Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy explains how Wave Boating LLC ("Wave," "we," "us," or "our") collects, uses, shares, and protects personal information when you use the Wave Boaters mobile app, the website at waveboaters.com, and related services (together, the "Platform"). It should be read together with our Terms of Service. By using the Platform, you acknowledge the practices described here.
1. Information we collect
Information you give us
- Account and profile: your name, phone number, login details, date of birth, home marina or area, role (for example owner, guest, captain, crew, or partner), bio, interests, and other details you add to your profile.
- Photos: profile photos, vessel photos, and other images you upload.
- Application and verification documents: information you provide when applying for membership, and documents such as vessel registration or documentation, proof of insurance, and U.S. Coast Guard captain licenses or other credentials.
- Identity and age checks: information used to confirm your identity and that you meet our age requirements, which may include a government ID and a selfie, processed by us or by an identity verification provider.
- Contacts (optional): if you choose to connect your phone contacts, we use them only to help you find people you already know who are on Wave. You can decline or turn this off at any time in your device settings.
- Messages: messages, group chats, and other communications you send through the Platform.
- Bookings and payments: trips you host, book, or join, and related details. Payments are handled by third-party payment processors such as Stripe. We receive limited payment information, such as the payment status, the last digits of a card, and payout account status, but we do not store full card numbers.
- Support and feedback: information you share when you contact us, report an incident, or respond to a survey.
Information collected automatically
- Location (if enabled): if you allow it, we collect your device's location to show nearby trips, members, and marinas. You can turn location access off in your device settings.
- Device and usage data: device type, operating system, app version, IP address, crash logs, and how you use the Platform, such as pages and screens viewed and features used.
- Cookies and similar technologies: described in Section 4.
Information from others
We may receive information about you from other members (for example, when a host adds you to a trip or a member reports an incident), from verification and payment providers, and from public sources where permitted, such as public vessel or license records used for verification.
2. How we use information
- Membership review: to review applications and decide on membership.
- Matching and community: to help you find and connect with members, trips, crew, and partners, and to suggest people you may know.
- Safety and verification: to verify identities, ages, vessels, insurance, and credentials; to detect and prevent fraud, abuse, and unsafe or illegal activity; and to investigate reports and enforce our Terms and Code of Conduct.
- Bookings and payments: to arrange bookings, process payments and payouts through our processors, and send confirmations and receipts.
- Support and communications: to respond to you, send service messages, and, where permitted, send updates about Wave. You can opt out of marketing messages.
- Operating and improving the Platform: to run, maintain, analyze, secure, and improve the Platform.
- Legal compliance: to comply with laws, regulations, and legal requests, and to establish, exercise, or defend legal claims.
3. How we share information
We do not sell your personal information. We share information only as described below:
- With other members: your profile and content are visible to other members according to your profile and privacy settings.
- With trip hosts and guests: when you book, host, or join a trip, we share the information needed for that trip, such as your name, profile, and messages, with the host, captain, and other attendees, including through the trip's group chat.
- With service providers: companies that help us run the Platform, such as hosting, payment processing, identity verification, messaging, analytics, and customer support providers. They may use your information only to provide services to us.
- For legal reasons: when we believe in good faith it is required by law, subpoena, or other legal process, or needed to protect the safety, rights, or property of our members, the public, or Wave, including in an emergency on the water.
- Business transfers: in connection with a merger, acquisition, financing, or sale of all or part of our business, subject to this policy.
- With your consent: in other cases when you ask us to or agree that we can.
We may also share aggregated or de-identified information that cannot reasonably be used to identify you.
4. Cookies and similar technologies
Our website and app may use cookies, local storage, and similar technologies to keep you signed in, remember your preferences, keep the Platform secure, and understand how it is used. You can control cookies through your browser settings. Blocking some cookies may affect how the Platform works.
5. Data retention
We keep personal information for as long as your account is active and as needed to provide the Platform. After you close your account, we delete or de-identify your information within a reasonable period, except where we need to keep it to comply with legal, tax, or accounting obligations, resolve disputes, investigate safety incidents, prevent fraud or abuse, or enforce our agreements. Verification documents are kept only as long as needed for verification and these purposes.
6. Security
We use administrative, technical, and physical safeguards designed to protect personal information, such as encryption in transit, access controls, and working with established payment and verification providers. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security. Please keep your login details private and let us know if you believe your account has been compromised.
7. Your choices and controls
- Access and correct: you can view and update most of your profile information in the app.
- Delete: you can request deletion of your account and personal information, subject to the exceptions in Section 5.
- Privacy settings: you can use the privacy toggles in the app to control who can see your profile, photos, and activity.
- Device permissions: you can turn contacts, location, camera, and notification access on or off in your device settings.
- Marketing: you can opt out of promotional messages at any time. We may still send service messages about your account and bookings.
8. Your privacy rights
Flagged for counsel: confirm which state privacy laws apply to Wave and finalize this section, including any required notices, request methods, and verification steps.
Depending on where you live, you may have rights under applicable law, such as the right to know what personal information we collect and how we use and share it; to access, correct, or delete your personal information; to receive a copy of it; to opt out of the sale or sharing of personal information or of targeted advertising; and to not be discriminated against for exercising your rights.
California residents. Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, as amended (CCPA), California residents may have the rights described above, as well as the right to limit the use of certain sensitive personal information. We do not sell personal information and do not share it for cross-context behavioral advertising.
Other states. Residents of other states with consumer privacy laws may have similar rights. You can make requests through the app or by mail as described in Section 12. We may need to verify your identity before responding, and you may use an authorized agent where the law allows. If we deny your request, you may be able to appeal.
9. Children
The Platform is only for people 18 and older. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18. If we learn that we have collected information from someone under 18, we will delete it and close the account. Members who bring minors on a trip as guests are responsible for them, and should not create accounts for them or upload their information without proper consent.
10. International transfers
Wave is based in the United States, and we process and store information in the United States. If you use the Platform from outside the United States, your information will be transferred to, processed, and stored in the United States, where data protection laws may differ from those in your country.
11. Changes to this policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. If we make material changes, we will give notice, for example through the Platform or by updating the date above, before the changes take effect. Your continued use of the Platform after changes take effect means you accept the updated policy.
12. Contact us
Questions, requests, or notices about this Privacy Policy may be sent by mail to Wave Boating LLC. We will provide our mailing address in the Wave Boaters app.