Coffee Chat Privacy Policy

1. Who This Policy Applies To

This Privacy Policy applies to:

• people who use Coffee Chat at a café, library, coworking space, bookstore, restaurant, or other participating location;
• people who use Coffee Chat websites, web apps, or AI features;
• people who create an account or sign in to Coffee Chat;
• merchants that participate in a Coffee Chat pilot or use Coffee Chat services;
• people who contact Coffee Chat.

2. Age Requirements

Coffee Chat is intended for users who are at least 18 years old.

By using Coffee Chat, you confirm that you are at least 18 years old and able to use the service under applicable law.

Coffee Chat is not intended for children. If we learn that we collected personal information from a child in a way that requires parental consent or other legal steps, we will take appropriate action, which may include deleting the information.

3. Information We Collect

Coffee Chat may collect the following types of information.

Account and Contact Information

If you create an account, sign in, participate as a merchant, or contact us, we may collect:

• name;
• email address;
• phone number;
• business name;
• business address;
• role or title;
• login or authentication information;
• account preferences;
• support messages.

User Content

When you use Coffee Chat, we may collect and process content that you provide, upload, create, or generate, including:

• prompts;
• chat messages;
• AI responses;
• uploaded images;
• uploaded files;
• generated text;
• generated images;
• documents, slides, summaries, or other AI-created content;
• feedback;
• other content you submit to the service.

You should not submit highly sensitive personal, financial, medical, legal, confidential, or regulated information unless Coffee Chat clearly states that a feature is designed for that type of information.

Usage Information

We may collect information about how Coffee Chat is used, including:

• session activity;
• pages or features used;
• check-ins;
• QR code scans;
• participating location associated with a session;
• approximate time and duration of use;
• number of messages, image generations, or other AI actions;
• feature categories;
• referral source;
• errors, logs, and diagnostic information.

Device, Browser, and Network Information

We may collect technical information such as:

• IP address;
• approximate location inferred from IP address, QR code context, or network-related signals;
• browser type;
• device type;
• operating system;
• user agent;
• language settings;
• cookie or local storage identifiers;
• security, fraud-prevention, and abuse-prevention signals.

Merchant and Location Information

For merchant pilots or merchant accounts, we may collect:

• merchant name;
• location name;
• business address;
• business contact information;
• branding materials, such as logos;
• pilot setup details;
• signage or QR code configuration;
• check-in configuration;
• aggregate usage analytics for the merchant location.

Bean and Reward Information

If Coffee Chat offers beans, AI credits, rewards, or quests, we may collect and store:

• bean balance;
• reward actions;
• reward history;
• space or location check-ins;
• opt-in reward status;
• redemption activity;
• abuse-prevention and anti-fraud signals.

4. How We Use Information

Coffee Chat may use information to:

• provide, operate, and improve the service;
• generate AI responses and AI-assisted content;
• process uploaded images, files, and other user content;
• provide location-specific experiences;
• verify check-ins or location-specific access;
• maintain user accounts and sessions;
• grant, track, and prevent abuse of bean rewards;
• prevent fraud, spam, unsafe activity, excessive usage, or abuse;
• monitor performance, reliability, and security;
• debug errors and improve product quality;
• communicate with users or merchants;
• provide support;
• measure usage and engagement;
• provide merchants with aggregate analytics;
• develop new features;
• comply with legal obligations;
• enforce our terms and policies.

5. AI Providers and Third-Party Processing

Coffee Chat uses third-party providers to operate parts of the service. These may include AI model providers, cloud hosting providers, analytics providers, authentication providers, payment providers, email providers, monitoring providers, and security providers.

When you use AI features, Coffee Chat may send your prompts, uploaded content, generated content, conversation context, and related metadata to third-party AI providers so they can process your request and return a response.

Third-party AI providers may include providers such as OpenAI, Google Gemini, OpenRouter, Anthropic, fal, Replicate, or other providers used by Coffee Chat from time to time.

These providers may process data under their own terms, privacy policies, data processing agreements, data retention practices, and safety systems.

Coffee Chat will try to choose provider settings appropriate for business use, but we do not promise that all third-party providers handle data in the same way. Unless Coffee Chat specifically states otherwise for a feature, users should assume that content submitted to AI features may be processed by third-party AI providers to provide the service.

6. Model Training and Service Improvement

Coffee Chat may use aggregated, de-identified, or anonymized usage information to understand and improve the product.

Coffee Chat may review user content for safety, abuse prevention, debugging, quality improvement, support, or product development, subject to applicable law and internal access controls.

Third-party AI providers may have their own rules about whether and how submitted content is used to improve their models. Coffee Chat will try to use provider settings that limit training on user content when commercially reasonable and available, but we do not guarantee that every provider or every feature has the same training settings.

7. Chat History, Uploaded Content, and Generated Content

Coffee Chat may store chat history, uploaded content, generated content, and related metadata to:

• provide the service;
• allow users to continue sessions;
• provide account features;
• improve reliability;
• debug issues;
• prevent abuse;
• measure usage;
• improve the product.

Coffee Chat may delete, shorten, summarize, de-identify, or limit stored content over time.

If Coffee Chat offers account settings, deletion controls, or history controls, users may be able to delete or manage certain content through those settings.

Some logs, backups, analytics, security records, or abuse-prevention records may remain for a period of time even after user-facing content is deleted.

8. Check-Ins and Location-Specific Experiences

Coffee Chat may provide experiences tied to a specific participating location, such as a café, library, coworking space, bookstore, restaurant, or merchant location.

To operate these experiences, Coffee Chat may use:

• QR codes;
• check-in links;
• approximate IP-based location;
• network-related signals;
• merchant location identifiers;
• device/browser signals;
• user account information;
• anti-abuse checks.

These methods may be approximate and may not accurately identify a user's exact location.

Coffee Chat may use check-in and location-related signals to:

• provide location-specific AI access;
• grant bean rewards;
• prevent abuse;
• limit access to intended locations;
• measure pilot performance;
• provide merchants with aggregate analytics.

9. Location Email Opt-In and Rewards

When you use Coffee Chat at a participating merchant location, you may be offered rewards, credits, or beans for choosing to share your email address with a specific participating location where you check in.

This opt-in is per location. Coffee Chat only shares your email with a participating location after you complete that location's email list reward quest.

If you opt in, Coffee Chat may share the following information with a participating location where you check in:

• your email address;
• your name, if provided;
• the participating location where you checked in;
• the opt-in timestamp;
• the consent text or consent version shown to you;
• related reward information, such as whether beans were granted.

The merchant may use that information to send you space updates, offers, rewards, and related marketing messages.

Opting in is optional. You can use Coffee Chat without opting in to merchant marketing emails.

The opt-in checkbox should be unchecked by default. Coffee Chat will not share your email address with a participating location for that location's own marketing unless you choose to share it with that location.

Participating locations that receive your email may still have it; you can unsubscribe from their emails directly.

The merchant is responsible for its own marketing emails, including using accurate sender information, avoiding deceptive subject lines, including required contact information, providing an unsubscribe method, and honoring unsubscribe requests.

10. Merchant Analytics

Coffee Chat may provide participating merchants with aggregate analytics, such as:

• number of sessions;
• approximate usage volume;
• number of check-ins;
• number of opted-in users;
• popular feature categories;
• engagement trends;
• high-level pilot performance.

Coffee Chat will not provide merchants with raw private customer conversations unless the customer clearly consents or disclosure is required by law.

Coffee Chat will not provide a merchant with email addresses of users who did not opt in to that merchant's email list and check in with that merchant.

11. Emails and Communications

Coffee Chat may send users service-related emails, such as account, security, product, support, or transactional messages.

If you opt in to share your email with a merchant where you check in, that merchant may send you marketing messages such as offers, rewards, event announcements, or updates. The merchant is responsible for its own marketing emails and unsubscribe process.

Coffee Chat may also send marketing emails about Coffee Chat if permitted by law. You may opt out of Coffee Chat marketing emails by using the unsubscribe method provided in those emails. Even if you opt out of marketing emails, we may still send transactional or service-related messages.

12. Cookies and Similar Technologies

Coffee Chat may use cookies, local storage, or similar technologies to:

• keep users signed in;
• remember preferences;
• operate sessions;
• verify check-ins;
• prevent abuse;
• measure usage;
• improve the service.

Users may be able to control cookies through browser settings, but disabling cookies may affect how Coffee Chat works.

13. How We Share Information

Coffee Chat may share information with:

• AI model providers that process prompts, uploads, and generated content;
• hosting and infrastructure providers;
• analytics and monitoring providers;
• authentication and security providers;
• payment providers, if payments are introduced;
• email and communication providers;
• participating merchants, but only as described in this Privacy Policy;
• legal, regulatory, safety, or law enforcement authorities if required by law or necessary to protect rights, safety, or security;
• business successors if Coffee Chat is involved in a merger, acquisition, financing, reorganization, or sale of assets.

Coffee Chat does not sell personal information for money.

Coffee Chat does not provide merchants with raw private customer conversations.

Coffee Chat does not provide merchants with user email addresses unless the user opts in to that merchant's email list and checks in with that merchant.

14. Data Retention

Coffee Chat retains information for as long as reasonably needed to:

• provide the service;
• maintain accounts;
• operate merchant pilots;
• track bean rewards;
• maintain opt-in records;
• prevent abuse;
• resolve disputes;
• enforce agreements;
• comply with legal obligations;
• improve and secure the product.

Different types of information may be retained for different periods.

Coffee Chat may retain opt-in consent records for as long as reasonably needed to prove consent, manage rewards, support merchant email-list records, comply with law, and resolve disputes.

Third-party providers may have their own retention practices.

15. Security

Coffee Chat uses reasonable technical and organizational measures to protect information.

However, no online service is completely secure. Coffee Chat cannot guarantee that information will never be accessed, disclosed, altered, or destroyed.

Users should avoid submitting highly sensitive personal, financial, medical, legal, confidential, or regulated information unless Coffee Chat specifically says a feature is designed for that type of information.

16. User Choices

Depending on available features, users may be able to:

• stop using Coffee Chat;
• delete or clear chat history;
• manage account information;
• opt out of Coffee Chat marketing emails;
• choose whether to share their email with a participating location where they check in;
• unsubscribe from merchant marketing emails;
• request access, correction, deletion, or other handling of certain information.

To make a privacy request, contact: support@coffeechat.studio

17. California Privacy Notice

If you are a California resident, you may have rights under California privacy laws, depending on how those laws apply to Coffee Chat and the information involved.

These rights may include the ability to request:

• access to personal information;
• deletion of personal information;
• correction of inaccurate personal information;
• information about categories of personal information collected, used, disclosed, sold, or shared;
• opt-out of certain selling or sharing of personal information;
• limitation of certain uses of sensitive personal information, if applicable;
• non-discrimination for exercising privacy rights.

Coffee Chat does not sell personal information for money.

Coffee Chat does not share user email addresses with merchants for merchant marketing unless the user opts in to that merchant's email list and checks in with that merchant.

To make a California privacy request, contact: support@coffeechat.studio

18. Do Not Sell or Share

Coffee Chat does not sell personal information for money.

If Coffee Chat ever uses personal information in a way that is considered “selling” or “sharing” under applicable privacy law, Coffee Chat will provide any required notices and choices.

Users can contact Coffee Chat at support@coffeechat.studio with questions or requests about selling or sharing of personal information.

19. International Users

Coffee Chat is currently intended primarily for use in the United States.

If you access Coffee Chat from outside the United States, your information may be processed in the United States or other countries where Coffee Chat or its service providers operate.

20. Changes to This Privacy Policy

Coffee Chat may update this Privacy Policy from time to time.

When Coffee Chat updates this Privacy Policy, it will update the effective date or version number above.

If changes are material, Coffee Chat may provide additional notice, such as by posting a notice on the website, notifying merchants, or notifying users through the service.

21. Contact

Questions or privacy requests can be sent to: support@coffeechat.studio