Last updated August 2026
How to Read This Notice
This Privacy Notice describes how Hot Files ("Hot Files," "we," "us," or "our") collects, uses, discloses, and otherwise handles personal data. "Personal Data" here means information that identifies someone, or that can reasonably be linked—directly or indirectly—to a particular person, plus equivalent ideas under applicable law such as "personal information" and "personally identifiable information." Data that does not identify anyone by itself can still count as Personal Data if it is combined with other Personal Data and stays linked, or can reasonably be linked, to a specific individual. Please read this Notice before you download, install, access, or use the Product.
This Notice is meant to explain clearly what information we handle, why we handle it, how it may be used or shared, what protections we apply, and what choices and rights you may have regarding that processing.
It covers Personal Data we process in connection with Hot Files and the website used to offer Hot Files, including when you download, install, activate, access, or use those offerings (together, the "Product"). Unless context requires otherwise, "you" and "your" mean the individual using the Product and, where relevant, the company, business, or other organization that person represents.
Any Personal Data you give us, or that we otherwise process for the Product, is handled in our systems under this Notice. We do not share Personal Data with outsiders except as this Notice describes or as applicable law requires. You are not legally required to give us Personal Data. Still, if certain details are missing, parts of the Product may not work correctly, and we may be unable to answer specific questions or requests. By downloading, installing, accessing, or using the Product, you acknowledge and agree that we may collect, use, disclose, and keep Personal Data as this Notice describes. If you disagree with these practices, do not download, install, access, or use the Product.
Under applicable privacy and data protection laws, we decide why and how Personal Data processed through the Product is handled. That means we act as the "data controller," or the matching role under the law that applies.
For questions about this Notice, our Personal Data practices, or the Product, email [email protected].
Extra Disclosures for Residents of Certain U.S. States
If you live in certain U.S. states, also read the U.S. State Residents Annex below. That annex adds disclosures and may describe privacy rights you have under state law. For CCPA purposes, the annex also serves as a Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice.
Children Under 16
The Product is not meant for children under 16, and we do not knowingly collect or process Personal Data from children. If we learn that a child gave us Personal Data, we will take reasonable steps to delete it promptly. If you think Personal Data about a child was shared with us, contact us right away.
Updates to This Notice
We may revise this Notice from time to time to reflect Product changes, shifts in our data practices, or changes in applicable law. A revised version will be posted on our website and, unless we say otherwise, takes effect when posted. Check this Notice periodically so you know the current version.
What We Process and Why
We may collect or otherwise process Personal Data when you download, install, activate, access, or use the Product, and when you contact us or otherwise deal with us about the Product.
The Product is not designed to collect or process Sensitive Data and, to our knowledge, does not. "Sensitive Data" means information treated as sensitive under applicable law, including ideas such as special category data, sensitive personal information, or highly sensitive information. Do not send, transmit, upload, or otherwise supply Sensitive Data through the Product. Depending on the law, Sensitive Data may cover racial or ethnic origin, religious or philosophical beliefs, sexual orientation, health information, and certain financial information.
Which Personal Data and Non-Personal Data we process depends on how you use the Product. The categories below outline the kinds of data that may be involved, why we process them, and, where relevant, the legal bases we rely on. We may also process Personal Data when needed to detect, investigate, prevent, or respond to fraud, misuse, infringement, identity theft, security incidents, unlawful or unauthorized conduct, or breaches of our terms for Product access; to protect the Product and our systems; and to establish, exercise, or defend legal claims or otherwise manage legal risk. Where applicable, we rely on our legitimate interests for these activities.
Depending on Product use, the Personal Data categories we may process include:
Messages to Us and Our Staff. If you contact us for help or otherwise reach out about the Product, we may process your contact details, the content of your request or message, and any other information you choose to include. We use that information to communicate with you, answer your inquiry, provide support, and keep records of support interactions. We may also retain those records for later reference, training, and support quality. Where support is part of the Product, we rely on performing our contract with you. Otherwise, we rely on our legitimate interests in keeping support records and improving support operations.
How the Product Runs and Diagnostic Information. We may process Personal Data about how the Product operates and how you use it, whether we collect it ourselves or through service providers acting for us. This can include features you use, timestamps, session length, clickstream data, technical events, and logs or records tied to errors, debugging, or troubleshooting. We use this information to monitor and assess performance, support development, find and fix issues, improve the Product, and maintain security, based on our legitimate interests in running, supporting, and improving the Product.
Materials You Submit. Content you submit is not kept on our servers and is not uploaded to our systems for storage. After the requested processing finishes and the output is produced, that output is returned to you and stays stored locally on your device. Where allowed, materials you submit may include Personal Data about people other than you, such as names or descriptions of others (each, a "Non-User"). Do not provide Personal Data about someone else unless you have authority to do so and have any consent required for that disclosure. To the extent the Product processes Personal Data inside submitted materials, we rely on our legitimate interests in offering the Product and keeping it functional for users.
Device and Online Identifiers. We may process technical identifiers tied to your device or your Product use, including your Internet Protocol (IP) address, device identifiers, browser-related identifiers, Google advertising ID (GAID), and similar identifiers. When these identifiers are used to run the Product, keep it working, maintain security, or prevent fraud, we rely on our legitimate interests. When they are used for marketing, targeted advertising, or tracking-related activities, we rely on your consent, as described elsewhere in this Notice.
We use Personal Data and related information for various business, operational, and compliance purposes, including:
Running, Evaluating, and Improving the Product. We use information to operate, support, maintain, evaluate, and improve the Product and its features. That can include reviewing performance, fixing technical problems, assessing usability and compatibility, understanding the user experience, and building updates, enhancements, or new capabilities that fit our business and operational needs.
Providing the Product. We process information as needed to deliver the Product and support its available features and functions.
Securing the Product and Addressing Abuse. We may use information to help protect the security, reliability, and integrity of the Product, our systems, and our users. That includes detecting, investigating, and helping prevent fraud, misuse, unauthorized conduct, and other behavior that may breach our terms or break applicable law, and taking protective steps for our services and technical environment.
Marketing, Personalization, and Related Communications. We may use Personal Data for marketing, advertising, personalization, and similar outreach, including to make content, messages, and ads more relevant to your interests and Product use.
Your Rights and Choices About Personal Data
Depending on the law that applies to you, you may have certain rights regarding the Personal Data we process about you. Where the law requires it, we will honor those rights.
Right of Access. You may ask us to confirm whether we process Personal Data about you and, where applicable, request access to that Personal Data or a copy of it.
Right to Ask for Deletion. In some situations, you may ask us to delete particular Personal Data about you that we hold.
Rights to Correction, Erasure, and Restriction. You may have the right to ask us to fix Personal Data that is wrong or incomplete, delete Personal Data in situations the law recognizes, or limit our processing of Personal Data where that right exists.
Rights to Portability and Objection. Where applicable law grants these rights, you may object to certain processing of your Personal Data and ask us to provide your Personal Data in a portable form, or send it to another recipient where technically feasible.
Other Rights That May Apply. Depending on the law governing the processing, you may also have the right to appeal and to file a complaint with the relevant supervisory or regulatory authority.
To exercise these rights, or if you have data protection questions, contact us at [email protected]. If you live in certain U.S. states, also review the U.S. State Residents Annex below for extra disclosures and rights that may apply to you.
When Personal Data May Be Shared and Moved Across Borders
We disclose Personal Data processed for the Product only in limited situations, including where this Notice contemplates disclosure, where disclosure is reasonably needed for our operations, or where applicable law requires or allows it.
Sharing with Service Providers, Affiliates, and Business Partners. We may give Personal Data to our affiliates, subsidiaries, vendors, advertising partners, and other third parties that help us operate, administer, maintain, promote, support, or improve the Product.
Sharing Tied to Corporate Transactions. Personal Data may be shared, transferred, or otherwise made available as part of, or in preparation for, a merger, acquisition, financing, investment, restructuring, asset transfer, consolidation, or another major business deal or organizational change involving our business.
Sharing for Legal, Compliance, and Safety Reasons. We may disclose Personal Data if we believe disclosure is necessary or appropriate to comply with applicable law, legal process, subpoenas, warrants, court orders, or other binding requests from governmental, regulatory, or judicial authorities, or where disclosure is needed to investigate, prevent, or respond to unlawful activity, Product misuse, security incidents, or risks to anyone's rights, property, or safety.
Sharing with Analytics and Measurement Partners. We may share information with analytics providers and similar partners that help us understand Product usage, evaluate performance, measure effectiveness, and produce aggregated reporting, analytics, and metrics.
Cross-Border Processing and Transfers
Personal Data may be processed, accessed, or disclosed across national borders and may be handled in countries other than yours, including, where relevant, outside the EEA. When Personal Data moves internationally, we take steps meant to ensure recipients have privacy and security commitments consistent with this Notice and applicable law. Where required, we use appropriate safeguards for cross-border transfers, including contractual protections and other recognized legal transfer tools, to help protect Personal Data processed abroad.
How We Protect Personal Data
We maintain reasonable measures designed to protect the Personal Data we process for the Product and to support the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of our systems and services.
In designing and applying those measures, we consider the nature and sensitivity of the information. We use generally accepted technical, administrative, and organizational safeguards meant to lower the risk of unauthorized access, misuse, loss, alteration, or disclosure.
Our security approach includes technical, administrative, and operational controls intended to help protect information assets. Still, no transmission method, storage system, or security control can be promised to be fully secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security.
Cookies, SDKs, and Similar Tools
When you access or use the Product, we may use cookies and similar technologies, including software development kits ("SDKs"). Depending on the interface, these tools may be stored on your device, run through your device, or otherwise interact with your device when you browse, access, or use the Product. In short, cookies are small text files often used on the web, while SDKs are tools used in apps that can play similar roles.
We use these technologies to help the Product work effectively and efficiently, including to support navigation, enable certain functions automatically, remember preferences and settings, and make your interactions with our services smoother and more responsive.
How Long We Keep Personal Data
Unless this Notice says otherwise, we keep Personal Data only as long as reasonably needed for the purposes for which it was collected, and after that only as applicable law allows or requires. We may keep Personal Data longer when needed to meet legal, regulatory, tax, or accounting duties, keep suitable business records, resolve disputes or complaints, or establish, exercise, or defend legal claims.
Subject to applicable law, you may in some cases have the right to ask that your Personal Data be deleted. At the same time, unless a legal duty or a specific agreement requires otherwise, we are not required to keep Personal Data for a fixed period and may securely delete it, anonymize it, or limit access to it once it is no longer needed for legitimate business purposes.
How to Reach Us
To contact us about this Notice, our privacy practices, or the Product—including questions, concerns, or requests—email [email protected].
Supplemental Terms for Residents of Certain U.S. States
This section adds to the rest of this Notice and should be read with it. It applies to residents of certain U.S. states and gives extra information about our collection, use, disclosure, and other processing of Personal Data when state privacy laws require more disclosures.
Privacy laws in certain U.S. states may give residents specific rights over Personal Data processed in an individual or household context. Those rights generally do not apply when the person is acting in a commercial or business capacity, in an employment-related context, as a job applicant, as a beneficiary of someone acting in an employment-related context, or as a representative of a business, to the extent those roles fall outside the applicable law.
Personal Data. Under applicable U.S. state privacy laws, "Personal Data" generally means information linked, or reasonably linkable, to an identified or identifiable individual. It generally excludes lawfully obtained publicly available information, deidentified information, aggregated information, or other data categories the applicable state law leaves out.
Sensitive Data. For applicable U.S. state privacy laws, "Sensitive Data" may include Personal Data revealing racial, ethnic, or national origin; religious beliefs; information about an individual's medical history or mental or physical health condition, diagnosis, or treatment; neural data; transgender or non-binary status; sex life or sexual orientation; status as a crime victim; citizenship or immigration status; genetic or biometric information; Personal Data collected from a known child; and precise geolocation data.
Some U.S. state privacy laws require consumers to receive a notice covering, among other things, the categories of Personal Data processed, the purposes for that processing, the categories of third parties that receive Personal Data, whether any categories of Personal Data are sold or used for targeted advertising, the categories of third parties involved in those activities, the rights consumers have, how to exercise and appeal those rights, and how consumers may contact us. This Notice, plus the supplemental information below, is meant to provide those disclosures.
Additional Rights Under State Privacy Laws
Besides the rights in "Your Rights and Choices About Personal Data," residents of certain U.S. states may have further rights under applicable privacy laws, subject to the conditions, limits, and exclusions in those laws. Those rights may include the following:
You may have the right to confirm whether we process your Personal Data and to get access to that information in a portable, readily usable format where technically feasible.
You may also have the right to request correction of inaccurate Personal Data, deletion of Personal Data you gave us or that we collected about you, and, in some cases, a list naming the specific third parties to which we disclosed Personal Data about you or any Personal Data.
Where applicable law grants this right, you may opt out of certain processing, including the "sale" of Personal Data, targeted advertising, and profiling used to make decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects. We do not engage in profiling for decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects.
If we refuse your request, you may have the right to appeal. You may also have the right not to be treated differently for exercising privacy rights available under applicable law.
More detail on California privacy rights is available from the California Office of the Attorney General at: https://oag.ca.gov/privacy/ccpa.
Categories of Personal Data We Process
The section "What We Process and Why" describes the categories of Personal Data we collect or otherwise process for the Product, and the purposes for which that information is used, stored, or otherwise handled. We do not process the Personal Data we collect for purposes that are materially different from, unrelated to, or incompatible with the purposes in this Notice, and we do not collect extra categories of Personal Data without giving any notice and obtaining any consent applicable law requires, unless the law otherwise allows or requires it.
Sale and Targeted Advertising
Certain U.S. state privacy laws may define a "sale" of Personal Data broadly enough to include making Personal Data available to a third party for money or other valuable consideration, including in connection with targeted advertising. We do not "sell" Personal Data in the everyday sense of taking direct payment for information about you. Still, depending on the definition under the relevant law, our use of cookies and similar tracking technologies, third-party advertising tools, and certain disclosures of Personal Data to third parties—including analytics providers—may count as a "sale" of Personal Data or as using Personal Data for targeted advertising. Categories that may be involved include unique identifiers such as device ID and IP address, internet or other electronic network activity information such as interactions with our services, and geolocation data inferred from IP address information.
You may submit requests to exercise rights under applicable U.S. state privacy laws by emailing [email protected].
To the extent applicable law allows, an authorized agent may submit a request for another person if the agent provides enough documentation showing authority to act for that person. We may also require the individual who is the subject of the request to verify identity directly with us and confirm the agent's authority.
We will answer requests within the time applicable law requires and may extend that period where the law allows, subject to any notice we must give you. If we decide not to act on a request, we will tell you, explain why, and, where applicable, explain how you may appeal. Any appeal will be reviewed and answered within the period applicable law requires. If your appeal is denied, you may have the right to contact or complain to the appropriate supervisory authority, regulator, or Attorney General in your jurisdiction.