At Kik, your privacy is important to us. We've created this policy to cover:
1. the information we collect about you when you use the Kik App (including Kik Points) and our website available at kik.com (the "Services") and why we collect it;
2. how we use and share that information; and
3. some of the features that we've built into the Kik App to protect your privacy.
Effective: May 11, 2016
We’ve updated our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy to make them easier to understand and to let you know about some changes to our current services and a few that we’re planning in future. Some of the highlights are below. But please don’t forget to read the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy to make sure you understand any changes that may be important to you!
Privacy Policy
We’ve made it easier to understand the types of information we collect from you when you use our services, how we use it and when we share it. For example, to provide you with our services, improve your experience (including by showing you relevant ads) and develop new services, we collect information about you including your device model, operating system version and your advertising ID.
Let Friends Find Me
We’ve also explained a new feature that makes it easier for you to connect with friends. If you choose not to sync your phone contacts with Kik, you can still upload your phone number and email address to make it easier for friends to find you. Friends won’t be able to see your phone number and/or email address you use for your Kik account, but people who have you in their phone contacts may see your Kik profile. You can still keep your Kik private by exploring the “Privacy Options” when you opt out of Finding Friends and deselect “Let Friends Find Me.” And soon you’ll be able to opt in or out of this feature in Privacy Settings.
Information you give us. We collect some content and other information you provide when you use our Services. For example, when you sign up for an account or message or communicate with others, including our support team, you may give us your name, username, email address, phone number, address, birth date, contact preferences, photos and gender. In limited circumstances, we may ask you for government issued ID to validate your identity when you are requesting support or to confirm that you’re eligible to use Kik or as required by law. Users can also report violations of our Terms of Service to our support team and they may include the content of your chat in those reports.
Information we get from your use of our Services. We collect information to provide you with the Services, to improve your experience using the Services and develop new services. To do this, we collect information about how you use Kik and our other online products and services. In some cases this information will be associated with your Kik username. For example:
Information shared by others. We may use third-party analytics companies (such as Google Analytics and Nielsen). The information collected by these third-parties may be used for purposes disclosed in their privacy policies, and by us to develop and deliver advertising and promotional content on Kik, our website and on Kik optimized websites.
We may also combine the information described above with other information we collect about you.
You can complete payments in Kik through a third party payment processor (currently Stripe, whose privacy policy is located here: https://stripe.com/us/privacy). Your credit card information, if you choose to enter it, is held by this third party and not by Kik.
We may share your information if you ask us to. For example, if you post content on social networking sites using the Kik app, we will provide your content as you’ve requested. The information you choose to share on social networking sites is not covered by this privacy policy, and you agree that you are solely responsible for your use of those sites.
We do not share, sell or transfer your personal information without your consent, except as described below:
Also, if you use Kik Points, we may share limited information with advertisers who are interested in presenting you with a tailored offer on Kik Points. For example, we may provide the approximate location associated with your IP address (i.e. country and state/province), your age or age range and your gender so that you’ll receive more relevant offers. We do not share your username or email address with advertisers without your consent.
We may share your non-personal, aggregated information with third party advertisers.
We believe that Kik should be a safe place for everyone to chat and share with their friends. We have built safety features into Kik including:
We also store, use, and maintain your personal information using procedures designed to limit its loss, theft, or unauthorized access, use, modification, copying or disclosure. When you enter your login information (such as username and password) on Kik, we encrypt the transmission of that information between the app and the server. As well, when applicable, we have contracts in place with our third party suppliers that obligate such suppliers to protect the confidentiality of your personal information. Despite these efforts, you should know that we cannot fully eliminate security risks associated with information. You are also responsible for helping to protect the security of your information and having a strong password that you’ve not used in other places is important.
Children under the age of 13 are not permitted to create a Kik account or use our Services. We understand the importance of taking extra precautions to protect the privacy and safety of children. So we don’t knowingly collect, use or disclose personal information from children under 13. If we learn that we have collected the personal information of a child under 13, we will take steps to delete the information as soon as possible.
Our Privacy Policy applies to all of the Services offered by Kik Interactive Inc. and its affiliates. It does not apply to services offered by other companies or individuals, including products or services that may be displayed to you in search results, through bots you find in the Bot Shop or on Kik optimized web pages.
You can access and update your information by going to the “Your Account” section on Kik. You can also request access, updating and corrections of inaccuracies in other personal information we have by emailing or writing to us at the contact information below. We may ask you for certain information in order to verify your identity.
Our servers and our service providers may be located in the United States, Canada or other countries. Because of this, your personal information may be available to the U.S., Canadian or other government or its agencies under a lawful order made in that country. The laws of those countries may be less strict regarding your personal information than the laws where you live.
If you have any questions, comments, complaints or suggestions, please contact us at:
Kik Interactive Inc.
Attention: Privacy Office
420 Weber Street North, Suite I
Waterloo, Ontario N2L 4E7 Canada
Email: [email protected]
Be sure to check back often for the latest information on our privacy practices. When we update this Privacy Policy we will change the “Last Updated” date above. As well, we may notify you of changes to this policy through Kik or by email. More information on California Privacy Rights can be found in the following section.
NOTICE TO CALIFORNIA RESIDENTS – YOUR CALIFORNIA PRIVACY RIGHTS
(AS PROVIDED BY CALIFORNIA CIVIL CODE SECTION 1798.83)
A CALIFORNIA RESIDENT WHO HAS PROVIDED PERSONAL DATA TO A BUSINESS WITH WHOM HE/SHE HAS ESTABLISHED A BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP FOR PERSONAL, FAMILY, OR HOUSEHOLD PURPOSES (A “CALIFORNIA CUSTOMER”) MAY REQUEST INFORMATION ABOUT WHETHER THE BUSINESS HAS DISCLOSED PERSONAL INFORMATION TO ANY THIRD PARTIES FOR THE THIRD PARTIES’ DIRECT MARKETING PURPOSES. IN GENERAL, IF THE BUSINESS HAS MADE SUCH A DISCLOSURE OF PERSONAL DATA, UPON RECEIPT OF A REQUEST BY A CALIFORNIA CUSTOMER, THE BUSINESS IS REQUIRED TO PROVIDE A LIST OF ALL THIRD PARTIES TO WHOM PERSONAL DATA WAS DISCLOSED IN THE PRECEDING CALENDAR YEAR, AS WELL AS A LIST OF THE CATEGORIES OF PERSONAL DATA THAT WERE DISCLOSED. CALIFORNIA CUSTOMERS MAY REQUEST FURTHER INFORMATION ABOUT OUR COMPLIANCE WITH THIS LAW BY E-MAILING [email protected]. PLEASE NOTE THAT WE ARE REQUIRED TO RESPOND TO ONE REQUEST PER CALIFORNIA CUSTOMER EACH YEAR AND WE ARE NOT REQUIRED TO RESPOND TO REQUESTS MADE BY MEANS OTHER THAN THROUGH THIS E-MAIL ADDRESS.