Privacy Policy
Last updated: July 2026
StarReview (“we”, “us”) operates the platform starreview.ch. Protecting your data is important to us. This privacy policy explains what data we collect, how we use it, and what rights you have.
Optional review photo processing
If you purchase a photo-processing add-on, we additionally process up to two Google review photos or photo URLs per review, short technical metadata, and factual observations derived from them where required for reply suggestions.
This data is used only to create photo-aware reply suggestions and may be sent to our AI provider for that purpose. Processing may take place outside Switzerland or the EEA and relies on the safeguards described in this Privacy Policy. The quality and usefulness of extracted information depends on the individual photo; unclear or unrelated images may be ignored.
Data Controller
StarReview (sole proprietorship)
Fabian Weinhappl
Schönenbergstrasse 10
9543 St. Margarethen, Switzerland
Email: hello@starreview.ch
1. Data We Collect
We collect the following personal data:
- Name and email address (upon registration via Google sign-in)
- Google Business Profile data (location information, reviews, review texts, reviewer name)
- Social reply generator data for the selected business location: pasted review text, optional one-time context, selected platform and listing metadata, saved platform profile context and reply policy notes, generated replies, copied or selected variant metadata, and usage or credit metadata
- Payment information (processed by our payment processor, we do not store credit card data)
- Usage data (login times, features used)
- Customised replies (to improve the response style, “Style Memory”)
- When sending review requests via SMS: phone numbers of your end customers (used solely to send the request you initiated, no marketing)
2. How We Use Your Data
We use your data exclusively for the following purposes:
- Creating personalised replies to your Google reviews
- Creating manual copy-back replies for pasted reviews from other platforms for the selected business location, and showing the related social reply history and credit usage
- Managing your account and subscriptions
- Weekly and monthly summaries via email
- Notifications for negative reviews (1-2 stars)
- Style Memory: when you adjust a reply, the system learns your style for future suggestions in your account
- Improving our services
We do not train external AI models with your data. Your reviews, replies, and Style Memory entries stay in your account and are not used to train or fine-tune third-party AI models.
3. Data Sharing
We do not sell your data or share it with third parties for marketing purposes. The following service providers process data on our behalf:
- Google Business Profile API, to retrieve reviews and publish replies
- AI service provider, review texts are processed to generate reply suggestions, without permanent storage
- Payment processor, for secure payment processing (PCI-DSS compliant)
- Email service provider, for sending notifications
- Hosting, operation of our platform in EU data centres
StarReview's use and transfer of information received from Google APIs adheres to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements. For more details, see our Google API disclosure.
4. Data Retention
Your data is stored as long as your account is active. After account deletion, all personal data is irrevocably deleted within 30 days. Anonymised data may be retained for statistical purposes.
Social reply profiles and pasted social reply history are stored for the selected business location until you delete the history entry manually or the related business location or account is deleted. Pasted social review text is stored as history, not as reusable business knowledge.
5. Cookies and Analytics
StarReview sets as few cookies as possible. For web analytics we use a privacy-friendly tool that sets no cookies and collects no personal data. A session cookie is used solely for sign-in (strictly necessary). If you arrive via a marketing link with campaign parameters (utm), we set one cookie (sr_ft, 90 days) to attribute where your visit came from, but only after you consent in the cookie banner. If you decline, this cookie is not set.
6. Data Processing Location & International Transfer
Your account and review data is stored in EU data centres.
Our AI service provider for reply generation processes review texts in the USA. This international data transfer takes place on the basis of the EU Standard Contractual Clauses (Art. 46(2)(c) GDPR) and equivalent safeguards under the revised Swiss Federal Act on Data Protection (nFADP). Review texts are processed in real time and not permanently stored by the AI provider.
7. Your Rights (nFADP + GDPR)
Under the Swiss Federal Act on Data Protection (nFADP) and the EU GDPR, you have the right to:
- Access your stored data
- Rectify inaccurate data
- Delete your data
- Data portability
- Withdraw your consent
- Restrict processing
- Lodge a complaint with the competent data protection authority, in Switzerland, the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (FDPIC); in EU member states, the relevant national supervisory authority
8. Legal Basis
The processing of your data is based on the Swiss Federal Act on Data Protection (nFADP) of 1 September 2023 and, where applicable, the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
9. Automated Decision-Making
Reply suggestions are generated algorithmically. With automatic publishing enabled, replies are published without renewed manual review in each individual case, but always based on your explicit per-star-rating setting. By default, every reply requires your manual approval. This is not a decision producing legal or similarly significant effects within the meaning of Art. 22 GDPR or Art. 21 nFADP, but the publication of content you have previously authorised per star rating. You can deactivate auto-publishing at any time.