Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

Qoorbell is a service operated by Ciguabit S.R.L., a company registered in the Dominican Republic ("we", "our", or "us"), which acts as the controller of the personal data described in this policy. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your information when you use our website (qoorbell.com), our mobile applications, and related services (collectively, the "Service"). By using our Service, you agree to the collection and use of information in accordance with this policy.

2. Information We Collect

2.1 Personal Information

When you create an account, we collect your display name, a profile picture (optional), your timezone and the details of the sign-in method you choose: your email address if you sign in with a code sent by email; the account identifier and, where you allow it, the name and email address that Google, Apple, Microsoft, X or another sign-in provider shown on the sign-in screen shares with us; and your phone number only if you sign up with it, which is possible only in the countries where phone sign-in is offered. Paid plans are purchased either through the app store you installed Qoorbell from — Google Play for the Android app, the App Store for the iPhone and iPad app — or on our website through PayPal. Whichever one you use processes the payment and handles your payment details under its own privacy policy. We never receive or store your card details. If you sign in with Apple, Apple gives us an identifier for your Apple Account and, if you choose to share them, your name and email address. If you choose to hide your email, the address we receive is a private relay address from Apple (ending in @privaterelay.appleid.com) that forwards to your real inbox; we use it only as your account email.

2.2 Usage Information

We automatically collect information about how you use the Service, including: doorbell creation and configuration, ring history (visitor interactions), video call logs (duration, timestamps), any recording made during a video call by the person who answered it, chat messages between you and visitors, QR code generation and scan events, notification preferences and delivery records, group and doorbell membership data, and location requirement settings.

2.3 Device Information

When you use our mobile apps or website, we may collect device type and model, operating system version, unique device identifiers (for push notifications), IP address, browser type and language, and app version.

2.4 Visitors, Blocks and Reports

When someone rings a doorbell, we store a visitor handle with the ring so that the owner can block that visitor and we can act on reports. For every visitor, the handle is made of one-way hashes of their IP address and of a random identifier kept in their browser or app — the IP address cannot be recovered from them; for a signed-in visitor, it also includes their account ID. When an owner blocks a visitor, we record the block against that one doorbell, together with the handle, the time and the owner who set it. When an owner reports a visitor, or anyone reports content or a user to us, the report holds who made it, the reason and any comment given, the visitor handle, and the ring, chat messages or call details it concerns, so that we can review it.

2.5 Blog Comments and Likes

If you comment on or like an article on our blog, we store the text of your comment, the language of the page you wrote it on, when you wrote it, and your likes of articles and comments. Your comment is shown publicly next to the article, with the display name and profile picture of your Qoorbell account. Comments and likes are kept until you delete them or delete your account; deleting your account deletes your comments and your likes. We moderate comments: offensive words are masked automatically, and we may hide or remove a comment that breaks our Terms of Service. reCAPTCHA protects the comment box and the like buttons from automated abuse.

3. How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect to: provide, maintain, and improve the Service; process your transactions and manage your subscription; send you push notifications when visitors ring your doorbell; enable video calls and chat between you and your visitors; generate and manage QR codes for your doorbells; apply the location requirement you set (only visitors at your door can ring); send service-related communications (account verification, security alerts, plan changes); analyze usage patterns to improve the Service; prevent fraud and ensure security; comply with legal obligations. The legal bases we rely on for that processing are: performance of our contract with you, for everything the Service itself needs — your account, doorbells and QR codes, rings, video calls and chat, notifications, subscriptions and payments, and service-related messages; our legitimate interests in keeping the Service available and safe, for fraud prevention, spam and abuse protection (including reCAPTCHA on the pages that carry a form), rate limiting, security monitoring and diagnosing errors; your consent, for Google Analytics and anything else the cookie banner asks you to accept, which you can withdraw at any time without affecting what was done before you withdrew it; and compliance with a legal obligation, where the law requires us to keep, produce or disclose data. Filtering objectionable text, enforcing the blocks that owners set and reviewing abuse reports rest on our legitimate interest in keeping owners and visitors safe, and on legal obligation where the law requires us to act on illegal content.

4. Video Calls & Communications

Qoorbell facilitates real-time video calls and chat between doorbell owners and visitors. Video calls are carried over Cloudflare RealtimeKit, and chat messages are stored on our servers to provide message history within the Service. Recording is off when every call starts. Only the person who answers the ring can start it, from the call screen, and they can stop it and start it again while the call is running, so one ring may produce more than one recording. Recording is available only on plans that include it. From the moment a recording starts, the visitor is told on screen that the call is being recorded, and that indicator stays for as long as the recording lasts; the recording holds the video and audio of both sides for the part of the call it covers. Recordings are stored by Cloudflare RealtimeKit and are available for 7 days from the end of the call. After that our video provider deletes them permanently and automatically, the link stops working, and neither you nor we can recover them — so if you need to keep a call, download it within those 7 days. A copy you download is yours, kept on your own device, and this Policy no longer governs it. A recording can be watched and downloaded by the doorbell owner and by the people that owner has given access to the doorbell, and deleting the recording, the doorbell or your account removes it from the Service. We do not monitor, read, or analyze the content of your video calls, recordings or chat messages for advertising purposes.

5. Data Sharing & Third Parties

We do not sell your personal information. We may share your data with: service providers who help us operate the Service (Twilio for SMS verification, Twilio SendGrid for transactional email, Google Firebase for infrastructure, data storage and push notifications, Cloudflare RealtimeKit for video calls, Google Play for subscriptions bought in the Android app, Apple for subscriptions bought in the iPhone and iPad app through the App Store, for Sign in with Apple and for delivering push notifications to Apple devices (Apple Push Notification service), PayPal for subscriptions bought on our website, Google reCAPTCHA for abuse prevention, Google AdMob for the ads shown in our mobile apps to accounts on the Free plan, and Google AdSense for the ads shown on the articles of this website’s blog to visitors who accept cookies); law enforcement or government authorities when required by law or to protect our rights; other users within your doorbell groups, as configured by you (e.g., group members can see shared doorbells). All third-party service providers are contractually obligated to protect your data. If you accept cookies, Meta Platforms and Google also receive the ad measurement described in Section 11, under their own privacy policies.

Google Home (optional): if you link your Qoorbell account in the Google Home app, we send Google an identifier of your account, the names of the doorbells you own or belong to (so they appear there as doorbells) and, each time one of them rings, the time of the ring and, if the visitor was signed in to Qoorbell, the visitor’s name, so your Nest speakers and displays can announce it. This means that if you ring a doorbell while signed in, your name may be announced in a home that has linked Google Home. Google never receives video calls, chats, ring history, locations or contact details, and handles what it receives under its own privacy policy. You can unlink at any time in the Google Home app or in your Qoorbell profile; we then stop sending anything and revoke Google’s access. We keep a record of each link and unlink for 180 days for security.

Amazon Alexa (optional): if you link your Qoorbell account with Alexa — from the Alexa app or with the “Link with Alexa” button in Qoorbell — we send Amazon an identifier of your account, the names of the doorbells you own or are a member of and whether each one is switched on or off (so they appear in the Alexa app as doorbells) and, each time someone rings one of them, the time of the ring, so your Echo devices can announce it. Amazon never receives video calls, chats, ring history, locations, contact details or the name of the person ringing, and handles what it receives under its own privacy policy. To send those announcements we keep the access codes Amazon gives us for your account and your Alexa region; when linking starts in Qoorbell, Amazon also gives us a one-time permission that we use only to enable the skill and do not keep. You can unlink at any time in the Alexa app or in your Qoorbell profile; we then stop sending any data, ask Alexa to remove your doorbells and delete those codes. For security, we keep a record of each link and unlink for 180 days.

6. Data Security

We implement industry-standard security measures including: encryption of data in transit (TLS/SSL) and at rest; secure authentication with JWT tokens; rate limiting and brute-force protection; regular security audits; access controls and principle of least privilege. While we strive to protect your information, no method of transmission over the Internet is 100% secure.

7. Data Retention

We retain your personal data for as long as your account is active. Ring history retention depends on your subscription plan (ranging from 7 days on the Free plan to 365 days on Enterprise). Chat messages and video call logs follow the same retention schedule. Call recordings do not: whatever your plan, a recording is available for 7 days from the end of the call and is then deleted permanently and automatically by our video provider, and the link to it stops working. We cannot extend that window or bring a recording back once it has passed, so download anything you need to keep before it does. When you delete your account, we will delete your personal data within 30 days, except where retention is required by law. The visitor handle stored with a ring is kept, and deleted, with that ring. A block lasts until the owner lifts it or the doorbell or account is deleted. An abuse report is kept while we review it and for 12 months after we close it, so that repeated abuse can be recognised, and is then deleted, unless the law requires us to keep it longer or to preserve it for the authorities.

8. Your Rights

Depending on your location, you may have the right to: access the personal data we hold about you; correct inaccurate or incomplete data; delete your personal data (“right to be forgotten”); export your data in a portable format; restrict or object to certain processing of your data; withdraw consent at any time (where processing is based on consent); and lodge a complaint with a data protection supervisory authority. Section 3 states which legal basis we rely on for each purpose, which is what decides whether a given right applies to it. To exercise these rights, contact us at privacy@qoorbell.com or use the account settings in our mobile app. You do not have to come to us first to complain: in the EU and the EEA you can go straight to the supervisory authority of the country where you live, where you work, or where you believe the problem happened, and in the UK to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ico.org.uk).

9. Children's Privacy

Our Service is not directed to children under 13 years of age. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you are a parent or guardian and believe your child has provided us with personal information, please contact us and we will delete such information.

10. Mobile Applications

Our mobile applications may request access to: Camera and microphone (for video calls with visitors); Push notification permissions (to alert you when visitors ring); Location services (optional, so a doorbell can require visitors to be at the door); Storage (to save QR codes for printing). You can manage these permissions in your device settings at any time. Denying certain permissions may limit functionality. On iPhone and iPad, the app may also ask for permission to track (Apple’s App Tracking Transparency); it only decides whether ads can be personalised, and refusing it costs you no feature. Push notifications reach iPhones and iPads through Apple Push Notification service.

11. Cookies & Tracking

Our website uses strictly necessary cookies for authentication and session management. It also uses Google reCAPTCHA to protect against spam and abuse; that script loads only on the pages where you can send us something — the contact page and the contact section of the home page, the account-deletion request, and the blog articles, where it protects comments and likes — and not while you are reading the rest of the site. We also use Google Analytics to understand how the site is used; those are non-essential cookies and we set them only after you accept them in the cookie banner. If you decline, no analytics cookie is written and no usage data is sent. You can change your mind at any time from the “Cookies on Qoorbell” button in the bottom-left corner of every page of this site, or the link of the same name at the bottom of the web app: it reopens the banner, and declining there immediately stops analytics and the ad measurement described below, and no more ads load on the blog. If you accept, the articles on our blog can also show ads from Google AdSense, which bring Google’s own advertising cookies with them, and the Free plan of our mobile apps carries ads too; the Advertising section below explains what they do and how to switch personalisation off. Apart from that advertising and the ad measurement described below, we do not track you across other websites.

We also measure how well our own ads work, and only if you accept cookies in the banner. Then this site and the web app load the Meta Pixel, from Meta Platforms, and Google Ads conversion tracking, from Google. They tell Meta and Google when you visit our pages, tap a button to get started or download the app, and create a new account, along with your IP address, your browser and the identifiers kept in their cookies. Meta and Google may link this to your Facebook, Instagram or Google account and use it under their own privacy policies; we never send them your name, email address, phone number or anything about your doorbells. If you decline, neither is loaded, and if you withdraw your consent later with the same “Cookies on Qoorbell” control, nothing more is sent to them.

When you create an account, we also record once how you found us, for our own statistics: the campaign labels in the link or the Google Play install that brought you (such as source, medium and campaign), whether you arrived from an ad click — only that fact, never the click identifier — the website that referred you, the first page you landed on and when, and whether you signed up on the web, Android or iPhone. On the web, until you sign up, these details stay in the link and in your browser for that visit only; they are kept in a cookie for a later visit only if you accepted cookies. We use them only to count sign-ups per campaign, do not share them with advertisers, and delete them with your account. Our legal basis is our legitimate interest in knowing which of our campaigns work.

Google ads are the one exception to the two paragraphs above. A link from a Google ad carries a click identifier, and we keep it along with the details described above. If you then create an account, we keep it on our servers for up to 90 days, and our servers tell Google that the click led to a sign-up: only the identifier and the time, never your name, email address, phone number or anything about your doorbells. This is how we measure which of our ads work. In the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and Switzerland we do this only if you accepted cookies; elsewhere, unless you declined them in the cookie banner. Our legal basis is your consent where the law requires it, and otherwise our legitimate interest in measuring our advertising. We do not sell your data, and the identifier is deleted with your account.

12. Advertising

The Free plan is paid for by advertising from Google AdMob in our Android and iPhone apps: accounts on the Free plan see those ads, and paid plans show no ads. The web app at app.qoorbell.com shows no ads. On this website, the articles of our blog can show ads from Google AdSense, whatever your plan, but only after you accept the cookie banner; until you do, the ad code is not loaded at all. Third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on a user’s prior visits to this website or other websites; Google’s use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads to you based on your visits to this site and/or other sites on the Internet. To choose, deliver, cap and measure ads, Google and its partners may use cookies and similar storage in your browser, the advertising identifier on your phone, the approximate location your IP address implies, your language and device, and how you interact with an ad. Advertisers never receive your name, email address, phone number, doorbell codes, the photos or addresses of your doorbells, your ring history, or anything said in a video call or chat; none of it is used to target an ad. Our legal basis is your consent wherever consent is required before an advertising cookie or identifier may be used — in our apps, Google’s consent message asks for it in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and Switzerland; on this website, it is the “Accept” of our cookie banner, and the blog shows no ads until you give it — and, elsewhere, our legitimate interest in funding a plan we give away. You can switch ad personalisation off for your Google account at any time at adssettings.google.com, and reset or delete the advertising identifier in your phone settings (on Android: Settings › Google › Ads); in the apps, moving to a paid plan removes the ads themselves. What Google does with the data it collects on sites and apps that use its services is described at policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites. We do not show ads on sign-in screens, inside a live video call or chat, or to anyone we know to be a child. On iPhone and iPad, the app reads the advertising identifier only if you allow tracking when Apple’s App Tracking Transparency prompt asks; if you do not, the identifier is never read and the ads you see are not personalised. You can change that answer at any time in Settings › Privacy & Security › Tracking.

13. International Data Transfers

Your data may be processed in countries other than your own, including the United States where our servers are located. We ensure appropriate safeguards are in place for international transfers in compliance with applicable data protection laws.

14. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of significant changes through the Service or via email. Your continued use of the Service after changes constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

15. Contact Us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or our data practices, please contact us at: privacy@qoorbell.com or through the Contact form on our website. Qoorbell is operated by Ciguabit S.R.L., registered in the Dominican Republic.