Privacy Policy

1. Scope

This Privacy Policy (the "Policy") applies to the top 8 mobile application, our public websites, and related services (collectively, the "Service") operated by top 8 LLC ("top 8," "we," "us," or "our"). It does not cover information that Apple, Google, mobile carriers, or other services process independently under their own privacy policies.

The initial Service is intended for users in the United States. Our infrastructure providers may process information in the United States and other locations where they operate.

2. Information we collect

Account, profile, eligibility, and acceptance information

We collect information you provide when creating and maintaining an account, including your first and last name, username, profile image, account identifiers, settings, account creation and update dates, and records showing the version and date of Terms acceptance or privacy notice presentation. At launch, we do not ask for your exact birth date. You confirm that you are at least 13.

Phone number and authentication information

Your full phone number is sent to and stored by Firebase Authentication, a Google service, to authenticate your account and help prevent spam and abuse. During account creation, our backend also receives the phone number to normalize it and create a keyed cryptographic matching value. We do not store the raw phone number in our application database. We store the keyed matching value and related account identifiers. A hashed or keyed value is still personal information because it can be used to match an account.

Firebase and our systems may also process authentication events, IP address, user agent, device information, verification status, and security signals.

Contacts and invitation information

If you grant Contacts permission and use contact matching, phone numbers from your device contacts are transmitted securely to our server. The server normalizes the numbers, creates keyed cryptographic matching values, compares them with account matching values, returns match results, and discards the uploaded raw list after servicing the request. We do not log or retain the raw contact list under the current design. Contact names remain on your device.

For a contact who is not yet a top 8 user, we may store a pending connection record, a non-readable matching value, and the last four digits of the phone number. The last four digits help you recognize the pending connection if the contact name is unavailable on a different device or after a sync problem. Pending invitations do not automatically expire at launch; they remain until accepted, denied, canceled, blocked, or removed through account deletion.

Connections, social graph, and relationship labels

We collect and maintain Top 8 selections, Stans, Circle relationships, connection requests, pending states, acceptances, denials, removals, blocks, unblocks, timestamps, and relationship labels. Relationship labels default to "friend" and may use a predefined value or custom text up to 32 characters. We use this information to determine who can find, view, mention, repost, or message whom and to display each user's visible Top 8.

Content and communications

We collect content you create or share, including photos, videos, audio contained in videos, thumbnails, captions and edits, stories, reposts, comments, mentions, relationship-label text, one-to-one chat messages, story replies, last-message previews, and related timestamps and identifiers. Content may include personal information about you or other people.

When you use the camera, microphone, photo library, or camera roll, the app accesses those resources only as allowed by your device settings and for the feature you choose. Media captured but not posted is not uploaded merely because it was captured. Media saved to your camera roll remains under Apple's Photos controls.

Reports, safety, content-removal, and support information

When you report an account or content, request removal, contact support, appeal an action, submit an intimate-image removal request, or otherwise communicate with us, we collect the information you submit and relevant context needed to respond. This can include content snapshots, media, chat messages, account and relationship information, timestamps, identifiers, descriptions, electronic signatures, contact details, moderation or enforcement decisions, and communications with our team.

Reported content may be preserved after it would otherwise expire so authorized personnel can investigate, enforce our rules, protect users, respond to disputes, and comply with law.

Device, log, analytics, crash, and website information

We and our service providers collect technical information needed to operate, secure, and improve the Service, such as IP address, user agent, device model, operating-system version, app version, language or locale, request timestamps, authentication and security events, Firebase installation identifiers, notification tokens, server and Cloud Functions logs, and website request information.

Firebase Analytics is enabled automatically at launch. It collects app interaction and usage information, including automatically collected events, screen or feature interactions, app-instance identifiers, device and app information, and custom product events that we configure. We do not set an account-level user ID in Firebase Analytics, do not link Analytics to Google Ads, do not use Google Signals or advertising personalization, and do not include captions, comments, messages, contact phone numbers, or story media in our custom Analytics events. BigQuery export is not enabled at launch.

Firebase Crashlytics is used to diagnose crashes and technical failures. It may collect crash traces, exception information, device and operating-system details, app version, timestamps, session and installation identifiers, and related diagnostic information. We do not set a Crashlytics user ID and do not intentionally include user-generated content, phone numbers, contact data, or other personal content in custom Crashlytics keys or logs.

Notifications

If you enable notifications, we collect and use device notification tokens and information needed to deliver notifications. A notification may include another user's display name and a preview of up to 120 characters of a message, comment, mention, or other user-generated content, along with identifiers used to open the relevant part of the app.

3. How we use information

We use information to:

• create, authenticate, secure, recover, and administer accounts;
• match optional contacts and maintain pending invitations;
• provide Top 8, Stans, Circle, relationship labels, stories, reposts, comments, mentions, chat, blocking, and audience controls;
• process media, generate thumbnails and previews, synchronize data, and deliver notifications;
• enforce expiration, deletion, and cache-cleanup workflows;
• detect, prevent, investigate, and respond to abuse, fraud, spam, security incidents, prohibited content, and violations of our Terms or Community Guidelines;
• review reports, preserve evidence, process content-removal requests, respond to support, and protect users and the public;
• analyze product use, measure feature performance, diagnose crashes, troubleshoot, test, improve, and develop the Service;
• send service, safety, policy, and account communications; and
• comply with law, legal process, and enforceable requests and establish, exercise, or defend legal claims.

4. How information is visible to other users

top 8 is a social service. Information you share is disclosed according to the Service's connection, audience, mention, comment, repost, and chat rules. Access can change as users connect, disconnect, mention, comment, repost, block, or delete accounts.

• Profiles, Top 8, and labels. Users with permission to view your Top 8 can view the people shown there and the relationship labels you assigned. A pending outgoing connection and its label are visible only to you. A person with access to a story may also be able to view the poster's or a reposter's Top 8 without a direct connection.
• Stories and reposts. A story is initially made available in the app to the poster's Top 8 and Stans. Mentions and reposts can expand access, including to a reposter's Top 8 and Stans.
• Comments (shown in the app as a 'yap sesh') and mentions. Anyone with access to a story can view its comments. A permitted mention in a comment can give the mentioned person access to the story and comments.
• Chat. A one-to-one chat and its content are available to the participants. Authorized personnel and service providers may access chat data as needed to operate the Service or when content is reported, preserved for safety, or required by law.
• Reports. A reported user is not told who submitted a report merely because the report was made. We may disclose limited information when legally required or reasonably necessary for a fair appeal or safety process.

Recipients may screenshot, record, download, copy, or share information outside the Service. Story media is delivered through direct storage links. A person who obtains a direct media link may be able to open or share it outside the app until the file is deleted, even after ordinary in-app access ends. We cannot control copies or links retained by other users.

Notification previews may display a name and user-generated text on a lock screen, Apple Watch, CarPlay interface, or other connected device according to the recipient's device settings. A delivered notification may remain visible after the underlying content expires or is deleted.

5. How we disclose information

We disclose information in the following circumstances:

• Other users. We disclose information through the connection, story, repost, comment, mention, chat, and profile features described above.
• Google and Firebase. Google processes information for Firebase Authentication, Cloud Firestore, Cloud Functions, Cloud Storage, Firebase Hosting, Firebase Analytics, Firebase Crashlytics, Firebase Cloud Messaging, and Cloud Logging/Logs Explorer. These services support authentication, databases, server functions, media storage, website hosting, analytics, crash reporting, notifications, security, and operations.
• Apple. Apple processes App Store information, device permissions, push notifications through Apple Push Notification service, and related platform information under Apple's policies.
• Google Workspace. Google Workspace processes emails and attachments sent to our support, safety, privacy, and legal addresses.
• Professional and operational providers. We may disclose information to advisers, insurers, auditors, contractors, and other providers that need it to perform services for us and are subject to appropriate confidentiality or data-protection obligations.
• Safety and law. We may disclose information to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, law enforcement, regulators, courts, emergency services, or other parties when required by law or when we reasonably believe disclosure is necessary to protect rights, safety, security, or the Service.
• Business transactions. Information may be disclosed in connection with a merger, financing, acquisition, reorganization, bankruptcy, sale of assets, or similar transaction, subject to appropriate protections.
• At your direction. We disclose information when you direct us to do so or provide consent.

We require service providers that process personal information for us to protect it consistently with this Policy, our agreements, and applicable law.

We do not sell personal information. We do not share personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising, use it for targeted advertising, or use it to track you across unaffiliated companies' apps or websites.

We may collect, use, preserve, and disclose information submitted in copyright notices, counter-notifications, and related legal requests as necessary to evaluate and respond to those requests, comply with applicable law, protect legal rights, and communicate with the parties involved.

6. Retention and deletion

We retain information for the periods below or as otherwise reasonably necessary for the purposes described in this Policy. Technical deletion is often asynchronous. Content may become unavailable to users before every underlying copy is removed.

• Account and profile information. Retained while your account is active, then deleted through the account-deletion process, subject to the limited records below.
• Connections and pending invitations. Retained while the connection or request remains. Pending requests do not automatically expire at launch and remain until accepted, denied, canceled, blocked, or removed through account deletion.
• Stories, comments, and story media. Ordinarily become unavailable in the app about 24 hours after the story is posted. Database and storage deletion begins through our expiration, time-to-live, and storage-lifecycle processes and may occur later. Restricted recovery copies, soft-deleted objects, provider backups, and content subject to a report or legal hold may remain longer.
• On-device story caches. Story image and video cache entries are removed when the app learns that the story expired or was deleted and when the user logs out. Cleanup occurs when the app launches or returns to the foreground, so a cached file may remain on a suspended device until the next cleanup opportunity.
• Chat messages and chats. Unviewed messages may remain until viewed, until the chat is deleted through blocking or account deletion, or until removed for safety or law. A viewed message ordinarily becomes unavailable about 24 hours after the recipient views it. Its text is then cleared from the chat's last-message preview, although limited non-content metadata may remain. Blocking or account deletion removes the active chat.
• Notifications. Notification tokens are retained while needed to deliver notifications. A notification already delivered to a device may remain according to that device's settings even after the underlying content expires.
• Reports, safety, support, and legal records. Retained for as long as reasonably necessary to investigate and resolve reports, enforce our rules, protect users and the Service, respond to appeals or disputes, comply with preservation obligations, and establish, exercise, or defend legal claims. Content may be retained longer while subject to a safety, legal, regulatory, or law-enforcement hold.
• Analytics. Google Analytics is currently configured, by Firebase's default settings, to retainevent-level data for approximately 2 months and user-level data for up to approximately 14 months. These are Firebase's standard retention windows rather than parameters we set independently, and they may change if Firebase's defaults change. New activity does not reset the user-data retention period.Standard aggregated reports may remain longer.
• Crash data. Firebase Crashlytics is configured, under Firebase's standard retention practices, to generally retain crash traces and associated installation identifiers for approximately 90 days before beginning removal from live and backup systems. This period reflects Firebase's platform defaults and may be updated by Google from time to time.
• Logs and hosting data. Security, server, Cloud Functions, and website-hosting logs are retained according to our configured logging periods and provider schedules, and longer when needed for an incident, fraud investigation, or legal obligation.
• Account-deletion tombstone. After deletion, we retain the username, deactivation date, and limited creation/update dates for up to 30 days to prevent immediate username reuse and complete the deletion workflow. We then delete the tombstone unless another legal or safety basis requires retention.

Firebase Authentication may take additional time to remove authentication information from provider backup systems after we delete the Firebase Authentication user. Other provider backups and recovery systems may also retain data temporarily under their own schedules.

7. Account deletion and removal of your content

You can initiate account deletion through Settings > Account > Delete Account. We promptly disable the account, delete the Firebase Authentication user, and begin deleting associated profile information, connections, stories, media, reposts, comments, chats, messages, feeds, receipts, and other account data from active systems. The limited 30-day username tombstone, report evidence, legal records, and provider backups may remain as described above.

You can delete your own stories, reposts, and comments using available in-app controls. Sent chat messages do not have a self-service delete control at launch. To request removal of content you posted, including a sent message, follow the instructions at Support: request removal of your content. We may verify the request through your signed-in account or phone authentication.

Removal does not guarantee complete or comprehensive erasure. Copies made or reposted by other users, delivered notification previews, restricted safety or legal records, and provider backups may remain as permitted by law and this Policy.

8. Your choices and controls

• Contacts. You can decline Contacts access and still use the Service, although contact matching will be unavailable. You can revoke Contacts permission in iOS Settings. Revocation stops future access but does not automatically delete connections or invitations already created.
• Camera, microphone, and photos. You can change these permissions in iOS Settings. Some capture, upload, or saving features will not work without the relevant permission.
• Notifications. You can manage notification permission and lock-screen preview behavior in iOS Settings.
• Connections and blocks. You can manage Top 8, Stans, Circle, requests, and blocked users using in-app controls.
• Content. You can edit captions and delete stories, reposts, and comments using available controls. You can request removal of other content you posted through Support.
• Analytics and diagnostics. At launch, Firebase Analytics and Crashlytics are enabled as part of the Service and are not controlled by a separate in-app setting. We do not use this information for advertising or cross-app tracking.
• Access, correction, and deletion. You can update profile information in the app, delete your account, or contact privacy@top8app.co for other privacy requests.

California Do Not Track disclosure

We do not engage in collection of your online activities over time and across third-party websites or services for targeted advertising. Because we do not engage in that type of tracking, browser "Do Not Track" signals and Global Privacy Control signals do not change our current practices. We do not permit third parties to use the Service to collect personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising.

9. U.S. state privacy rights

Depending on where you live and whether a particular law applies to top 8, you may have rights to request access to, correction of, deletion of, or a copy of certain personal information; to learn about categories of information and disclosures; and to appeal a denied request. We will not discriminate against you for exercising an applicable privacy right.

To submit a request, use the available in-app controls or email privacy@top8app.co. We may verify the request through your account session, phone authentication, or other information reasonably necessary to prevent unauthorized access. An authorized agent may submit a request where permitted by law, subject to verification of authority and identity.

California. We collect the categories described in Section 2 for the purposes in Section 3 and disclose them to the recipients in Section 5. We do not sell personal information or share it for cross-context behavioral advertising. California users under 18 may remove or request removal of content they posted by using available in-app controls or the instructions at Support: request removal of your content. Removal may not eliminate copies made by others, content reposted by another user, restricted legal or safety records, or provider backups.

10. Children and teens

The Service is not directed to children under 13, and a person under 13 may not create an account. We do not knowingly collect personal information through the Service from a child under 13. If we learn that an under-13 child created an account, we will take steps to disable the account and delete the information. A parent or guardian may contact privacy@top8app.co.

Users between 13 and the age of legal majority should use the Service with permission from a parent or guardian. At launch, we do not request an exact birth date.

11. Security

We use administrative, technical, and physical safeguards designed to protect information, including authenticated access, role-based controls, encryption in transit, provider encryption at rest, logging, and deletion workflows. No system is perfectly secure. Protect your device and phone account, use device passcode protections, and promptly report suspected unauthorized access.

Chats are not end-to-end encrypted. They are protected in transit and at rest by the application and infrastructure, but authorized systems, service providers, and reviewers may access them as described in this Policy.

12. Data locations

The Service is operated from the United States. Firebase Authentication is operated from United States data centers. Other Firebase, Google Cloud, Apple, and Google Workspace services may process information on infrastructure in the United States and other locations where those providers operate. If you access the Service from outside the United States, your information may be transferred to and processed in those locations.

13. Changes to this Policy

We may update this Policy to reflect changes in the Service, law, or our practices. We will post the revised Policy and update the effective or last-updated date. If a change is material, we will provide additional notice and obtain consent when required before the new practice begins.

14. Contact us

Privacy questions and requests: privacy@top8app.co
General support: support@top8app.co
Safety: safety@top8app.co
Legal: legal@top8app.co