Privacy Policy

Thank you for using the mobile application "HiTalk" . We attach great importance to your privacy and personal information and are always committed to protecting your privacy. In order to help you better use the HiTalk service, we have specially formulated this privacy policy to explain to you what information we collect when you use the HiTalk service and how to collect, use and protect this information.

Before using HiTalk services, please be sure to read our privacy policy carefully. Unless you have read and accepted all the terms of this agreement, please stop using HiTalk services immediately. Once you check or click the "Agree to the Privacy Policy" button, it is deemed that you have fully understood and accepted this privacy policy.

Part I. Definitions

User: "You" or "User" hereafter refers to the individual or organization that registers, logs in, uses, browses, and obtains services under this policy.

Personal information: refers to various information recorded electronically or otherwise that can identify the identity of a specific natural person or reflect the activities of a specific natural person alone or in combination with other information.

Part II Privacy Policy

This privacy policy section will help you understand the following:

• 1. Information We Collect
• 2. Storage of Information
• 3. Information Security
• 4. How we use information
• 5. Disclosure to Third Parties
• 6. Our Children's Information Policy
• 7. Contact Us

1. Information We Collect

1. Register an account

• When you register for HiTalk service, we will collect your unique device identification code to identify you as a HiTalk user. If you use Apple ID, Facebook, Google, or Gmail to log in to HiTalk, we will collect your unique identification of Apple ID, Google, Facebook, or Gmail to save your login information so that you can synchronize your data when you log in with different devices. After you register or log in with a third-party account, your third-party account will be bound to your HiTalk account, but you can choose to turn it off in [Settings → Account-Binding Information] to unbind the account.
• When you create a HiTalk ID, we collect your personal information, including email address, gender, age, nationality, your native language and the language you are learning, which will help us provide you with better services and experience.
• We will collect your gender information to help users screen suitable language exchange partners based on their personal preferences. Some users prefer to communicate with language partners of the same gender, which is also our core function.

2. Provide you with network security and operational security

• To protect your account, network, operation and system security, and prevent phishing fraud and Trojan viruses, when you register and start using the services of this product, or when switching to background operation, our server will automatically record the information sent by your mobile phone ("log data"). The log data may include relevant information (such as operators, application installation lists, device models, operating systems and versions, client versions, Android IDs, OAIDs, device resolutions, package names, SD card data, device settings, processes and unique device identifiers, software and hardware feature information), and information related to the location of the device (such as IP addresses, GPS locations, and WLAN access points, Bluetooth and base station sensor information that can provide relevant information).

3. Camera/camera-based functions

• After turning on the camera/camera permission, you can use this function to take photos or upload videos, share them, etc. Please be aware that even if you have agreed to turn on the camera/camera permission, we will only obtain relevant information through the camera when you actively click on the above functions in the client. If you do not use the above functions, you do not need to allow this permission.

4. Functionality of microphone-based voice technology

• You can use the microphone to send voice after turning on the microphone permission. Please be aware that even if you have agreed to turn on the microphone permission, we will only obtain voice information through the microphone when you actively click the microphone icon in the client. If you do not use the above functions, you can deny this permission.

5. Functions based on geographic location information

• We will obtain your consent and record your location information to display more of your user attributes and match you with language partners in your desired area. Location information is sensitive information. Refusing to provide this information will not affect your normal use. You can also close your location information authorization at any time.

6. Functions based on storage permissions

• When you upload/update your account avatar, or publish text/video content, we need to obtain your device storage/album permissions to facilitate your posting of pictures and text messages. If you refuse to enable the above permissions, we will not be able to provide you with the corresponding functions, but it will not affect your use of other functions of the platform.

9. Instructions for self-start and associated startup

• In order to ensure that this application can normally receive broadcast information pushed by the client when it is closed or running in the background, this application must use the (self-start) capability. There will be a certain frequency of broadcasts sent by the system to wake up this application for self-start or related startup behavior, which is necessary for realizing functions and services.
• When you open a HiTalk content push message, after obtaining your explicit consent, you will be redirected to HiTalk to open the relevant content. Without your consent, no related content will be launched.

11. Other situations

• In accordance with relevant laws, regulations and national standards, we may collect and use your relevant personal information without seeking your authorization and consent in the following circumstances: directly related to national interests such as national security and national defense security; directly related to major public interests such as public safety, public health, and public awareness; directly related to criminal investigation, prosecution, trial and execution of judgments; for the purpose of safeguarding your or other individuals' major legitimate rights and interests such as life, property, reputation, etc., but it is difficult to obtain the consent of the person concerned; the personal information collected is disclosed to the public by you on your own initiative; personal information is collected from legally disclosed information, such as legal news reports, government information disclosure and other channels; it is necessary to sign and perform a contract at your request; it is necessary to maintain the safe and stable operation of the products or services provided, such as discovering and handling product or service failures; it is necessary to conduct statistical or academic research in the public interest, and when the results of academic research or descriptions are provided to the outside, the personal information contained in the results is de-identified; and other circumstances specified by laws and regulations.

2. Storage of Information

1. Method and duration of information storage

• We will store your information in a secure manner, including local storage (such as using APP to cache data), databases, and server logs.
• In general, we will only store your personal information for the time necessary to achieve the purpose of the service or under the conditions stipulated by laws and regulations. You can choose to delete historical data and other personal information you provide and generate when using HiTalk services. If you choose to delete the above information, we will also delete the corresponding personal information accordingly.

2. Manage and retain your data

• Legal Obligations and Issues. We may retain your information for legal reasons, for example, when we have a legal obligation to preserve the data, to enforce and prevent violations of our terms, or when necessary to protect the rights, property, and users.
• For operational retention needs. Generally, we retain your personal information only for as long as necessary to fulfill the purpose, for example, we do not retain your chat messages while providing our services (except in the limited circumstances described above), so once your messages are delivered, they will be deleted from our servers. However, as mentioned above, if the message cannot be sent immediately, we will store it in encrypted form on our servers for up to 30 days while trying to send it, after which it will be deleted. Your public information will be retained until you withdraw your consent by deleting your account, including profiles and news feed posts, and the data will be deleted or anonymized when you delete your account or news feed posts.

3. Data transfer to other countries

• HiTalk is a global language exchange platform. Data is transferred to countries other than your own country, and the data transfer is approved by law and is handled appropriately and securely.

3. Information Security

1. Data Protection

• We have implemented extensive technical and organizational measures to protect your data against potential risks, such as unauthorized access, unauthorized reading, modification or distribution and against loss, deletion or misuse.
• In order to protect your personal data from unauthorized access by third parties, we use SSL and TLS encryption to protect data transmission where necessary. This is a standard encryption process used for online and mobile services, especially the Internet.

3. Security incident handling measures

• If a security incident such as personal information leakage, damage, or loss occurs, we will activate the emergency plan to prevent the security incident from expanding. After a security incident occurs, we will promptly inform you of the basic situation of the security incident, the disposal measures and remedial measures we will or have taken, and our response suggestions for you in the form of push notifications, emails, etc. If it is difficult to inform you one by one, we will issue a warning through announcements, etc.

4. How do you manage your information?

• You can access and modify your account password, QQ account, WeChat account, and Apple ID through [Me → Settings → Account].
• You can access and unfollow related users through [My → Following];
• You can access and delete friends and related conversation information through [Homepage → Messages];
• If you find that we have made mistakes in the information we process about you, you have the right to ask us to make corrections or supplements. In the process of providing services, we may need you to enable some device permissions, such as notification, photo album, camera, and microphone permissions. You can choose to turn off some or all permissions at any time in the [Settings] function of your device to refuse the HiTalk platform to collect your personal information.
• You can submit an account cancellation application on the HiTalk APP by yourself. The cancellation method is: [Me → Settings → Account → Account Deletion]. After you actively cancel your account, we will immediately delete your corresponding personal information, which is generally completed within 1 working day.

4. How we use information

We strictly abide by the provisions of laws and regulations and the agreements with users, and use the collected information in accordance with this privacy protection guideline to provide you with better services.

• We use your personal information to analyze user demographics.
• We may use your personal information to send important notices, such as information about purchases and changes to our terms, conditions, and policies.
• We do not treat Log Data as Personal Information, nor do we combine it with other Personal Information, although we may aggregate, analyze and evaluate such information for the purpose of understanding or improving the Services.
• Public information about users includes name, age, profile picture, current city and time zone. We will never show your exact location, email address. You can choose not to share any information with other members in your profile settings.
• Device information: We will receive and record information about the device you use (such as IMSI identification code, device model, operating system and version, client version, Android ID, device resolution, package name, device settings, processes and unique device identifiers, software and hardware feature information) and information about the location of the device (such as IP address, GPS location, and WLAN access points, Bluetooth and base station sensor information that can provide relevant information) based on the specific permissions you grant during software installation and use.
• Based on the collected information (including log information, device information, and location information), we will conduct feature analysis or user profiling on your preferences, habits, and location in order to provide you with more suitable customized services and show or recommend more relevant search results, information flows, push notifications, or advertising promotion information results to you.
• Withdraw consent for personalized recommendations: [My → Settings → Privacy → Turn off personalized ad recommendations] You can withdraw your consent for personalized content recommendations and personalized ad recommendations on this page.

Please note that separate device information and log information cannot identify a specific natural person. If we combine such non-personal information with other information to identify a specific natural person, or use it in combination with personal information, such non-personal information will be considered personal information during the combined use period. We will anonymize and de-identify such personal information unless we obtain your authorization or otherwise required by laws and regulations.

5. Disclosure to Third Parties

1. Principles

• If you are approved for service, your account will be subject to HiTalk's respective privacy policy. Personal information is only used by HiTalk to provide or improve our products, services and advertising; it will not be shared with third parties for marketing purposes.
• Access to third-party services is operated by the relevant third party and is subject to the third party's own terms of service and information protection statement (rather than this HiTalk Privacy Policy).
• We will only share your information for legitimate, necessary and specific purposes. We will require third-party service providers with whom we share information to fulfill relevant confidentiality obligations and take appropriate security measures.
• We also collect and use this analytical information in aggregate form so that it cannot reasonably be manipulated to identify any specific individual user.

2. Access the third-party SDK directory:

The following personal information will be stored and used until the user cancels the account or the entrustment agreement expires.

SDK Name	Purpose of Use	Types of user personal information obtained	Privacy Policy Link
Facebook	For registration authentication	mac, android ID, conversationAccount, service daily information, GDID	https://www.facebook.com/privacy/policy/
Google OAuth	For registration authentication	mac, android ID, conversationAccount, service daily information, GDID	https://policies.google.com/privacy
FCM Push (Google)	For sending emails and push messages	imei, imsi, mac, android ID, service log information, IP address, mobile advertising IDFV, androidID, FireBase installation ID, analysis application and other instances, device information, push message related information	https://policies.google.com/privacy
Google/Firebase Analytics（包括FirebaseCrashReporting）	Used for data statistics and to improve the stability of company programs and reduce application crashes	mac, android ID, device brand, model, software version, application installation list information, device connection wifi and base station information, sdk host application package name, version number, service log information, sensor information	https://policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites
Facebook Analytics(com.facebook.internal,com.facebook.appevents,com.facebook.FacebookSdk,com.facebook)	For data statistics	mac, android ID, device brand, model, software version, application installation list information, device connection wifi and base station information, sdk host application package name, version number, service log information, SD card data	https://www.facebook.com/privacy/explanation
Alibaba Cloud SDK (OSS and Log Service)	Used for cloud storage, stop loss server traffic targets, and for analyzing service issues	(1) Device information: We will receive and record information about the device you use (such as device model, operating system version, device settings, MAC address and IMEI, IDFA, OAID, imsi, android ID, storage permissions) and information about the location of the device (such as IP address, GPS location, and sensor information such as Wi-Fi access points, Bluetooth and base stations that can provide relevant information) based on the specific permissions you grant during software installation and use. (2) Log information: We will automatically collect detailed information about your use of the service and save it as relevant network logs. For example, search query content, IP address, browser type, telecom operator, language used, access date and time.	http://terms.alicloud.com/legal-agreement/terms/suit_hu/SUIT_HU_Alicloud_intl_zh-Hans/aliyun-intl-ecs-instance-service-agreement-20190731.htm?spm=5176.78930891.2.9207724140.89.4004e45DpgqO
Android Pay (Google Inc.)	Help users pay with Android Pay within apps	ipaddr, ipaddr, service daily information	https://policies.google.com/privacy
Apple Pay (Apple Inc.)	Help users pay with Apple Pay within the app	ipaddr, ipaddr, service daily information	https://www.apple.com/legal/privacy/en-ww/
Google Maps SDK	Display location information for HiTalk language learning partners in the same or specified area	mac, android ID, location information, service daily information	https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=en-CN
Admob (from Google)	Used for HiTalk advertising push	mac, android ID, service daily information	https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=en

Note: For advertising purposes, we may share anonymous personal information such as interests and age and device type with Admob (from Google), listed as "Ads".

• In order to control advertising relevant to target groups, we record information about activities on our applications and websites (eg clicks on advertising banners, screens viewed and pages visited, etc.). This information is recorded and we can use it to provide our customers' users with advertising tailored to their interests.
• For this purpose, cookies may be stored on your device. Cookies are small text files that are stored on your computer's hard drive. They can identify your computer but do not allow you to be personally identified.
• If you do not wish cookies to be installed, you can opt out using your browser settings. On mobile devices, you can choose not to share advertising identifiers.
• We will push personalized ads to you based on your device information, IP address and location information. When using the above information, we will de-identify it so that the relevant information cannot be directly associated with your real identity. If you refuse the personalized ad push service, you can turn off receiving personalized ad recommendations in the APP "Settings-Privacy-Personalized Ad Recommendations". After turning it off, the relevance of the ads you see will be reduced, and only general ads that are not related to your preferences will be pushed to you.

You can edit, hide and delete personal data in the "My Profile" settings of the HiTalk application. In addition, you can request to delete your account or request changes to certain profile information through HiTalk's customer support (service@hitalk123.com).

6. Our Children's Information Policy

Children under 12 years old are not allowed to use HiTalk. If you are located in the European Economic Area (EEA), you may only use HiTalk if you are over the age at which you can provide consent for data processing under the laws of your country, or if you have provided us with parental consent for your use of HiTalk. If you are a parent and learn that your child is using HiTalk but do not want them to use it, please contact (service@hitalk123.com).

• If the user is under the age of 14, the child's legal representative has the right to review and update the child's personal information and withdraw his or her consent to the collection and use of the child's personal information.

We recommend that any minor who participates in online activities should obtain the consent of their parents or other guardians (hereinafter referred to as "guardians") in advance. We will protect the relevant information of minors in accordance with the relevant laws and regulations of the country.

7. Contact Us

We are firmly committed to protecting user personal information under national data protection standards. If you have any questions or concerns about our privacy policy or data processing, please contact us. (service@hitalk123.com)

We reserve the right to modify this data privacy statement at any time and may revise this privacy protection guideline from time to time.

If you do not agree to the revised privacy policy, you have the right and should immediately stop using HiTalk's services. If you continue to use HiTalk's services, it will be deemed that you accept the changes made by HiTalk to the relevant terms of this policy.

Last updated on 2025.3.10