Colgate

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Colgate

Basic information
Founded	1806
Legal Structure	Public
Industry	Dental
Also known as
Official website	https://colgate.com

Colgate is a dental health company founded in 1806 and primarily sells traditional toothbrushes, toothpaste, mouthwash, and whitening strips. With the Hum line of toothbrushes, they are sold at a cheaper price in return for more expensive toothbrush heads.

Consumer impact summary

• User freedom: Users can submit data requests and delete their account through the Colgate Connect application.
• User privacy: According to the Colgate privacy policy, the data of users is shared with affiliates, such as Kolibree, with this data including first and last name, postal address, telephone number, e-mail address, profile picture, and social media account ID. This data is held for "as long as needed or permitted in light of the purpose(s) for which it was obtained and consistent with applicable law" and can be deleted by e-mailing Colgate and Kolibree individually.
• Market control: In 2020, over 139.37 million people used Colgate toothpaste.
• Dispute resolutions: Colgate's Terms of Use §16, among other legal matters, contains waivers for both class-action and trial by jury. There are no opt-out rights; the user must cancel all accounts and cease using the product.

Incidents

Removal of app features (2024)

In October 2024, users of the "Colgate Connect" (previously "hum") application received pop-up notifications regarding the deprecation of previously existing features, such as "GoPirate!" and "mind your speed". In December, more features were removed such as "test your angles" and "whitening reminders". Around this time, the "hum" brand of toothbrushes were quietly discontinued, with existing users not being aware of where to get new brush heads. Most of the app features did not rely on a constant connection to servers, which made the removal of the app's features all the more confusing to its users.

On April 29, 2026, a pop-up message appeared in the app stating the app will be discontinued on December 11 while stating existing brushes will continue to function without the app. It is also noted in their FAQ post that user data after the shutdown would "either be deleted or anonymized such that any information retained will not be identifiable".

• 
  App from 2021
• 
  Popup for GoPirate! deprecation
• 
  With GoPirate!
• 
  Aftermath of GoPirate! removal
• 
  App update notes
• 
  Popup for Journal deprecation
• 
  Popup for app discontinuation

Products

• Hum (2020)
• Hum Kids (2021)

See also

Link to relevant theme articles or companies with similar incidents.

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