Privacy Policy

Last updated: July 8, 2026

BlackNod ("BlackNod," "we," "us," or "our") provides a U.S.-focused business-discovery app and related web services for consumers and business owners. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, retain, and protect information when you use BlackNod, including the mobile app, business owner web portal, and related services (collectively, the "Service").

By using the Service, you acknowledge this Privacy Policy. If you do not want us to collect or use information as described here, do not use the Service.

1. Information we collect

Account information

When you create or use an account, we collect information such as your email address, password credentials or authentication information, account role, account status, newsletter preference, privacy acceptance timestamp, and related account metadata.

Profile information

Consumer profiles may include information you choose to provide, such as first name, last name, suffix, username, phone number, city, age, profile photo, and optional demographic information. Optional demographic fields may include race or ethnicity selection, gender, income range, and marital status. You do not have to provide optional demographic fields to use the core Service.

Business owner profiles may include name, phone number, profile photo, business affiliation, and information needed to claim or manage business listings.

Location information

With your permission, BlackNod may collect precise location information while you are using the app, including latitude, longitude, permission status, and the time your location was updated. We use this information to show nearby businesses, local events, and location-relevant app experiences. You can control location permissions through your device settings.

Photos, uploads, and user content

We collect photos and other content you upload or submit, including profile images, business images, reviews, ratings, NOD or NAW votes, poll responses, comments, messages, reports, business suggestions, contact messages, and other communications.

Business information

For business listings, we may collect business name, description, category, address, coordinates, phone number, email address, website, business license number or EIN, hours, Black-owned business status, owner account information, profile images, additional images, approval status, and related listing metadata.

Payment and subscription information

Business owner payments on the web may be processed by Stripe. We may receive transaction identifiers, customer identifiers, subscription status, invoice or payment status, plan information, and related billing metadata. We do not store full payment card numbers.

In-app subscriptions or ad-removal purchases may be processed by Apple or Google. We may receive purchase, entitlement, subscription status, and receipt-related information needed to provide paid features.

Device, notification, and technical information

We may collect device tokens for push notifications, platform type, app activity, authentication/session data, error logs, usage records, timestamps, IP address, browser or device information, and similar technical information needed to operate, secure, debug, and improve the Service.

Communications

If you contact us through the in-app Contact Us form or other support channels, we collect the message and related account information so we can review and respond.

2. How we use information

We use information to:

• create, authenticate, and maintain accounts;
• provide consumer, business owner, and admin features;
• show nearby businesses and location-relevant content;
• display and manage profiles, photos, business listings, reviews, ratings, polls, messages, reports, and other user content;
• process business owner payments, subscriptions, invoices, entitlements, and related billing records;
• provide in-app subscriptions or ad-removal entitlements when available;
• send transactional emails through Resend, such as account, verification, password, support, and service messages;
• send push notifications or in-app notifications when enabled;
• review business submissions, reports, moderation issues, abuse, fraud, and safety concerns;
• respond to Contact Us messages and support requests;
• maintain, debug, secure, analyze, and improve the Service;
• comply with legal obligations and enforce our Terms and policies; and
• develop advertising-supported or ad-removal features, including future Google AdMob ads.

We do not sell your personal information.

3. Optional demographic information

BlackNod may ask consumers for optional demographic information such as race or ethnicity, gender, income range, and marital status. We use this information to support community insights, improve product relevance, understand use of the Service, and support features requested by the BlackNod community.

Providing demographic information is optional. If you provide it, you can update your profile information in the app where profile editing is available. We do not use optional demographic information to determine eligibility for credit, employment, housing, insurance, or any legally protected decision.

4. How we share information

We share information only as needed to provide, operate, secure, and improve the Service, or as otherwise described in this Policy.

Service providers

We may share information with service providers that process information for us, including hosting, database, storage, authentication, email, analytics, debugging, notification, payment, subscription, advertising, and infrastructure providers. These providers are permitted to use information only to provide services to BlackNod or as otherwise allowed by law.

Current or planned service providers include:

• Resend, for transactional email;
• Stripe, for business owner payments on the web;
• Apple and Google, for app store subscriptions, purchases, and related platform services; and
• Google AdMob, if and when ads ship in the app.

Business and public-facing features

Some information you submit may be visible to other users or businesses, depending on the feature. For example, reviews, ratings, photos, NOD or NAW signals, poll activity, usernames, profile images, business listings, and business responses may be displayed in the Service.

Legal, safety, and enforcement

We may disclose information if we believe it is reasonably necessary to comply with law, legal process, or government requests; enforce our Terms; investigate fraud, abuse, security incidents, or policy violations; protect the rights, safety, and property of BlackNod, users, businesses, or others; or preserve evidence.

Business transfers

If BlackNod is involved in a merger, acquisition, financing, reorganization, bankruptcy, sale of assets, or similar transaction, information may be disclosed or transferred as part of that transaction, subject to appropriate protections.

5. Advertising and future AdMob ads

BlackNod may display ads in the future, including ads served by Google AdMob. When ads ship, Google or other advertising providers may collect or receive device identifiers, app activity, approximate location or other ad-related information, depending on your device settings, consent choices, and applicable law. If BlackNod offers an ad-removal subscription, we will use subscription or entitlement information to determine whether to show ads.

6. Retention

We keep information for as long as reasonably necessary to provide the Service, maintain accounts and business records, comply with legal obligations, resolve disputes, enforce agreements, prevent fraud or abuse, maintain security, and preserve backups.

Retention periods vary by data type. Account and profile data are generally retained while your account is active. User content may remain visible until removed by you or BlackNod. Payment, subscription, tax, audit, fraud-prevention, and legal records may be retained for longer periods where required or appropriate. Backup copies may persist for a limited time after deletion before they are overwritten.

7. Account deletion and your choices

You may delete your account in the app by going to Profile and selecting Delete Account. Account deletion is immediate and permanent for your account access. After deletion, we delete or de-identify personal information associated with your account unless retention is reasonably necessary for legal, safety, fraud-prevention, security, backup, dispute-resolution, payment, tax, accounting, or business record purposes.

Some content may not be fully removable where it has been shared publicly, copied by others, aggregated, de-identified, included in business records, or retained for legitimate legal or safety reasons. If your content appears in public or business-facing areas, deletion may remove or anonymize account attribution where feasible.

You can also update certain profile information in the app, control location permissions through your device settings, control push notifications through your device settings, and unsubscribe from optional marketing messages where an unsubscribe option is provided.

8. Security

We use reasonable administrative, technical, and organizational measures designed to protect information. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

9. Children's privacy

BlackNod is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If we learn that we have collected personal information from a child under 13, we will take reasonable steps to delete it.

10. U.S. audience

BlackNod is intended for users in the United States. If you access the Service from outside the United States, you understand that your information may be processed in the United States and other locations where our service providers operate.

11. Changes to this Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. If we make material changes, we will provide notice through the Service or another reasonable method. The updated Policy will be effective when posted unless a later effective date is stated.

12. Contact

For privacy questions or requests, contact BlackNod through the in-app Contact Us form.