Privacy Statement for Kärcher Machine connect App (Version: August 2023)

The information below explains how your personal data is processed when you use the Kärcher Machine connect App.

1. Kärcher Machine connect App

Use of Kärcher Machine connect App by Alfred Kärcher SE & Co. KG, Alfred-Kärcher-Straße 28-40, 71364 Winnenden, Phone: +49 (0)7195/14-0, Email: info@karcher.com (hereinafter referred to as Kärcher) is only possible by means of the Kärcher Machine connect App for smartphones with an iOS or Android operating system. You can contact the Kärcher Data Protection Officer at the address above or by emailing data.privacy@kaercher.com.

2. Downloading the App

You can download the Kärcher Machine connect App free of charge from the Google Play store or the Apple App Store. To do so, you must open a customer account in either the Google Play store or the App Store, and enter your data there. However, this data is not collected by Kärcher, and Kärcher therefore has no influence over it and is not responsible for it.

You must also accept the Terms of Use of the App store in question in order to open a customer account. When you download the Machine connect App, you must also accept the associated Terms of Use with legally binding effect.

When downloading the App from an App store, the information needed for this is transferred to the App store, in particular your user name, email address and customer number of your account, the date/time of downloading and the individual device ID. However, we have no influence over the collection of this data and are not responsible for it.

3. Using the App

a) Regular use

When you use the Kärcher Machine connect app, we collect the following data, which is transmitted from the Kärcher device to the Kärcher Machine connect app:

Machine Identifier (Serial & Material Number and BT Id)
Machine Data (like Battery Status, Water Level etc.)
Machine Usage (Connected time)
App usage

If you use the Kärcher Machine connect app to manage your Kärcher devices, the following data from your smartphone is collected:

Device Information (like Model, Version, free Space etc)
User Information like Email or name (Optional Parameter, entered by User)
Crash and Error Logs
Detection if used Headphones

b) Use of the sound based status detection

If you activate the sound based detection function and give permission to the App to access the microphone, the App will – with short pauses - store and analyze up to 9 seconds of the actual sound, to detect actual and potential issues of the machine.

4. Purpose of the Processing and Legal Basis

If you activate a specific function or expressly consent in the App, the corresponding data is processed by Kärcher based on consent in accordance with Article 6 (1) sentence a of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Your consent can be revoked at any time by deactivating the specific function or by sending an email to data.privacy@kaercher.com.

All the other data is processed by Kärcher solely to provide the Kärcher Machine connect App Platform in accordance with Article 6 (1) sentence 1 b GDPR. Kärcher reserves the right to process data for the purposes of direct advertising, provided that the other conditions for a promotional approach are met.

Kärcher also uses the data collected on the devices for the purposes of quality assurance and to improve the quality of its products in accordance with Article 6 (1) sentence 1 f GDPR. In addition, Kärcher evaluates your usage behaviour and information on where and how you use the products in question in accordance with Article 6 (1) sentence 1 f GDPR on the basis of the legitimate interests of Kärcher in the context of market research, to identify trends and to make product recommendations. The data concerned is pseudonymised for this purpose. By using this data in this way, Kärcher does not draw any conclusions of any kind regarding individual users and, in particular, does not profile users.

Your data is not shared with third parties. Kärcher, however, reserves the right to have the data processed by service providers by order. As the data processing is necessary for the performance of the contract concluded between yourself and Kärcher, performance of the contract is not possible without the processing of the data.

5. Storage duration

Personal data is deleted as soon as the purpose for which it was stored no longer applies,Usually personal data is deleted after 90 days.

6. Feedback possibility

If you send us your email address via the feedback form, we will contact you via email if necessary. We will delete the email address and your feedback after processing the feedback or after 90 days at the latest.

7. Integration of third-party services

Firebase Analytics

We use the external analytics service Firebase Analytics from Google Ireland Ltd., Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland (hereinafter: "Google") to be able to optimally tailor our app to the interests of the users. For this purpose, we use a programming interface, the Firebase Software Development Kit (SDK), which is provided by Google to enable a statistical analysis of the use of the app. This does not involve accessing the advertising ID (IDFA for iOS-based and AAID for Android-based end devices) of the operating system used.

Using the Firebase SDK, we define various events (e.g., average app usage, average sessions per user, button presses, frequency of wins, losses, draws, split games, usage preference detection) to track and understand app users' usage patterns in order to optimize and improve app functionality accordingly. It also allows us to detect and fix programming errors and prevent fraudulent activity in the App. For the purpose of fraud prevention and statistical analysis, Google processes end device information such as a shortened IP address of the end device used and provides us with anonymous statistics about interactions with our app.

The legal basis for the processing is Art. 6 (1) sentence 1 f GDPR. Our legitimate interests in the processing lie in the recognition of usage preferences of the app, fraud prevention and optimization of the functionalities of our app. Google also partially processes the data in the USA. There is no adequacy decision of the EU Commission for a data transfer to the USA. We have agreed standard contractual clauses with Google to commit Google to an adequate level of data protection.

You may object to the processing. Your right to object exists for reasons arising from your particular situation. You can send us your objection via the contact details listed below.

Sentry

We use the external service Sentry an error management tool from Sentry Inc, San Francisco, 132 Hawthorne St, San Francisco, USA (hereinafter “Sentry”).

Using Sentry we collect and analyze data about the errors that occurred in our app. This allows us to find out, among other things, what steps were taken before the error occurred and what combination of operating system, browser and the project version led to the error. Overall, the following data is logged for the error analysis: the URL where the error occurred, the operating system and browser used, the app version used, the version of the app project opened, a user-specific token, the IP-Address, any steps that led to the error, incl. state of the program at the time of the error.

The legal basis for the processing is Art. 6 (1) sentence 1 f GDPR. Our legitimate interests in the processing lie in the recognition errors. Sentry also partially processes the data in the USA. There is no adequacy decision of the EU Commission for a data transfer to the USA. We have agreed standard contractual clauses with Sentry to commit Sentry to an adequate level of data protection.

You may object to the processing. Your right to object exists for reasons arising from your particular situation. You can send us your objection via the contact details listed below.

8. Your Rights, Questions and Information

You have the right to information as to whether and what personal data we store concerning you, to rectification or erasure, or to restrict the processing of your data, to object to the processing, and the right to data portability. As your personal data is processed for the performance of a contract, you can no longer use the services provided under the contract once you have objected to the processing of your personal data.

Objection (market research/direct advertising). You can object to the processing of your data for market research or for the purposes of direct advertising at any time. For this, please send an email to data.privacy@kaercher.com. Once you have objected, the personal data will no longer be processed for such purposes.

If you have any further questions regarding the processing of your data or if you would like information regarding the data concerning you that is stored, you can contact the Data Protection Officer of Alfred Kärcher SE & Co. KG at the address provided above or by emailing data.privacy@kaercher.com.

9. Competent Supervisory Authority

As the data subject, you have the right, without prejudice to any other administrative or judicial remedy, to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority, in particular in the Member State of your habitual residence, place of work or place of the alleged infringement if you believe that the processing of personal data relating to you infringes these data protection regulations.

If you have a complaint relating to the use of your personal data, you can also contact the competent supervisory authority of Kärcher, the Baden-Württemberg Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information, Königstraße 10a, 70173 Stuttgart, Phone: +49 (0)711/615541-0, Telefax 0711/615541-15, https://www.baden-wuerttemberg.datenschutz.de/ Email: poststelle@lfdi.bwl.de