Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy applies to Berlin Whispers our iOS and Android Mobile Applications (our “App”). In the below policy, we inform you about the scope of the processing of your Personal Data. 

GENERAL INFORMATION

    a. What law applies?

Our use of your Personal Data is subject to Germany's Data Protection Act (Bundesdatenschutzgesetz) (“BDSG”) and the EU General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”), and of course we process your Personal Data accordingly. 


   b. What is Personal Data?

Personal Data is any information relating to personal or material circumstances that relates to an identified or identifiable individual. This includes, for example, your name, date of birth, e-mail address, postal address, or telephone number as well as online identifiers such as your IP address and device ID.


  c. What is processing?

Processing means any operation or set of operations which is performed upon Personal Data, whether or not by automatic means. The term is broad and covers virtually any handling of data.


  d. Who is responsible for data processing?

The responsible party within the meaning of the BDSG and the GDPR is Berlin Whispers, Roya Anane, Sole Proprietor, Brennerstraße 83, 13187 Berlin, Germany (“Berlin Whispers”, “we”, “us”, “our”). If you want to contact us or if you have any questions, you can reach us by email using contact@city-whispers.com or write to us at the above address.


  e. The Legal Bases for processing Personal Data

In accordance with the BDSG and the GDPR, we have to have at least one of the following legal bases to process your Personal Data: a) you have given your consent, b) the data is necessary for the fulfillment of a contract / pre-contractual measures, c) the data is necessary for the fulfillment of a legal obligation, or d) the data is necessary to protect our legitimate interests, provided that your interests are not overridden. 


PROCESSING OF AUTOMATICALLY COLLECTED DATA

  a. Downloading our App

The App can be downloaded from the “Google Playstore'' a service offered by Google LLC, 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway Mountain View, CA 94043, US, if you are resident outside the EU and Google Ireland Limited (“Google”), Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland if you are a resident within the EU, or the Apple App service “App Store” a service of Apple Inc., 1 Infinite Loop, Cupertino, CA 95014, US, if you are resident outside the EU and Apple Distribution International Ltd, Hollyhill Industrial Estate, Hollyhill Ln, Knocknaheeney, Cork, Ireland, if you are a resident within the EU, to install our App. Downloading it may require prior registration with the respective App store and/or installation of the respective App store software.


    b. Installing our App 

As far as we are aware, Google collects and processes the following data: License check, network access, network connection, WLAN connections, and location information. However, it cannot be ruled out that Google also transmits the information to a server in a third country. We cannot influence which personal data Google processes with your registration and the provision of downloads in the respective App store and App store software. The responsible party in this respect is solely Google as the operator of the Google Play Store. 


As far as we are aware, Apple collects and processes the following data: device identifiers, IP addresses, location information, it cannot be excluded that Apple also transmits the information to a server in a third country. We cannot influence which personal data Apple processes with your registration and the provision of downloads in the respective app store and app store software. The responsible party in this respect is solely Apple as the operator of the Apple App Store. 


    c. Device information

Google and Apple may collect information from and about the device(s) you use to access our App, including hardware and software information such as IP address, device ID and type, device-specific and App settings and properties, App crashes, advertising IDs (AAID), information about your wireless and mobile network connection such as your service provider and signal strength; information about device sensors such as accelerometer, gyroscope, and compass and Payment Data and Billing confirmations.


   d. Authorizations and Access

We may request permission to store your App data including your Internet Connection and Network, and Location (Precise Location). The legal basis for data processing is our legitimate interest, the provision of contractual or pre-contractual measures and your consent. You can deny access on your device via the Settings/Notifications/ options of your device; however, this means that our App may not function as intended.


    e. Precise Location Information 

When you use one of our location-enabled services, we may collect and process information about your mobile device’s GPS location (including the latitude, longitude or altitude) and the time the location information is recorded to provide the services with location-based information and features (for example, a point of interest near you). Some of these services require your Personal Data for the feature to work and we may associate location data with your device ID and other information we hold about you. We keep this data for no longer than is reasonably necessary for providing services to you. If you wish to use the particular feature, you will be asked to consent to your data being used for this purpose. You can withdraw your consent at any time by disabling the GPS or other location-tracking functions on your device, provided your device allows you to do this. See your device manufacturer’s instructions for further details.


     f. Google Maps

In order to better display and geographically display Berlin and points of interest on a map and provide navigation and direction services our App uses Google Maps API and we process your location (see points d) and e) above). When using Google Maps, Google collects, processes and uses data about the use of Maps functions. Further information on data processing by Google is listed in Google's privacy policy. The legal basis for data processing is our legitimate interest, the provision of contractual or pre-contractual measures and your consent.


    g. Firebase

We use the Google Firebase developer App and related features and services provided by Google. We use the following Google Firebase services in our App: a) Firebase Analytics, b) Firebase Crashlytics, c) Firebase Firestore for cloud storage, d) Firebase Authentication. By integrating Google services, Google may collect and process information (including personal data). It cannot be excluded that Google also transfers the information to a server in a third country. We cannot influence which data Google collects and processes. Firebase's key security and privacy information can be found here: https://firebase.google.com/support/privacy The legal basis is the implementation of the user contract for the use of the App.


    h. Crashlytics

The app uses the tool Crashlytics to log crashes of our App. No personal data is transmitted. Only real-time crash reports with precise details of code locations and device information are sent, which is intended to simplify maintenance and improve the resulting stability of our App. The legal basis for data processing is our legitimate interest. In the settings under data services, you can select whether you want to send crash reports or not. 


   i. Google Analytics for Firebase

Our App uses the web analytics service Google Analytics for Firebase, which uses tracking technologies to track your use of our App. In this respect, information is generated about, among other things, the number of users and their sessions, the session duration, the operating system used by the users, their device model, the region from which our App is accessed, the first start of our App, our App execution and any updates.


In order to provide the relevant data for analysis, Firebase Analytics uses your a) device's advertising ID, b) an App instance ID (a randomly generated number that identifies a single app installation), c) and the IP address, which is shortened (IP masking) before being processed on Google's servers (which may be located outside the EEA) to generate the usage analysis. You can object to the use of Firebase Analytics at any time by disabling the sending of usage statistics in your device settings (Reset Advertising ID). We have no influence on these data processing operations. The basis for processing is our legitimate interest and your consent.


DATA PROCESSING BY US

   a. Contacting us

Personal data is processed depending on the contact method. In addition to your name and email address, IP address or phone number, we usually collect the context of your message, which may also include certain Personal Data. The personal data collected when you contact us is used to process your request and the legal basis is your consent. 


   b. Registration, Profile and User UID

We will not request any contact information such as your name or email address to create a user profile. However we use certain technical device information obtained through the Firebase Authentication services to create an anonymous User UID. Your User UID will remain stored for as long as the registration lasts. In addition your User UID is used to track a) what stories you have clicked on, b) when you stopped listening to a certain track and c) what audio tracks you have finished. The data collected through anonymous User UIDs is not linked to identifiable personal information. The legal basis for the processing of your technical device information is the establishment and implementation of the user contract for the use of our App.

   c. Aggregated Data

We also collect, use and share Aggregated Data such as statistical or demographic data for any purpose including improving our App and Services. Aggregated Data could be derived from your Personal Data but is not considered Personal Data in law as this data will not directly or indirectly reveal your identity. However, if we combine or connect Aggregated Data with your Personal Data so that it can directly or indirectly identify you, we treat the combined data as Personal Data which will be used in accordance with this privacy policy. 


 d. Administration, financial accounting, office organization, contact management

We process data in the context of administrative tasks as well as organization of our business, and compliance with legal obligations, such as archiving. In this regard, we process the same data that we process in the course of providing our contractual services. The processing bases are our legal obligations and our legitimate interest. 

   e. Linked services

For your convenience, there may be hyperlinks that link to Google Forms, Google Maps and Apple Maps. We are not responsible for, and this Privacy Policy does not apply to the privacy practices of any linked services or of any companies that we do not own or control. The links may collect information in addition to the information we collect. We encourage you to seek and read the Privacy Policies of Google and Apple to understand how the information that is collected about you is used and protected.

GENERAL PRINCIPLES

 

a. Sharing

We will not disclose or otherwise distribute your Personal Data to third parties unless this is a) necessary for the performance of our services, b) you have consented to the disclosure, c) or the disclosure of data is permitted by relevant legal provisions. In addition, we may disclose your Personal Data: in connection with law enforcement, fraud prevention or other legal proceedings; as required by law or regulation; if Berlin Whispers (or a part of Berlin Whispers) is sold to or merged with a company; or if we have reason to believe that disclosure is necessary to protect our business.


  b. International Transfer

We may transfer your Personal Data to other companies as necessary for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy. In order to provide adequate protection for your Personal Data when it is transferred, we have contractual arrangements regarding such transfers. We take all reasonable technical and organizational measures to protect the Personal Data we transfer.


  c. Data Security

Our App uses SSL or TLS encryption to ensure the security of data processing and to protect the transmission of confidential content, such as login data or contact requests that you send to us. We have also implemented numerous security measures (“technical and organizational measures”) for example encryption or need to know access, to ensure the most complete protection of Personal Data processed through our App. 


Nonetheless, databases or data sets that include Personal Data may be breached inadvertently or through wrongful intrusion. Upon becoming aware of a data breach, we will notify all affected individuals whose Personal Data may have been compromised, and the notice will be accompanied by a description of the action being taken to reconcile any damage as a result of the data breach. Notices will be provided as expeditiously as possible after which the breach was discovered.


YOUR RIGHTS AND PRIVILEGES 

   a. Privacy rights 

You can exercise the following rights:

  • Right to information

  • Right to rectification

  • Right to object to processing

  • Right to deletion

  • Right to data portability

  • Right to withdraw consent

  • Right to complain to a supervisory authority

  • Right not to be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing.


If you wish to exercise any of your rights, please contact us.


  b. Updating your information

If you believe that the information we hold about you is inaccurate or that we are no longer entitled to use it and want to request its rectification, deletion, or object to its processing, please do so by contacting us. 


  c. Withdrawing your consent 

You can revoke consents you have given at any time by contacting us. The legality of the data processing carried out until the revocation remains unaffected by the revocation.


  d. Access Request 

In the event that you wish to make a Data Subject Access Request, you may inform us in writing of the same. We will respond to requests regarding access and correction as soon as reasonably possible. Should we not be able to respond to your request within thirty (30) days after receiving your request, we will inform you in writing within thirty (30) days of the time by which we will be able to respond to your request. If we are unable to provide you with any Personal Data or to make a correction requested by you, we shall generally inform you of the reasons why we are unable to do so (except where we are not required to do so under the respective legal regulations mentioned above).


  e. What we do not do

  • We do not request Personal Data from minors and children, without obtaining prior parental or legal guardian consent;

  • We do not process special category data without obtaining prior specific consent;

  • We do not use Automated decision-making including profiling; and

  • We do not sell your Personal Data.


  f. Complaint to a supervisory authority

You have the right to lodge a complaint about our processing of Personal Data with a supervisory authority responsible for data protection. The Federal Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information (BfDI) (www.bfdi.bund.de) is the Federal Commissioner for Data Protection. The Berlin DPA is the state Data Protection Authority for the state of Berlin. The Berlin DPA`s contact details can be found on www.datenschutz-berlin.de. However, we would appreciate the opportunity to address your concerns before you contact the BfDI or the Berlin DPA.


HOW DO WE MAKE CHANGES TO THIS POLICY?

We may change our Privacy Policy from time to time. When we change our Privacy Policy, we will publish the updated policy on our website. Please check this Privacy Policy regularly. Subject to applicable law, all changes will take effect as soon as we publish the new Privacy Policy, but where we have already collected information about you and/or where legally required to do so, we may take additional steps to inform you of any material changes to our Privacy Policy and may request that you agree to these changes.

How to Contact Us

If you have any questions about how we process your information, you can contact us at:

Roya Anane
Brennerstraße 83
13187 Berlin
Germany

Email: contact@city-whispers.com

EFFECTIVE DATE

Friday, 27th of September, 2024