Who this policy covers
Hooj, LLC ("Hooj," "we," "us," or "our") provides the Hooj mobile application, hooj.app, and related services (collectively, the "Service"). This policy applies when you create or use a Hooj account, browse or contribute content, participate in marketplace or event activity, join or manage an organization, send messages, use Hooj Pay, join a waitlist, apply to be an ambassador, or otherwise interact with the Service.
This policy does not control the independent practices of a third-party website or service that you choose to open from Hooj. Those services provide their own privacy notices.
Information we collect
We collect information you provide, information created when you use Hooj, limited information provided by other users, organizations, and service providers, and device information needed for requested features.
Name, email address, password hash, school affiliation, username, display name, profile photo, biography, verification and ambassador status, referral information, account settings, and follower or organization relationships.
Posts, stories, captions, photos, videos, text overlays, comments, replies, reactions, bookmarks, follows, story destinations, views, and the audience or context selected for content.
Listings, photos, categories, prices, accepted payment methods, offers, counters, attached messages, meetup proposals, selected meetup locations, completion codes, saved listings, views, and transaction history.
Events, event locations, RSVPs, ticket requests and orders, attendance and check-in status, bookmarks, organization profiles, follows, memberships, roles, permissions, invitations, join-code use, and verification submissions.
Direct and group messages, message reactions, attachments, shared posts, listings and events, organization-chat participation, and ephemeral photos or videos sent to eligible recipients.
Stripe account and customer identifiers, payment and payout status, amounts, fees, taxes, refunds, disputes, transfer references, reconciliation timestamps, errors, and meetup confirmation state. Stripe, not Hooj, directly handles full card, bank-account, identity, and taxpayer details used for payment processing and connected-account onboarding.
Precise device coordinates when you grant location permission for nearby discovery or maps; locations you search through Mapbox; and addresses or coordinates saved with an event or confirmed marketplace meetup. Hooj does not require continuous background-location access.
IP address and server logs, device platform, push token, app-presence state, session identifiers, impressions, opens, feed or search surface, item position, visible time, views, searches, selected filters, and diagnostic or security events.
Camera, microphone, photo-library, notification, and location permissions when you choose a feature that needs them. The operating system controls these permissions, and you can change them in device settings.
Reports, report reasons and details, blocks, hidden content, moderation decisions, enforcement notes, support messages, organization-verification evidence, and records needed to investigate fraud, abuse, safety, or policy violations.
Waitlist email and school, ambassador applications, emails sent to support, cookie choices, and website analytics only when you accept analytics cookies.
Sources of information
Information comes from you, your device and use of Hooj, other users or organization managers who interact with or invite you, payment and infrastructure providers, and public or official sources submitted for organization verification.
How we use information
- Provide accounts, profiles, school context, following, feeds, search, maps, stories, posts, marketplace, events, organizations, messaging, Activity, and saved content.
- Process offers, meetups, tickets, payments, refunds, disputes, transfers, payouts, taxes, reconciliation, and transaction support.
- Deliver requested emails, in-app notifications, push notifications, reminders, security messages, and product updates.
- Rank and recommend content using signals such as school, follows, recency, impressions, opens, views, position, and visible time.
- Keep content within its selected audience and enforce membership, role, permission, verification, and payment ownership rules.
- Detect spam, fraud, prohibited activity, account compromise, abuse, and violations of our Terms or Community Guidelines.
- Review reports, provide support, debug failures, measure reliability, understand aggregate product use, and improve Hooj.
- Comply with law, maintain required financial records, establish or defend legal claims, and protect users, Hooj, and the public.
Hooj may use activity signals to order feeds, search results, suggestions, and nearby content. Hooj does not use these systems to make decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects about you.
When information is disclosed
We disclose information only as needed to provide Hooj, follow your audience choices, operate with service providers, complete transactions, address safety and legal issues, or complete a corporate transaction.
Other Hooj users
Your profile, content, activity, event attendance, organization role, listing, or transaction-participant information may be visible to other users according to the feature, selected audience, and relationship between the users. Messages are disclosed to their participants. Marketplace and event organizers receive information needed to manage offers, meetups, requests, tickets, attendance, and check-in.
Service providers
Application hosting, databases, background jobs, caching, availability, and server logs.
Storage and delivery of photos and other supported files.
Video upload, processing, storage, controlled playback, and deletion.
Payment methods, checkout, connected-account onboarding, identity and taxpayer information, balances, taxes, refunds, disputes, transfers, and payouts.
Address and place search, geocoding, maps, nearby experiences, and selected location coordinates.
Push-token registration and delivery of requested push notifications through Apple or Google.
Transactional email such as verification, password reset, waitlist, and account or service messages.
Website traffic and interaction measurement only after analytics consent. You can change this choice through .
Legal, safety, and business reasons
We may preserve or disclose information when reasonably necessary to comply with law or valid legal process, protect safety or rights, investigate fraud or abuse, enforce agreements, respond to emergencies, or complete a merger, financing, acquisition, reorganization, or sale of assets. Where appropriate, we will require a successor to honor this policy or provide notice of material changes.
No sale or behavioral advertising
Hooj does not sell personal information for money and does not share personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising. Hooj has not done so during the preceding 12 months. We do not knowingly sell or share the personal information of anyone under 16.
Your audience choices matter
Hooj supports different contexts instead of treating all activity as public. Depending on the feature and available settings, information may be visible publicly, within a school, to followers, to members of an organization or group, to event attendees, through a link, to transaction or conversation participants, or only to you.
Content shared to multiple story destinations is treated separately for viewing state and audience context. Organization and event managers may act on behalf of those destinations when their role or permissions allow it.
Other people can capture, copy, reshare, or retain information they are allowed to see. Deleting content from Hooj does not remove copies another person made outside the Service.
Retention and deletion
We keep information only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes described here, including providing the Service, maintaining safety and transaction integrity, resolving disputes, complying with law, and enforcing agreements. Retention depends on the type and state of the information.
Kept while the account is active. When an account is deleted, associated personal information and user-generated content are deleted or de-identified unless a limited record must be retained for legal, financial, fraud-prevention, safety, or dispute purposes.
Stories are ordinarily visible for 24 hours. Temporary posts are ordinarily visible for 72 hours. Expired or deleted media is then queued for provider cleanup, generally within an additional 7 to 30 days, subject to shared-file references and retryable provider failures.
Media intended for one-time viewing is removed from active access after viewing and queued for cleanup. Unopened ephemeral media may be retained for up to 30 days so it can be delivered.
Kept while needed to provide the conversation and for safety, support, or dispute handling. A participant may remove a thread from their own inbox without deleting the other participant's access or all underlying records.
Active records remain available for their operational life. Expired, sold, cancelled, completed, or deleted records may be retained in history or limited administrative records when needed for participants, moderation, transaction integrity, or legal obligations.
Transaction, accounting, refund, dispute, payout, reconciliation, and tax records may be retained for the period required by financial, tax, anti-fraud, and legal obligations even after account deletion.
Kept for a period proportionate to investigating abuse, protecting users, securing the Service, supporting legal claims, and meeting breach or compliance obligations.
Residual copies may remain temporarily in protected backups until they are overwritten through normal backup cycles. They are not returned to active use except for disaster recovery.
Your choices and privacy rights
You can edit profile information, control available content audiences, change notification preferences, unfollow or block accounts, remove bookmarks, manage device permissions, and choose whether the website uses analytics.
You may request access to, correction of, or deletion of personal information associated with your account. Depending on where you live and whether the applicable law covers Hooj, you may also have rights to know categories and sources, receive a portable copy, limit certain uses of sensitive information, opt out of sale or sharing, appeal a denied request, and receive equal service when exercising a privacy right.
Submit a request through Account and Data Deletion or email support@hooj.app. We may ask you to verify control of the account or email address. An authorized agent may submit a request where permitted by law, but we may require proof of authority and identity verification.
Some requests are subject to exceptions. For example, we may retain records needed to complete transactions, prevent fraud, protect safety, comply with law, or establish and defend legal claims.
Children's privacy
Hooj is a general-audience service intended for people age 13 and older and is not directed to children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from a child under 13. If you believe a child under 13 has provided personal information to Hooj, contact support@hooj.app so we can investigate and delete it as appropriate.
Security and processing locations
We use administrative, technical, and organizational safeguards designed to protect personal information, including authenticated access, role and permission checks, limited provider credentials, encrypted transport, password hashing, signed or controlled media access where supported, audit records, background cleanup, and payment processing through Stripe. No system can guarantee absolute security.
Hooj and its providers may process information in the United States and other locations where they operate. Those locations may have different privacy laws from your home jurisdiction. Where required, we use legally recognized safeguards for cross-border processing.
If we identify a qualifying data breach, we will provide notices required by applicable law.
Changes and contact
We may update this policy as Hooj changes. We will update the date above and provide additional notice when a change is material or when law requires it. Your continued use after an effective date is subject to the updated policy, but we will request consent when required.
Questions, privacy requests, and concerns can be sent to:
Hooj, LLC
support@hooj.app
Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, United States