Privacy Policy

1. Who this covers

This policy explains how Faros collects, uses, and shares information when you use the Faros iOS app and faros.cc (the "Service"). It applies to visitors, people who join our waitlist or email list, and app users.

Faros helps people explore careers by organizing short-form video content from real practitioners into three stages (Explore, Prepare, and Arrive) and, where relevant, directing you to external resources such as job listings or training programs.

2. Information we collect

a. Information you give us

• Email address: when you join the waitlist, sign up, or contact us.
• Account and profile information: your name, username, password, birthday, and, if you choose to add them, a profile photo, job title, bio, links, location (which you can hide), salary, and career interests. During onboarding you can also tell us where you are in your career, for example just looking around or applying for jobs; we use this to open career pages on the step that fits you. If you sign in with Apple or Google, we receive your name and email address from that provider.
• Content you post: videos, photos, captions, topics, comments, and any location you choose to add to a post. Content you make public can be seen by other users.
• Anything else you send us, such as messages to support, reports about other users or content, and survey or research responses.

b. Information we collect automatically

• Usage and interaction data: detailed information about how you use the Service, recorded as an activity history associated with your account over time. This includes the videos you view and how much of each you watch (for example, completion percentage or the point at which you stop); items you save; taps and clicks (external links, calls to action, and navigation between stages); which career pages and stages (Explore, Prepare, Start) you view; your movement between stages; and repeat or return visits. We use this to understand how the Service is used and to operate and improve it.
• Device and technical data: IP address, device and app identifiers, device type, OS version, and app performance and diagnostic data.
• Location you choose to share: the city or area you add to your profile, which you can hide from others, and any place name you type when you add a location to a post. We use your profile location to show you relevant content, such as nearby jobs or training programs. The app does not use your device's location, and we do not track your location.
• Attribution data: how you arrived at the Service (for example, campaign or UTM parameters), used to understand which channels bring people to Faros.
• Outbound-click data: which external-partner links you click, plus an identifier we attach to the click so the partner can recognize the visit came from Faros.

If you use the Service before creating an account, we may associate that earlier activity with your account once you sign up, so your history is continuous.

c. Information we receive from partners

• When we refer you to an external partner (such as a job board or training program) and you take an action there, for example signing up or becoming a qualified lead, the partner may tell us the referral converted. We use this to measure whether our referrals work and to receive referral fees.

We do not collect precise, GPS-level location, and we do not knowingly collect biometric or financial-account information.

3. How we use information

• Operate, maintain, and improve the Service, including showing your profile and posts to other users.
• Show you content that matches the career interests you choose. You can change your interests at any time in your profile.
• Personalize your experience. We use the interests you choose and your activity in the app (such as which posts you watch and for how long, which you scroll past, like, save, comment on or share, whom you follow, and what you search for) to order the posts in your feed and to suggest careers and interests.
• Communicate with you (product updates, waitlist and onboarding messages, and responses to your requests). If we send text messages, we do so only after you consent, and you can opt out at any time by replying STOP.
• Measure engagement and the performance of features and marketing channels.
• Route you, at your request, to external partners (such as job boards or training programs) and track whether those referrals result in a sign-up or qualified lead, which is how Faros earns revenue.
• Protect the Service, review reports, enforce our Terms of Service, and comply with law.

4. How we share information

We do not sell your personal information in the ordinary sense, but some of the ways we share information may be considered a "sale" or "share" under California law. We share personal information as follows:

• Other users: your profile and the content you make public can be seen by other users of the Service.
• Service providers ("subprocessors") who work on our behalf, for example app and website hosting, analytics, attribution, email delivery, SMS delivery, and Apple. They are bound by contract to use the data only to provide services to us. This is not a sale or share.
• Referral and affiliate partners: when you click an external link, we pass a referral identifier so the partner can attribute your visit and any resulting enrollment. Because this discloses an identifier tied to you in connection with compensation to us, it may qualify as a "sale" under California law.
• Legal and safety: when we believe in good faith that disclosure is needed to comply with law, respond to legal process, or protect the rights, property, or safety of Faros, our users, or others. This is not a sale or share.
• Business transfers: in connection with a merger, acquisition, financing, or sale of assets, subject to this policy. This is not a sale or share.

Categories we "sell" or "share": online identifiers and usage and interaction data associated with referral clicks.

Categories of recipients: training and affiliate partners.

Your right to opt out: email support@faros.cc with the subject "Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information", or turn on Global Privacy Control (GPC) in your browser when you visit faros.cc, which we honor automatically. We do not sell or share the personal information of users we know to be under 16.

5. Your choices and rights

Everyone

• Update your profile information at any time in the app.
• Unsubscribe from emails using the link in any email.
• Reply STOP to opt out of any text messages.
• Request access to, correction of, or deletion of your data, including deletion of your account, by emailing support@faros.cc. You can also delete your account yourself in the app, under Edit profile → Delete Account.

United States residents

You have the right to know and access the personal information we collect and how it is used; to delete it; to correct it; to opt out of any "sale" or "sharing"; to limit the use of sensitive personal information; and not to be discriminated against for exercising these rights. Submit requests to support@faros.cc. We verify your identity before responding and reply within the timeframes the law requires. We honor Global Privacy Control (GPC) opt-out signals.

Personalized feed

Faros uses the interests you choose and your activity in the app to order the posts in your feed and to suggest careers and interests. It does not use this to make decisions that have legal or similarly significant effects on you. You can change your interests at any time on your profile.

6. Data retention

We keep personal information only as long as we need it for the purposes described above, then delete it or convert it to a non-identifiable form. In general:

• Waitlist and marketing emails: until you ask us to remove your email address.
• Account and profile information and content you post: for as long as your account is active, and deleted within 90 days after you delete your account. Copies in routine backups are overwritten on our normal backup cycle.
• Usage and interaction data: kept while your account is active, and deleted when you delete your account.
• Referral and attribution data (UTM parameters, outbound clicks, conversion signals): for as long as we need it to understand which channels and partners bring people to Faros. Records of website visits and clicks are not linked to your account and hold a shortened, hashed form of your IP address instead of the address itself.
• Technical and diagnostic logs: for as long as we need them to run, troubleshoot, and secure the Service.
• Support messages: for as long as we need them to handle your request and keep a record of it, or until you ask us to delete them.
• Records of privacy requests: at least 24 months, as required by law.

Where a longer period is required by law (for example, tax or accounting rules), we keep the information as long as required.

7. Security

We use reasonable technical and organizational measures to protect personal information, including encryption in transit and at rest and access controls. No method of transmission or storage is fully secure.

8. Age

The Service is intended for people 16 and older. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 16. Under-16 data is treated as sensitive personal information; if we learn we've collected it, we delete it.

9. International users

Faros is operated from the United States, and your information will be processed in the United States and in other locations where our service providers operate.

10. Changes

We'll update this policy as our practices change and revise the effective date. Material changes will be communicated in the app.

11. Contact

For questions about this policy or to exercise your privacy rights, contact:

Faros, Inc.

Contact: Romy Simpson

Email: support@faros.cc