Shokz App Privacy Policy

Date published: April, 2024

Effective date: April, 2024

Last modified: April, 2024

INTRODUCTION

We, AfterShokz Euro B.V. and its affiliates (referred to as “Shokz”, “we”, “our” or “us”), recognize the importance of maintaining the privacy of the viewer/visitor/user (“you”) for visiting or using our App products and services and value your privacy and appreciate your trust in us. This Privacy Policy (“Policy”) explains what we intend to do with your personal information and how we intend to reach out to you with regard to the same.

We remind you that this Policy is dedicated to applying for our App products and services.

This Policy sets out how we collect, use, disclose, process and protect any information that you give us when you use our App products and services. Should we ask you to provide certain information by which you can be identified when using Shokz App products and services, it will only be used in accordance with the applicable laws and regulations, this Policy and/or Shokz App User Agreement.

It is important that you have a comprehensive understanding of our personal information collection and usage practices, as well as full confidence that ultimately, you have control of any personal information provided to Shokz. Therefore, please read this Policy carefully before using our App products (or services) to understand our Policy to protect your privacy. By using our App products and services or other acting permitted by the applicable laws, you are deemed to have read, acknowledged and accepted all the provisions stated in this Policy, including any change we may make from time to time.

In this Policy, “personal information” means information that can be used to directly or indirectly identify an individual, either from that information alone or from that information combined with other information Shokz has accessed about that individual.

We are committed to protecting the privacy, confidentiality and security of your personal information by complying with applicable laws, and we are equally committed to ensuring that all our employees and agents uphold these obligations.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding our Privacy Policy or practices, please

This Privacy Policy contains the following sections:

· The Information We Collect and How We Use It

· Legal Bases for Use of Your Information

· Direct Marketing

· Cookie and Similar Technologies

· How We Share and Disclose Your Information

· How We Protect Your Information

· Retention of Your Information

· How You Can Manage Your Personal Information

· Transfer of Personal Information Outside of Your Jurisdiction

· How We Process Minors’ information

· Updates to the Privacy Policy

· Contact Us

The Information We Collect and How We Use It

We collect personal information in order to operate more efficiently and provide you with the best possible experience. We collect personal information from: (1) information you provide directly to us; (2) information we obtain in the course of your use of our App products and services; and/or (3) information about you from third parties.

We will only collect the information that is necessary for its specified, explicit and legitimate purposes and will not further process it in a manner that is incompatible with those purposes.

The information we collect depends on the products (or services) you actually use, the context in which you interact with us, the choices you make, including your privacy settings, and the products and functions you use. Our products and functions include basic and additional functions. If you refuse to provide relevant information for basic functions, we may not be able to provide you with relevant products or services, or solve your problems. For additional functions, you may choose whether or not to agree to our collection of information. If you disagree, the relevant additional functions may not be available, but it will not affect your use of our core business functions.

This Policy applies to the following circumstances under which we collect and use your personal information:

The Information We Collect

· Information you provide to us or upload (including your contact details): we may collect any and all personal information you provide to us. The types of data we collect directly from you include:

· Information, such as name, gender (optional), birthday (optional), phone number, email address, region (optional), and serial number, etc., used to register account, identify your product, proceed your product service and keep in interaction with us. If you only need to browse the content displayed or use basic functions (such as using headphones interconnection, App language switching) in this App, you do not need to register an account or provide the above information.

· Information, such as Bluetooth address of headphones, serial numbers, product firmware version numbers etc., used to implement the interaction between mobile phone device and headphones.

· If you choose to participate in a Shokz marketing activity (including filling the online questionnaire) related to our products and services, information, such as your name, gender, age, region, email address, phone number, serial numbers (mobile phones/computers/tablets/watches), product feedback, etc., provided in connection with such activities.

· Personal information contained in your requests or questions submitted to us by email.

· Device or SIM-related information (only for specific services/functionalities): information related to your device. For example, IP address, IMEI number.

· Any other information you choose to directly provide to Shokz in connection with your use of the services.

· We may use the phone number and/or e-mail address you submit to us to occasionally send text messages and/or e-mails to registered users for advertising.

In addition to the personal information described above, we may take technical measures to collect other information about you, including the number of times you visit a particular page, the length of time you stay on a page, and the number of times you click on a particular button, as may be reasonably necessary to achieve analysis and improve the quality of our products and services. Such information does not contain information that personally identifies you. If we combine such non-personal information with other information to identify a particular user personally or use it in combination with personal information, such non-personal information will be treated as personal information for the duration of the combination. In such cases, we will process the information with your authorization or as otherwise required by law and regulation.

Device Access Permission for Our App

In order for you to properly use the App, enjoying the relevant functions and services, the following permissions and information need to be obtained from you:

Bluetooth access permission for connecting your headset. The basic function of this App depends on connecting your headset through Bluetooth, therefore, if you refuse the authorization, it will affect the basic function of this App. During your use, you can withdraw your permission at any time in "Settings" on your phone.

How Personal Information Can be Used

Personal information is collected for providing services and / or products to you, and legal compliance on our part under applicable laws. You hereby consent that we may process and disclose personal information to Third-Party Service Providers (defined below) for the purposes stated in this Policy.

We may use your personal information for the following purposes:

· Providing, processing, maintaining, improving and developing our products and/or services to you, including after-sales and customer support and for services on your device.

· Communicating with you about your product, service or any general queries, such as updates, customer inquiry support, information about our events and notices.

· Conducting marketing related activities, such as providing marketing and promotional materials and updates. For more information on marketing and promotional activities, please refer to the Direct Marketing section below.

· Allowing you to post comments and provide feedback on our App.

· Analyzing and developing statistical information on use of our products and services to better improve our products and services.

· Storing and maintaining information about you for our business operations or legal obligations.

Here are more details on how we use your information (which may include personal information):

· Providing you with convenient language and product service. System language collected when using our App, is used to provide you with the text and policies as well as convenient product service in the language of your country/region.

· Setting up your Account. Personal information collected when creating an account on our App is used for creating the personal account.

· Implementing the interconnection of devices. Personal information collected when implementing interaction between mobile phone and headphones is used to remote control the headphones via App.

· Collecting your feedback. The feedback you choose to provide is valuable in helping Shokz make improvements to our services. In order to follow up on the feedback you have chosen to provide, Shokz may correspond with you using the personal information that you have provided and keep records.

· Conducting promotional activities. If you enter into customer questionnaire or similar promotional activities, e.g. via Shokz’s App or other social media platforms, we may use the personal information you provided to administer those promotional activities.

· Provide marketing materials to you via email. We may provide marketing materials to you relating to products and services of Shokz via email after we obtain your prior explicit consent.

· Conducting analysis of your device to provide a better user experience. Shokz may conduct the analysis, so as to further improve the performance of our services.

Legal Bases for Use of Your Information

The legal bases for using your information as set out in this Policy are as follows:

· Where use of your information is necessary to perform our obligations under a contract with you (for example, to comply with: the Shokz App User Agreement you accept by browsing the App/registering account; and/or our contract to provide our services to you); or

· Where use of your information is necessary for our legitimate interests or the legitimate interests of others (for example, to provide security for our products and applications; operate our business and our Services; ensure safe environments for our staff and visitors; comply with legal requirements and defend our legal rights; prevent fraud and to know the customer to whom we are providing services).

· Where we have your consent, in accordance with applicable legal requirements, to use your information for a particular purpose.

· Where we use your information to comply with applicable legal obligations.

· Other circumstances of personal information use only to the extent it is allowed explicitly under local data protection laws.

Direct Marketing

· We may use the email address to provide marketing materials to you relating to the products and services of Shokz.

· We will only so use your personal information after we obtain your prior explicit consent and involve a clear affirmative action or indication of no objection in accordance with local data protection laws, which may require separate explicit consent. You have the right to opt out of our proposed use of your personal information for direct marketing by contacting us at customer.service@shokz.com. If you no longer wish to receive certain types of email communications, you may opt out by following the unsubscribe link located at the bottom of each communication. We will not transfer your personal information to our business partners for use by our business partners in direct marketing.

Cookie and Similar Technologies

In order to make your access easier, we may collect and store data related to your access to this App service through the use of various technologies. When you access this App again, we can know who you are and provide you with better services through the analyzing of your past data, including the use of your mobile phone number or email address you use to log into your App account and small data files to identify you, which is to understand your using habits thus you do not t need to enter the account information repeatedly, or to help determine the security status of your account. These data files may be Cookie, flash Cookie, or other local storage provided by your browser or associated applications (referred to as "Cookie").

Please understand that some of our services can only be achieved by using Cookie. If your browser or the additional services of your browser allow, you can modify the acceptance of Cookie or reject the Cookie of this App, but you may not be able to use the services of this App that rely on Cookie in some cases.

How We Share and Disclose Your Information

(1) Information Sharing

We promise that we do not share your information with any company, organization, and individual other than Shokz, unless:

1. Sharing under statutory circumstances: We may share your personal information with external parties in accordance with laws and regulations, litigation, dispute resolution needs, or in accordance with the requirements of administrative and judicial authorities.

2. Sharing with explicit consent: After obtaining your explicit consent, we may share your personal information with other parties.

3. When you choose to share: When you issue a products or services related claim, we will share the necessary information related to your order with the provider of related products or services according to your choice to effectuate your purpose.

4. Sharing with authorized partners: In order to conduct business operations smoothly in providing you with the full capabilities of our products and services, we may disclose your personal information from time to time our third-party service providers which are our delivery service providers, including:

A. Third-party service providers and business partners

Third-party service providers provide various services including transportation and logistics, data storage, data analysis, security management and control, user research, auditing and legal services based on the contract with Shokz. These third parties may process your personal information representing Shokz or for one or more purpose of this Privacy Policy. We promise to share information to provide services only for legitimate, legal, necessary, specific and clear purposes. Shokz will conduct due diligence and sign contracts to ensure that third-party service providers comply with the applicable privacy laws in your jurisdiction.

B. Third-party SDKs and other similar applications

In order to enable you to use the above services and features, our application may embed SDKs or other similar applications from licensed partners. We may embed the following third party SDKs.

(1) Name of the third party SDK: NetEase Yidun

Company: Hangzhou NetEase Zhiqi Technology Co., Ltd.

Type of personal information collected: Operating system version, CPU architecture, operating system setting information, current application package name, current application signature

Purpose of use: Application reinforcement

Official website link: https://dun.163.com/

(2) Name of the third party SDK: AndroidX Webkit (chromium)

Company: Google Inc.

Type of personal information collected: SSID, BSSID, MAC address, WIFI information, sensor, application list information, clipboard

Purpose of use: Use chromium as a built-in browser to access the browse webview page within the App

Official website link: https://policies.google.com/privacy

(3) Name of the third party SDK: jl_ota

Company: Zhuhai JIELI Technology Co., Ltd.

Type of personal information collected: Bluetooth, firmware files

Purpose of use: firmware OTA upgrade to the connected headset

Official website link: https://cam.jieliapp.com/app/JL_OTA_SDK_PrivacyPolicy.html

(4) Name of the third party SDK:: Bugly SDK

Company: Shenzhen Tencent Computer Systems Co., Ltd.

Type of personal information collected: device model, operating system version, operating system internal version number, wifi status, CPU attributes, remaining memory space, disk space/remaining disk space, running phone status (memory occupied by process, virtual memory, etc.), idfv , whether to jailbreak, region code

Purpose of use: report bugs

Official website link: https://privacy.qq.com/document/preview/fc748b3d96224fdb825ea79e132c1a56

We will conduct strict security check on the Application Programming Interface (API) and Software Development Kit (SDK) from which our authorized partners obtain relevant information, and agree on strict data protection measures with our authorized partners so that they handle personal information in accordance with our commissioning purposes, service descriptions, this privacy policy, and any other relevant confidentiality and security measures.

If you no longer wish us to share the relevant information, please contact us via privacy@shokz.com.

C. Others

According to the requirements of laws and regulations, legal procedures, litigation and/or requirements of public institutions and government departments in accordance with the law, Shokz may need to disclose your personal information. If we determine that disclosure is necessary or appropriate for national security, law enforcement, or other matters of public importance, we may also disclose information about you.

If we determine that in order to enforce our terms or to protect our operations, rights, assets or products, or to protect the legitimate interests of users, or to achieve the following purposes (detection, prevention and resolution of fraud, unauthorized use of products, violation of our terms or policies, or other harmful or illegal activities) disclosure is reasonably necessary, and we may also disclose information about you. (For the avoidance of doubt, Shokz will collect, use or disclose your personal information without your consent only within the scope clearly permitted by local data protection laws) This may include providing information to public or government agencies; exchange information about the reliability of your account with third-party partners to prevent fraud, violations and other harmful cases.

In addition, we may share your personal information with:

· Our accountants, auditors, lawyers or consultants, when we ask them to provide professional advice; and

· Any third party authorized by you.

(2) Information transfer

We will not transfer your personal information to any company, organization or individual, unless:

1. Transfer with explicit consent: After obtaining your explicit consent, we will transfer your personal information to other parties;

2. In the case of merger, acquisition, bankruptcy or liquidation of Shokz, or other situations involving merger, acquisition bankruptcy or liquidation, if the transfer of personal information is involved, we will require new companies or organizations that hold your personal information to continue to be restricted by this Policy, otherwise we will require the companies, organizations or individuals to seek authorization and consent from you again.

(3) Information disclosure

We will not disclose your personal information unless we obtain your explicit consent or based on your choice.

(4) Exceptions for obtaining prior consent when sharing, transferring, and publicly disclosing personal information

In the following situations, sharing, transferring, and disclosing your personal information does not require your prior consent:

1. Related to national security and national defense security;

2. Related to public safety, public health, and major public interests;

3. Related to judicial or administrative law enforcement such as criminal investigation, prosecution, trial, and sentence execution;

4. In order to protect your or other individuals' life, property and other major legal rights, but it is difficult to obtain the consent;

5. Your personal information disclosed to the public by yourself;

6. Collect personal information from legally and publicly disclosed information, such as legal news reports, government information disclosure and other channels

How We Protect Your Information

(1) Technical security protection

We are committed to ensuring that your personal information is secure. In order to prevent unauthorized access, disclosure or other similar risks, we have put in place reasonable physical, electronic and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect on Shokz’s App. We will use all reasonable efforts to safeguard your personal information.

All your personal information is stored on secure servers that are protected in controlled facilities. We classify your data based on importance and sensitivity and ensure that your personal information has the appropriate security level. We have special access controls for cloud-based data storage as well. We regularly review our information collection, storage and processing practices, including physical security measures, to guard against any unauthorized access and use.

We will conduct due diligence on third-party service providers and business partners to ensure that they are capable to protect your personal information. We will also check whether third parties have adopted appropriate security standards by implementing appropriate contractual restrictions and conducting audits and evaluations when necessary. In addition, we promise to access this information to help employees and third-party service providers and business partners who provide you with products or services to comply with strict contractual confidentiality obligations.

(2) Personnel management

We will organize security and privacy protection training and tests to strengthen our employees' awareness of personal information security. We will take all feasible and legally required measures to protect your personal information. However, you should be aware that the use of the Internet is not always secure. Therefore, we cannot guarantee the security or integrity of any personal information when it is transmitted in both directions via the Internet.

We will deal with the leakage of personal information in accordance with the requirements of applicable data protection laws and regulations, and when necessary, promptly notify the relevant regulatory authorities and data subjects of related data leakage incidents.

(3) Account and password protection reminder

The Internet is not an absolutely secure environment. Shokz is not responsible for the security omissions caused by third parties accessing your personal information due to your failure to maintain the privacy of your information. Notwithstanding the above provisions, if any other Internet users use your account without authorization or any other security breaches, you should notify us immediately via customer.service@shokz.com. Your assistance will help us protect the privacy of your personal information.

(4) Incident notification

After a personal information security incident occurs, we will inform you of the basic situation and possible impact of the security incident, the disposal measures we have taken or will take, and suggestions that you can independently prevent and reduce risks within the time limit specified by applicable laws, etc. We will inform you about the incident by email, letter, telephone, push notification, etc. If it is difficult to inform the subject of personal information one by one, we will take a reasonable and effective way to issue an announcement. At the same time, we will also report the handling of personal information security incidents in accordance with the requirements of the regulatory authorities.

Retention of Your Information

The information that we collect from you may be stored at a destination outside of the jurisdiction where you reside. While such information is outside of your jurisdiction of residence, it is subject to the laws of the jurisdiction in which it is held, and may be subject to disclosure to the governments, courts or law enforcement or regulatory agencies of such other jurisdiction, pursuant to its laws.

We will take appropriate and feasible measures to avoid collecting and processing irrelevant personal information. Personal information will be held for as long as it is necessary to fulfill the purpose for which it was collected, or as required or permitted by applicable laws. We shall cease to retain personal information, or remove the means by which the personal information can be associated with particular individuals, as soon as it is reasonable to assume that the purpose for which that personal information was collected is no longer being served by retention of the personal information.

How You Can Manage Your Personal Information

You can access and manage your information in the following ways:

(1) Access, correct and supplement your information

You have the right to access, correct or supplement your information. You can do it yourself in the following ways:

1. Log in to the App, enter " Information ", click on “Information-Register your product-Log In/Register-Personal Information-Edit Profile”, and then access, correct and supplement related information;

2. Send an email to customer.service@shokz.com to get in touch with us and ask for help to access, correct or supplement your information.

(2) Delete your information

You can delete part of your information through the method listed in "(1) Access, Correct and supplement your information".

In the following situations, you can request us to delete personal information:

1. If our processing of personal information violates laws and regulations;

2. If we collect and use your personal information without your explicit consent;

3. If our processing of personal information seriously violates our agreement;

4. If you no longer use our products or services, or you delete your account;

5. If you withdraw your consent while we rely on your consent to process your information;

6. If we no longer provide you with products or services permanently.

If we decide to delete your personal information in response to your deletion request, we will also notify the subject who obtained your personal information from us as much as possible at the same time, and require it to be deleted in time (unless laws and regulations provide otherwise, or these entities have independently obtained your authorization).

(3) Change the scope of your consent or withdraw your consent

In response to your consent to our personal information processing activities, you have the right to change the scope of authorized consent (i.e. partially withdraw consent) or withdraw all consent to all our personal information processing activities. You can do this by yourself in the following ways:

1. Some functions rely on the collection of personal information through your device permissions. Therefore, you can set in the " Phone Settings-Shokz-Manage Permissions" or contact us or change the settings of your mobile device to change the scope of your consent or withdraw the consent related to such permission.

2. You can log in to the App, enter [Legal], click on [Withdrawal of consent to the Privacy Policy], and you can withdraw all your consent to all our personal information processing activities via this way.

After you withdraw your consent, we will no longer process the corresponding personal information. Please notice that certain function will require your information to complete and when you withdraw your consent, we will no longer be able to provide you with the function for which you have withdrawn your consent, and we will no longer process your personal information accordingly. However, your decision to withdraw your consent will not affect the previous processing of personal information based on your previous consent.

(4) Acquirement of a personal information copy

You have the right to duplicate and export your information copy. You can do it yourself in the following ways:

1. Log in to the App, enter " Information ", click on “Information-Register your product-Log In/Register-Personal Information”, and then you may acquire part of the related information herein;

2. Send an email to customer.service@shokz.com to get in touch with us and ask for help to acquire your personal information copy.

(5) Delete your account

You can apply to delete your account in the following ways:

1. Log into the App and submit an account deletion application through "Information-Register your product-Log In/Register-Personal Information-Edit Profile-Delete Account";

2. Send an email to customer.service@shokz.com to get in touch with us to help and assist you in applying for deleting your account.

After you delete your account, we will stop providing you with products or services, delete your personal information or anonymize it in accordance with the requirements of applicable laws.

(6) Responding to your above request

To ensure security, you may need to provide a written request or prove your identity in other ways. We may ask you to verify your identity before processing your request.

We will respond within the time limit specified by applicable laws. For your reasonable request, we do not charge a fee in principle, but for repeated requests that exceed a reasonable limit, we will charge a fee as appropriate. We may refuse to respond to your requests for information that is not directly related to your identity, unreasonable duplication of information, or excessive technical means (including but not limited to, the condition that we need to develop a new system or fundamentally change the current practice), bring risks to the legitimate rights and interests of others, or unrealistic requests.

In the following situations, we will not be able to respond to your request in accordance with laws and regulations:

1. Related to national security and national defense security;

2. Related to public security, public health, and major public interests;

3. Related to criminal investigation, prosecution, trial and execution of judgments;

4. There is sufficient evidence to show that the subject of personal information has subjective malice or abuse of rights;

5. Responding to your request will cause serious damage to the legitimate rights and interests of you or other individuals or organizations;

6. Involving business secrets.

Transfer of Personal Information Outside of Your Jurisdiction

In principle, we will collect and process your personal information in the countries/regions where you use our products/services. However, if necessary to provide sales and warranty service, and to optimize products/services, we may need to transfer your personal information to a Shokz branch, third-party service provider, or other business partners outside your jurisdiction, we promise to strictly abide by relevant applicable laws and implement security measures that meet local requirements, including but not limited to obtain your explicit consent, desensitize of your personal information before the transfer, sign officially certified data cross-border transfer agreements, and obtain permission from official agencies, etc., to ensure that all such transfers meet the requirements of local applicable data protection laws.

If you use our products/services in the European Economic Area（EEA）, please note that if we transfer your personal information to a Shokz branch, third-party service provider, or other business partners outside the area of the EEA, we will ensure that all transfers will be in accordance with requirements under GDPR and your local applicable local data protection laws by putting in place appropriate safeguards.

How We Process Minors’ Information

Our product and service do not target at minors (including children), do not directly provide products or services to minors, and do not use minors’ personal information for marketing purposes. We attach great importance to protecting the privacy of minors (the age of minors is determined by the laws of each country and region). We consider it the responsibility of parents to monitor their minors’ use of our products and services.

If you are a parent or guardian, and you believe that a minor has submitted personal information to us, please send an email to customer.service@shokz.com to ensure that such personal information is deleted immediately and to ensure that the minor unsubscribes any applicable service.

Updates to the Privacy Policy

We keep our Privacy Policy under regular review and may update it to reflect changes to our information practices. The updated Privacy Policy will obtain your prior explicit consent. You can check the "Effective date" at the beginning of the document to see if the Privacy Policy has changed since the last time you have checked it. If we make a substantial change to this Policy, you will receive the corresponding notification required by applicable laws. If you continue to use this service, we confirm that you have read and understood the latest version of the Privacy Policy.

Contact Us

If you have any comments or questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact our Data Protection Officer (DPO) at privacy@shokz.com. Our professional privacy protection team will handle your request and respond to you within the time limit under the laws. If you are not satisfied with the response you received, you can hand over the complaint to the relevant regulatory authority in your jurisdiction.