Privacy policy

Last updated on January 19th, 2024

SWITCHBOT INC (and our affiliates, hereinafter referred to as "we" or "us") respect and protect the personal information of all users. We will collect and use the information generated during your use of our products or services (including smart home products, accessories, computer applications, App, toolkits, websites, information storage platforms and related services) or provided by you on your own initiative in a lawful, proper and necessary way.
Please take a moment to read this Privacy Policy carefully before using our products or services, so that you can fully understand how we will collect, use, save, share and transfer your personal information, as well as the ways we provide you to access, update, delete and protect this information, and fully understand and agree to the content herein. You have the right to refuse this Policy, but if you do so, we will not be able to provide you with our products and/or services. When you choose to (re)use our products and/or services, you will be deemed to have accepted and acknowledged this Policy as it is an essential prerequisite for the rendering of our products and/or services.
Your agreement to the Policy indicates that you understand that we will collect certain personal information from you in specific service scenarios, but it does not mean that we will collect and process all of the personal information covered herein once you agree to this Policy and use our products and/or services. When it comes to additional business functions that require the processing of your non-essential personal information, we will ask for your consent separately.

1. HOW WE COLLECT AND USE YOUR INFORMATION

1.1 How we collect personal information
We collect your personal information from our official website, mall, applications, third parties, products you have registered and communications with you. The categories of information we collect include:

1.1.1 Information you provide to us
This includes information you provide when you purchasing our products, registering and setting up new products, downloading software, posting on online platforms such as forums or communities, responding to surveys, or participating in interactive activities. Such as your name, email address, username and password, address, billing information and phone number.

1.1.2 Information from the use of products and services
When you use products and services, some data may be sent to us such as your device name, hardware model, firmware and operating system version, unique device identifiers and IP address/location information. Other times, subject to applicable law and your consent where it’s required, we may collect data based on your activities including your settings and configurations, usage data, and crash or error data. We may also collect information about you through cookies and similar tracking technologies.

1.1.3 Information we received from the third parties
We also obtain information about you from other sources. For example, we collect information from publicly available sources, when you interact with us on social media, when you purchase one of our products or services through a third-party, and when you submit a review for one of products or services. This information includes information about your purchase of a device or service, information from reviews you post, username for third-party services, social media profile information.

1.1.4 Product tester’s information
When you sign up to become our product/service tester, we may collect information about you. We use this information to invite you to become a tester, and we use your feedback to develop and improve our products and services.

1.2 The content and purpose of personal information
The data we received depends on the products, features and services you use, as well as the scenes you may use, the activities you participate in and the interactions you have with us. This data can include the following:

1.2.1 Registration, account log-in and verification data, including:

  • Name and contact information: your name, nickname, email address, postal address, phone number, etc.
  • Credentials: passwords, hints, and information used for authentication and account access.
  • Account information: When you create a personal web account or App account, we will collect your email, account username, password and other information for registration. we When you add a device in the App, we will collect its unique identifier or MAC address, along with other information, and link these details to your App account. Upon your informed consent, we will ask you to provide your WiFi SSID or bluetooth information to connect the device to the internet. When you sign into your account, we may collect information about your session, including a record of your sign-in, date and time, the product you signed into, the number assigned to your account, and a unique identifier assigned to your device, your IP address, etc.
  • Demographic data: data like your country, and preferred language.
  • If you choose to log in using an account on a third-party platform, we will also collect your account information on such third-party platform. If you use other login methods, you will permit us to access your email address registered for your third-party account, for the purpose of binding it to your account. For personal information that we need but the third-party cannot provide, we will inform you and ask you to provide it through system prompts or similar means.

1.2.2 Purchase information
Information needed to process your order if you make purchases through our platform, like your shipping address, transaction time, products ordered, amount, payment record, contact information, payment channels and third-party payment account information (the consumer transaction will be completed by a secure third-party agency), etc. If you request to issue an invoice, we will also collect the invoice information you use.
1.2.3 Usage information:
Information about how you and your device interact with us and our products, including:

  • Product and service use information: the features you use, actions you take, and activities you perform. When your device is connected to our services, our services will collect various device event data through the App, such as when the device is used, whether it is turned on or off, and when it is capturing environmental information, motion, battery life or other information. When you set a device scene, we may collect the scene name, conditions, executed actions, and effective period you set.
    For cameras, if you bind the product to your App and activate the cloud storage service, you can log in to your cloud storage account in the App and bind your camera product with the service package. According to your subscription plan, when you use the camera product, the videos you take will be uploaded and stored in your cloud storage space. When a video is uploaded from your camera product to the cloud storage space, only those who have access to your cloud storage account (you and the person authorized by you) can log into your cloud storage account at any time to view, download and/or delete the videos, the system will also automatically delete expired videos.
    We also offer activation and registration through third-party open licensing services such as Google, Amazon or Apple.
    For home robot products, we may collect information about the robot's movement throughout the environment and spatial information, and combined with your specification, to create its location map, prohibited areas, clean areas, types of obstacles encountered (if equipped with cameras) and obstacles location; we store the name you give your device and the name of its regional location. Some of our robot products may be equipped with cameras, and this processing is necessary in order to adopt obstacle detection and avoidance technology and improve the cleaning performance of the robot. When the AI function is turned on, the camera is only used to provide visual information to help the robot detect and avoid obstacles, and identify the types and locations of objects such as furniture and appliances to help with more precise cleaning. It does not collect pictures and videos in your home, and users or others cannot view these pictures and videos, and these data will not be provided to other third-party platforms for use. When the AI function is turned off, the camera will no longer work.
  • Error reports and performance data：the type or severity of the problem, details of the software or hardware related to an error, the contents of files you were using when an error occurred.
  • Maintenance information: To provide you with product and service consultation, technical support, after-sales service and other service information through telephone, network, etc. For example, in order to contact you as soon as possible and help you solve problems or record solutions and results of related problems, we may collect and store your communication/call records and related information according to this Policy, such as account information, country, email address, order information, payment information, purchase channel, bound product information, phone number, call records and the information you provide to us as evidence.

1.2.4 Support information：
Information about your hardware, software, your communications with us, data about the machine and the application you were using, and system, registry, and configuration data, used to support the functions and services of the product, etc. including:

  • Device data: information about your device you use to connect to our services, including the hardware model, operating systems, device identifiers, and regional and language settings.
  • Interests and favorites: your preferences, programmed activities, and the services you use contacts and relationships. If you use products that support multi-user, community, and sharing features, we may collect information about your contacts and relationships.
  • Location data: Some products use location information for purposes like time/date and language preferences，these information may include a location derived from your Wi-Fi or IP address or data that indicates where you are located with less precision, like a city or region.
  • Content: We may collect information about the content of your files and communications when necessary to provide you with the products you use. We also may collect the content of messages you send to us, like feedback and product reviews you write, or questions and information you provide for customer support.

1.2.5 Non-identifying data
We may also collect and use "non-identifying data", which is data that cannot be used to identify an individual, such as aggregate data like visits, for the purpose of understanding how users use our website, products and services. We will also determine the purposes and ways in which we collect, use, process, transfer or disclose non-identifying data in accordance with applicable laws. We will take some technical and administrative measures to isolate your personal information and non-identifying data and use them separately. If personal information is mixed with non-identifying data, it will still be regarded as personal information.

1.3 How we use personal information

In order to provide you with the corresponding functions of our products and/or services, we undertake to follow the principle of data minimization when collecting and using your personal information, and not to use your personal information for purposes other than the Terms of Service and this Policy.

We process your personal information based on the following legal bases:

  • Obtain your prior consent.
  • Necessary to enter into or perform a contract between us, or to perform our legal obligations;
  • Process personal information that you disclose yourself or that has been legally disclosed by others within a reasonable scope and in accordance with the law.
  • Our legitimate interests in processing for the purpose of providing you with our products or services (so long as your interests, fundamental rights or freedoms do not override such legitimate interests).
  • Other situations stipulated by laws and administrative regulations.

We use the information we collect to operate our business and provide, improve, and personalize our products and services, and to send communications, including promotions, account information, security updates, and product information. We use data to provide and improve our products and to perform essential operations. This includes operating and using the products, maintaining and improving their performance, and using data to research, develop new features, and provide customer support. We will always comply with applicable laws and obtain your consent where required.
Example uses include:

  • Process and fulfill your purchases.
  • Providing the product or service: ensure our products operate as intended and expected.
  • Customer support: diagnose product problems, repair customers' devices, and provide other customer care and support services.
  • Product activation and registration: we use device and application version, location, and unique device number, network information and other data to activate and register products.
  • Product improvement: improve our products, add new features or capabilities, report errors, improve security, determine what new features to prioritize, and improve efficiency.
  • Security, safety and dispute resolution: protect the security and safety of our products and our users, to detect and prevent fraud, and to resolve disputes and enforce our agreements. For example, we may use data to determine which products need security patches or analyze patterns in data that allow us to develop new security features.
  • Business operations: we may use pseudonymous and aggregated data to create statistics and analysis. For example, financial and product reports are created to analyze performance in a given sector or region.
  • Marketing communications: we may send you information about our products and services by email or telephone, including information about new product features, releases, promotions, and announcements. You can opt out at any time by contacting us. Subject to applicable law and your consent where it’s required, we may also use cookies or tracking technology to determine the effectiveness of our communications, for example, to determine, in the aggregate, how many people open our emails. We may also send emails to remind you about items left in your online shopping cart, update you or inquire about a service or repair request, or to tell you that you need to take action to keep your account active. If relevant legal provisions require that your consent must be obtained when conducting the above matters, we will proceed with such matters after obtaining your consent.
  • Support communications: we may contact you by email or other means to inform you when a subscription is ending or to let you know when security updates are available.
  • Detect, investigate and prevent fraudulent transactions and other illegal activities and protect the rights and property of you and others.

2. COOKIES, BEACONS AND OTHER SIMILAR TECHNOLOGIES

We, as well as certain third parties that provide content, advertising, or other functionality in our services, use cookies, beacons, and other technologies in certain areas of our services.

2.1 Cookies
Cookies are small files that store information on your computer, mobile phone, or other device. They enable the entity that put the cookie on your device to recognize you across different websites, services, devices, and browsing sessions. Cookies serve many useful purposes. For example:

  • Cookies can remember your sign-in credentials so you don’t have to enter those credentials each time you sign in to a service.
  • Cookies help us and third parties understand which parts of our services are the most popular because they help us to see which pages and features visitors are accessing and how much time they’re spending on the pages. Studying this information helps us to adapt the services and provide you with a better experience.
  • Cookies help us and third parties understand which ads you’ve seen so you don’t get the same ad each time you access a service.

You can choose to accept or reject cookies, configure your browser to accept all cookies or reject all cookies, and you can choose to accept some cookies. Note that some services are designed to work using cookies, so disabling cookies may affect your ability to use those services or certain parts of them. For cookie selection or other questions, you can also contact us through “contact” at the bottom of this page.

2.2 Other local storage
We, along with certain third parties, may use other kinds of local storage technologies, such as Local Shared Objects (also referred to as Flash cookies) and HTML5 local storage, in connection with our services. These technologies are similar to the cookies discussed above. They’re stored on your devices and can be used to store certain information about your activities and preferences.

2.3 Beacons
We, along with certain third parties, may use technologies called beacons or pixels that communicate information from your device to a server. We and certain third parties use beacons for a variety of purposes, including to analyze the use of our services and, along with cookies, to provide content and ads that are more relevant to you. By accessing and using our services, you agree to the storing of cookies, other local storage technologies, beacons and other information on your device. In addition, you also consent to us and the aforementioned third parties having access to such cookies, local storage technologies, beacons and information.

3. HOW WE SHARE AND DISCLOSE YOUR INFORMATION

We do not sell your personal information. We will share and disclose your personal information in the following ways:

  • We may share your personal information with your consent, or to complete a transaction, or provide a product or service you requested or authorized. For example, we share your content with third parties when you tell us to do so, like when you send data to a friend or link accounts with another Service.
  • We also share personal information among our affiliates, our subsidiaries, and our holding company for the purposes described in this policy and when required by law. These companies will use your personal information in the same manner as we do under this Policy.
  • We may share personal data with vendors or agents working on our behalf for the purposes described in this statement only to perform their work. For example, companies hired to provide logistics services, customer service support, assist in protecting and securing our systems and services, data storage or services, website operation services or companies provide certain functions or modules may need to access personal data to provide those functions. We will evaluate the data security capabilities of third-party service providers in advance to ensure that they have the data security capabilities required by laws and regulations, and We will share your personal information with third parties in accordance with the data minimization principle. We will reach an agreement with them on the purpose and period of sharing, processing methods, types of personal information and protection measures, and evaluate and monitor their actions to protect your personal information when necessary. These companies must abide by our data protection and security requirements and are not allowed to use personal data they receive from us for any other purpose.
  • We may also disclose personal data to another company if we plan to merge with or be acquired by that business. This may include any organization involved in a merger, transfer, or sale of our assets or business.
  • If you post information in public areas in our products and services, like communities, forums, or blogs, it will be available to the public and we may reuse and republish it at our discretion and in line with our terms of use.
  • If you choose to integrate third-party applications or services with our products or services, such as Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant, we will allow third parties to collect the information needed for integration from your products and applications and, with your consent, these third parties will collect specific types of data based on the nature of the service. Please review their privacy policy for details about the information they will receive and how they process them.
  • When law enforcement authorities, regulatory agencies and other parties collect information for legal reasons, we will disclose the information to them if we believe the disclosure is consistent with the requirements of any applicable law or legal process.
  • We allow others to provide analytics services for us across the web and in mobile applications. These entities may use cookies, web beacons, device identifiers and other technologies to collect information about your use of the services and other websites and applications, including your IP address, web browser, and other information. We use third-party analytics tool -- Google Analytics to assist us with analyzing and improving our service. Google provides some additional privacy options to protect business's data. We've read and accept updated terms and contractual protections Google made to analytics tool we've used. To select or prevent Google Analytics from using your information for analytics, you may go to https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout or install the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on. 
  • Our services may contain links to third-party websites of our network of partners, advertisers, retailers and affiliates, as well as links to websites of third-party organizations within this Privacy Policy. If you follow a link to any of these third-party sites, please be aware that these sites have their own terms of use and privacy policies, and we are not responsible or liable for their services or practices, please review their terms of use and privacy policies before submitting any information to these sites.

4. YOUR RIGHT ABOUT YOUR INFORMATION

You can access, correct and update certain personal information you have provided to us by clicking "My Account" or "My Account-Security" on our sites or Apps.
You have the right to request access to, or copies of your information, and direct us to modify, update, delete, restrict or deactivate certain personal information pertaining to you. You can also request that we remove your personal information from the blog, community forums, or other public areas within our control. In some cases, even if you request to restrict or object to our processing of your personal information, we have the right to refuse your request in accordance with the law. If specific personal information cannot be deleted, we will tell you why. Subject to the conditions specified by the competent authorities, you also have the right to request that we transfer your personal information to a designated personal information processor.
You also have the right to withdraw your consent in the event that we process your relevant personal data in accordance with your consent.
For the above requirements, you can contact us directly through the communication method at the bottom of this page. We may first ask you to verify your identity and process your request after successful verification to ensure security. We do not charge fees for your reasonable data requests, but we may charge a certain cost for requests that exceed reasonable limits. We have the right to refuse data requests that require complex technical means or affect existing service systems, bring risks or losses to the legitimate rights and interests of others, or are impractical.
If you need to delete your account, please contact use or click "Profile – Account and Security - Delete Account" in the App. Unless otherwise stipulated by laws and regulations, after you delete your account, we will stop providing you with our products and/or services. And delete your personal information at your request.

5. FOR THE PRIVACY RIGHTS OF CALIFORNIA RESIDENTS

Pursuant to the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), California residents have certain rights regarding our collection, use and sharing of their personal information. We will not sell your personal information without providing you with notice and an opportunity to opt-out.
5.1 Personal information we collect
To learn more about the categories of personal information we have collected in the past 12 months and how we have used it, please see sections 1 and 2 above.
5.2 Disclosure of personal information
We disclose your personal information with service providers for business purposes in a manner that does not constitute a "sale". To learn more about how we disclose data to third parties, please see section 3 above. All non-essential cookies (including third parties) require the California consumer's prior opt-in consent, and are loaded according to the consumer's instructions and preferences.
As a California resident, you may exercise the right to know, after verifying your identity, any or all of the following information about your personal information that we have collected and disclosed within the past 12 months:
The personal information we have collected about you;
The categories of personal information we have collected about you;
The categories of sources of the personal information;
The categories of personal information that we have disclosed to third parties for a business purpose;
The categories of recipients to whom your information was disclosed;The business or commercial purposes for collecting the personal information;
You have the right to request deletion of personal information we have collected from you, you also have the right not to be discriminated against in exercising these rights. However, please note that exercising these rights may limit our ability to process personal information. For example, if you submit a deletion request, we may no longer be able to provide our products and services to you.
5.3 To submit your California consumer rights requests
You may submit a request to exercise your California consumer rights by submitting a request through the contact at the bottom of this page. Before we can process your request, we need to verify your identity, which may require you to provide additional personal information, or to log into your account. In some cases, we may deny or limit your request, particularly if we are unable to verify your identity or locate your information in our systems or where permitted by law.
5.4 Do not sell personal information
We will not sell your personal information or disclose it to third parties for direct marketing purposes unless you first expressly consent to the disclosure.

6. CHILDREN'S PRIVACY

We do not provide services to children, and we do not knowingly collect or maintain information about persons under 18 (Or the age required by local law) years of age. If We learn that personal information of children has been collected on or through the sites, we will take appropriate steps to delete this information. If you are the parent or legal guardian of a child under the age of 18 and believe that your child has provided us with personal information, please contact us and we will terminate the child's account or service and delete the personal information.

7. HOW WE PROTECT AND STORE YOUR INFORMATION

7.1 Personal information protection
We are committed to the protection of your personal information. We use a variety of security technologies and procedures to help protect your personal information from unauthorized or accidental access, public disclosure, use, modification, damage or loss of your personal information. We will take all reasonably practicable measures, including administrative management, technical support and physical defense measures, to protect your personal information, and will retain your personal information only within the period of time stipulated by laws and regulations.

We classify your personal information based on importance and sensitivity and ensure the highest level of security for your personal information. We ensure that our employees and third-party service providers who have access to your personal information to provide you with our products and services are subject to strict confidentiality obligations. We also regularly review our information collection and physical security measures to prevent any unauthorized access and use.
However, you should understand that communications networks are not completely secure, so we cannot fully guarantee the security or integrity of any personal information transmitted from or to you.

In any case, once a personal information leakage occurs, we will handle it promptly and notify the relevant regulatory authorities of the leakage, or notify the data subject of the personal information leakage in accordance with applicable laws (including your local data protection legislation). At the same time, once you find any abnormalities in your account, such as password tampering, unauthorized login or use by others, please notify us immediately.
7.2 Personal information storage
We will retain your personal information for as long as:

  • You use our products or services
  • Your account is active
  • Needed to provide you services
  • We are legally required to
  • To resolve disputes, and
  • To enforce our agreements

Personal information that is no longer required to be retained will be deleted in accordance with relevant legal provisions.

The personal information we collect is stored directly on the App, on your device, and on servers provided by us or our affiliates, subsidiaries, or service providers, the use of these servers is based on legal regulations and your consent. For example, we provide safe and reliable data storage services by AWS.

8. TRANSFER OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

Personal information collected by us may be stored and processed at our company or affiliate, or service provider maintenance facilities in the United States, Japan or any other country, or transmitted to third parties mentioned in Section 3 above for processing. where the legal and data protection compliance requirements may differ from those applicable to your country/region. We are committed to complying with all applicable legal requirements related to the processing and transfer of personal information. If relevant legal provisions require that your consent must be obtained when conducting the above matters, we will proceed with such matters after obtaining your consent.

9. UPDATE OF THE POLICY

We may update this Policy from time to time, if we make any changes to this Policy, we will revise the date at the top of the Policy. Your continued use of our products and/or services after the revised Policy has become effective indicates that you have read, understood, and agreed to the current version of this Policy.
In the event that our specific products or services are discontinued, we will notify you in advance through notifications, announcements, emails, etc., and process your personal information in accordance with this Policy or relevant documents. If we cease operations permanently, this Policy will become invalid and we will process all your personal information in accordance with applicable regulations.

10. CONTACT

If you have any questions, comments, or requests regarding your personal information, this Privacy Policy, or data management, please submit a request at https://support.switch-bot.com or email privacy@switch-bot.com, we will contact you within 7 working days.

If you are not satisfied with our response, especially if our information processing has harmed your legitimate rights and interests, you can file a complaint to the local competent authorities.