You use SideNumber to keep your real number private, so we built it to need as little about you as possible.
The rest of this page explains that in detail, and tells you how to get your data deleted.
This Privacy Policy explains how Vovapy Inc. (“Vovapy,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) handles information in connection with the SideNumber mobile application (the “App”) and the sidenumber.app website (the “Site”), together the “Service.” It should be read together with our Terms of Service.
The App and the Site are different, and they collect different things. The App is built to operate without a user profile. The Site, like most websites, uses analytics to understand traffic. Where this policy says “App” or “Site,” it means only that part of the Service.
This policy does not apply to the practices of companies we do not control, including your mobile carrier, your internet service provider, Apple, Google, or the people you choose to call and message.
To deliver a phone service, we necessarily process and store:
Call audio itself is carried in real time and is not recorded by us unless you use a feature that expressly records it.
We store your device platform and operating system version — for example, iOS Version 18.7.9 (Build 22H355) or the Android equivalent. We use it to deliver the correct build, diagnose crashes and compatibility problems, and support you when you contact us. It describes your device, not you.
To the extent required to run the Service, we also process a limited set of other technical data, such as a device or installation identifier used to associate your device with your Number, a push-notification token so we can alert you to incoming calls and messages, IP address and connection information at the time of connection, and app version and crash diagnostics.
We use all of this only to operate, secure, and troubleshoot the Service. We do not use it to build an advertising or marketing profile of you, and we do not combine it with data from other apps or websites.
Subscriptions are purchased through the Apple App Store or Google Play. We never receive or store your credit card, debit card, or bank account number. Apple and Google process your payment and provide us only with a transaction or subscription identifier and your subscription status, which we use to activate and maintain your Numbers.
If you email support, request deletion of your data, submit feedback, or file a privacy request, we receive whatever you choose to include — typically your email address, your Number, and the contents of your message. We use it to respond to you and to keep a record of the request.
The Site uses Google Analytics to measure traffic, which sets cookies and collects information such as your IP address, browser and device type, referring page, and the pages you view. This is standard website analytics; it is separate from the App and is not linked to your Number or your communications. We do not operate our own analytics opt-out or cookie-consent control on the Site. You can, however, limit this collection using tools outside our control: block or clear cookies in your browser settings, use your browser’s tracking protection or private browsing mode, or install Google’s Analytics opt-out browser add-on.
We designed the App to avoid collecting the following:
Voice Changer modifies your audio locally on your device during a call. Your unmodified voice is not sent to our servers for processing, and we do not store, analyze, or retain samples of your voice for the purpose of the feature. We do not derive any biometric identifier from your voice.
If you grant the App permission to access your contacts, that access is used on your device to display names against incoming numbers. Your address book is not transmitted to or stored on our servers. You can revoke the permission at any time in your device settings, and the App will continue to work using numbers instead of names.
We use the information described in Section 2 only to:
We do not use your message content or call logs for advertising, and we do not sell them.
Some of the data we hold — including the numbers you call and are called by, and the time, date, duration, and type of your calls — is treated under United States law as Customer Proprietary Network Information, or CPNI, and is subject to Federal Communications Commission rules.
We protect CPNI as required by those rules. We do not use, disclose, or permit access to your CPNI for marketing purposes, and we do not sell it. We use CPNI only to provide the Service, to bill for it, to protect against fraud and unlawful use, and where disclosure is required or permitted by law. You may contact us at [email protected] with any question about how your CPNI is handled.
We share information only in these circumstances:
Recipients of your messages, and the people you call, obviously receive the content you send them. We cannot control what they do with it.
We do not sell your personal information, and we do not share it for cross-context behavioral advertising, as those terms are defined under the California Consumer Privacy Act and similar state laws. We have not done so in the preceding twelve (12) months, and we do not sell or share the personal information of any consumer, including anyone under sixteen (16) years of age.
Because we do not sell or share personal information and do not engage in targeted advertising, there is no sale or sharing for you to opt out of, and we are not required to process opt-out preference signals such as Global Privacy Control. We do not currently operate an opt-out mechanism on the Site. If we ever begin selling or sharing personal information, we will update this policy and provide the opt-out methods the law requires before doing so.
We may access, preserve, and disclose information when we reasonably believe it is necessary to: comply with a subpoena, warrant, court order, or other valid legal process; comply with applicable law or a request from a government or regulatory authority; enforce our Terms of Service; investigate suspected fraud, spam, or abuse; or protect the rights, property, or safety of Vovapy, our users, or the public, including in an emergency involving a risk of death or serious physical injury.
Where we are legally permitted and practicably able to do so, we will make reasonable efforts to notify you of a legal demand for your information before disclosing it. We cannot provide notice where a court order, statute, or the circumstances of an emergency prohibit or preclude it.
Requests from law enforcement should be sent to [email protected]. We require valid legal process and review each request for legal sufficiency.
We retain information only as long as we have a legitimate operational or legal need for it:
Deletion from our live systems does not immediately remove data from routine encrypted backups, which are overwritten on a regular cycle. We may also retain information for longer where necessary to comply with a legal obligation, telecommunications recordkeeping or tax requirement, litigation hold, or lawful preservation request, or to establish, exercise, or defend legal claims, or to prevent fraud and abuse. Aggregated or de-identified data may be retained indefinitely.
We use technical and organizational measures designed to protect information, including encryption of data in transit and at rest, access controls that limit staff access to what is needed to do their jobs, and monitoring for unauthorized access.
However, no method of transmission or storage is completely secure, and we cannot and do not guarantee the security of any information. You use the Service at your own risk, and you are responsible for the security of your device, including keeping its passcode and screen lock enabled, since anyone with access to your unlocked device can access your Numbers and messages.
Nothing in this section creates any warranty or contractual commitment beyond what applicable law requires. Please tell us immediately at [email protected] if you believe your data or device has been compromised.
If we determine that a security incident has compromised personal information or CPNI in a manner requiring notification, we will notify affected users and the relevant authorities — including, where applicable, the Federal Communications Commission, the United States Secret Service and Federal Bureau of Investigation, and state attorneys general — within the timeframes required by applicable law.
Deleting your data does not cancel your subscription, and cancelling your subscription does not immediately erase data already stored. See Section 10 for how long data is kept after a Number is reclaimed.
If you are a California resident, the California Consumer Privacy Act, as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act (“CCPA”), gives you the rights described below.
In the preceding twelve months, we have collected the following categories of personal information, from you and from your use of the Service:
| Category | Examples we collect | Purpose | Disclosed to |
|---|---|---|---|
| Identifiers | Your assigned Number, device or installation identifier, push token, IP address; your email address if you contact us | Provide and secure the Service; respond to you | Carriers, service providers |
| Commercial information | Subscription plan and status, transaction identifier from Apple or Google | Activate and maintain your subscription | Apple, Google, service providers |
| Internet or network activity | Device platform and OS version, app version, crash diagnostics, Site analytics data | Troubleshoot, secure, and improve the Service | Service providers, Google Analytics |
| Geolocation (coarse) | Approximate region inferred from IP address | Security, fraud prevention, number availability | Service providers |
| Electronic, visual, or similar information | Message content, MMS attachments, voicemail recordings | Deliver and display your communications to you | Carriers and aggregators (in transit) |
| Sensitive personal information | The contents of your messages and the numbers you call, which may be treated as the contents of communications and CPNI | Solely to deliver the Service you requested | Carriers, service providers |
We use sensitive personal information only for the purposes permitted under CCPA section 1798.121(a) — that is, to perform the Service you requested and for security and integrity purposes — and not to infer characteristics about you. As a result, we are not required to offer, and do not offer, a “Limit the Use of My Sensitive Personal Information” option. We do not sell or share personal information, as stated in Section 8.
Email [email protected] from the address you have used with us, or include the Number associated with your request. We will acknowledge your request within ten (10) business days and respond within forty-five (45) calendar days, extendable by another forty-five (45) days where reasonably necessary, and we will tell you if we need the extension.
Because SideNumber does not maintain a user profile, verification is inherently limited. We must be able to verify that you control the Number or account in question before we disclose or delete data, and we may ask you to confirm your request from within the App. If we cannot verify your identity to a reasonable degree of certainty, we may decline the request, and we will explain why. We will not disclose sensitive information such as message content in response to an unverified request.
An authorized agent may submit a request on your behalf with written permission signed by you, and we may still require you to verify your own identity directly.
California Civil Code section 1798.83 permits residents to request information about disclosure of personal information to third parties for their direct marketing purposes. We do not disclose personal information to third parties for their direct marketing purposes.
Residents of states with comprehensive privacy laws — including Virginia, Colorado, Connecticut, Utah, Texas, Oregon, Montana, Florida, Delaware, Iowa, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Maryland, Minnesota, Tennessee, Indiana, Kentucky, and Rhode Island — have comparable rights to confirm, access, correct, delete, and obtain a portable copy of their personal data, and to opt out of targeted advertising, sale, and certain profiling. As explained in Section 8, we do not engage in targeted advertising, sale, or profiling that produces legal or similarly significant effects.
Where your state’s law requires consent to process sensitive data, we process the contents of your communications solely to deliver the Service you have asked us to provide.
Appeals. If we decline your request, you may appeal by replying to our decision or writing to [email protected] with the subject line “Privacy Appeal.” We will respond in writing within forty-five (45) days with our decision and the reasons for it. If we deny the appeal, we will tell you how to contact your state attorney general to submit a complaint.
If you are in Canada, we handle your personal information in accordance with the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) and applicable provincial privacy legislation. You may request access to or correction of your personal information, or withdraw consent to processing that is not necessary to provide the Service, by contacting [email protected]. Withdrawing consent necessary to operate the Service will require us to close your Numbers. You may also complain to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.
The Service is intended only for adults aged 18 and over, and is not directed to children. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18. If we learn that we have collected personal information from a person under 18, we will delete it and terminate the associated Numbers. A parent or guardian who believes a minor has used the Service may contact [email protected].
The Service depends on and may link to third parties, including your mobile carrier, your internet service provider, underlying telecommunications carriers, Apple, Google, and the websites of others. Their handling of information is governed by their own privacy policies, not this one, and we are not responsible or liable for their practices. We encourage you to read them.
Anything you choose to send to another person through the Service leaves our control once it is delivered.
The Service is offered in the United States and Canada, and information is processed and stored on servers located in the United States. If you access the Service from elsewhere, you understand that your information will be transferred to and processed in the United States, where privacy laws may differ from those of your jurisdiction.
We may update this Privacy Policy as the Service evolves or as the law changes. We will post the revised policy here with an updated “Last Updated” date, and for material changes we will provide additional notice, such as an in-app or email notice, before the change takes effect. Your continued use of the Service after a revised policy is posted constitutes acceptance of it.
For privacy questions, requests, or complaints:
Vovapy Inc. — SideNumber Privacy Team
Privacy: [email protected]
General support: [email protected]
If you are not satisfied with our response, you may contact the Complaint Assistance Unit of the Division of Consumer Services of the California Department of Consumer Affairs at 1625 North Market Blvd., Suite N 112, Sacramento, CA 95834, or by telephone at (800) 952-5210, or your own state attorney general.