ZIQOOZIQOO한국어

Privacy Policy

Last Revised: October 6, 2026

ZIQOO (the "Service") is operated by the ZIQOO operator (the "Operator").

The Operator processes users' personal information in accordance with the Personal Information Protection Act of Korea and other applicable laws.

This Privacy Policy explains what information is processed, why it is processed, where and how it is stored, and the rights available to users.

1. Purposes of Processing

The Service processes personal information only to the extent necessary for the following purposes:

  • User identification, login, and account maintenance
  • Display of profiles and finding friends or chat contacts
  • Maps, My Places (home, workplace, and other familiar places),

Neighbor Review Range, and Neighborhood Area features

  • Creation and display of Neighbor Reviews and Visitor Reviews
  • Use of Neighborhood News, Neighborhood Groups, International News,

and International Groups

  • Delivery of messages and notifications for ZChat, including 1:1

Chats, Private Group Chats, and Public Channels

  • Use of the self-custodial Crypto Wallet and payment of ZIQOO Token

rewards

  • Error reports and stable operation of the Service
  • Prevention of duplicate use of invitation or referral codes

2. Categories of Personal Information Processed

2.1 Account and Profile Information

The Service processes account identifiers, email addresses where provided, nicknames, ZIQOO IDs, profile photos, cover photos, and profile descriptions provided through Google or Kakao login.

This information is used to identify members and display their profiles to other users.

2.2 Phone Numbers

Plaintext phone numbers are not stored on ZIQOO servers.

For friend discovery, only values produced by converting phone numbers through a one-way HMAC-SHA256 hash are stored on the server.

The plaintext phone number registered by the user is stored only in secure storage on that user's device.

When device contacts are accessed, the Service does not upload the plaintext address book to the server and uses only the hashes required for matching.

2.3 My Places

Addresses and coordinates for a user's home, workplace, and other familiar places are encrypted and stored on the user's device.

The keys used to decrypt this information are also kept in secure storage on the device.

ZIQOO servers do not store these addresses or coordinates, and the app does not send them to ZIQOO servers.

For Neighborhood features, the server stores only the user's 1 km grid-cell membership based on the user's home or workplace and the user's selected Neighborhood Radius.

During device migration, encrypted address data and keys may be stored in platform backup services such as Android Block Store or iCloud Keychain on iOS.

These backup services are not ZIQOO servers.

2.4 Current Location

The user's current location is processed through the device's location permission when the user uses features such as map display.

If location permission is denied, only features that require location access are restricted; other features of the Service remain available.

2.5 ZChat Messages

1:1 Chats are protected by end-to-end encryption (E2EE), while Private Group Chats use Messaging Layer Security (MLS).

Servers transmit and store encrypted messages and do not hold plaintext messages or decryption keys.

Attachments are also stored only in encrypted form.

Public Channels, Neighborhood News, Neighborhood Groups, International News, and International Groups are communities with many participants and are not covered by E2EE or MLS.

2.6 Crypto Wallet

The recovery phrase (mnemonic phrase) and private keys are managed only on the user's device.

The Operator does not store the recovery phrase, private keys, or unencrypted recovery data on ZIQOO servers and cannot recover assets on behalf of the user.

2.7 Device and Notification Information

The Service may process device tokens used for push notifications, device model information, and similar summary information used to distinguish devices.

Precise coordinates and IP addresses are not used for the device-list display.

2.8 Error Reports

Screenshots and descriptions submitted by users are processed for troubleshooting purposes.

Because error reports may contain conversation content or personal information, users should review them and avoid including unnecessary personal information or conversation content before submitting a report.

2.9 Review Information

When writing a review, recommended menu items, wait time at the time of visit (lunch, dinner, or other), and age group are optional.

A review can still be submitted without providing this information.

Only a broad age range, such as "20s," is stored rather than a date of birth, reducing identifiability.

Age-group information is used only for statistics and filter display shown to other users.

When a review is saved, the distance between a My Place and the business is not stored as an exact distance. The server keeps only an upper bound of a distance band: 500 m, 1 km, 2 km, 3 km, 5 km, and then in steps of 5 km.

2.10 Nationality and Spoken Language

To participate in the International Community, a user must select a nationality or spoken language.

This information is used to connect users within the same Neighborhood Area whose nationality or spoken language matches.

Nationality and spoken-language information is not displayed on the user's profile to other users.

However, users who participate in the same International News or International Group may infer that they share a nationality or spoken language because such a match is a condition of participation.

The Technical Paper likewise describes International News and International Groups as connecting users in the same Neighborhood Area based on matching nationality or at least one spoken language.

2.11 ZIQOO Token Reward Information

When ZIQOO Token rewards are enabled, the Service may process the reward-wallet address designated by the user, records of qualifying activities, and reward-payment records.

Wallet addresses and transaction records written to the blockchain are publicly available by the nature of the blockchain and cannot be arbitrarily deleted or modified by the Operator.

2.12 Business-Owner Information

The Service processes business and business-registration information submitted by a business owner, together with information required for verification, for the purpose of business-owner verification.

2.13 AI Emoji Generation

If a user chooses to use the AI Emoji feature, the photo selected by the user is transmitted to Google's image-generation AI service to generate the image.

This processing does not occur if the user does not use the AI Emoji feature.

3. Retention Period

Personal information is retained until the user's account is deleted or the purpose of processing has been fulfilled, unless applicable law requires a separate retention period.

Personal information processed on ZIQOO servers, including phone-number hashes and profile information, is deleted or no longer used for the relevant purpose when the user deletes that information or deletes the account, except where retention is required by applicable law or is otherwise necessary.

Addresses and coordinates for My Places stored on the device are deleted from the device when the user deletes them or clears the app's data.

The server's 1 km grid-cell membership information is updated when the user changes My Neighborhood and is deleted when the account is deleted.

Encrypted address data or keys stored in platform backup services such as Android Block Store or iCloud Keychain on iOS are retained according to the retention policies of those backup services.

To prevent a user from deleting an account, re-registering, and reusing an invitation or referral code, only the following information is retained for 180 days after account deletion and is then deleted:

  • an irreversible HMAC-SHA256 hash derived from the login account

identifier

  • the type of code
  • the date and time of use
  • an internal identifier

Plaintext information such as email addresses or nicknames is not retained for this purpose.

If a ZIQOO Token reward or transfer has been recorded on the blockchain, the relevant on-chain record may remain after account deletion due to the nature of the blockchain and cannot be arbitrarily deleted or modified by the Operator.

4. Disclosure to Third Parties

The Service does not provide personal information to third parties except where required by law or where the user has separately consented.

The Operator does not possess, and therefore does not provide to third parties, plaintext messages or decryption keys from 1:1 Chats or Private Group Chats, or users' wallet recovery phrases or private keys.

Information that is displayed to other users by the nature of a particular feature, including profile information and content in Public Channels, Neighborhood News, Neighborhood Groups, International News, and International Groups, may be displayed to other users within the scope of that feature.

5. Service Providers and Third-Party Services

The Service may use the following external services to provide its features:

  • Login: Google, Kakao
  • Cloud storage and authentication: Supabase
  • Maps: Kakao Maps
  • Push notifications: Firebase Cloud Messaging, Apple Push Notification

service

  • AI Emoji generation: Google image-generation AI; the photo selected

by the user is transmitted to the service

Each service processes information within the scope of providing the relevant feature.

6. User Rights

Users may request access to, correction or deletion of, or suspension of processing of their personal information.

To the extent supported by the app, users may directly change or delete information including their profile, phone number, My Places, nationality, and spoken language.

When an account is deleted, processing of related personal information will cease except where retention is required or permitted by applicable law or where information already recorded on a blockchain remains subject to the characteristics of that blockchain.

7. Deletion and Destruction

Personal information stored electronically is deleted in a manner that cannot be recovered or restored.

Hash values and other personal information are also deleted once the processing purpose has been fulfilled or the user's account has been deleted.

However, hashes retained to prevent duplicate use of invitation or referral codes are kept for 180 days after account deletion and then deleted.

Information subject to legally required retention periods and information already recorded on a blockchain are subject to the applicable legal requirements and technical characteristics.

8. Security Measures

The Service applies measures including:

  • Data minimization
  • One-way hashing of phone numbers
  • On-device encrypted storage of My Place addresses and coordinates;

addresses and coordinates are not stored on ZIQOO servers

  • End-to-end encryption (E2EE) for 1:1 Chats
  • MLS encryption for Private Group Chats
  • On-device management of wallet recovery phrases and private keys
  • Access controls designed so users can access only their own data
  • Prohibition on logging plaintext personal information

9. Children Under 14

The Service does not collect personal information from children under 14 years of age without the consent of a legal representative.

When the Service is provided in a country or region outside the Republic of Korea, applicable privacy requirements for children and minors in that country or region may apply.

10. Privacy Inquiries

Questions regarding the processing of personal information may be submitted through Settings in the app.

The Operator will respond without undue delay and take appropriate action to the extent required by applicable law.

11. Changes and Language

If this Privacy Policy is changed, the revision date will be displayed under Settings > Guides and policies > Privacy policy.

Material changes will be announced within the app.

The original language of this Privacy Policy is Korean.

If the English or another translated version differs from the Korean version, the Korean version will control, except where mandatory applicable law requires otherwise.