Bixby Voice U.S. Privacy Notice

Last Updated: May 25th, 2021

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., along with our affiliates and subsidiaries (collectively, “Samsung”), respect your concerns about privacy. We created this Privacy Notice to make sure you understand how we collect and use your personal information in connection with Bixby Voice. Unless otherwise stated herein, this Privacy Notice applies to your use of the Service associated with the Samsung account you use to sign in to Bixby Voice and any devices listed here (click on "The New Bixby") that you use to sign in to Bixby Voice using that same Samsung account. This Privacy Notice does not apply to information collected by other apps, websites, or services provided by Samsung.

This Privacy Notice supplements the Samsung Privacy Policy for the U.S.(available at https://account.samsung.com/membership/terms/privacypolicy) and provides additional information about how we may collect, use and share your personal information in connection with the Service. In the event any portion of this Privacy Notice conflicts with the Samsung Privacy Policy for the U.S., the relevant provisions of this Privacy Notice will govern.

Information We Obtain

Through Bixby Voice, we may collect information about you in various ways.

Information You Provide Directly

We may collect information from you directly. For example, when you create a Samsung account to use Bixby Voice, we ask for information such as your name, date of birth, gender, phone number, and email address.

Information About Your Use of Bixby Voice

In addition to the information you provide, we may collect information about your use of Bixby Voice through the software on your devices and by other means, which may include:

• Bixby Voice interactions: We may collect the information you exchange with Bixby Voice through your interactions with Bixby Voice, including recordings of your voice commands (such as your questions, requests, and instructions), your touch interactions and other inputs (such as the hints you tap in Bixby Voice), and the information you receive from Bixby Voice (such as responses, answers, and content). If you submit information to Bixby Voice that is sensitive in nature (such as health information), that may also be collected and processed for the purposes set out below. We will not actively ask you for or collect such sensitive information in connection with your use of Bixby Voice. We also may obtain other information related to your use of Bixby Voice, including information we receive from Samsung and third-party apps and services that are accessed or used by you as part of the Bixby Voice commands you make (such as social media, email, and instant messaging apps). The information we receive may include, without limitation, information related to the apps you use, the websites you visit and your contact lists, music, calendar entries, bookmarks, notes, call logs, alarm clock, registered device lists within Samsung apps, and content and data from other Samsung and third-party apps, websites, and services.
• Bixby Voice settings: Your Bixby Voice settings may be collected, such as the language, voice style, voice wake-up data, which capsules (capsules are third-party software that link with Bixby Voice to bring you additional features) you have allowed to access your information, voice responses, listen automatically, provide sound feedback, and use while the mobile device is locked.
• Device and app information: Such as your hardware model, device hardware information, IMEI number and other unique device identifiers, current software version, MCC (Mobile Country Code), MNC (Mobile Network Code), MAC address, IP address, operating system versions, and settings of the devices you use to access Bixby Voice. In addition, we may obtain information about how, when, and for how long you use your Bixby Voice-enabled devices (including Samsung and third-party devices you control with Bixby Voice), including response to wake-up commands, as well as your usage of Bixby Voice and Samsung and third-party apps and services on the devices (such as a list of the apps on your devices, the music played on your devices, the websites you visit, and the searches you make).
• Location information: Your device’s GPS signal or information about nearby Wi-Fi access points and cell towers may be transmitted to us when you use Bixby Voice and enable the Location function.
• Read aloud content: Bixby Voice provides a read aloud feature, which allows you to request certain content from your mobile device, for example your messages, notifications, or emails, to be read aloud. When you ask Bixby Voice to read content aloud, that content may be collected and processed to provide you with the read aloud feature. Collected content will be deleted once Bixby Voice has read the content aloud. We will ask for your separate consent before collecting content for the read aloud feature.

We also may collect other information about you, your devices and apps, and your use of Bixby Voice in ways that we describe to you at the time of collection or otherwise with your consent.

How We Use the Information We Obtain

We may use the information we collect for the following purposes:

• To help you or your device register for Bixby Voice;
• To provide Bixby Voice or features you request, including allowing you to interact with and use participating third-party apps and services;
• To provide customized content and personalized services based on your past activities on Bixby Voice (“Personalized Bixby”) when you enable this feature;
• To provide customized advertising, promotions, and offers that might interest you on our websites, third-party websites, and online platforms such as social media sites only where you have given us your separate consent;
• To provide promotions and offers by way of direct marketing communications, only where you have given us your separate consent;
• To ask you for your opinions on our products and services and to carry out customer surveys, with your separate consent if required; and
• To provide software updates, maintenance services, and support for Bixby Voice.

Audio Recordings

If you decide to opt-in for review, including human review, of your audio recordings, to troubleshoot and respond to any issues related to your use of Bixby Voice, we may store your audio recordings associated with your device for a period of one month.

After one month, your audio recordings will be disassociated from any identifier and may be stored for a total period of 1 year. These recordings are pooled with other recordings, and a small percentage of those recordings may be selected for review to improve and train Bixby Voice. Some of these recordings may contain personal information.

You can opt-in by going into the Bixby Voice settings > Manage privacy settings > Allow audio recording review. You can withdraw your consent at any time through these settings.

This opt-in will apply to the Samsung account you use to sign in to Bixby Voice, and will apply to any device that you sign in to with that Samsung account. If you do not opt-in to the review of your audio recordings, your audio recordings will be deleted once your requested command has been provided. This also means there will be no audio recordings to help you troubleshoot or resolve any issues related to your use of Bixby Voice.

Personalized Bixby

Personalized Bixby is designed to serve content and responses tailored to you while using Bixby Voice on your device. Opt-in to Personalized Bixby will apply to the Samsung account you use to sign in to Bixby Voice, and will apply to any device that you sign in to with that Samsung account. Personalized Bixby may deliver customized content and responses based on your preferences and choices made and service usage while using Bixby Voice, including sending you notifications that introduce useful commands, new features, or events. Bixby Voice offers you Personalized Bixby as shown in the following examples:

• When you use Bixby Voice, there are times when your request may output several choices. For example, if you ask for the weather in Georgia, Bixby Voice may ask whether you mean the country of Georgia or the state of Georgia. As you make the same choice over time, Bixby Voice will learn which Georgia you mean and will automatically select the Georgia you have chosen continuously over time.
• As you continue to use Bixby Voice, it will ask about what you like and learn what you prefer. As Bixby Voice learns what you like, it will ask you whether you prefer something. You may then set your preferences, which Bixby Voice will remember for future use. For example, if you search for nearby restaurants Bixby Voice may ask if you prefer Italian restaurants. If you indeed prefer Italian restaurants, you may set this as a preference.
• Bixby Voice will collect and analyze information on how you use Bixby Voice, including which capsules you use frequently and when you use Bixby Voice, and usage information related to Samsung and third-party apps and services and devices connected to Samsung apps and services, such as registered devices within Samsung apps or phone numbers stored in contacts. As you use Bixby Voice over time, Bixby Voice will learn your usage patterns and will recommend appropriate voice commands, and various capsules or functions which you may be interested in.

If you have opted in to the Samsung Customization Service on your mobile device, Personalized Bixby and the Samsung Customization Service will work together to provide an even better Personalized Bixby service on your mobile device. To learn more about our privacy practices with respect to the Samsung Customization Service, please visit Customization Service in the Samsung account settings.

Opting out of Personalized Bixby and the Samsung Customization Service

You may opt out of Personalized Bixby by visiting the Bixby Voice settings on your device and selecting Personalized Bixby.

If you have enabled the Customization Service on your mobile device and allowed the Customization Service to access your Bixby Voice data, the Customization Service may continue to collect your Bixby Voice data on your mobile device to provide you with customized content, in accordance with the Customization Service Privacy Policy. This information will not, however, be used to provide customized content and responses through Bixby Voice. You can opt of the Samsung Customization Service by going into your general settings menu on your mobile device.

We use and combine the information we collect about you from Bixby Voice, other Samsung services or Samsung features we offer, devices, or other third party sources to provide you with a better experience. For example, you can use your Samsung account details to sign in to Bixby Voice on multiple Samsung devices you may own. We may also use the information you provide directly or through other sources as described above to provide content you may like or that you’ve personalized on Bixby Voice, such as, for example, when you prefer a certain type of restaurant, listing that type of restaurant when you search for restaurants near you.

Information Sharing

As stated above, this Privacy Notice supplements the Samsung Privacy Policy for the U.S. (available at https://account.samsung.com/membership/terms/privacypolicy), which describes our information sharing practices.

For California Residents

Consumers that are residents of California can find out more about their privacy rights in the “California Consumer Privacy Statement” section of the Samsung Privacy Policy for the U.S., available at https://www.samsung.com/us/account/privacy-policy.

Updates to This Privacy Notice

We will update this Privacy Notice to let you know if we change how we collect and process your information for the Service, if we are required by law. The date when the document was last updated is shown at the top of this Privacy Notice.