Privacy Policy

1. Who we are

This policy explains how Arion Industries LLC ("Yap," "we," "us") collects, uses and shares information when you use the Yap app and website (the "Service"). We do not sell your personal information.

2. What we collect

We do not collect your precise location. We do not access your device's advertising identifier, track you across other companies' apps or websites, or use third-party advertising tools in the app.

We do not use your voice recordings to create voiceprints or identify you by your voice.

Microphone: Yap only records audio while you are actively recording a Yap. We do not listen in the background.

Contacts of people not on Yap: if you share your contacts, we may process phone numbers of people who don't use Yap, only to show who is already on Yap and to let you send invites. Phone numbers are hashed before upload, and individual non-user numbers or their hashes aren’t retained in our application database.

3. How we use information

We use information to:

• create and run your account and deliver your Yaps to the people you send them to;
• generate transcripts so Yaps can be read as well as heard;
• help you find friends and send invites;
• send notifications, such as new Yaps or a friend joining;
• keep Yap safe: review reports, enforce our Terms, and prevent spam, fraud and abuse;
• understand how Yap is used and fix bugs and improve features;
• respond to support requests;
• comply with legal obligations.

Our transcription provider processes audio to generate transcripts. We have opted out of allowing newly submitted audio to be used to train its models.

4. How we share information

With the people you message. Your Yaps, transcripts, name, username and photo are shared with the people and groups you send them to.

Through links you share. If you send a Yap as a link outside the app, anyone with the link may be able to play it.

With service providers who process data on our behalf under contracts that limit their use of it: cloud hosting and storage (Supabase and Vercel), speech-to-text transcription (ElevenLabs), SMS verification (Twilio), push notifications (Apple), analytics and crash reporting (Metabase and Apple), and customer support tools (Google).

For legal reasons, when we believe in good faith it is needed to comply with law or legal process, protect someone's safety, or protect our rights.

In a business transfer, such as a merger, acquisition or sale of assets, subject to this policy.

With your consent or at your direction.

We do not sell your personal information or share it for cross-context behavioral advertising.

5. How long we keep information

We keep information for as long as your account is active and as needed to provide the Service. Yaps and transcripts are kept until the sender deletes their account or the content is otherwise removed by Yap. When you delete your account, we delete or de-identify your personal information as part of our account-deletion process, except where we must keep it longer for legal, safety or security reasons (for example, records related to a report of abuse). Copies already delivered to other users may remain on their devices.

6. Security

We use reasonable technical and organizational measures to protect your information, including encryption in transit and at rest. No system is perfectly secure, so we can't guarantee absolute security.

7. Your choices

Delete your account anytime in the app at Profile > Delete account. This deletes your account and associated data as described above.

Contacts: you can turn off contacts access in your device settings; Yap will still work.

Microphone and notifications: you can manage these permissions in your device settings.

Block and report other users from within the app.

8. Your privacy rights

Depending on where you live, including California and other U.S. states with privacy laws, you may have the right to know what personal information we hold about you, get a copy, correct it, delete it, and opt out of sale or targeted advertising (we do neither). To make a request, email hello@arion.nyc. We will verify your identity before acting on a request, and we will not discriminate against you for exercising your rights. If we deny your request, you may appeal by replying to our decision.

9. Teens

Yap is available to teens aged 13 to 17 with the permission of a parent or guardian. We collect a birthday at signup to confirm age and apply teen protections. For teen accounts:

• Only people they have accepted as friends on Yap can send them Yaps.
• We do not sell teens' personal information, share it for targeted advertising, or show them targeted ads.
• We only use teens' information to provide, secure and improve Yap.

A parent or guardian can ask to review, delete or stop further use of their teen's information, or close their teen's account, by emailing hello@arion.nyc. We will verify the request before acting on it.

10. Children

Yap is not for children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If we learn that a user is under 13, we will delete their account and information. If you believe a child under 13 is using Yap, contact us at hello@arion.nyc.

11. International users

Yap is operated by Arion Industries LLC in the United States, and we are the controller of your personal information. Your information is processed and stored in the United States and in other countries where our service providers operate. When we transfer personal information out of the European Economic Area (EEA), the UK or Switzerland, we rely on approved safeguards such as the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses and the UK's equivalent.

Legal bases (EEA and UK users). We process your information:

• to provide the Service you signed up for, such as delivering your Yaps and running your account (performance of a contract);
• to keep Yap safe, prevent abuse, understand usage and improve the Service, where these interests are not overridden by your rights (legitimate interests);
• where you have given consent, such as access to your contacts or notifications, which you can withdraw at any time in your device settings (consent);
• where the law requires it (legal obligation).

Your rights (EEA and UK users). You can ask to access, correct, delete or receive a copy of your personal information, restrict or object to how we use it, and withdraw consent at any time. Email hello@arion.nyc and we will respond within one month. You also have the right to complain to your local data protection authority.

Teens in the EEA and UK. In some countries, the age at which you can agree to the processing of your personal information on your own is higher than 13 (up to 16). If you are under that age where you live, you may use Yap only with your parent or guardian's permission.

Other countries. If you live elsewhere, you may have similar rights under local law. Contact us at hello@arion.nyc and we will respond as your local law requires.

12. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy. If changes are material, we will notify you in the app or by other reasonable means before they take effect. The date at the top shows when it was last updated.

13. Contact us