Socket Mobile Privacy Policy

Socket Mobile respects your privacy and is committed to its protection.  In this Socket Mobile Privacy Policy, we want to provide you with information about us, the nature, scope and purposes of the data collection and use, trying to offer you an insight into the processing of your personal data. We reserve the right to update this policy at any time and invite you to regularly visit this policy.

Personal information is any information related to a person that can be used to identify him/her directly or indirectly.  Such information includes name, photo, an email address, personal address, device Bluetooth address, bank or credit card details, or online identifiers such as a cookie ID or IP address.

Our Website - We’ve structured our website so that without identifying yourself or revealing any personal information you can visit the Socket Mobile at www.socketmobile.com and our affiliated web-based Socket Stores, except for some optional sections that require registration and/or login.

  • When you visit our internet website, we collect the data transmitted to our server by your browser.
  • During your visit, only data that are technically necessary will be collected.
  • Processing is carried out in the legitimate interest of improving the site’s stability and features. 
  • The data will not under any circumstances be transmitted or used for any other purpose.
  • We may use cookies to collect website usage data.  We place cookies on selected website pages to help us analyze website usage.  We do not use cookies to collect personal information.

There are some optional sections within our website that may require you to login and/or register by providing personal information in order to gain access.  When we collect your personal information:

  • We only request the minimum personal information needed to support your relationship with us.
  • When you provide personal information to us, you are consenting to the collection of personal information but you have the right to withdraw your consent or restrict the use or processing of your personal information pursuant to this policy.
  • We do not sell, rent, or lease your personal information to other organizations or companies.
  • We do not provide your personal information to others except to selected third-party processors who assist us in fulfilling your requests, such as shipping of product or processing of payment, and who are committed to protecting your personal information.
  • We will share personal information outside of Socket Mobile if we have a good-faith belief that access, use, preservation, or disclosure of the information is reasonably necessary to:
    • Meet any applicable law, regulation, legal process, or enforceable governmental request;
    • Enforce applicable Terms of Use, including investigation of potential violations.
    • Detect, prevent, or otherwise address fraud, security, or technical issues.
    • Protect against harm to the rights, property or safety of Socket Mobile, our users, or the public as required or permitted by law; and
    • To investigate and respond to complaints/disputes.
  • We may share non-personally identifiable information publicly and with our partners such as publishers, advertisers, developers, or rights holders.  For example, we share information publicly to show trends about the general use of our services.  We also allow specific partners to collect information from your browser or device for advertising and measurement purposes using their own cookies or similar technologies. 

Examples of personal information we collect are as follows:

  • When you order products from our web store, we collect legally necessary data to process the payment and fulfill the order.  We may be required to collect your name, company, address, and email to generate and send you a bill.  We request your shipping information, so we know where to ship the products and we request credit card or PayPal information from you for payment for the products you’ve ordered.
  • When you receive products from us as a customer, you are directed to a Companion Application downloaded from your platform App store to assist in starting up and using the product.  The Companion Application also requests that you provide information on where you purchased the product and the application used with the product. We retrieve the Bluetooth MAC address from the product to validate the product warranty.
  • When you return products to us for replacement or repair, we request shipping information, so we know where to return the replaced or repaired products.  If the replacement or repair is not covered under warranty, we request credit card information from you for the purpose of payment.
  • As part of our customer service, we collect data that you voluntarily wish to provide us via online forms or email.  These data are processed, based on your consent, exclusively to respond to your request for information.
  • When you sign up for newsletters or other information that we distribute by email, we request contact information including name, address, or email address, so we know where to send the requested information.
  • When you register as a developer to use our software developer kit with your software applications, we request contact information including name, address, email address and phone number so we know where to send the requested and future developer related information.  We request credit card or other financial information to enable you to pay a small initial administrative fee.  We may also ask for additional information about your areas of interest as a developer including the markets you are addressing with your applications to enable us to be responsive to your needs as a developer.
  • We collect personal information in surveys.  These data are anonymized and only collected for internal statistics about our  apps, software, and products.
  • We may collect personal information at trade shows for follow up after completion of the show.
  • We maintain contact information from our vendors who supply us with inventory components or services.
  • We obtain names and addresses of non-objecting shareholders from time to time to assist us in identifying and communicating with our shareholders.
  • 30 days after purchasing from our webstore, we contact all customers to confirm that the customer is satisfied with the performance of their Socket Mobile product, and include details of how to contact us for assistance. During this contact we invite the customer to complete a voluntary registration process and to provide feedback via a short survey.

Personal information about children under the age of 16 requires parental consent. We do not knowingly collect information from children under the age of 16 and we do not target our website to children under 16.

Third party processors - We employ the services of third-party companies and/or individuals to:

  • facilitate or provide our service to you on your behalf; and
  • assist us in the collection of personal information or analysis for internal statistics about our apps, software, and products.

These third parties may have access to your personal information or may collect your personal information in order to perform the tasks assigned to them on our behalf.  However, they are obligated not to disclose or use the information for any other purposes, subject to provisions listed in their own Privacy Policies.  For example, we may engage third parties for processing certain transactions such as fulfilling your orders for products that are ordered through our web stores or processing your credit card if a payment for product purchases or services is required. We transfer personal information to third party processors sufficient to carry out the service provided by the processor such as fulfillment of your order.  We confirm with each third-party processor that they maintain confidentiality of your personal information and provide at least the same level of protection of your personal information as we do.

Processing personal information -  You consent to our collection, use, and process of your personal information when you provide us with your personal information.  We use and process your personal information to accomplish a stated purpose such as supplying a product or providing a service that requires the use of personal information, or to fulfill a contractual obligation.  In each case, we request consent to be freely given, to be specific to accomplishing a specified task, to be informed by describing the limited use of the personal information, and to be unambiguous as relating to a specific task.

Transactional and Marketing Correspondence - Personal information collected, as described above, may be used to communicate with you when the purpose is transactional or relationship based. This includes, but is not limited to store order updates, communications linked to product registrations and feedback surveys, Developer community sign up, MFi submission updates, Technical Support case and RMA notifications. We will only send commercial and marketing emails to you if you have opted in to this. All commercial and marketing emails include an option to unsubscribe should your preferences change.

Types of Cookies We Use:

Essential Cookies - Essential cookies enable core functionality such as page navigation and access to secure areas. The website cannot function properly without these cookies; they can only be disabled by changing your browser preferences.

Performance Cookies - Performance cookies help us to improve our website by collecting and reporting information on its usage (for example, which of our pages are most frequently visited).

Your Rights

Your rights include:

  • to consent to the processing of your data and to withdraw your consent at any time. The withdrawal of consent will not affect the lawfulness of processing based on consent before its withdrawal;
  • to access your data, particularly to check that they are accurate and exhaustive. Upon your request, by filling out our Personal Information Request Form, we will provide you with a copy of your personal data in electronic format at no charge;
  • to have your data rectified or erased. Upon your request, we will anonymize any personal information you’ve provided to us (right to be forgotten) but will retain non-personal information. We may delay anonymization of personal information while a related transaction you authorized with the personal information is pending;
  • to the portability of the data;
  • to object to or request a restriction of the processing of your data; and
  • to give specific instructions concerning the processing of your data following your death.

You can assert these rights by filling out our Personal Information Request Form.

Apps and Software Downloads

We do not collect any information when you download or use our Apps.

When you download software or other information from our website we may collect basic information about your country, the date/time or your IP address.  Those data are anonymized and only collected for internal statistics about our apps/software.

Location Data for Socket Mobile Apps

Some of our mobile apps may have the capability of accessing your location data for their operation.  Socket Mobile is not accessing, collecting, or using your location data when you run this app. However, you still must give authorization for us to access your device's location because the Android platform requires that you provide authorization.  Our app will be disabled if you deny permission.

In the future, should any of our app enable access to your location data, we will ask for your permission, before accessing, collecting or using your precise or approximate location with information that may include your IP address and technologies such as GPS, wireless networks, cell towers, Wi-Fi access points, and other sensors.

We will only access, collect and use your location data when the our app requires those data to be used by you.

We will not store your location data after you have stop using our app.

We will never share your location data with any third parties.

Our apps and software may contain third-party links that redirect you to other apps, software, or websites.  As these external services are not operated by us, so we strongly advise you to review the Privacy Policy of these third-party.  Note that we have no control over and assume no responsibility for the content, privacy policies, or practices of any third-party apps, software, websites, or services.   Your access to and use of the apps or software may be subject to certain third-party terms and conditions and privacy policies.  You recognize and agree that Socket Mobile is not liable for any such third-party terms and conditions and any third party’s use of your personal data.

CaptureSDK and User Data

If your app integrates Socket Mobile's CaptureSDK, depending on the platform and the implementation, your end user might need to grant Bluetooth permission, Nearby devices, or other Bluetooth/Bluetooth LE related permissions to access Socket Mobile devices. Socket Mobile does not collect or store any user information and device information through the SDK.

Data Safety

To protect your personal information:

  • We do not store personal information for longer than is necessary in order to achieve the purposes for which they were collected.  To determine the appropriate storage period, we shall consider the quantity, nature and sensitivity of data and the purposes for which we process;
  • We delete or anonymize your personal information in accordance with applicable laws;
  • We remind you that the collection of your personal information is used exclusively for the successful delivery of our services and therefore to optimize the experience;
  • We protect our systems and data from unauthorized access, accidental or unlawful processing,  loss, destruction, damage, theft, alteration, or disclosure of personal information through a combination of firewalls, security monitoring systems, data encryption and access controls.

Date Breach - Should we become aware of an unauthorized breach of personal information, we shall identify the affected data records and, make notifications under applicable law.  For example, should a data breach occur and affected parties are within the European Union, when feasible, Socket Mobile will notify the supervisory authority of the affected parties within 72 hours of detection.  Our third-party processors are required to notify us in the event they detect unauthorized access to your personal information.

Contact Information - We value your comments and opinion, if you have questions or comments about our Privacy policy or if you want to exercise your rights under this policy,  please contact us by filling out our Personal Information Request Form or changing your authorization relating to your location data.