terms of service

Last updated: May 13, 2025

Welcome to Pingkerly! By accessing, using, installing, registering for, or interacting with any part of the Pingkerly platform — including but not limited to pingker.com, beta.pingker.com, app.pingker.com, and related services (collectively, “Pingkerly”, “we”, “us”, or “our”) — you (“you” or “User”) agree to the following legally binding Terms of Service (“Terms”).

If you do not agree with these Terms, do not use Pingkerly.


1. Eligibility & Age Requirements

By using Pingkerly, you confirm that:

  • You are at least 13 years old (or older if required by your jurisdiction).

  • If under 18, you have received parental or guardian consent.

  • You are legally capable of entering into binding contracts.

  • You are not barred from using our services under applicable law.


2. Your Account & Security Obligations

  • You are solely responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your account credentials.

  • You are fully responsible for any and all activities that occur under your account, whether authorized by you or not.

  • We reserve the right to suspend, terminate, or restrict access to your account if we believe it has been compromised, misused, or involved in any activity that violates these Terms or applicable law.


3. Acceptable Use Policy (AUP)

You agree not to:

  • Harass, stalk, abuse, threaten, impersonate, or defame anyone.

  • Upload, transmit, or share content that is illegal, offensive, pornographic, hateful, or misleading.

  • Introduce viruses, bots, worms, or malicious software.

  • Reverse-engineer, decompile, or otherwise attempt to access Pingkerly’s source code.

  • Use Pingkerly to violate the law or third-party rights.

  • Use automation or scraping tools on Pingkerly without written permission.

Violation of this AUP may result in immediate account suspension or termination.


4. User Content & Licensing

You retain full ownership of the content you create, share, or upload via Pingkerly (“User Content”). However, by using our service, you grant us a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, sublicensable license to use, host, display, reproduce, and transmit your content only as necessary to operate and improve Pingkerly.

We do not sell your User Content. You may delete your content, but residual copies may remain in backups for a limited time.


5. Privacy & Data Handling

Use of Pingkerly is also governed by our Privacy Policy, which explains how we collect, store, and process personal data. By using Pingkerly, you consent to this processing.

We do not sell personal data. We do not read your private messages, except in rare cases involving safety, abuse reports, or legal compliance (see the Privacy Policy for details).


6. Third-Party Content & Services

Pingkerly may link to or embed content from third-party sites. We are not responsible for:

  • The availability or accuracy of such external content.

  • Any damages or losses resulting from your use of third-party services.

You interact with third-party content at your own risk and under their terms, not ours.


7. Termination of Access

We reserve the right, at our sole discretion, to:

  • Suspend or terminate your access to Pingkerly (with or without notice).

  • Remove or restrict any content.

  • Enforce our Terms, Privacy Policy, and Community Code.

We may terminate accounts for violations, legal reasons, inactivity, or security concerns. You may also delete your account at any time.


8. No Warranty (AS-IS Disclaimer)

PINGKERLY IS PROVIDED “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE”, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND.

We explicitly disclaim all implied warranties, including but not limited to merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, and availability.

We do not guarantee:

  • That the service will be uninterrupted, secure, or error-free.

  • That messages, content, or data will be preserved or accessible at all times.

  • That our service is free from harmful components.

Use Pingkerly at your own risk.


9. Limitation of Liability

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW:

  • PINGKERLY, ITS EMPLOYEES, OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, PARTNERS, AND AFFILIATES SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, INCLUDING LOSS OF PROFITS, DATA, GOODWILL, OR OTHER INTANGIBLE LOSSES, ARISING FROM OR RELATED TO YOUR USE OF PINGKERLY.

  • IN NO EVENT SHALL OUR AGGREGATE LIABILITY EXCEED THE AMOUNT YOU PAID US IN THE LAST 12 MONTHS, OR $10, WHICHEVER IS GREATER.


10. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless Pingkerly and its affiliates, officers, directors, employees, and agents from any claims, damages, losses, liabilities, costs, or expenses (including legal fees) arising out of or related to:

  • Your use or misuse of Pingkerly.

  • Your violation of these Terms or applicable law.

  • Your content or interactions on the platform.


11. Arbitration & Dispute Resolution

Unless prohibited by law, all disputes will be resolved through binding individual arbitration, not in court. You waive your right to a jury trial and class action participation.

  • Arbitration will be administered under the rules of the American Arbitration Association (AAA).

  • The proceedings will take place in California, USA, in English.

You agree to resolve disputes with us individually. No class actions. No collective arbitration.


12. Governing Law & Jurisdiction

These Terms are governed by and interpreted under the laws of the State of California, USA, without regard to conflict-of-law principles.

If arbitration is not enforceable in your jurisdiction, any disputes shall be resolved in the state or federal courts located in San Francisco County, California, and you consent to the jurisdiction and venue of those courts.


13. Changes to These Terms

We may update these Terms at any time. If we make material changes, we’ll do our best to notify you (via app notice or email). Continued use of Pingkerly after changes means you accept the updated Terms.


14. Severability & No Waiver

If any part of these Terms is found unenforceable, the rest still applies. Our failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver of our right to enforce it later.


15. Entire Agreement

These Terms, together with our Privacy Policy and Community Code, constitute the entire agreement between you and Pingkerly regarding your use of the service. They supersede all prior or contemporaneous communications, whether oral or written.


16. Contact Us


Thanks for using Pingkerly. These rules protect everyone – including you – so we can keep building a platform that’s safe, fun, and respectful for everyone.

privacy policy

 Effective Date: May 13, 2025

Welcome to Pingkerly – the messaging platform that respects your privacy like it’s sacred (because it kinda is). This Privacy Policy is here to explain:

  • What we collect and why
  • What we do and don’t do with your data
  • Your rights and choices
  • How we protect your info
  • How we keep our digital noses out of your business

It’s also designed to set reasonable expectations, limit ambiguity, and reduce the chance of anyone saying “Wait, I didn’t know you did that.”


1. Who We Are (So You Know Who’s Responsible)

This Privacy Policy applies to Pingkerly, available at:

 

We are the data controller responsible for the handling of your personal information under applicable data protection laws.

📧 You can reach us at hello@pingker.com (for general inquiries) or concerns@pingker.com (for privacy stuff).


2. Why This Policy Exists (Not Just for Fun)

This policy:

  • Protects you, the user, from shady or unclear data practices
  • Protects us, the company, from legal confusion or unfair assumptions
  • Ensures we’re on the same page about what happens to your data

It doesn’t grant any rights beyond those required by law, but it does clearly explain the rights you do have and how we support them.


3. What Personal Data We Collect – and What We Never Touch

We collect only what we need, and we tell you why we’re collecting it. Here’s a breakdown:

✅ Data We Actively Collect:

TypeExamplesWhy We Collect It
Account InfoEmail, username, profile pic (optional)To identify you and let you personalize your experience
Usage DataLog-ins, chat metadata (not content), call start/end timesTo operate the service and maintain platform integrity
Support RequestsHelp messages, bug reportsSo we can assist you (and improve the app)
Gravatar HashesHashed email (only for profile picture lookup)To display your Gravatar if you have one

❌ What We Don’t Collect:

  • The actual content of your messages or calls (unless reported – see below)
  • Your private files, unless you upload them for sharing
  • Biometric, health, or financial data (we don’t want it!)
  • Your phone contacts or location data (unless you explicitly share it)

4. Use of Reported Content (Our Eyes-Only Clause)

To maintain community safety, we may access:

  • Reported content that allegedly violates our guidelines
  • Surrounding context, to evaluate the incident fairly

This access is limited, logged, and used only by trained staff during an active investigation. Content is not stored permanently unless required by law or serious policy violations.

We never proactively scan private messages or monitor conversations.


5. Legal Bases for Processing (GDPR-Friendly Translation)

We collect and process your data on these bases:

  • Contractual necessity: To provide you with a functioning platform
  • Legitimate interests: For platform safety, fraud prevention, and performance
  • Consent: Where applicable (e.g., optional features or email updates)
  • Legal obligation: If we’re compelled to by law
  • Vital interest: In rare emergency cases to protect life or safety

We do not rely on “legitimate interests” to override your fundamental privacy rights — we evaluate this case-by-case.


6. Your Rights (And How to Use Them)

Depending on your country, you may have:

  • Right to access – see what we know about you
  • Right to rectification – fix errors in your info
  • Right to erasure – ask us to delete your data
  • Right to restrict processing – temporarily pause our use of your data
  • Right to data portability – take your data elsewhere
  • Right to object – say “no thanks” to certain types of processing

To exercise any of these, email concerns@pingker.com and we’ll respond within 30 days (unless your request requires a legal dissertation — then we’ll ask for more time).


7. Cookies and Trackers (Minimal and Transparent)

We use first-party cookies only, mainly for:

  • Authentication
  • Session management
  • Performance optimization

No third-party advertising cookies, no creepy trackers, and no cookie walls.

You can control cookies in your browser settings, and Pingkerly will still mostly work without them (though logins might get annoying).


8. Data Sharing (When, How, and Why)

We never sell your data. Period. We only share it when:

  • You ask us to (e.g., when using Gravatar)
  • We’re required by law
  • We’re protecting Pingkerly or someone else
  • We work with third-party processors under strict data agreements

All service providers must comply with our data handling standards and are contractually barred from misusing your information.


9. International Transfers (How We Move Your Data Safely)

Pingkerly may store or process your data in countries outside your own — like the U.S., UK, or EU member states.

When we do, we use:

  • Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs)
  • Adequacy decisions, where applicable
  • Other legally approved safeguards

We never transfer data unless we’re confident it’ll be protected to the same standard you’d expect at home.


10. Data Retention (We Don’t Collect Dust)

Type of DataRetention Period
Account dataWhile your account is active
Metadata (logs)Up to 12 months for safety/debugging
Reported contentOnly during investigations (then deleted)
Support requests12–24 months to track recurring issues
Deleted accountsPurged within 30–90 days (unless required by law)

11. Children’s Privacy (Short Version: Not for Kids)

Pingkerly is not for users under 13 (or under the age of digital consent in your region).

We don’t knowingly collect data from minors, and we delete any data we find was collected in violation of this rule.


12. Data Security (Like a Digital Panic Room)

We use:

  • Cloudflare to protect against DDoS and hide infrastructure
  • Encryption in transit and at rest
  • Access controls — only necessary staff can see what they need
  • Regular audits and system monitoring

While no system is bulletproof, we constantly update and test our defenses.


13. Policy Updates (We’ll Tell You)

We may update this policy:

  • When we launch new features
  • When the law changes
  • When we get better at writing witty legal stuff

We’ll post updates here and notify you if the changes are big (like adding a new data-sharing partner — unlikely, but still).


14. Legal Jurisdiction (For the Rare Law Drama)

This policy is governed by the laws of California, USA.

Disputes will be handled in the courts of that jurisdiction. You agree not to bring collective or class actions (unless your local law says otherwise).


15. Contact Us

General Support
📧 hello@pingker.com

Privacy, Security, and Integrity Concerns
📧 concerns@pingker.com


Final Words (TL;DR)

We collect only what’s needed, keep it as private as possible, and give you full control. No data hoarding. No sneaky ad sales. No “oops” moments.

We made Pingkerly to connect people, not to exploit them. 💜


Would you like:

  • A PDF or HTML export?
  • A jurisdiction-specific version (EU, US, CA, etc.)?
  • An in-app notice banner text for policy updates?

Happy to help with next steps!