Privacy Policy
This policy explains what Shout collects, why, who it's shared with, and the choices you have. Shout is operated by ThrivePay.
What we collect
- Account: email address, username, optional display name and "about me". Your password is stored only as a one-way hash.
- Location: your device's precise location when you verify where you are (only while the app is open). From it we determine your city. Each check-in — coordinates, IP address and fraud signals — is kept for 90 days and then deleted. Your current city is kept while your account exists. Other users never see your exact location — only your city.
- What you post: posts, photos, replies, stars, direct messages, reports and blocks. Photos are re-encoded when uploaded and all embedded metadata — including GPS coordinates and camera details — is removed.
- Device: a push notification token, and device-integrity results from Apple App Attest or Google Play Integrity, used to detect location spoofing.
- Purchases: what you bought, the amount, and its status. Card details go directly to Stripe; we never see or store them.
- Technical: IP address, and crash/error reports that exclude request contents.
How we use it
- To run Shout: place you in your city, show your feed, deliver messages and the notifications you've turned on.
- To process purchases and subscriptions.
- To keep Shout safe: detect spoofed locations, spam and abuse, review reports, and enforce our Community Guidelines.
- To comply with the law.
We don't sell your personal information, we don't share it for cross-context behavioral advertising, and there are no third-party ad trackers in Shout.
What other people can see
Your username, display name, "about me", contributor points, and the posts and replies you make are visible to other users. Posts appear in your city's feed (and further, if you pay to Shout them). Direct messages are visible to the people in the conversation. Moderators may review content that has been reported.
Who we share it with
Only service providers that run parts of Shout for us, under contract, and only what they need:
- Amazon Web Services — hosting and database, and email delivery
- Cloudflare — photo storage and delivery
- Stripe — payments
- Expo, Apple and Google — push notification delivery
We also disclose information when the law requires it, to protect people's safety, or to report apparent child sexual abuse material to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, as US law requires.
How long we keep it
- Location check-ins: 90 days.
- Account and content: while your account exists.
- When you delete your account: your email, username, profile and push token are erased; your posts, replies and messages are removed; your photos are deleted from storage; your location history is deleted; and any subscriptions are cancelled. Payment records are kept, without your profile details, as long as accounting and tax law requires. Content removed for breaking the rules may be preserved where the law requires it.
Your choices and rights
- Edit your profile, and turn each kind of notification on or off, in the app (Profile).
- Delete your account in the app (Profile → Delete account), or see other ways to request deletion.
- To request a copy of your data or a correction, email support@thrivepay.cloud from your account's address. Depending on your state (for example California, Colorado, Utah or Virginia) you may have additional rights; we honor those requests and won't treat you differently for making them.
Children
Shout is only for people 18 and older. We don't knowingly collect information from anyone under 18; if we learn we have, we delete it.
Security
Data is encrypted in transit, passwords are hashed, and access is limited to what's needed to run the service. No system is perfectly secure; if we learn of a breach affecting you, we'll tell you as the law requires.
Changes
If we make a material change to this policy we'll let you know in the app before it takes effect.