Effective Date: This Privacy Policy was revised and is effective as of February 1, 2023.
This Privacy Policy applies to the “Sony | Headphones Connect” (“Headphones Connect”) and “Sony | 360 Spatial Sound Personalizer” (“360 Spatial Sound Personalizer”) applications(collectively, the “Application(s)”). This Privacy Policy explains our collection, use, sharing and other practices regarding your data when you use each Application. Headphones Connect is a mobile application dedicated to wireless headphones from SONY, and it allows you to customize the sound from your headphones according to your preference.
360 Spatial Sound Personalizer is a mobile application that allows you to enjoy personalized 360 Reality Audio settings on compatible Sony products by using the camera of your mobile device.
In this Privacy Policy, we use “SONY,” "we," "us," and "our" to refer to Sony Corporation. “SONY Affiliates” shall mean Sony Group Corporation, which is the ultimate parent company of SONY and any legal entities controlled by Sony Group Corporation. The term “control” in this context means the direct or indirect ownership of at least fifty percent (50%) of the voting interest in such corporation or the power in fact to control the management decisions of such entity. This Privacy Policy only applies to the Applications and is in addition to any other privacy policy that may apply to your interactions with SONY and SONY Affiliates or any third party, regarding their product, software or service.
SONY collects and uses information or data as described below when you use the Application. Some of this information may be considered personal information under applicable law in your jurisdiction (collectively, the “Collected Data”).
If you decide to activate certain services, such as the Backup and Restoration of Settings service described in section 3. (A) (i) , you will be required to create a Sony’s cloud service account for Home Entertainment & Sound Products (“SHES Account”).
In order to create an SHES Account, you will first need to provide sign in authentication via either (1) a Sony account (SHES Cloud service) or (2) an authentication by Google LLC. (“Google”), Facebook, Inc., Amazon.com, Inc. or Apple, Inc. (“Apple”) (collectively referred to as “ID provider”).
If you choose to create or use a Sony account (SHES Cloud service) for authentication when you create a SHES Account, SONY will collect the following:
We also collect collects account access information and other information on how you use your account.
Once you have successfully signed into your Sony account (SHES Cloud service), your mobile device will receive a digital ‘access token’ from this Sony account (SHES Cloud service). Please be aware that some Sony accounts for other Sony group services will be linked automatically if you use the same sign-in ID and password. For more information about linking accounts, please go: https://acm.account.sony.com/linking-account
For password management and authentication, you can also register a security question and answer and telephone number at the Sony account (SHES Cloud service) security setting page. This Collected Data is not used for any other purpose.
If you choose to use an ID provider authentication when you create a SHES Account, SONY will collect the following:
Please note that the information we collect from and through an ID provider may depend on the privacy settings you have set with the ID provider and the permissions you grant to us in connection with linking your SHES Account to your account with an ID provider. We do not share any Collected Data with the ID provider, and the personal information an ID provider has about you is obtained by the ID provider independent of our service, and Sony is not responsible for it.
For more information how relevant ID provider handles the processing of your data, please visit the following websites:
After you have completed sign-in authentication, you will create your SHES Account according to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy for [Sony’s cloud service account for Home Entertainment & Sound Products] (“Privacy Policy of SHES Account”). When you create the SHES account, we will assign identifiers, issue tokens and collect the following information you provide:
Please note that you may create separate SHES Accounts for each email address you choose to use.
If you would like to know more about the processing of information, please refer to the SHES Account Privacy Policy.
From time to time, SONY may ask you whether you would like to participate in one of our surveys. We may ask for information, such as your interests and preferences with regard to current and future products and services on the market.
You can decide not to participate in the survey by closing the browser or tabs of the survey at any point during the survey.
SONY uses third party services to provide some of the functions of Headphone Connect, and collects the following information through those services:
[If your Installed Device is an Android based device]
[If your Installed Device is an iOS based device]
In order to provide you the Backup and Restoration of Settings service of Headphones Connect, and personalized 360 Reality Audio settings service of 360 Spatial Sound Personalizer, we will collect and store settings of the Related Device (defined below) according to the Application (“Related Device Settings Data”) and link this information with your respective SHES Account. Please note that if you set up more than one SHES Account, each SHES Account may contain separate Related Device Settings Data.
Related Device Settings Data includes following information.
SONY uses your Collected Data for the following purposes:
SONY processes none of the Collected Data to provide or operate the minimum functions of the Headphones Connect. These basic happen on the Installed Device´s operating system. For this, no Collected Data is transferred to SONY.
In the event you voluntarily activate this functionality in the Headphones Connect, the Headphones Connect provides a backup and restoration of settings service linked with your SHES Account, whereby the Related Device Settings Data is uploaded to and stored on our servers (“Backup and Restoration of Settings”). This enables you to backup and restore your Related Device Settings Data when you change your Installed Device by installing Headphones Connect on a new device and or re-installation of the Application and signing in to the same SHES Account.
If you would like to delete the Related Device Settings Data, you can go to [3 dots) Menu] > [Backup and restoration of settings and records] > [Delete the backup and sign out].
Each time you start Headphones Connect on your Installed Device, Headphones Connect sends a “request” to SONY's server to check whether any updates for Headphones Connect or the firmware of the Related Device are available and to send latest software or firmware in case any update should be available. For this, we only use your IP address.
If Help is requested by you, certain technical information about the Installed Device, about Headphones Connect and about the Related Device are transferred to SONY in order to provide service to you through the Help feature. This transfer of data enables SONY to provide you with “customized” Help webpages for Headphones Connect and the specific technical issue you experience.
If you activate an Activity function, Headphones Connect will provide you Activity tracking function based on your activity log with your Related Device.
If you would like to delete information regarding your “Activity“ on Installed Device, you can go to [Activity] > [3 dots) Menu] > [Activity Settings] > [Initialize Activity].
SONY uses the Collected Data (except data collected solely for backup and restoration service) to improve and develop SONY´s current and future products and services where you agree to “Data use for marketing and product/service improvement purpose”. Product improvement and/or development includes those relating improvements of the technical functions of the Related Device and the usability SONY´s products and services.
SONY may use Collected Data to ask you whether you would like to participate in one of our surveys for this purpose. You can decide not to participate in the survey by closing the browser or tabs of the survey at any point during the survey.
You can withdraw consent at any time ([(3 dots) Menu] > [About this app] > [Privacy settings]).
If you agree to “Data use for marketing and product/service improvement purpose”, SONY shares Collected Data (except data collected solely for backup and restoration service and customer demographic/attribute information obtained through Firebase) with Sony Marketing Inc., which sells and supplies SONY Affiliates products and services in Japan. Sony Marketing Inc. uses Collected Data to provide advertisements or information (including that personalized to you using information owned by Sony Marketing Inc.) regarding products and services of SONY Affiliates that may be of interest to you. In order to provide the above advertising or information, Sony Marketing Inc. may supply the Collected Data necessary for this purpose to advertising platform operators. The corresponding advertising platform operators are as listed below. All operators listed are American operators.
You can withdraw consent at any time ([(3 dots) Menu] > [About this app] > [Privacy settings]).
SONY processes none of the Collected Data to provide or operate the minimum functions of the 360 Spatial Sound Personalizer. These activities happen on the Installed Device´s operating system. For this, no Collected Data is transferred to SONY.
If you accept the [Terms of Use] of SHES Account, the Spatial Sound Personalizer provides a personalized 360 Reality Audio settings service linked with your SHES Account, whereby the Related Device Settings Data are uploaded to and stored on our servers.
The Collected Data may be made available to SONY Affiliates and to other third parties, as follows:
SONY may use Collected Data with SONY Affiliates. SONY will take the appropriate security management measures for the above usage of shared information under the Information Security Policy for all SONY Affiliates.
SONY or SONY Affiliates with which Collected Data is shared supply the Collected Data to foreign advertising platform operators as necessary for the purpose described under “Provision of advertising and information”. For details, please refer to 3.(A)(vii) “Provision of advertising and sharing the Collected Data.
SONY and SONY Affiliates may use third party service providers to process and analyze the Collected Data on their behalf for the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy. Such third parties include, but are not limited to, IT service providers and data hosting providers such as Amazon Web Services in the US. We may also disclose the Collected Data to third party analytics services, such as Google’s Google Analytics.
Headphones Connect uses Firebase Cloud Messaging, a service provided by Google for Android user, and Apple Push Notifications service, a service provided by Apple for iOS user, in order to provide you push notice function. To better understand how Google and Apple use the information it receives, visit:
Google, https://policies.google.com/privacy
Apple, https://www.apple.com/legal/privacy/en-ww/
In the event that SONY or a SONY Affiliate sells or transfers a portion or all of its business, the Collected Data may be transferred by SONY or such SONY Affiliate to the purchasing or acquiring entity as part of the transaction, including any due diligence process connected to the sale or transfer.
Collected Data may be disclosed to government authorities and/or law enforcement officials if required by the applicable laws.
We may disclose Collected Data to auditors or similar external consultants like lawyers or tax advisors, to defend and exercise our legal rights (e.g. enforcing compliance with the terms of use) and as we believe necessary to comply with our legal obligations.
SONY will keep the Collected Data for as long as it is necessary for the relationship with you and the purposes detailed in Section 3 or otherwise permitted or required under applicable law.
SONY may retain Collected Data for an appropriate period to protect ourselves from legal claims, to administer our business, or to the extent permitted by applicable law, which may require us to hold the relevant Collected Data for specific periods.
Where SONY no longer requires the Collected Data, it will be destroyed or de-identified in line with internal SONY information security policies.
The Collected Data may be processed, stored and transferred to the United States for the purposes described in “3. How does SONY use the Collected Data?”. By using the Application, or providing us with any information, you fully understand and consent to this transfer, processing and storage of your information in the third parties in the United States described in “4. Who else has access to the Collected Data?”. Please refer to here (in Japanese) for the overview of personal information-related regulations in the United States.
Sony applies Sony group companies policies provided in accordance with industrial standards and best practice as represented in the standards in the 27001 families set forth by International Organization for Standardization and NIST's Special Publication (SP) 800 series to put strict security measures in place for personal information collected and retained by Sony. These measures include implementation and periodical review of organizational information security management, regular training for staffs, periodical review of information assets, implementation of physical security measures (e.g., monitoring of staff entry and exit, device monitoring), encryption of messages, strict access control, regular maintenance of vulnerability in information system. If Sony engages a third party for a part of processing activities of personal information collected and retained by Sony (including a third party engaged by such third party), Sony outsources processing of personal information only after confirming that necessary and appropriate measures for information security management are in place by the third parties.
Sony also expresses basic polices about handling of personal information in our domestic Sony group and common privacy policy (https://www.sony.com/en/privacy/).
SONY is committed to complying with all applicable laws and regulations regarding the collection, storage and use of the Collected Data concerning children, including the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act in the United States. The Application(s) are intended for a general audience; the Application(s) are not directed to and do not knowingly collect personal information from children younger than the age of 16. Depending on your country/region of residence, this threshold age for a child may differ. If you are a parent or guardian and are concerned that your child has provided SONY with personal information (as defined by applicable law), you should contact us as indicated below.
you have certain rights to request a copy, corrects, amends or deletes the Collected Data SONY holds. These may include the right to ask us to provide some types of the Collected Data to you, or another organization nominated by you, in a structured and machine-readable format. In addition, you can object to the processing of the Collected Data in some circumstances (in particular, where we don’t have to process the data to meet a contractual or other legal requirement). If you would like to exercise any of these rights, please contact SONY at: https://www.sony.co.jp/privacy-policy/application.html.
SONY reserves the right to make changes to this Privacy Policy and will notify you of any changes by prominently posting notice of the amendment on or within the Application(s). We may also provide notice to you in other ways, such as through contact information you have provided. You are advised to consult the posted Privacy Policy regularly for any changes.
Your continued use of the Application(s) after the posted effective date will constitute acceptance of, and agreement to be bound by those changes to the extent allowed by law.
If you have any questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy, or if you wish to exercise any legal right you may have in respect of the Collected Data, please contact us at: http://www.sony.jp/support/