Privacy Policy

Introduction

HAZHTeq Innovations Private Limited ("Company", "we", "our", or "us") runs the BeFriends mobile application and the website befriendsapp.in (together, the "App"). This Privacy Policy explains what personal data we collect from users ("you", "your"), why we collect it, who we share it with, how long we keep it, and the choices you have.

We process personal data in line with India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 and the Rules made under it, the Information Technology Act, 2000, and the Information Technology (Reasonable Security Practices and Procedures and Sensitive Personal Data or Information) Rules, 2011. For users in the European Union, EEA or United Kingdom, we also respect the rights given by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

By creating an account and using BeFriends, you consent to the processing described in this policy. You can withdraw your consent at any time (see Section 11).

1. BeFriends Is Not a Medical or Emergency Service

BeFriends offers emotional support and wellbeing tools: an AI companion (Kozy), a Virtual Friend, trained peer listeners, and sessions with counselors and experts. It does not diagnose or treat any medical or psychiatric condition. Kozy is an AI and can make mistakes.

If you or someone else is in immediate danger, call 112, or call Tele-MANAS on 14416 (free, 24×7).

2. Who Can Use BeFriends

BeFriends is only for people aged 18 years and above. We ask for your date of birth to confirm this. We do not knowingly collect personal data from anyone under 18. If we learn that a user is under 18, we will close the account and delete its data. A parent or guardian who believes their child is using BeFriends can contact us using the details in Section 15.

3. Information We Collect

A. Account Information

• Email address, when you sign in with Google or email.
• Name and profile picture, received from Google if you sign in with Google. You can use a nickname instead of your real name inside BeFriends.
• Nickname, shown to listeners and counselors instead of your real name.
• Date of birth, to confirm you are 18 or older.
• Gender and hobbies, to personalise Kozy's replies and suggestions.
• City-level location, to personalise content. If you allow location access on your device, we use it only to work out your city. We do not store your precise location or track your movements.

B. Emotional and Wellbeing Data (Sensitive)

This is the most personal information you share with us. We treat it as sensitive personal data and protect it accordingly.

• Conversations with Kozy, your Virtual Friend, listeners and counselors/experts.
• Diary (Smart Journal) entries, and the mood, stress and emotion insights generated from them.
• Results of color analysis and personality assessments.
• Appointments and sessions booked with counselors/experts, including anything you write about your concern.

C. Usage Information

• Features you use, screens you open, time spent, and game activity.
• Notifications you receive and open.
• Ads shown to you and ads you tap.
• Referral codes, coupons and reward points.

Usage information records what you do in the app (for example, "opened Journal"). It does not include what you write.

D. Payment and Order Information

• Subscriptions are processed by Razorpay or Google Play Billing (and the Apple App Store on iOS). We never receive or store your card number, UPI PIN or bank details. We keep a record of which plan you bought, when, and its status.
• E-store orders: we collect your name, delivery address and phone number to deliver your order, and share them with our courier partner.

E. Employer Plans

If your employer provides BeFriends, we receive a company code or your work-email domain, only to activate your plan. See Section 7 for what your employer can and cannot see.

F. Device and Technical Information

• Device model, operating system, app version, language and app-instance identifiers.
• Advertising ID (Android advertising ID), used to show, measure and limit how often you see ads. You can reset it or opt out of ad personalisation at any time in your phone's settings (Settings → Google → Ads, or Settings → Privacy → Ads).
• IP address, used for security, fraud prevention and to estimate your country or city.
• Crash reports and performance data.

4. How We Use Your Data

What we never do with your emotional data:

• We do not use the content of your conversations, diary entries or mood insights to choose which ads you see.
• We do not share them with advertisers.
• We do not use them to train AI models.

5. Advertising

The free version of BeFriends shows ads, including banner, full-screen and in-feed ads. Some ads appear on the Kozy and Journal screens. Ads are served by our own ad system, for advertising partners who buy space on BeFriends.

• Advertisers receive only aggregated numbers, such as how many times an ad was shown or tapped. They never receive your identity, nickname, conversations, diary or mood data.
• We use your advertising ID, device information and approximate location to decide which ads to show and how often, and to measure them.
• You can opt out of ad personalisation in your phone's settings. You can remove all ads with the Ad-Free plan or any paid plan.

6. Safety

Your safety matters more than anything else in BeFriends.

• Kozy is designed to recognise messages suggesting that someone may be at serious risk of harm. When it does, it responds with care, shares emergency and helpline numbers (112 and Tele-MANAS 14416), and offers to connect you with a listener or counselor.
• Conversations flagged for possible risk may be reviewed by our Lead Psychologist and clinical team. They do this to check that the person was offered the right help, and to improve our safety responses. Everyone on the team is bound by confidentiality.
• We do not currently contact anyone outside BeFriends (such as family, college, employer, or emergency services) on your behalf. We will disclose information only if the law requires us to. If we change this process, we will update this policy and tell you in the app before the change takes effect.

7. Who Can See Your Data

A. People You Choose to Talk To

• Listeners see only the conversation you have with them, under your nickname. They cannot see your email, date of birth, diary, or your conversations with Kozy or others. Listeners are trained, agree to keep conversations confidential, and are not allowed to ask you to continue the conversation outside BeFriends.
• Counselors and experts see your conversations and booking details with them, and may keep professional notes as their practice requires.

B. Service Providers

These companies help us run BeFriends. They process data only on our instructions, for the purposes listed below.

C. Your Employer (Employer Plans Only)

Your employer cannot see your conversations, diary, mood insights, or whether you personally use BeFriends. We share with employers only aggregated numbers, such as total seats activated or total sessions across the company. We never share figures that could identify an individual.

D. Legal Requirements

We may disclose information if required by a valid court order or a lawful request from a government authority. Where the law allows, we will tell you before we do.

E. What We Never Do

• We never sell or rent your personal data.
• We never share your conversations, diary or moods with advertisers.
• We never tell your family, college or employer that you use BeFriends.

8. AI and Kozy

• Kozy and your Virtual Friend reply automatically using AI. No one at BeFriends reads your chats with Kozy, except during safety review (Section 6) or when you report a problem and ask us to look.
• We do not use your conversations, diary entries or mood data to train AI models, whether ours or anyone else's.
• To improve BeFriends, we use only aggregated usage statistics, for example how often a feature is used.
• We will ask for your clear, separate permission before we ever use your conversations to improve Kozy.

9. Data Storage, Transfers and Security

• Your data is stored on Google Firebase / Google Cloud servers in a multi-region location in the United States. Our AI and other service providers may also process data outside India. We transfer data outside India only as permitted under Indian law, and only to providers that are bound to protect it.
• Data is encrypted in transit (HTTPS/TLS) and at rest.
• Access to user data is limited to team members who need it for their role.
• Media assets (such as illustrations and Kozy audio) may be hosted on our own servers.
• If a personal-data breach affects you, we will inform you and the Data Protection Board of India as required by law.

No system is completely secure, but we work continuously to protect your information.

10. Data Retention

We do not keep your conversations or diary in any form after your account is deleted, except where the law requires us to.

11. Your Rights and Choices

You have the right to:

• Access a summary of the personal data we hold about you, and a copy of it.
• Correct or update inaccurate or incomplete data.
• Delete your account and associated data, through the in-app settings or by contacting us.
• Withdraw consent at any time. This does not affect processing done before you withdrew. Some features may stop working without the data they need.
• Opt out of marketing notifications in the app, and of ad personalisation in your phone's settings.
• Nominate another person to exercise your rights if you die or become unable to.
• Raise a grievance with our Grievance Officer (Section 15). If you are not satisfied with our response, you can complain to the Data Protection Board of India. Users in the EU, EEA or UK may also complain to their local data protection authority.

To exercise any of these rights, email talktous@befriendsapp.in from your registered email address, with the subject "Privacy Request – BeFriends App". We will acknowledge your request within 7 working days and resolve it within 30 days. We may need to verify your identity before acting on a request.

12. Notifications

With your permission, we send notifications such as check-in reminders, messages from listeners, booking reminders and updates. You can turn notifications off at any time in the app or in your phone's settings.

13. Website and Cookies

befriendsapp.in uses cookies and similar technologies to work properly, to understand how the website is used (Google Analytics), and to show ads (Google AdSense). You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings. Some parts of the website may not work without them.

14. Updates to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. If we make important changes, such as collecting new types of data or using data in a new way, we will tell you in the app or by email before the changes take effect. Where the law requires it, we will ask for your consent again. The date at the top of this page shows when the policy was last updated.

15. Contact Us and Grievance Officer