Data You Share With Us

Categories of Data

Description and Summary

How We Use It

Account Information

When your account is created, we collect, store and use certain information. Such information may include:

• First and last name
• Email address
• Physical address
• Zip code 
• Gender
• Phone number
• Birth date
• Profile photo

We publicly display the first name and last initial that you provide us, as well as any other information you choose to associate with your account, like your photo or primary location. We may use account information to better personalize your experience, make more relevant recommendations, and for advertising or ad attribution. We also collect, store and use any preferences you choose to provide to personalize your user experience, including dining and activity preferences. You can later add to, or modify some of your account information through your account settings. 

If you have both a consumer and business account, we may associate both accounts to provide you a better user experience, which means we will link the personal information associated with each account. We may also display advertisements tailored to your interests and preferences based on your activity on either linked account. If you believe that someone has created an unauthorized account using your personal information, you can request its removal by reporting it.

Business Information

If you represent a business, we may collect and publicly display relevant information, such as your business name, address, and professional background. 

If you represent a business, we may collect and display information about you related to that business on Yelp, such as a business name that may include your name, or a publicly available business address that is also used as a home address. We will also collect and display information about your professional background that you choose to share with us through the Service, such as information about your professional history or specialties. In certain instances, we may import content from your business website to keep your business information up to date, save you time and to customize recommendations for you.

Public Content

Your contributions to Yelp are intended for public display, such as reviews, photos, videos, and interactions.

Your contributions to the Service are accessible to the public, including your photos, videos, ratings, reviews, posts, lists, bookmarks and collections, compliments, review reactions, and edits you suggest or provide to business pages. Your account profile (e.g., first name, last initial, city, neighborhood, the month and year you created your Yelp account, profile photos and list of friends on Yelp) is also intended for public display, as is some of your activity through the Service, like your reactions to others’ reviews or compliments, which contributions you like, where you check-in (including when friends on Yelp tag you in their own check-ins), which events you RSVP to or attend, contributions or users you follow, and which businesses you follow. When you choose to post content, like a photo or video, Yelp will collect and store the content along with its metadata, like the date, time, and/or location information associated with the content. 

If you transact with a business through the Service and then leave a review for that business, we may publicly display the fact that you transacted with that business in connection with your review. For example, if you make a dining reservation through the Service and later write a review about your dining experience, we may publicly display the fact that you made your reservation through the Service in connection with that review. You can limit the public visibility of some of your public content through your account and account settings.

Contacts

You can invite others to join Yelp by providing their contact information or granting access to your device or third-party contacts.

You can invite others to join or become your friend on Yelp by providing us with their contact information, or by allowing us to access contacts from your device or third-party sites to select which individuals you want to invite. If you allow us to access your contacts, we will transmit information about your contacts to our servers long enough to process your invitations or friend requests.

Communications

When you use the Service, you may receive messages from users, businesses, and Yelp. Yelp may track your interactions with messages, collect and store communications, and share status updates on requests with businesses. 

When you sign up for an account or use certain features, you agree to receive communications from Yelp, businesses, and other users — including messages related to your activity, account, and, where permitted, promotional content. You can manage some of your messaging preferences through your account settings, but note that you cannot opt out of receiving certain administrative, transactional, or legal messages from Yelp. For example, if you make a reservation, order food, place yourself on a waitlist, request a quote, or otherwise contact a business through the Service, we, or the business you are interacting with through Yelp, may contact you through the Service or using any contact information you provide, including via call, direct message, email or SMS. We may monitor or track your actions when you send or receive messages using the Service (e.g., direct messages, quote requests sent to businesses, AI chatbot communications, and similar features), such as whether you opened, deleted, or forwarded such messages, and share that information with other parties to your messages (e.g., to let them know if you have viewed their message). When you request a quote or similar information from one or more businesses through the Service, in addition to the request, we may disclose to those businesses information about the status of your request, such as whether any business has responded to the request, the type of response provided (e.g., whether you received a quote or a request for more information), and whether you responded to any business’s reply. We may also share information you provide through the quote request process to allow the business to respond to your request. If a business elects to share its availability or schedule with users through the Service, that information may be used for the purpose of determining availability and/or scheduling appointments. If you exchange messages with Yelp and/or others through the Service (e.g., direct messages, quote requests sent to businesses, AI chatbot communications, and similar features), we may collect and store them and any data associated with the message in order to process and deliver them and allow you to manage them. We may review and disclose messages and message data in connection with investigations related to your use of the Service. We may not deliver messages that we believe are objectionable, such as spam messages, fraudulent solicitations, or requests to post, exchange, modify or remove reviews for compensation. If you make calls or send or receive SMS messages through the Service, we may log phone numbers, phone carriers, and the date and time that any calls or messages were processed. Carrier message and data rates may apply. We may also collect and store information that you provide through communications with us, including from phone calls, SMS, chats, letters, emails and other electronic messages, or in person. Any of our communications with you, including any phone calls or chats, may be monitored and recorded for quality purposes. If you are a representative of a business listed on Yelp, or use a phone number associated now or previously with such a business, we may contact you, including by phone or email, using the contact information you provide us, make or made publicly available, or that we have on record for the business. 

Transactions

When you transact on Yelp, we collect and store relevant details to process the transaction, send updates, and facilitate future transactions. We may share this information with third parties as needed and use anonymized data for analytics and Service improvements. At your request or direction, we may share additional information with third parties with whom you are transacting. 

If you transact through the Service, such as making a reservation, joining a waitlist, making an appointment, or making a purchase, we will collect and store information you provide associated with your transaction, such as your name, phone number, address, email, and payment information, as well as any other information you provide relating to the transaction or request, in order to process your transaction, send you communications related to the transaction, and to facilitate future transactions. We may also use aggregated or anonymized information regarding those transactions for analytics purposes and to improve the Service. At your request or direction, this information may also be shared with third parties as necessary to process your transaction (e.g., sharing your phone number or address with a business in connection with quote requests), and third parties may share such information with us, for those purposes. For example, when you make a dining reservation, we will share your contact information and reservation details with the restaurant in order to process your request.

Sensitive Personal Information

You may choose to allow Yelp to collect certain sensitive personal information, like precise geolocation, to enhance the Services, personalization, and ads. 

You may choose to allow Yelp to collect and store certain sensitive personal information about you (e.g., precise geolocation). If you have allowed Yelp to access your precise geolocation through your device settings, we may use that information to provide our Services, personalize your experience, make more relevant recommendations, and for advertising or ad attribution, including to recognize your visits to a business. 

You may also choose to share other sensitive personal information through the content that you share on Yelp (e.g., leaving a review or sending a communication). You may be able to limit or disallow our collection, use or sharing of location data by adjusting the settings for our applications in browser, iOS or Android settings. You can remove your contributed content that may include sensitive personal information through your account and account settings. More information on managing your sensitive personal information is available here.

Data We Collect From Your Use of Our Service

Categories of Data

Description and
Summary

How We Use It

Activity 

Yelp may collect and store data about your activity, device, and location when using the Service. This includes, for example, your searches, page views, transactions, and device details like IP address and mobile carrier. We may use your activity to better personalize your experience—such as suggesting relevant results or default locations. If enabled, Yelp may also collect location data when our mobile app runs in the background.

We collect and store information about your use of the Service, such as your search activity, the pages you view, the date and time of certain visits, businesses you contact using our mobile applications, and reservations, purchases, or other transactions you make through the Service. We also collect and store information that your device may provide to us in connection with your use of the Service, such as your browser type, type of device, browser language, IP address, WiFi information such as SSID, mobile carrier, phone number, unique device identifier, advertising identifier, location (including geolocation, beacon based location, and GPS location), and requested and referring URLs and mobile applications. 

We may use your Service activity to personalize the Service, including to determine default locations and/or to suggest relevant search results, and to personalize ads and for ad attribution. You can limit or disallow our use of location data through your device or browser settings; for example you may be able to limit or disallow our collection, use or sharing of location data or mobile advertising identifiers by adjusting the settings for our applications in iOS or Android settings. We may also collect and store your location whenever our mobile applications are running, including when running in the background, if you enable our mobile apps to access such information. 

Device Information

Yelp collects data across devices and platforms, combining information for a seamless Yelp experience. 

You may access the Service through different devices (e.g., your mobile phone or computer) and different platforms (e.g., through the Yelp website or mobile apps). The information that we collect and store through those different devices and platforms may be cross-referenced and combined, and your contributions will typically be similarly visible and accessible through all Yelp platforms.

Mobile Identifiers, Cookies and Tracking Technologies

Yelp may use your device’s mobile advertising identifier to show relevant ads and measure performance. In addition, Yelp and its third-party providers may use cookies and similar tracking technologies to collect data to personalize your experience, for Service functionality, security, ads, and analytics. 

When you use the Service and if enabled on your mobile device, we may collect and use your device’s advertising identifier, such as Apple’s Identifier for Advertisers (“IDFA”) or Google’s Advertising ID (“GAID”). We use these identifiers to deliver more relevant ads, measure ad performance, and to better understand how users interact with our app. You can control or limit our use of these identifiers through your device settings. Disabling these settings may reduce the relevance of ads you see but won’t eliminate advertising altogether.

In addition, Yelp, and its third-party service providers, may use cookies, web beacons, tags, scripts, SDKs, and other tracking technologies (together, “Cookies”) in connection with your access to and use of the Service and third-party platforms or sites. While we control the Cookies that are integrated into our Service, we do not control Cookies that are set on third-party platforms or sites, even where those cookies track your activity across our Service and third-party platforms or sites. Those parties’ use of Cookies and data is governed by their privacy policies, and not Yelp’s privacy policy. You can manage your cookie preferences through your browser settings or any settings provided by these third-party platforms or sites.

Cookies may contain unique identifiers, and reside, among other places, on your computer or mobile device, in emails we send to you, and on our web pages. Cookies may transmit information about you and your use of the Service, such as your browser type, search preferences, IP address, data relating to ads that have been displayed to you or that you have interacted with, and the date and time of your use. Cookies may be persistent or stored only during an individual session. You can adjust your Cookie settings at any time by using the button below.

If you use different devices to access the Service, you may need to adjust your Cookies settings separately on each device and browser because these settings may be specific to each device and browser you use.

Yelp uses the following types of Cookies to enhance and personalize your experience: 

• Essential Cookies: These Cookies are necessary for the website to function and for security purposes. They are usually set in response to requests made by you, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in, or filling in online forms.

• Functional Cookies: These Cookies enable Yelp to provide enhanced functionality and personalization, for example, by remembering your food preferences when conducting searches for restaurants.

• Analytics Cookies: These Cookies allow us to understand how visitors use Yelp’s Services, and measure and optimize the Services’ performance.

• Advertising and Marketing Cookies: These Cookies are intended to make advertising more relevant to users and aid in ad attribution. For example, we may use cookies to serve you interest-based ads and to measure the effectiveness of ads. If you do not allow these Cookies, you may experience less personalized advertising, but you will still see ads.

In addition to Cookie settings, you can also set some Cookie preferences through your device or browser settings, but doing so may affect the functionality of the Service. The method for disabling Cookies may vary by device and browser, but can usually be found in your device or browser preferences or security settings. For example, iOS and Android devices each have settings that are designed to limit certain types of ad tracking. 

Data We Collect From Third Parties

Categories of Data

Description and
Summary

How We Use It

Acquired Data

Yelp may obtain information from third parties to better identify and contact business representatives. This data may be combined with other information Yelp receives. 

Yelp may acquire information from third parties, including public sources, enabling us to identify and contact representatives of the businesses displayed through our Services. Such acquired data may be combined with other data Yelp receives from or about these businesses and their representatives, and is used to communicate with them about their business’s presence on Yelp, offer support, share relevant updates or opportunities, and improve the accuracy of Yelp’s business pages.

Yelp’s Role as a Service Provider

Yelp may collect and share your information, like phone numbers and reservation details, with businesses with whom you transact (e.g., for restaurant reservations). Third parties may also share your information with Yelp so Yelp can provide advertising or other services.

In certain instances, Yelp may collect, receive and process certain information about you on behalf of businesses for which Yelp is acting as a service provider. For example, when you make a restaurant reservation or join the waitlist through Yelp, we collect your phone number, email address and reservation details on behalf of the business, and share that information with the business to fulfill your requests. Yelp does not share information collected or received by Yelp outside of its role as a service provider with the business or other third parties unless otherwise disclosed in this Privacy Policy or at your direction. Third parties may also share information about you with Yelp in order for Yelp to provide services to them. For example, Yelp may receive information about you for the purposes of displaying ads, to measure ad performance, or to facilitate links to restaurant loyalty programs or point of sale systems. Third parties’ collection, use and disclosure of your information is subject to such third-party privacy policies and any other relevant third-party terms.

Yelp’s Service Providers 

Yelp works with third-party service providers to support various functions, like payment processing, advertising, and customer support. 

We rely on third-party service providers to support us and/or provide services in connection with your use of the Service, such as for communications, web hosting, security and fraud prevention, technical and customer support, tracking and reporting usage of the Service, quality assurance testing, payment processing, advertising, marketing, and other functions. In the course of providing these services, Yelp’s service providers may collect and share certain types of information with us, such as your name, contact details, transaction information, device and usage data, payment information, and interactions with our Service. Unless otherwise permitted by law, we generally contractually require third-party providers to handle your personal information in accordance with applicable privacy laws and to use it solely to provide use with the services.

Data We Share With Third Parties

Third Parties

Description and
Summary

How We Use It

Affiliates and Business Transfers

Yelp may share your information with its subsidiaries, or other entities under common control.

We may share information from or about you with our subsidiaries, joint ventures, or other companies under common control, and require them to act in accordance with this Privacy Policy. If another company acquires Yelp, or all or substantially all of Yelp’s  assets, that company will possess the same information, and will collect, use, and disclose the information only as described in this Privacy Policy.

Advertisers,  Businesses and Other Third-Parties

Yelp may share non-identifiable, de-identified, or aggregated data with advertisers, businesses, and other third-parties for ad attribution and analytics. Businesses can also view public activity, and other information that you otherwise share on Yelp.

Yelp may share non-identifiable, de-identified and/or aggregated information from or about you with advertisers, businesses, and other third-parties in connection with ad programs and data analytics. For example, we may disclose the number of users that have viewed or interacted with ads, or that we estimate may have visited the physical location of a particular business. 

We may also share information from or about you (such as your city, and if you provide it, your age and gender), your device type, and your use of the Service (such as which businesses you bookmark or call, or if you visit a business’s URL) with businesses on Yelp. You may adjust your account settings to modify the amount of information we share. Keep in mind that businesses can also view your public activity and posts, and may receive information from or about you when you transact or communicate with them, through Yelp or otherwise, regardless of your account settings. See Section 3 (Data You Share With Us – Transactions). 

If you make a phone call to a business through or in connection with your use of the Service, we may share information about your call with the business that the business would have received had you called them directly, such as the date and time of your call and your phone number. You may be able to limit our ability to collect and share your phone number through your phone settings or phone service provider. Further, if you otherwise communicate or transact with a business on Yelp, we will also share the information necessary to process your request, or that you otherwise direct us to share with the business (e.g., your phone number or address in connection with quote requests). See Section 3 (Data You Share with Us – Transactions). 

Content & Data Partners

Yelp may allow third-party partners to use certain publicly available content.

We may allow third-party partners to use certain content on Yelp, such as by reproducing, adapting, distributing, performing and displaying, some of the publicly available content on the Service, such as your photos, reviews, and other information listed in Section 3 (Data You Share With Us – Public Content).

Service Providers

Yelp may share information with our third-party service providers to perform services or fulfill your requests. Personal information shared with Yelp’s service providers is generally used only on Yelp’s behalf and according to Yelp’s instructions.

We may share information from or about you with our third-party service providers so that they can perform services on Yelp’s behalf and/or complete your requests. For example, we may share your advertising identifiers (e.g., IDFA or GAID), a cryptographic hash of your email address, phone number or IP address with third-party service providers that help us facilitate Yelp’s advertising programs and measure and report their effectiveness, including with third parties that help determine the efficacy of Yelp’s advertising programs by combining information they receive about you from other sources. Yelp shares personal information with its service providers subject to contractual obligations consistent with this Privacy Policy, and on the condition that personal information is only used on Yelp’s behalf and pursuant to Yelp’s instructions. Yelp’s third-party service providers may likewise share information with us that they may obtain from or about you on Yelp’s behalf in connection with providing their services to Yelp and/or completing your requests. See Section 5 (Data We Collect From Third Parties – Yelp’s Service Providers). 

Third-Party Platforms

Yelp may link to third-party websites, but won’t share your personal information with them unless directed by you. If you sign up or log in through third-party platforms like Google or Apple, Yelp may receive information about you from them. If you post content to a third-party platform or interact with businesses, that content or information may be shared with those platforms or businesses.

The Service may link to third-party controlled websites, like a business’s website. Except as set forth in this Privacy Policy (for example, data shared with third-party service providers as described above), we do not share your personal information with third-party platforms unless you direct us to do so. Yelp is not responsible for third-party privacy practices. If you sign up or log into Yelp using a third-party platform like Google or Apple, or link your Yelp account with a third-party platform, we may receive information about you from such third-party platforms. If you post content to a third-party platform through the Service, that third-party platform will also receive that content, which will be visible to anyone that has access to it through that third-party platform. Some of our web pages use framing techniques to serve content to you from third-party platforms, while preserving the look and feel of the Service. In such cases, please note that the information you provide may be transmitted directly to the identified third party. If you interact with businesses through Yelp, they will receive whatever information you choose to share with them, for example contact information you share through quote requests or direct messages to the business, or your phone number if you call the business. Yelp may share information with third parties when you direct Yelp to do so through the Service.

Investigations and Legal Disclosures

Yelp may investigate and disclose your information if required by law, to prevent wrongdoing, or to protect our rights and those of our users.

We may investigate and disclose information from or about you if we have a good faith belief that such investigation or disclosure: (a) is reasonably necessary to comply with legal or law enforcement processes, such as a search warrant, subpoena, statute, judicial proceeding, or other legal process or law enforcement request; (b) is helpful to prevent, investigate, or identify possible wrongdoing in connection with the Service; or (c) protects our rights, reputation, property, or that of our users, affiliates, or the public, such as disclosures in connection with Yelp’s Consumer Alerts program. If you flag or otherwise complain to us about content through the Service, we may share the substance of your complaint with the contributor of that content in order to provide an opportunity for the contributor to respond.