Privacy Policy - SCHAEFER.LV

The mobile application NextToWatch (Bundle ID: app.nexttowatch) and its associated website are owned and operated by SIA SCHAEFER, a company registered in Latvia under registration number LV50103412751.

We respect your privacy and are committed to protecting your personal data. This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect, how we use it, how we share it, how we protect it, and your rights when you use the NextToWatch mobile application and related services.

1. Data We Collect

To provide the functionality of the App and improve the user experience, we may collect and process the following categories of data:

Personal Data

Email address – if you choose to create an account, your email address may be used for account registration, authentication, communication, and account management. Creating an account is not required to use the App, but it allows us to save your preferences, watchlist, favorites, ratings, and other profile-related information for future use.
User ID – to associate your account with your activity in the App.
Saved preferences – such as favorite movies, selected genres, watchlist, and future viewing plans.
Ratings and interactions – such as movies you rate, save, or mark as interesting.
Content preferences – including your preferred genres, filtering choices, and recommendation-related interests.

App Usage and Feature Data

Search activity – such as movie searches and filter selections.
Product interaction data – information about how you interact with the App, including navigation patterns, feature usage, viewed content, and recommendation interactions.
Notification preferences – if you choose to receive push notifications about suggested movies or reminders about titles you may want to watch next.

Technical and Diagnostic Data

Device ID – to help identify and resolve technical issues.
Crash logs and diagnostics – to monitor app performance and improve stability.
Analytics data – including performance metrics, usage statistics, and general technical information collected through analytics tools such as Firebase.
App version, device operating system, and similar technical data – to ensure compatibility, maintain security, and improve service quality.
Advertising identifiers – such as the Google Advertising ID on Android or other device-level advertising identifiers, which may be used by advertising providers such as Google AdMob to deliver and measure ads.
Ad-related data – such as IP address, device information, approximate location, app interactions, and diagnostic data, which may be processed by advertising providers for ad delivery, analytics, fraud prevention, and measurement purposes.

2. How We Use Your Data

We use the collected data strictly for legitimate purposes related to the operation and improvement of the App, including:

To create and manage your account, where you choose to register.
To save your favorites, watchlist, ratings, and personal preferences.
To generate movie recommendations, including random suggestions and similar titles based on your interests and activity.
To provide movie-related information such as descriptions, genres, ratings, actors, trailers, release year, and duration.
To enable search and filtering functions.
To personalize your experience within the App.
To send push notifications about movie suggestions or related content, where enabled by you.
To display advertisements in the App, including ads provided by Google AdMob, and to measure their effectiveness and relevance where permitted by applicable law.
To analyze performance and improve the functionality, stability, and usability of the App.
To provide customer support and respond to your inquiries.
To maintain security and prevent misuse of the App.

Creating an account is optional. However, registering for an account allows certain features and personal data — such as saved preferences, watchlist information, favorites, and ratings — to remain available across sessions and devices. We do not sell or rent your personal data to third parties.

3. Data Sharing and Disclosure

We may share your data only in the following limited circumstances:

With service providers – such as analytics, crash reporting, cloud hosting, push notification, and advertising providers (for example, Firebase and Google AdMob), only to the extent necessary to operate, maintain, monetize, and improve the App.
With advertising partners – such as Google and its partners, for ad serving, ad measurement, fraud prevention, and, where permitted and consented to, ad personalization.
For legal compliance – if disclosure is required by law, regulation, legal process, or governmental request.
To protect rights and security – where necessary to protect our legal rights, prevent fraud, or safeguard users and systems.

We do not share your personal data with third parties for advertising resale purposes.

4. Push Notifications

If you enable push notifications, NextToWatch may send you notifications related to movie suggestions, reminders about titles on your watchlist, and recommendations based on your interests or previous interactions. You can disable push notifications at any time through your device settings.

5. Data Retention

We retain your personal data only for as long as necessary to provide the App and its features, maintain your account, fulfill legitimate business purposes, comply with legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements. If you request deletion of your account, we will delete or anonymize your data unless retention is required by law or necessary for legitimate legal or security reasons.

6. Data Security

We apply reasonable technical, administrative, and organizational measures to protect your data, including:

SSL/TLS encryption of data transmissions.
Secure storage practices.
Regular security monitoring and updates.
Restricted access to personal data only for authorized personnel and service providers.

Although we take reasonable steps to protect your information, no method of transmission or storage is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

Cookies and Similar Technologies

The website and the App may use cookies or similar technologies, including analytics tools, advertising technologies, and device identifiers, in order to remember preferences, improve functionality, analyze traffic and usage, support diagnostics and app performance, and deliver and measure advertisements. By using the App or website, you acknowledge the use of such technologies where permitted by applicable law.

8. Advertising

The App may display third-party advertisements, including advertisements served by Google AdMob. Google AdMob and its partners may collect and process certain data — such as advertising identifiers, IP address, device information, approximate location, and app interaction data — for the purposes of serving ads, measuring ad performance, preventing fraud, and, where allowed, personalizing advertising. Where required by applicable law, we will request your consent before processing personal data for personalized advertising. Users in the European Economic Area (EEA), the United Kingdom, and Switzerland may be presented with a consent message in accordance with applicable legal requirements. You may be able to manage your advertising preferences through your device settings, including resetting or deleting your advertising identifier where supported.

9. Children's Privacy

NextToWatch is intended for a general audience and is not specifically directed at children under the applicable minimum age in your jurisdiction. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children. If we become aware that we have inadvertently collected personal data from a child in violation of applicable law, we will delete such data promptly.

10. International Data Transfers

Your data may be processed and stored on servers located outside your country of residence. Where such transfers occur, we take reasonable steps to ensure that appropriate safeguards are applied in accordance with applicable data protection laws.

11. Your Rights

Depending on your jurisdiction, you may have the right to: request access to your personal data; request correction of inaccurate or incomplete data; request deletion of your data; restrict or object to certain processing; withdraw consent where processing is based on consent; request data portability; and lodge a complaint with a relevant supervisory authority. To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at [email protected].