Terms of Use - Privacy Policy
If under the age of 16 the Terms of Use set out below should always be reviewed with a parent or legal guardian to ensure you both understand it.
In choosing to use the Talk N Walk App you agree to and accept the following Terms of Use.
The Talk N Walk App involves getting out and about, walking and talking with friends and family.
The parent/legal guardian has full responsibility for the child/children in their care, in deciding when and where they go walking and talking with the Talk N Walk app.
At all times, the responsibility lies with the parent/legal guardian, to assess and manage any risks that may arise, when out walking with the Talk N Walk App, on behalf of themselves and their children. Please take into account that National guidelines stipulate that children under the age of 10 years old should hold an adult’s hand when crossing roads.
Safety Notices
- Ask permission - Always ask permission from a parent/legal guardian before going out walking. Let your parent/legal guardian know where you are going, who you are going with and how long you’ll be.
- Eyes up - Don’t walk and read. When referring to the Talk N Walk App always stop in a safe place to do so.
- Slip, Slop and Slap - if the UV is over 3 remember to wear your hat and sunscreen
- Be road safe - Stop, look, listen and think before you cross the road. Where possible use pedestrian crossings, always cross from a place where you can see left and right clearly.
- Where possible, walk with someone - a friend, a family member or a pet.
- Be alert to things happening around you - if you’re feeling at all unsafe, call a trusted adult and seek help. In an emergency situation always call ‘000’.
Conversation often flows more easily when walking and, in some instances, you may find that the conversations you have, and the topics you discuss with friends, leave you feeling like you or your friend need some support to deal with them. You or your friend may not know what to do in certain situations. We encourage you to talk to a trusted adult (e.g. parent, teacher, other family member, friend’s mother, netball coach etc) and to make use of the resources and services that are available to you.
Please see our Talk N Walk Support webpage for services and helpline’s you can access.
Parents/Legal Guardians
As a parent/legal guardians, if you’re unsure about letting your child/ren go out walking with Talk N Walk we recommend doing it with them! The app is a great opportunity to initiate a walk, chat, and exploration of your neighborhood, parks and green spaces together.
Privacy Policy (Last updated: 01.03.2022)
Protecting your privacy is of the highest importance to Nature Play WA (“we”, “our” or “us”). With this in mind, we’re providing this Privacy Policy to explain our practises regarding the collection, use, and disclosure of information that we receive in connection with the Talk N Walk App.
About Us
If you have any questions about our privacy practices or this Privacy Policy, please contact us by email at info@natureplaywa.org.au
We can also be contacted at the Nature Play WA offices.
Who is the Talk N Walk App for?
The Talk N Walk app is intended primarily for 11-14-year-old girls - the demographic involved in co-designing the app. It may also, however, be used by parents/guardians - as an activity to do with their child/children - or appeal more broadly to children over the age of 11.
The privacy and safety of app users is of the highest priority to us.
Safeguarding
No capturing of personally identifying information
No in-app purchasing
No in-app advertising
No sharing of accounts
No in-app messaging
No use of the camera, video-recorder or microphone
No gathering or storing of location data (see Location Services for further information)
No sharing of information with Third Parties
No third party analytics
No Personally Identifiable Data
The Talk N Walk app does not collect any personally identifying data. We are not recording IP's or device information.
What we do request and why:
A name or pseudonym: When you first download and open the app, we ask you for a name so we can personalise the app experience (eg: ‘ Hi Emily, ready to start a Talk N Walk’?). The name you choose can be a first name, nick-name or completely made up. It can also be changed at any time through the app settings (accessed via your user dashboard)
A year of birth: We also ask for your ‘year of birth’. This is so we have some understanding of the age demographic of our app users
An emergency contact: We ask you to input an emergency contact name and number for someone (eg: a parent or guardian) you would like to be able to call quickly, from within the app, if you are doing a Talk N Walk and feel in any way unsafe. You can update your emergency contact at any time from the app settings (accessed form the user dashboard). App administrators will never attempt to contact this person, it is for you (the user only) to simplify calling someone trusted quickly, if needed, while using the app. If there is an immediate threat to life you should always call ‘000’.
- Talk N Walk does not capture any personal contact information (eg: user email, phone number or location) and the app does not track any information that can be used to contact you outside the app.
- The information we request (name, year of birth and emergency contact) is stored locally on the user's device through a key-value storage system. None of this information (apart from the year of birth which is used as part of the creation of the anonymised unique identifier number as described below) is sent outside the app to our external servers.
- For the purpose of gathering aggregated statistical data regarding use of the Talk N Walk App, each user is automatically assigned a unique anonymised identifier number that is created using the year of birth four digit integer followed by an auto-generated user ID, not any personally identifying data. This is stored in our database and has no personally identifiable traits. The app communicates to our server only the year of birth and the database itself creates the ID automatically.
Use of Location Services
When using the Talk N Walk App you need to have your location services (GPS tracking) switched on. This allows the app to record the distance you have travelled on your Talk N Walk. The app does not gather or store any data regarding your location (ie: where you are walking).
Information (data) that we obtain through the Talk N Walk app
- The Talk N Walk App accesses your device’s contact list including phone numbers, names and contact images/avatars, however none of this information is collected, stored or uploaded, but stays on the device. User’s will be prompted to allow/deny access to the device’s contacts, and this information is only used for the emergency contact feature during a walk session.
- The Talk N Walk App does not involve taking or sharing any photos, videos, or voice-recording. There is no use of the camera or microphone.
- The record of each Talk N Walk you complete is only available via your app dashboard and is not shared to any other users or platforms. There is no sharing of accounts or in-app messaging.
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We record and store the following information regarding Talk N Walk’s undertaken: duration (in seconds), distance (in meters), user recorded initial mood, user recorded final mood, the walk start time, and the walk end time. None of this information is recorded against an "anonymised unique identifier number", it is recorded separately. We are presently (as of 9th March, 2022) not tracking log data/diagnostic activity, however the intention is to track app opens and also how often users are re-opening the app by simply storing a record of information for whichever user (unique anonymised identifier number) opens the app at any given time.
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Crash reports and technical issues are automatically logged. These errors are localised to a device and may not capture every error if a user is offline at the time that the issue occurred.
Why we gather such information and how we use it
- We gather data (as described above), using a custom-built analytics dashboard (we do not use any third parties such as Google Analytics), for the purpose of aggregating statistical information regarding use of the Talk N Walk App.
We gather this information to gain insights into how the app is being used. This helps us to refine and improve the app over time.
It also helps us show the effectiveness of the app in increasing and sustaining physical activity (through regular walking and talking (Talk N Walks) and in improving mood and wellbeing.
Diagnostic data - crash reports, energy use and other technical issues - is used to identify any bugs or updates required
Data protection
- As described in the section ‘What we request and why’ we are not storing online any user names, or emergency contact information – this information is only stored locally on the user's device. We are not recording IP's or device information. User’s are unable to contact us to request removal of their information from our server because we cannot feasibly identify user data on the server to the more specific and detailed user data on the device.
- We are currently hosting the ‘backend’ of the Talk N Walk App on a Cloudways account. The backend API is built in Laravel, a PHP application framework. The database is MySQL. The database and backend live on the same server. Our server provider is using a VPS (Virtual Private Server) host within Australia.
Information that we share with third parties
We will not share any information that we have collected from you except as described below:
Information shared with third parties: We may share aggregated information and non-identifying information with third parties for research and analysis, demographic profiling, and other similar purposes.
Information disclosed for our protection and the protection of others: In the unlikely event of an investigation, a law enforcement agency or other government agency may exercise its legal authority to inspect our records. We will disclose our records as required to do so by law or in connection with any legal proceedings. That said, we cannot feasibly identify user data on the server to the more specific and detailed user data on the device.
No in-app advertising or payment points
There is no in-app advertising and no payment points within the Talk N Walk App. Talk N Walk is a free app. Co-design and development of the app has been funded by Healthway to support the health and wellbeing or Western Australians.
Links to other sites
The Talk N Walk website, linked to from within the Talk N Walk App, may contain links to websites and services that are owned or operated by third parties (each, a “Third Party Service”). For example, our Talk N Walk website includes links to credible mental health support services in Western Australia. Any information that you provide on or to a Third Party Service or that is collected by a Third Party Service is provided directly to the owner or operator of the Third Party Service and is subject to the owners or operator’s privacy policy. We’re not responsible for the content, privacy, or security practices and policies of any Third Party Service. To protect your information we recommend that you carefully review the privacy policies of all Third Party Services that you access via the Talk N Walk website.
Change to these Terms of Use
We reserve the right to modify these Terms of Use, in whole or in part, at our own discretion at any time. Modifications shall be effective immediately upon the linking of modified Terms of Use to the Talk N Walk App. You agree to comply with, and be bound by, any such modification by continuing to use or access the Talk N Walk App after the modified Terms of Use are posted to the Talk N Walk App.
Limitation of Liability
This limitation of liability (“Limitation”) applies to your free use of the Talk N Walk App. Your use of the Talk N Walk App is at your own risk. You agree that our sole obligation to you is to provide the Talk N Walk App “as is.” Except as prohibited by applicable law, Nature Play, nor any of their employees, officers, directors nor any of their agents or any other party involved in creating, producing or delivering the Talk N Walk App shall be liable to you or to any third party for your use of, or the inability to use, the Talk N Walk App and its Content except in cases of (a) gross negligence, recklessness, or an act of knowing or intentional willful misconduct; or (b) a violation of a consumer protection statute in connection with the Talk N Walk App.
By agreeing to the Terms of Use, you understand, and accept that you have full responsibility for the child/children in your care, in deciding when and where they go walking and talking with the Talk N Walk App. At all times, the responsibility lies with you, the parent/legal guardian, to assess and manage any risks that may arise from walking and talking with the Talk N Walk App, on behalf of yourself and your children. You acknowledge that you and your child/children’s participation is voluntary and that where you walk is your choice and at your own risk. You waive any and all claim, right or cause of action which might otherwise have arisen out of injury, damage or loss of any description whatsoever sustained in the course of using the Talk N Walk App.
Except as prohibited by applicable law, in no event will Nature Play or any of their respective officers, directors, employees, shareholders, affiliates, agents, successors or assigns, nor any party involved in the creation, production or transmission of the Talk N Walk App, be liable to you or anyone else for any indirect, special, punitive, incidental or consequential damages (including, without limitation, those resulting from lost profits, lost data or business interruption) arising out of the use, inability to use, or the results of use of the Talk N Walk App and its Content, whether based on warranty, contract, tort or any other legal theory and whether or not advised of the possibility of such damages. Please refer to your local laws for any such prohibitions.
Copyright and Ownership
All of the content featured or displayed in the Talk N Walk App, including without limitation text, graphics, photographs, images, moving images, sound, and illustrations ("Content"), is owned by Nature Play WA, their licensors, vendors, agents, and/or their Content providers. All elements of the Talk N Walk App, including without limitation the general design and the Content, are protected by trade dress, copyright, moral rights, trademark, and other laws relating to intellectual property rights. The Talk N Walk App may be used only for the intended purpose for which it is being made available. You may not modify any of the materials and you may not copy, distribute, transmit, display, perform, reproduce, publish, license, create derivative works from, transfer, or sell any information or work contained in the Talk N Walk App. Except as authorized under the copyright laws, you are responsible for obtaining permission before reusing any copyrighted material that is available on the Talk N Walk App. You shall comply with all applicable domestic and international laws, statutes, ordinances, and regulations regarding your use of the Talk N Walk App. The Talk N Walk App, its Content, and all related rights shall remain the exclusive property of Nature Play WA or our licensors unless otherwise expressly agreed. You will not remove any copyright, trademark, or other proprietary notices from material found on the Talk N Walk App.
Trademarks
All trademarks, service marks, and trade names used herein (collectively "Marks") are trademarks or registered trademarks of Nature Play WA, or our affiliates, partners, vendors, or licensors. You may not use, copy, reproduce, republish, upload, post, transmit, distribute, or modify the Marks in any way without our prior written consent.
Software
We are providing the Software to you pursuant to the following terms. We grant you a non-exclusive, nontransferable, limited license to use the Software solely in conjunction with the operation of the Talk N Walk App. Except as specifically provided herein, You may not, in whole or in part: (a) copy the Software, (b) distribute copies of the Software, in whole or in part, to any third party; (c) modify, adapt, translate, reverse engineer, make alterations, decompile, disassemble or make derivative works based on the Software, except as otherwise permitted by law; (d) use, rent, loan, sub-license, lease, distribute or attempt to grant other rights to the Software to third parties; or (e) use the Software to act as a service bureau or application service provider, or to permit access to the Software by any third party.
Accuracy of Information
We attempt to ensure that information on the Talk N Walk App is complete, accurate, and current. Despite our efforts, the information on the Talk N Walk App may occasionally be inaccurate, incomplete, or out of date. We make no representation as to the completeness, accuracy, or currency of any information on the Talk N Walk App. You acknowledge that we have no duty or obligation to maintain the accuracy of, or update any such information, and agree that your reliance on any such information is at your own risk.
Your Conduct
You agree to comply with all laws, rules, and regulations applicable to your access to and use of the Talk N Walk App. In addition, you agree not to:
- take any action that interferes with the proper working of the Talk N Walk App, compromises the security of the Talk N Walk App, or otherwise damages the Talk N Walk App or any materials or information available through the Talk N Walk App;
- attempt to gain unauthorised access to any portion or feature of the Talk N Walk App, to any other systems or networks connected to the Talk N Walk App, to any of our or our service providers’ servers, or to any of the services offered on or through the Talk N Walk App, including but not limited to by hacking or any other unauthorised means;
- probe, scan, or test the vulnerability of the Talk N Walk App or any network connected to the Talk N Walk App or bypass the authentication measures on the Talk N Walk App or any network connected to the Talk N Walk App;
- use any automated means to collect information or Content from or otherwise access the Talk N Walk App, including, but not limited to, through the use of technical tools known as robots, spiders, or scrapers, without our prior permission;
- install any software, file, or code that is not authorised by the user of a computer or device or that assumes control of all or any part of the processing performed by a computer or device without the authorization of the user of the computer or device; or
- interfere with or disrupt the operation of the Talk N Walk App or server networks connected to the Talk N Walk App, or disobey any requirements, procedures, policies, or regulations of networks connected to the Talk N Walk App.
Links to websites and online services owned or controlled by third parties
For your convenience, the Talk N Walk App and/or website may contain links to or at times redirect you to websites and/or online services owned or controlled by third parties. These websites and online services are not under our control, and you acknowledge and agree that we are not responsible or liable for the accuracy; collection, use, or disclosure of information; copyright compliance; legality; decency; or any other aspect of such websites and online services including their operation, or the content displayed on or through them. The inclusion of such a link on the Talk N Walk App and/or website does not imply our endorsement of any such website or online service, the content displayed on or through it, or any association with its operators, and you agree not to hold us responsible for any harm that may arise based on your access to or use of any linked website or online service.
Operation of the Talk N Walk app
We reserve the right to do any of the following, at any time, at our sole discretion, with or without notice:
(i) modify or change the Talk N Walk App, or any portion of the Talk N Walk App; and
(ii) interrupt the regular operation of the Talk N Walk App, or any portion of the Talk N Walk App, as necessary to perform routine or non-routine maintenance, to correct errors, or to make other changes to the Talk N Walk App.
Force Majeure
Neither we nor you shall be responsible for damages or for delays or failures in performance resulting from acts or occurrences beyond their reasonable control, including, without limitation: fire, lightning, explosion, power surge or failure, water, acts of God, war, revolution, civil commotion, or acts of civil or military authorities or public enemies; any law, order, regulation, ordinance, or requirement of any government or legal body or any representative of any such government or legal body; labor unrest, including without limitation, strikes, slowdowns, picketing, or boycotts; or inability to secure raw materials, transportation facilities, fuel or energy shortages, or acts or omissions of other common carriers.
Disclaimer
This disclaimer (“Disclaimer”) applies to your free use of the Talk N Walk App. Except as prohibited by applicable law, the information, materials and services provided on or through the Talk N Walk App are provided “as is” without any warranties of any kind including warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or non-infringement of intellectual property. Except as prohibited by applicable law, Nature Play WA, nor any of our respective affiliates:
(i) warrants the accuracy or completeness of the information, materials or services provided on or through the Talk N Walk App or
(ii) makes any commitments or assumes any duty to update such information, materials or services. Nature Play WA, nor any of our respective affiliates, warrants that the functions contained in the Talk N Walk App will be uninterrupted or error-free, that defects will be corrected, or that the server that makes the content available will be free of viruses or other harmful components.
Indemnification
Except as prohibited by applicable law, you agree to defend, indemnify, and hold us, our affiliates, subsidiaries, joint ventures, third-party service providers, and our respective employees, contractors, agents, officers, and directors harmless from all liabilities, claims, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees) that arise out of or are related to your violation of these Terms of Use, your use or misuse of the Talk N Walk App, or your violation of any third-party rights.
Release
In the event that you have a dispute with one or more other users of the Talk N Walk App, you release Nature Play WA (and their officers, directors, agents, subsidiaries, joint ventures and employees) from claims, demands, and damages (actual and consequential) of every kind and nature, known and unknown, suspected and unsuspected, disclosed and undisclosed, arising out of or in any way connected with such disputes.
Dispute Resolution - Arbitration, Jury Trial Waiver
Neither you nor we will be able to sue in court in connection with a dispute. All disputes must be resolved through individual (non-class) arbitration. You indicate your acceptance to these Terms of Use, including this agreement to arbitrate, by continuing to use the Talk N Walk App after having the opportunity to review these Terms of Use. Instead of suing in court, we each agree to settle disputes only by arbitration. The rules in arbitration are different. There’s no judge or jury, and review is limited, but an arbitrator can award the same damages and relief, and must honour the same limitations stated in the agreement as a court would.
Equitable Relief
You acknowledge that any breach or threatened breach of these Terms of Use will result in irreparable harm for which damages would not be an adequate remedy, and, therefore, in addition to our rights and remedies otherwise available at law, we shall be entitled to immediate equitable relief, including injunctive relief, as appropriate. If we seek any equitable remedies, we shall not be precluded or prevented from seeking remedies at law, nor shall we be deemed to have made an election of remedies.
Severability
If any provision of these Terms of Use is held unenforceable or invalid under any applicable law or is so held by an applicable court decision, such unenforceability or invalidity will not render these Terms of Use unenforceable or invalid as a whole, and such provision will be changed and interpreted so as to best accomplish the objectives of such unenforceable or invalid provision within the limits of applicable law or the applicable court decisions.
Waiver
Any waiver by us of a breach of any provision of these Terms of Use shall not operate as or be construed to be a waiver of any other breach of such provision or of any breach of any other provision of these Terms of Use. Any such waiver must be in writing. Failure by us to insist upon strict adherence to any term of these Terms of Use on one or more occasions shall not be considered a waiver or deprive us of the right to insist upon strict adherence to that term or any other term of these Terms of Use in the future.