Privacy Policy

1. Information we collect

When you create an account or use SoftServer, we collect:

• Email address (provided by Apple Sign-In, Google Sign-In, or email and password sign-in)
• Display name, handle, avatar, optional bio
• Optional Instagram handle if you choose to add one
• Ratings, comments, and reactions you post on flavors
• Follow relationships between you and other users
• Push notification subscription details, only if you enable push notifications
• Authentication and theme preference cookies
• Basic technical logs (timestamps, error reports) to keep the service running

If you contact us through the form on our Partner or Contact page (no account needed), we collect what you enter: your name, email address, and message, plus, for shop listings, your shop name, city, schedule, website or Instagram, and optionally a phone number and how you prefer to be reached. To limit spam, we also store a one-way, salted hash of your IP address (never the IP address itself) and run an automated bot check on the request.

We do not collect precise location, contacts, payment information, or biometric data.

2. How we use your information

• To create and maintain your account
• To display your ratings, comments, and profile to people you have connected with
• To send notifications you have opted into (e.g. when a flavor unlocks, weekly recap)
• To respond to support questions you send us, and to reply to partner and contact form messages (form details are used only to reply to you)
• To detect, prevent, and respond to abuse or technical issues
• To understand product usage through privacy-friendly analytics so we can improve the app

Our analytics record actions such as page views, ratings, and shares to measure feature usage. They do not capture the content of your ratings, comments, or messages. You can turn this off any time under Settings → Share usage analytics.

3. What we don’t do

• We do not sell your personal information
• We do not run third-party advertising trackers or behavioral ad networks
• We do not share your private ratings or comments outside the app
• We do not use your data to train AI models

4. Service providers

We use trusted third-party service providers to run SoftServer. They process data only on our behalf and only as needed to provide the service. They fall into these categories:

• Database, authentication, and hosting
• Email delivery, including forwarding contact form messages to our inbox
• Security and bot protection
• Push notification delivery, through your device or browser’s push service, only if you opt in
• Error monitoring
• Privacy-friendly product analytics (can be turned off in Settings)
• Sign-in providers (Apple, Google), only when you choose them

For the current list of providers, email hello@hdblabs.com.

5. Cookies and local storage

We use a small number of cookies and browser storage entries to keep you signed in (auth session), remember your theme preference (ss_theme), and store local UI preferences (e.g. dismissed banners, section ordering). We do not use advertising cookies.

6. Visibility of your content

By default, your profile is private. Ratings and comments you post are visible to people who follow you (or to anyone, if you set your profile to public). You can switch your profile between private and public at any time from Settings. Deleting a rating or comment removes it from the app.

7. Your rights and choices

You can:

• View and edit your profile information at any time
• Disable push notifications in Settings or in your browser
• Request a copy of the data we hold on you by emailing hello@hdblabs.com
• Delete your account and all associated data by emailing the address above

California residents have additional rights under the CCPA, including the right to know, delete, and opt out of sale of personal information (we do not sell your data). To exercise these rights, contact us at the address above.

8. Data retention

We retain your account data for as long as your account is active. When you delete your account, we delete your profile, ratings, comments, follows, and push subscriptions. We may retain limited operational logs (e.g. error reports, abuse records) for a reasonable period to maintain the service. Contact form messages are kept only as long as we need them to follow up with you; email hello@hdblabs.com to have yours deleted sooner.

9. Children

SoftServer is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has provided us information, contact hello@hdblabs.com and we will delete it.

10. Security

We use HTTPS for all traffic, never store passwords in plain text (our authentication provider keeps only secure hashes), and enforce per-user access rules in the database itself. No system is perfectly secure; we cannot guarantee absolute security but we work to protect your data.

11. Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy as the service evolves. When we make material changes, we will update the “Last updated” date above and, when appropriate, notify you in the app. Continued use of SoftServer after changes means you accept the updated policy.

12. Contact

Questions or requests? Email hello@hdblabs.com.

Related

Terms of Service