There are three basic categories of information we collect:
Information we get when you use our services.
Information we get from third parties.
Here’s a little more detail on each of these categories.
Information You Provide
When you interact with our services, we collect information that you provide to us. For example, many of our services require you to set up an account, so we'll need to collect a few important details about you, such as your name, username, password, email address, phone number and date of birth. We may also ask you to provide us with some additional information that will be publicly visible on our services, such as a profile picture or Bitmoji avatar. And if you're using our commerce products to buy something, like those latest sneakers, we may ask for your payment information, like a debit or credit card number and associated account information.
Of course, you'll also provide us with whatever information you send through our services, such as Snaps and Chats, conversations with My AI, Spotlight submissions, Public Profile information, Memories and more. Keep in mind that the users who view your Snaps, Chats and any other content can always save that content or copy it outside the app. So, the same common sense that applies to the internet at large applies to our services as well: don't send messages or share content that you wouldn't want someone to save or share.
When you contact Support or communicate with us in any other way, we'll collect whatever information you volunteer or that we need to resolve your question.
Information We Get When You Use Our Services
When you use our services, we collect information about which of those services you’ve used and how you’ve used them. We might know, for instance, that you watched a particular Story, watched cat videos on Spotlight, saw a specific ad for a certain period of time, explored the Snap Map and sent a few Snaps. Here’s a fuller explanation of the types of information we collect when you use our services:
Usage Information. We collect information about your activity through our services. For example, we may collect information about:
how you interact with our services, such as which Filters or Lenses you view or apply to Snaps, which Stories you watch, whether you're using Spectacles, your interactions with My AI, or which search queries you submit.
how you communicate with other Snapchatters, such as their names, the time and date of your communications, the number of messages you exchange with your friends, which friends you exchange messages with the most, and your interactions with messages (such as when you open a message, or we detect that you capture a screenshot).
Content Information. When you use our services, you may engage with the camera or creative tools, and create and share various types of content including Stories, Snaps and more. We collect information about content you create or provide on our services, and your engagement with the camera and creative tools. For certain content, this may include information based on the content of the image, video and audio. For example, if you post a Spotlight Snap of you playing basketball, we may show you other Spotlight Snaps about basketball. We may also collect other information about the content, including metadata - which is information about the content itself like the date and time it was posted and who viewed it.
Device Information. We collect information from and about the devices you use. For example, we may collect:
information about your hardware and software, such as the hardware model, operating system version, device memory, advertising identifiers, unique application identifiers, apps installed, unique device identifiers, device usage data, browser type, keyboards installed, language, battery level and time zone;
information from device sensors, such as accelerometers, gyroscopes, compasses, microphones, and whether you have headphones connected; and
information about your wireless and mobile network connections, such as mobile phone number, service provider, IP address and signal strength.
Device Phonebook. Because our services are all about communicating with friends, we may - with your permission - collect information from your device's phonebook, such as your contacts and related information.
Camera, Photos and Audio. Many of our services require us to collect images and other information from your device's camera, photos and microphone. For example, you won’t be able to send Snaps or upload photos from your camera roll unless we can access your camera or photos.
Location Information. When you use our services, we may collect information about your location. With your permission, we may also collect information about your precise location that includes methods such as GPS signals.
Information Collected by Cookies and Other Technologies. Like most online services and mobile applications, we may use cookies and other technologies such as web beacons, web storage and unique advertising identifiers to collect information about your activity, browser and device. We may also use these technologies to collect information when you interact with services we offer through one of our partners, such as advertising and commerce features. For example, we may use information collected on other websites to show you more relevant advertisements. Most web browsers are set to accept cookies by default. If you prefer, you can usually remove or reject browser cookies through the settings on your browser or device. Keep in mind though, that removing or rejecting cookies could affect the availability and functionality of our services. To learn more about how we and our partners use cookies on our services and your choices, please check out our Cookie Policy.
Log Information. We may also collect log information when you use our website, such as:
details about how you’ve used our services;
device information, such as your web browser type and language;
identifiers associated with cookies or other technologies that may uniquely identify your device or browser; and
pages you visited before or after navigating to our website.
Other information, with your permission. There may be instances when you interact with our services that we will ask your permission to collect additional information. For example, if you want to participate in our Made For Me Panel or live in a jurisdiction where certain data is considered sensitive we will ask your permission and give you a heads-up on what data, including sensitive data, if any, we're collecting.
Information we collect from third parties
We may collect information about you from other users, our affiliates, and third parties. Here are a few examples:
If you link your Snapchat account to another service (like Bitmoji or a third-party app), we may receive information from the other service, like how you use that service.
We may obtain information from advertisers, app developers, publishers and other third-parties. We may use this information, among other ways, to help target or measure the performance of adverts. You can learn more about our use of this kind of third-party data on our Support Site.
If another user uploads their contact list, we may combine information about you that user's contact list with other information we have collected about you.
If you provide us with your contact information, we may use that information and information obtained from third-parties to determine if we can communicate with you on other messaging platforms.
We may receive information from third-parties, including website publishers, social network providers, law enforcement and others about potential violators of our Terms of Service and Community Guidelines.