HotBites Privacy Policy

Information we collect

Depending on how you use HotBites, we may collect:

• Account information, including your first name, optional last name, email address, mobile number, ZIP code, account identifier, and other information you provide when creating or updating your account.
• Profile content, including a profile picture if you choose to upload one.
• Friends and dining activity, including Friend requests and connections, restaurants you follow, Specials you view or share, dining plans, party size, and responses such as Interested or Going.
• App activity and analytics, including app opens, restaurant views, Special views, Special shares, and interactions with push notifications. For signed-in users, this activity may be associated with your HotBites account.
• Notification and device information, including a push-notification token, device platform or model information, a HotBites-generated device identifier, and your notification preferences when you enable notifications.
• Contact matching information. If you choose to use Find Friends from Contacts and grant permission, HotBites checks phone numbers from your contacts against existing HotBites accounts so we can show you people you may know. HotBites does not save your contact list.
• Support communications, including information you provide when you contact us for help or send us a privacy request.

HotBites does not currently collect your device's precise or approximate geographic location. Restaurant locations shown in HotBites describe the restaurants, not your device location.

How we use information

• Provide, secure, maintain, and improve HotBites.
• Create and manage your account, Friends, and dining plans.
• Use your ZIP code to personalize restaurant and Special experiences and understand where HotBites is being used.
• Match contact phone numbers with existing HotBites users when you choose to use Find Friends from Contacts.
• Show relevant restaurant Specials and personalize your experience.
• Deliver notifications you choose to receive.
• Measure how HotBites features, restaurants, and Specials are used so we can improve the service.
• Respond to questions, prevent misuse, protect the service, and troubleshoot problems.

How information is shared

We do not sell your personal information and do not use your personal information to track you across apps or websites owned by other companies for advertising purposes.

We may share information with service providers that help us operate HotBites, including providers of hosting, databases, authentication, storage, email, analytics infrastructure, and push notifications. These providers process information on our behalf to provide their services to HotBites.

Other HotBites users may see limited information needed for social features, such as your first name, profile picture, Friend relationship, and dining response information where applicable. Your last name and email address are not displayed to other diners through the Friends feature.

When you participate in a dining plan or indicate that you are going to a Special, participating restaurant staff may receive limited information needed to support the dining experience, such as timing, party size, and response status.

We may also disclose information when required by law or when reasonably necessary to protect HotBites, its users, restaurants, or the public.

Contact permissions

Access to your phone contacts is optional. HotBites requests contact permission only when you choose to use the contact-based Friend discovery feature. Contact phone numbers are used to look for matching HotBites users. HotBites does not retain your address book or contact list as a saved contact database.

Profile photos

Profile photos are optional. If you upload a photo, it is stored so it can be displayed with your HotBites profile and Friends features. When you permanently delete your HotBites account, your stored HotBites profile photo is also removed.

Data retention and account deletion

We retain information for as long as reasonably necessary to provide HotBites, maintain security, meet legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements.

You may permanently delete your HotBites consumer account from the Account screen in the app. Account deletion removes your HotBites authentication account and associated consumer profile, profile picture, account-linked app analytics, favorites, notification device registrations and preferences, Friend connections, and associated consumer dining-plan records that are configured for deletion with your account.

Certain operational or historical records may be retained when needed for legal, security, fraud-prevention, restaurant transaction, or recordkeeping purposes. Where applicable, the account identifier is removed from records that are retained after account deletion.

We use reasonable administrative and technical safeguards to protect information, but no online service can guarantee absolute security.

Your choices

You may update available account details in the app, choose whether to upload a profile picture, choose whether to grant Contacts access, control HotBites notification preferences, and manage notification or contact permissions through your device settings.

You may permanently delete your consumer account from the HotBites Account screen. You may also contact us at the email below with questions about your personal information or a privacy request.

Children

HotBites is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as HotBites evolves. We will post the revised policy here and update its effective date.

Contact us

Questions or privacy requests may be sent to hotbites.shop@gmail.com.