Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

This Privacy Policy explains how CometFare collects, uses, stores, protects, shares, and deletes personal information when you use CometFare.

This Privacy Policy applies to CometFare's website, web app, desktop app, mobile app, accounts, profiles, habitats, channels, messaging features, group chats, voice and video call and streaming features, support features, blog features, premium features, subscriptions, and related services.

By using CometFare, you understand that your information will be handled as described in this Privacy Policy.

2. Who We Are

CometFare is a service operated under the public service name CometFare.

If CometFare is not registered as a separate company or legal entity, then "CometFare" is the brand/service name used by the person or entity responsible for operating the Service.

Privacy contact: [email protected]

CometFare does not publicly list a business address unless required by law, payment-provider requirements, valid legal process, or mandatory consumer protection rules.

3. Information We Collect

We may collect the following categories of information.

4. Account Information

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

• username;
• display name;
• email address;
• password or authentication information;
• account ID;
• profile image;
• bio or profile details;
• account settings;
• language, appearance, notification, or privacy preferences;
• verification status;
• login history;
• security settings, including two-factor authentication (2FA) settings.

We do not store your password in plain readable form when proper security is implemented.

5. Profile and Public Information

Depending on your settings and activity, other users may see:

• username;
• display name;
• profile picture;
• bio;
• public posts;
• public comments;
• habitat membership where visible;
• roles, traits, labels, or badges;
• visible account status or presence indicators;
• public support posts or blog replies.

Do not add information to your public profile that you do not want other users to see.

6. Content You Provide

We may collect and store User Content, including:

• messages;
• direct messages;
• channel messages;
• habitat posts;
• public posts;
• private posts;
• support posts;
• blog comments and replies;
• reports;
• appeals;
• uploaded images or files;
• moderation notes submitted by authorized users;
• custom roles, traits, labels, and habitat settings;
• any other content you submit through CometFare.

Content may include personal information if you choose to include it.

7. Habitat and Community Information

For habitats, we may collect:

• habitat name;
• habitat description;
• habitat icon or image;
• owner and staff information;
• member lists;
• invite links;
• join and leave records;
• role assignments;
• traits and labels;
• permission settings;
• moderation actions;
• ban, kick, warning, mute, or restriction records;
• reports and report outcomes;
• admin or staff action logs;
• configuration and customization data.

This information is used to operate habitats, enforce permissions, investigate abuse, and maintain community safety.

8. Messages and Communications

CometFare may process messages and communications so they can be delivered, displayed, stored, moderated, reported, synced, searched where permitted, and protected from abuse.

Private messages and private channels may be restricted from ordinary user visibility, but they may still be stored and may be accessed in limited circumstances such as safety investigations, legal compliance, abuse reports, security events, or technical maintenance.

Voice and Video Calls and Streaming

If you use voice calls, video calls, camera sharing, or screen streaming:

• your device may request microphone and/or camera permission, which you control through your browser or device settings;
• audio and video are transmitted in real time through third-party real-time communication infrastructure (currently Agora), which processes the media streams and connection data needed to deliver the call;
• CometFare does not record or store the audio or video content of calls or streams;
• CometFare stores call and stream metadata, such as participants, the space where the session happened, start and end times, duration, and daily usage totals used to enforce quotas;
• other participants may capture or record calls using their own devices, outside CometFare's control.

9. Payment and Subscription Information

CometFare uses Paddle as its payment provider for paid features and subscriptions.

We do not store full payment card numbers ourselves.

Paddle may process payment and billing information according to its own terms and privacy policy.

We may receive and store limited payment-related information such as:

• billing email;
• payment provider customer ID;
• subscription ID;
• plan name;
• subscription status;
• renewal date;
• cancellation date;
• payment status;
• invoice or receipt references;
• transaction IDs;
• refund status;
• tax or country information provided by Paddle;
• fraud, dispute, or chargeback indicators.

This information is used to activate, manage, cancel, refund, investigate, or verify paid features and subscriptions.

10. Technical and Usage Information

When you use CometFare, we may collect technical and usage information such as:

• IP address;
• device type;
• browser type;
• operating system;
• app version;
• language settings;
• approximate location based on IP address;
• pages or features used;
• timestamps;
• session information;
• crash reports;
• performance logs;
• error logs;
• security logs;
• API requests;
• rate-limit events;
• anti-abuse signals;
• referral source;
• cookie or local storage identifiers.

This information helps us operate, debug, secure, and improve CometFare.

The CometFare mobile app may request operating-system permissions such as photo library, camera, or microphone access to provide features like media uploads and calls. These permissions are controlled by you through your device settings, and the app accesses only what is needed for the feature you are using.

11. Cookies, Local Storage, and Analytics

CometFare may use cookies, local storage, session storage, and similar technologies to keep users signed in, remember preferences, store security tokens, prevent fraud, and support billing sessions.

CometFare uses Cloudflare for hosting, security, infrastructure, database/auth-related services, and analytics. Cloudflare may process technical information such as IP addresses, request data, device/browser information, performance data, and security signals to provide these services.

Strictly necessary cookies or storage may be used without a cookie-consent banner where allowed by law because the Service needs them to function, such as login/session security.

If CometFare uses non-essential cookies, tracking technologies, advertising tools, marketing pixels, or analytics requiring consent in the EU/UK or other regions, CometFare should show a proper cookie consent banner before those technologies are used.

You may be able to disable cookies in your browser, but parts of CometFare may stop working properly.

12. Information From Third Parties

We may receive information from third parties such as payment providers, authentication providers, hosting providers, security tools, analytics tools, support tools, and users who report abuse.

For example, a payment provider may tell us whether your subscription is active, canceled, refunded, disputed, or failed.

If you sign in with Google, we receive basic account information from Google such as your email address, name, and profile picture, which we use to create or link your CometFare account.

If you connect Spotify (optional), we receive listening activity from Spotify, which may be displayed on your profile as a "listening now" status. You can disconnect Spotify at any time, which stops this data flow.

13. How We Use Information

We use the information we collect to create and manage accounts, deliver messages, operate habitats and channels, process subscriptions, resolve abuse reports, improve service design, fix technical bugs, and prevent chargeback or refund fraud.

14. Legal Bases for Processing

Where laws such as the GDPR or UK GDPR apply, we may rely on the following legal bases:

You may have the right to object to processing based on legitimate interests in certain circumstances.

15. Sharing Information

We do not sell personal information. We may share information under the following limited conditions:

Service Providers

• Cloudflare, for hosting, infrastructure, networking, security, database/auth-related services, analytics, and platform services;
• Paddle, for payments, subscriptions, invoices, refunds, fraud checks, chargebacks, taxes, and billing management;
• Resend, for email delivery and service communications;
• Agora, for real-time voice/video call and streaming infrastructure (processes audio/video streams and connection data during calls);
• Google, for optional Google sign-in;
• Spotify, for the optional, user-connected "listening now" integration.

Other Users

Information you choose to make public or visible may be seen by other users, such as profile details, public posts, public comments, habitat activity, roles, traits, or visible membership.

Habitat Owners and Moderators

Depending on the feature, habitat owners or authorized moderators may see information needed to manage their habitat, such as member lists, roles, reports, moderation logs, and content posted in that habitat.

Legal and Safety Disclosures

We may disclose information if we believe it is reasonably necessary to comply with law, respond to legal process, enforce our Terms, investigate fraud, protect users, defend legal claims, or respond to emergencies and credible threats of harm.

Business Transfers

If CometFare is involved in a merger, acquisition, reorganization, sale of assets, financing, or similar transaction, information may be transferred as part of that transaction.

16. Third-Party Providers

CometFare relies on Cloudflare, Paddle, Resend, and Agora to operate, secure, bill for, and provide real-time features of the Service, and on Google and Spotify for optional sign-in and integrations. Each provider processes data according to their own privacy policies, DPA agreements, and technical controls. If providers are changed, this Privacy Policy will be updated accordingly.

17. Public Content

Public content may be indexed, copied, screenshotted, shared, archived, cached, or stored by other users or third parties. Even if you delete public content from CometFare, copies may remain outside our control. Use caution before sharing personal details publicly.

18. Data Retention

We keep personal information for as long as reasonably necessary to operate CometFare, provide accounts, process payments, enforce rules, prevent abuse, comply with law, resolve disputes, and maintain security.

• Account information: kept while your account exists, then deleted or anonymized after account deletion unless retention is needed for legal, safety, payment, or enforcement reasons.
• Profile information: kept while your account exists or until you edit/delete it.
• Messages and posts: kept while they remain available in chats, habitats, support areas, or blog/comment areas, unless deleted by the user, habitat staff, or CometFare.
• Private messages: kept to provide chat history and account functionality unless deleted, subject to backup, legal, safety, and moderation retention.
• Habitat data: kept while the habitat exists, including settings, member records, roles, traits, labels, permissions, invites, and moderation records.
• Moderation records: may be kept after content/account deletion where needed to prevent abuse, enforce bans, investigate repeat violations, protect users, or resolve disputes.
• Call and stream records: metadata about call/stream sessions (participants, space, times, duration) and daily usage counters are kept as long as reasonably needed for quotas, abuse prevention, and operations; audio/video content is not recorded or stored.
• Security logs: kept as long as reasonably needed to detect abuse, investigate attacks, prevent fraud, debug issues, and secure the Service.
• Support requests and reports: kept as long as reasonably needed to provide support, investigate issues, maintain safety history, and resolve disputes.
• Payment and subscription records: kept as long as required for billing, tax, accounting, refunds, fraud prevention, chargebacks, disputes, and payment-provider obligations.
• Backups: deleted or overwritten on a rolling basis according to CometFare's backup practices, unless preserved for security, legal, or operational reasons.

19. Account Deletion

You may request account deletion by using available in-app tools or contacting [email protected].

When an account is deleted, we may delete or anonymize account information where reasonably possible. However, we may retain some information when needed for legal compliance, billing, fraud prevention, chargeback disputes, ban enforcement, and safety records.

20. Your Privacy Rights

Depending on your location, you may have rights to access, correct, delete, object to, or restrict personal information processing, withdraw consent, or request a portable copy of your information. To make a privacy request, contact [email protected].

We may need to verify your identity before completing a request. We may refuse or limit requests where allowed by law.

21. Communications

We may send you account emails, security alerts, billing notices, subscription updates, support replies, or policy updates. These are transactional and necessary. Marketing emails will include an unsubscribe link.

22. Security

We use reasonable security measures to protect personal information, including access controls, password hashing, encryption in transit (HTTPS/TLS), logging, rate limits, and restricted administrative access. However, no system is perfectly secure; you are responsible for keeping your login credentials safe.

23. International Transfers

CometFare may store or process information in countries other than your own. Where laws require, we rely on standard legal transfer bases, contractual clauses, or adequacy decisions to secure data across borders.

24. Children and Minors

CometFare is intended for users who are at least 13 years old. We do not knowingly collect information from children under 13. If we learn that a user is under 13, we may suspend the account and delete related personal details. Parents may contact [email protected].

25. Sensitive Information

You should not submit sensitive personal information (such as government IDs, financial data, precise location, biometric data, or highly private details) to CometFare unless it is absolutely necessary.

26. Automated Processing and Moderation Tools

CometFare may use automated or semi-automated tools to help detect spam, abuse, fraud, malware, or policy violations. Important enforcement decisions will involve human review where appropriate and feasible.

27. Do Not Track and Browser Signals

CometFare may not respond to all browser "Do Not Track" signals unless required by law. We will provide appropriate consent choices where required by regional regulations.

28. Data Accuracy

You are responsible for keeping your account information accurate and up to date. You can update your profile through account settings or by contacting us.

29. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. If changes are material, we may notify you through the Service, by email, or by updating the date at the top of the page. Continued use after changes means you accept the updated terms.

30. Contact

For privacy questions, requests, or concerns, contact:

[email protected]