What happens to your data when the app you use gets sold
When an app is sold, merged or goes bankrupt, its customer data normally transfers to the buyer, and Canadian law allows that without asking you again. Several buzzer apps say so outright in their privacy policies. BuzzMeBro’s policy goes the other way: your data is deleted before any sale, so a buyer never gets it.
Most people judge an app by who runs it today. That is the wrong test for anything you plan to keep for years. Small apps get bought, merged and shut down all the time, and the people who made you a promise are often not the people holding your data three years later.
Your data is on the list of things being sold
When a company is acquired, the buyer gets its assets. For a software business with a few thousand subscribers, the customer records are usually the most valuable asset there is. The same is true in a bankruptcy, where a court’s job is to raise as much money as possible for the people the company owes.
This has been tested in public more than once.
- Toysmart, 2000. The toy retailer’s policy said customer information would never be shared with third parties. When it failed, it tried to sell its customer database with everything else. The US Federal Trade Commission had to step in.
- RadioShack, 2015. Customer names, addresses and purchase histories were put up for auction in bankruptcy, despite promises not to sell that information.
- WhatsApp, 2014 to 2016. When Facebook bought it, WhatsApp told users the partnership would not compromise the vision it was built on. Two years later it began linking phone numbers with Facebook. The European Commission later fined Facebook €110 million for misleading statements during the merger review.
- 23andMe, 2025. The genetic testing company filed for bankruptcy and the DNA data of more than 15 million customers went to auction. More than two dozen US states sued over the sale.
None of those companies set out to hand their customers to a stranger. It happened because the company changed hands and the promise did not travel with it.
What Canadian law allows
Canada’s federal privacy law, PIPEDA, has a section written for exactly this. Section 7.2 says that once a business transaction is completed, the parties may use and disclose personal information “without the knowledge or consent of the individual”, provided three things are true.
- The buyer agrees to use the information only for the purposes it was collected for.
- The information is needed to carry on the business.
- Somebody tells you within a reasonable time after the deal is done.
So the law gives you some protection, and it is worth having. Notice two limits, though. You are told afterwards, not before. And “the purposes it was collected for” are whatever the old privacy policy said they were. A loose policy stays loose in the new owner’s hands.
What buzzer apps say about being sold
A buzzer service holds an unusually complete picture of a household, so this clause matters more here than in most apps. These are the services’ own words, read on 30 September 2026.
| Service | What its policy says happens in a sale |
|---|---|
| BuzzMeBro | Your personal information is deleted before any sale or merger completes. A buyer never gets it. You are told at least 30 days ahead. |
| FreshBuzzer | Says “user information would be one of the assets that is transferred or acquired by a third party”, and that the acquirer “may continue to use your Personal Information”. |
| Ringo | Says “user information would be one of the assets that is transferred or acquired by a third party.” |
| Enterkey | Says “we would include data among the assets transferred to any parties who acquire us.” |
| Buzmi | Says “your information may be transferred as part of that transaction. We’ll take reasonable steps to ensure it remains protected.” |
| Buzzly | Says “your Personal Data may be transferred as part of that transaction. This Privacy Policy will continue to apply to your Personal Data after any such transfer.” |
| Condo Buzzer | Says “your information may be transferred. We’ll notify you before this happens.” |
These are ordinary clauses, and some are better than others. Condo Buzzer commits to telling you first. Buzzly says its policy keeps applying. None of them says the buyer is bound not to sell your data, and every one of them lets your data go to the new owner. The full comparison links every policy.
The clause to look for
Open any privacy policy and search for “acquired”, “merger”, “assets” and “bankruptcy”. Here is the five-minute method. A clause that protects you answers three questions.
- Does your data go to the buyer at all? The strongest answer is no: it is deleted before the sale.
- If it does go, is the buyer bound? “May continue to use your information as set forth in this policy” only helps if the policy itself forbids selling.
- Are you told before or after? After is what the law requires. Before is what lets you act.
What BuzzMeBro wrote down
BuzzMeBro is a small Toronto company, and small companies do get bought. So the privacy policy deals with it directly instead of leaving it to whoever comes next.
- If BuzzMeBro is ever bought, merged or closed, every customer’s personal information is deleted before the deal completes: phone numbers, addresses and the door log.
- A buyer gets the name and the software, and none of your data.
- You are told at least 30 days ahead, because your buzzer number stops working when that happens.
- That section is permanent. BuzzMeBro will not weaken it, remove it or add exceptions to it.
That is what $9.99 a month pays for beyond the door opening: BuzzMeBro is funded by the subscription alone, so there was never a reason to keep the other option open.
Questions people ask
Can a company sell my data if it goes bankrupt in Canada?
Customer records can transfer as part of a sale of the business, and PIPEDA allows that without new consent when its conditions are met. What limits the buyer is the privacy policy the data was collected under, which is why the wording of that policy matters so much.
Does a privacy policy still apply after an acquisition?
Usually the buyer takes over the data under the old policy and can then change the policy going forward. BuzzMeBro’s policy avoids the question: customer data is deleted before a sale, so there is nothing for a new owner to change the rules on.
Will I be told if an app I use is sold?
Canadian law requires notice within a reasonable time after the deal closes. It does not require notice before. BuzzMeBro’s policy commits to at least 30 days’ notice before a sale, and deletes your data before it completes.
What happens to my data if BuzzMeBro is sold?
BuzzMeBro’s privacy policy says your data is deleted before any sale completes, so a buyer never gets it. You are told at least 30 days ahead, and that commitment is permanent.