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Privacy Policy

Last modified: October 14, 2020. View previous.

Thanks for using our podcast service and any of our other software, applications, products, or services that we may offer from time to time (which we refer to collectively as our “Services”). The Services are provided by Podhero, Inc., a Delaware corporation formerly known as (fka) Swoot, Inc. (“Podhero”), located at 2140 Elizabeth St, San Carlos, CA, United States.

This Privacy Policy is used to inform users of our Service and visitors to our website regarding our policies with the collection, use, and disclosure of Personal Information. If you choose to use our Service, then you agree to the collection and use of information as described in this Privacy Policy. We generally use the Personal Information that we collect for providing and improving the Service. We will not use or share your Personal Information with anyone except as described in this Privacy Policy.

The capitalized words used in this Privacy Policy are either defined here (generally by using quotes the first time we use the term) or in our Terms of Service, which is accessible at https://podhero.com/terms/.

Information we collect and use

We want you to understand the types of information we collect as you use our Services.

We collect information to provide better Services to all our users — from figuring out basic stuff like how to communicate with you, to more complex things like which people matter most to you online, or which podcasts you might like. The information we collect, and how that information is used, depends on how you use our Services and how you manage your privacy controls.

When you’re not signed in to a Podhero Account, we store the information we collect with unique identifiers tied to the browser, application, or device you’re using. This helps us do things like maintain your preferences across sessions.

When you’re signed in, we also collect information that we store with your Podhero Account, which we treat as Personal Information. “Personal Information” means information that you provide to us which personally identifies you, such as your name, email address, or billing and payment information for Subscriptions, or other data that can be reasonably linked to such information by Podhero, such as information we associate with your Podhero Account.

When you create a Podhero Account, you provide us with Personal Information that includes your name and email, and may in the future also require a password. You can also choose to add a phone number or payment information to your account. Even if you aren’t signed in to a Podhero Account, you might choose to provide us with information — like an email address to receive updates about our Services.

We also collect the content you create, upload, or receive from others when using our Services. This includes things like messages you write and receive, or comments you make on podcasts.

We collect information about the apps, browsers, and devices you use to access our Services, which in the future will help us provide features like automatic product updates.

The information we collect may include unique identifiers, browser type and settings, device type and settings, operating system, mobile network information including carrier name and phone number, and application version number. We may also collect information about the interaction of your apps, browsers, and devices with our Services, including Internet Protocol ("IP") address, crash reports, system activity, and the date, time, and referrer URL of your request.

We collect this information when a Podhero Service on your device contacts our servers — for example, when our Service checks for automatic updates. This information includes things like your device type, software version, carrier name, crash reports, and which apps you’ve installed.

Here are some more examples of the type of information we collect:

Your activity

We collect information about your activity in our Services, which we use to do things like recommend a podcast you might like. The activity information we collect may include:

  • Terms you search for
  • Podcasts you listen to
  • Views and interactions with content
  • People with whom you communicate or share content
  • Activity on third-party sites and apps that use our Services

Address Book Data

We may collect contact or address book data for use in helping users connect with each other. This data is anonymized via hashing before being uploaded to our Services and is used to determine whether or not someone associated with your contact or address book is using Podhero.

Third Party Services

Our Services connect to third party services that may collect information used to identify you.

Log Data

Whenever you use our Services, in a case of an error in our software or app we collect data and information (through third party products) on your device called “Log Data.” This Log Data may include information such as your device address, device name, operating system version, the configuration of the software or app when utilizing our Services, the time and date of your use of the Services, and other statistics.

Provide our Services

We use your information to deliver our Services, like helping you share content by suggesting recipients from your contacts.

Maintain and improve our Services

We also use your information to ensure our Services are working as intended, such as tracking outages or troubleshooting issues that you report to us. And we use your information to make improvements to our Services — for example, understanding which search terms are most frequently misspelled helps us improve spell-check features.

Provide personalized Services

We may use the information we collect to customize our Services for you, including providing recommendations and personalized content. For example, Podhero uses information like podcasts you’ve already listened to in order to suggest new podcasts you might like.

Measure performance

We use data for analytics and measurement to understand how our Services are used. For example, we analyze data about your visits to our sites to do things like optimize product design.

Communicate with you

We use information we collect, like your email address, to interact with you directly. For example, we may send you a notification if we detect suspicious activity, like an attempt to sign in to your Podhero Account from an unusual location. Or we may let you know about upcoming changes or improvements to our Services. And if you contact Podhero, we’ll keep a record of your request in order to help solve any issues you might be facing.

Protect Podhero, our users, and the public

We use information to help improve the safety and reliability of our Services. This includes detecting, preventing, and responding to fraud, abuse, security risks, and technical issues that could harm Podhero, our users, or the public.

Technologies we use

We use different technologies to process your information for these purposes. We use automated systems that analyze your content to provide you with things like customized search results or other features tailored to how you use our Services. And we analyze your content to help us detect abuse such as spam, malware, and illegal content.

We may combine the information we collect among our Services and across your devices for the purposes described above. For example, if you listen to certain types of podcasts, you may suggest similar podcasts. Depending on your account settings, your activity on other sites and apps may be associated with your Personal Information in order to improve Podhero’s Services.

If other users already have your email address or other information that identifies you, we may show them your publicly visible Podhero Account information, such as your name and photo. This helps people identify a message coming from you, for example.

We’ll ask for your consent before using your Personal information for a purpose that isn’t covered in this Privacy Policy.

Cookies

“Cookies” are files with a small amount of data that is commonly used as an anonymous unique identifier. These are sent to your browser from the website that you visit and are stored on your device internal memory. Our Service does not use Cookies explicitly. However, the app may use third party code and libraries that use Cookies to collection information and to improve their Services. You have the option to either accept or refuse these Cookies and know when a Cookie is being sent to your device. If you choose to refuse our Cookies, you may not be able to use some portions of our Service.

Service Providers

We may employ third-party companies and individuals due to the following reasons:

  • To facilitate our Service;
  • To provide the Service on our behalf;
  • To perform Service-related Services; or
  • To assist us in analyzing how our Service is used.

These third parties may have access to your Personal Information in order to perform the tasks assigned to them on our behalf. However, they are obligated not to disclose or use your Personal Information for any other purpose.

When Podhero shares your information

We do not share your Personal Information with companies, organizations, or individuals outside of Podhero except in the following cases:

  • With your consent – we’ll share Personal Information outside of Podhero when we have your consent. We’ll ask for your explicit consent to share any sensitive Personal Information.
  • For Subscriptions – we may receive and provide Personal Information to External Services for purposes of maintaining your Accounts and Subscriptions.
  • For external processing – we provide Personal Information to our affiliates and other trusted businesses or persons to process it for us, based on our instructions and in compliance with our Privacy Policy and any other appropriate confidentiality and security measures. For example, we may use service providers to help us with customer support.
  • For legal reasons – we will share Personal Information outside of Podhero if we have a good-faith belief that access, use, preservation, or disclosure of the information is reasonably necessary to (a) meet any applicable law, regulation, legal process, or enforceable governmental request, (b) enforce applicable Terms of Service, including investigation of potential violations, (c) detect, prevent, or otherwise address fraud, security, or technical issues, or (d) protect against harm to the rights, property or safety of Podhero, our users, or the public as required or permitted by law.

Podhero partners

We may share non-personally identifiable information publicly and with our partners — like podcast creators, publishers, advertisers, developers, or rights holders. For example, we share information publicly to show trends about the general use of our Services. We also allow specific partners to collect information from your browser or device for advertising and measurement purposes using their own cookies or similar technologies.

Podhero Merger or Acquisition

If Podhero is involved in a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, we’ll continue to ensure the confidentiality of your Personal Information and give affected users notice before Personal Information is transferred or becomes subject to a different privacy policy.

Security

We value your trust in providing us your Personal Information, and we are striving to use commercially acceptable means of protecting it. But remember that no method of transmission over the internet, or method of electronic storage is 100% secure and reliable, and we cannot guarantee its absolute security.

Links to Other Sites

This Service may contain links to other sites. If you click on a third-party link, you will be directed to that site. Note that these external sites are not operated by us. Therefore, we strongly advise you to review the Privacy Policy of these websites. We have no control over and assume no responsibility for the content, privacy policies, or practices of any third-party sites or Services.

Children’s Privacy

These Services do not address anyone under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from children under 13. In the case we discover that a child under 13 has provided us with Personal Information, we immediately delete this from our servers. If you are a parent or guardian and you are aware that your child has provided us with Personal Information, please contact us so that we will be able to take all necessary actions.

Changes to This Privacy Policy

We change this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will not reduce your rights under this Privacy Policy without your explicit consent. We always indicate the date the last changes were published and we offer access to archived versions for your review. If changes are significant, we’ll provide a more prominent notice (including, for certain Services, email notification of Privacy Policy changes).

Contact Us

If you have any questions or suggestions about our Privacy Policy, do not hesitate to contact us at support@podhero.com.