantially all of its assets are involved in a merger, acquisition, restructuring, financing, sale, or similar transaction, personal information may be transferred as part of that transaction, subject to applicable law.

15. International Data Transfers

Some of our service providers may be located outside the United Arab Emirates. Your personal information may therefore be transferred to, stored in, or processed in other countries.

Where applicable, we will implement appropriate safeguards and comply with applicable requirements governing international or cross-border transfers of personal information.

16. Data Retention

We retain personal information only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy, including to:

• Provide the Services
• Maintain account records
• Meet legal obligations
• Resolve disputes
• Enforce agreements
• Prevent fraud and abuse
• Maintain security
• Protect our legal interests

When information is no longer required, we may delete, anonymize, or securely dispose of it, subject to applicable requirements.

17. Account Deletion

You may request deletion of your Hangout account.

Depending on the functionality provided in the application, you may be able to delete your account through:

Settings → Account → Delete Account

Alternatively, contact us at [privacy@domain.com] .

When an account is deleted, we will take reasonable steps to delete or anonymize associated personal information, subject to information we are legally required or otherwise permitted to retain.

18. Your Privacy Rights

Subject to applicable law and any applicable exceptions, you may have rights relating to your personal information, including the right to:

• Request access to personal information we hold about you
• Request correction of inaccurate or incomplete information
• Request deletion of personal information
• Request restriction of certain processing
• Object to certain processing
• Withdraw consent where processing is based on consent
• Request information about how your personal information is processed
• Exercise other rights available under applicable law

To exercise a privacy right, contact: [privacy@domain.com] .

We may need to verify your identity before processing certain requests.

19. Marketing Communications

You may receive promotional communications from us where permitted by applicable law.

These may include:

• Email
• SMS
• Push notifications
• In-app messages
• Promotional notifications

You may unsubscribe from marketing communications using the unsubscribe mechanism provided in the communication or through your account settings, where available.

You may continue receiving essential service communications, including security alerts, account notifications, event updates, and transactional messages.

20. Personalized Recommendations

Hangout may use information such as your location, interests, groups, events, previous activity, and preferences to provide personalized recommendations.

For example, we may recommend events or groups that appear relevant to your interests or location.

21. Advertising

If Hangout displays advertising, we may work with advertising partners that provide advertising, measurement, and attribution services.

Depending on applicable law and your choices, advertising partners may receive limited information such as device identifiers, approximate location, advertising identifiers, interaction information, or general interest information.

22. Children's Privacy

Hangout is not intended for children below the minimum age permitted under applicable law.

Users must provide accurate information regarding their age where age information is requested.

We do not knowingly collect or use children's personal information in violation of applicable law.

If you believe that a child has provided personal information to Hangout inappropriately, please contact us using the details provided below.

23. Security

We implement reasonable technical and organizational measures designed to protect personal information against unauthorized access, disclosure, loss, misuse, alteration, destruction, or accidental damage.

Security measures may include:

• Encryption in transit
• Access controls
• Authentication controls
• Secure infrastructure
• Monitoring and logging
• Backup procedures
• Security testing
• Employee and contractor access restrictions

However, no Internet-based service can guarantee absolute security.

24. Account and Community Safety

Because Hangout facilitates interactions between people who may not know each other personally, users should exercise appropriate caution.

Hangout may collect and use information to investigate:

• Fake accounts
• Fraud
• Harassment
• Spam
• Abuse
• Threats
• Impersonation
• Unsafe activities
• Violations of community guidelines

25. Third-Party Websites and Services

Hangout may contain links to third-party websites, applications, event pages, social networks, or other services.

We are not responsible for the privacy practices, security, or content of third-party services. We recommend reviewing the privacy policy of any third-party service before providing personal information.

26. Data Breaches and Security Incidents

If we become aware of a personal data breach or security incident affecting your personal information, we will take appropriate steps to investigate, contain, remediate, and notify affected individuals or authorities where required by applicable law.

27. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time.

When we make changes, we will update the Last Updated date at the top of this Policy.

If we make material changes, we may provide additional notice through the application, website, email, or other appropriate means where required.

28. Governing Law

This Privacy Policy shall be interpreted in accordance with the laws applicable to the operation of Hangout and the processing of personal information.

Where the Services are operated in the United Arab Emirates, applicable UAE data protection and privacy laws, including Federal Decree-Law No. 45 of 2021 concerning the Protection of Personal Data, may apply.

Nothing in this Privacy Policy limits any mandatory rights that you may have under applicable law.

29. Contact Us

We will review and respond to privacy requests within the timeframe required by applicable law.

30. Summary of Your Privacy Choices