Privacy Policy

1. Information We Collect

Personal Information

When you create an account or use certain features, we may collect:

• Full name
• Mobile number
• Email address
• Profile photo
• Date of birth
• Gender
• Address, area, city, state and country

Location Information

Local Buddy may collect your approximate or precise location, depending on the permissions you provide.

Your location may be used to:

• Display nearby community posts and updates
• Send or receive local messages
• Show nearby alerts and services
• Provide emergency assistance features
• Improve location-based recommendations

You can disable location access through your device settings. Some location-based features may not work after permission is disabled.

Device and Technical Information

• Device model
• Operating system and app version
• Language and regional settings
• IP address
• Device or application identifiers
• Crash reports and performance information

Camera, Photos and Media

With your permission, Local Buddy may access your camera, photos, videos or files for:

• Uploading a profile photo
• Creating community posts
• Sharing chat attachments
• Submitting emergency or incident reports
• Uploading local business or service information

Contacts

Local Buddy may request access to your contacts when you choose to invite friends or find known users. Contact access is optional and requires your permission.

User-Generated Content

We may collect content you submit through the app, including posts, messages, comments, photos, videos, reports, reviews, alerts and business information.

2. How We Use Your Information

We may use your information to:

• Create, verify and manage your account
• Provide nearby and location-based services
• Display local community updates
• Enable chat, posts, alerts and user interactions
• Send service and security notifications
• Respond to support requests
• Detect spam, fraud, abuse and illegal activity
• Improve the app's performance and reliability
• Comply with legal and regulatory requirements

3. Notifications

Local Buddy may send push notifications relating to:

• Nearby alerts
• Emergency notifications
• Community updates
• Messages and comments
• Account and security information
• App and service announcements

You can manage notification permissions through your device settings.

4. User-Generated Content and Public Information

Information you publish in public areas of Local Buddy may be visible to other users. This may include your display name, profile photo, posts, comments, photos, business details and approximate area.

Do not share sensitive personal information such as passwords, banking details, identity documents or private addresses in public posts.

You are responsible for the content you upload or publish through Local Buddy.

5. Sharing of Information

We do not sell or rent your personal information.

We may share information:

• When you provide consent
• With trusted service providers operating the app
• To comply with laws, regulations or legal requests
• To protect users, public safety and our legal rights
• To investigate fraud, abuse or security incidents
• During a merger, acquisition, restructuring or transfer of business assets

6. Third-Party Services

Local Buddy may use third-party services such as:

• Google Play Services
• Firebase Authentication
• Firebase Cloud Messaging
• Firebase Analytics
• Firebase Crashlytics
• Google Maps Platform
• Cloud hosting providers
• Payment service providers, where applicable

These providers may process information according to their own privacy policies.

7. Data Security

We use reasonable administrative, technical and organizational safeguards to protect your information. These may include:

• Encrypted HTTPS communication
• Secure authentication methods
• Restricted administrative access
• Database and server security controls
• Security monitoring and backups

No internet transmission or electronic storage system is completely secure. We therefore cannot guarantee absolute security.

8. Data Retention

We retain personal information only for as long as reasonably necessary to provide the service, comply with legal obligations, resolve disputes and prevent fraud or abuse.

When your account is deleted, associated personal information will be deleted or anonymized within a reasonable period, unless retention is required by law.

9. Account Deletion

You may request deletion of your Local Buddy account and associated personal information through the account settings available in the app or by contacting us.

Certain information may be retained where necessary for legal, security, fraud-prevention or dispute-resolution purposes.

10. Children's Privacy

Local Buddy is not intended for children under 13 years of age, or under the minimum age required by applicable local law.

We do not knowingly collect personal information from children without appropriate authorization. If we discover that such information has been collected, we will take reasonable steps to delete it.

11. Your Rights and Choices

Depending on applicable law, you may have the right to:

• Access your personal information
• Correct inaccurate information
• Delete your account and data
• Withdraw consent
• Restrict certain data processing
• Request a copy of your information
• Disable location, camera or notification permissions

Device permissions can be managed through your phone's application settings.

12. Community Safety

Users must not use Local Buddy to:

• Post illegal, harmful or abusive content
• Harass, threaten or impersonate another person
• Share false emergency information
• Publish spam or fraudulent content
• Violate another person's privacy
• Infringe intellectual property rights

We may remove content or suspend accounts that violate our policies or applicable laws.

13. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy periodically. Any updated version will be published on this page with a revised effective date.

We may also notify users of significant changes through the app, email or push notifications.

14. Contact Us