Privacy Policy

1. What Data is Collected

When you use the ONDA app or website, we collect:

• Account information: the identifier you sign in with (email, phone number, or a unique identifier from Google or Apple), and the profile fields you set — display name, handle, optional bio, and a profile photo (uploaded, taken with the camera, generated for you, or selected from presets).
• Content you create: posts (text, photos, or short video) and the visibility level you choose for each; comments and likes; and session logs you record (rating, wave height range, conditions). When you go live or share a recorded clip, that video becomes part of the Service.
• Activity: spots you favorite, users you follow, blocks and crew membership, posts you report, and feedback or support requests you submit.
• Device location: your device's precise location (GPS), only when a feature requires it (see "Location Information" below).
• Notification token: a per-device push notification identifier so we can send you alerts you opt into.
• Diagnostic data: crash reports, performance metrics, and anonymized usage events (see "Analytics & Diagnostics").

2. Why the Data is Collected

• To create your account and authenticate you on each device
• To deliver surf forecasts, conditions, and personalized recommendations
• To run social features — posts, comments, follows, friends, crew, and session journals — at the visibility level you select
• To enable live streaming, including verifying you are physically at the surf break before a stream begins
• To detect and remove harmful or off-topic content via automated and human review
• To send the email and push notifications you opt into, including surf alerts and live-stream notifications for your favorite spots
• To investigate and resolve reports, crashes, and abuse
• To improve the app's reliability and performance

3. How the Data is Used

Visibility of your content: when you post on ONDA, you choose the audience for each post:

• Public — visible to all users on ONDA and, if you enable resharing, via a web link anyone can open.
• Followers — visible only to users who follow you.
• Friends — visible only to users with whom you mutually follow.
• Crew — visible only to members of an invite-only audience list you maintain.
• Private — visible only to you in your own profile and Session Journal.

Live streams are public to anyone watching while you are live. Replays of completed streams are public until removed. You can edit a post's caption or visibility, or delete it, at any time.

Other uses:

• Email addresses are used for account creation, password resets, customer support, and the surf-related notifications you opt into.
• Beta program emails are used to send program updates, app launch notifications, and service announcements.

4. Phone Verification

If you sign in with a phone number, our authentication provider sends a one-time verification code by SMS to confirm the number is yours. This is the only SMS we send — we do not send marketing, promotional, or recurring text messages. Standard carrier message and data rates may apply to the verification message.

5. Analytics & Diagnostics

We use product analytics and diagnostic tools to understand how the app is used, find and fix bugs, and improve performance. These are first-party tools — they collect data on our behalf, do not sell it, and do not use it to build advertising profiles.

• Usage analytics: anonymous and pseudonymous events (screen views, taps, stream session start/end, errors). When you sign in we associate events with your account; signed-out events are tied only to a first-party device identifier. We do not use cross-app advertising identifiers.
• Crash & performance reporting: stack traces, device model, OS version, and rendering timings. These do not contain the contents of your photos, videos, messages, or other personal content.
• AI features: when you use AI features such as the "Create Avatar" image generator or automated content moderation, the relevant text or image is sent to a third-party AI provider for processing under a service-provider contract. Providers do not retain your content for their own purposes and do not train models on it.
• Image and video safety scanning: images and video frames you upload are run through automated safety scanning to detect content that violates our Community Guidelines before being made visible.

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), the providers we use for analytics, AI features, and safety scanning act as service providers — we do not sell your personal information. You may request deletion of your account and associated data at any time via Account → Delete Account in the app.

6. Location Information

We use your device's precise location (GPS) only when a feature you choose to use requires it:

• Live streaming: we verify you are physically near the surf break you select before allowing a live stream to begin.
• Spot favorites & nearby spots: when you choose to filter spots by proximity.
• Observation & session reports: when you submit a report tied to a specific surf break.

We do not continuously track your location in the background. We do not sell or share your location with third parties for advertising or marketing purposes.

7. Push Notifications

When you opt into surf alerts or live-stream notifications, we register a per-device notification identifier with our notification provider so we can deliver alerts you ask for. You can disable notifications at any time via your device settings or in-app under Settings → Notifications.

8. Content Moderation

To keep ONDA focused on surf and safe for everyone, content you post — text, photos, video frames, profile fields, and avatar images — passes through automated review systems that flag potentially unsafe or off-topic material. Other users can also report content they find inappropriate; repeated reports send the content to our moderation team for review.

If we hide or remove your content, we'll send you an email letting you know the category of issue and inviting you to appeal if you believe the decision was wrong.

Our automated review systems use third-party AI services under service-provider contracts — they process your content only for safety scanning, do not retain it for their own purposes, and do not train models on it. See "Your Rights" for how to request deletion or appeal.

9. Data Sharing

We do not sell or share your personal information for advertising or marketing.

We do disclose:

• Your public profile and Public posts — your display name, handle, avatar, and any post you mark Public are visible to other users of the Service and, when you enable resharing, accessible via a web link.
• Live stream content you broadcast — anyone watching a stream while it's live (and anyone who opens the replay) can see the video you've captured.
• Account information to service providers we contract with — including providers for cloud hosting, authentication, push notifications, email delivery, analytics, AI features, and content safety scanning. These providers act on our behalf only.

We may use trusted email service providers (such as Mailchimp) to send beta program communications and service updates to email addresses you have provided directly to us. Service providers are bound by data protection agreements and only process your data on our behalf.

10. Data Handling & Security

We take the security of your data seriously and implement industry-standard security measures to protect your information:

• Email Security: Email addresses you provide directly are stored securely using encryption and access controls to prevent unauthorized access.
• Data Transmission: All data transmission between your device and our servers is encrypted using secure protocols.

11. Data Retention & Deletion

You can delete your account at any time via Settings → Delete Account in the app. When you do:

• Your posts, comments, likes, follows, blocks, crew memberships, observations, and account credentials are removed.
• Your live stream replays and stored video uploads are deleted.
• If you provide an optional exit-survey response, we record it for product improvement.
• Some content (e.g., transactional records, content under active moderation review) may be retained briefly where legally required or for safety operations.

For active accounts, we retain your data as long as your account is active, plus a short period for backups and operational continuity.

12. Your Rights

You have the following rights regarding your personal data:

• Access: request information about what we have about you.
• Correction: ask us to correct inaccurate information.
• Deletion: delete your account immediately via Settings → Delete Account, or request specific deletions by contacting us.
• Take down individual posts: you can edit or delete any post you've authored at any time, and report posts authored by others.
• Block & hide: block other users to hide their content from you and yours from them.
• Notification preferences: opt in or out of marketing email, marketing push, surf alerts, and live-stream alerts at any time via Settings → Notifications.
• Unsubscribe: from beta and program emails via the unsubscribe link in those emails.
• For California residents: see "Analytics & Diagnostics" for our CCPA posture — ONDA does not sell or share your personal information for advertising and uses third parties as service providers only.

Contact Us

If you have any questions or concerns regarding this Privacy Policy or our data handling practices, please contact us at support@getonda.ai.