Privacy Policy

CircleConnect turns a group you are already part of — a society, an alumni batch, a workplace — into a directory of who can do what. This page says exactly what we store, why, and how to get it removed. It covers both the Android app (com.rslabs.circleconnect) and the website.

What we collect

• Your phone number. Used only to verify that you are a real person and to sign you in. Verification is handled by Google Firebase Authentication, which sends the SMS.
• Your name, and how people know you (for example a flat number or “Priya's dad”) — so members of your circle can recognise you.
• What you choose to add to your profile: your profession, a short description, tags, and — if you offer a service — a business name, what you offer and years of experience. All of this is optional except your name.
• A profile photo, only if you add one.
• What you post in a circle — asks, things for sale, and Board posts, including any photos and documents you attach. These are visible to the members of that circle. A circle's founder can also add a photo for the circle itself.
• A notification token for your device, if you allow notifications in the Android app — so we can tell you when someone asks to join or replies to you. It identifies the app install, not you, and is deleted when it stops working.
• Anonymous usage events — that a step was reached (a link opened, a search performed), tied to a random session identifier, not to your name or number.

Your phone number is never shown to other members

This is the core promise of the product. Other members see your name and whatever you put in your profile — never your number, and never a list of numbers. When someone contacts you, the app opens WhatsApp's own share sheet and they choose the chat themselves.

The one exception is the person who runs CircleConnect — see the next section.

What the person who runs CircleConnect can see

CircleConnect is run by one person, its creator. To keep the service working, the creator has a private admin console — not part of the app, not linked from anywhere, and locked with a secret key. In it the creator can see, for every circle: its members, including people still waiting to be let in; each member's name, phone number and profile; when they joined and who confirmed them; and activity such as asks and posts.

This access is used only to run and support the service:

• to help people who are stuck — for example waiting to be let into a circle;
• to remove circles nobody uses, or that are used to harm or mislead people;
• to find and fix problems with the service;
• occasionally, to message you on WhatsApp about your own use of CircleConnect — for example if you are waiting to join, started a circle nobody has joined yet, or your profile is empty so nobody can find you. These messages are written and sent by hand, never in bulk, and never to advertise anything. If you would rather not get them, just reply and say so, or email the address below.

Your number is never shown to anyone else through the console, and it is never given to anyone outside the service.

What we do NOT do

• We do not sell or rent your data to anyone.
• We do not show advertising, and we do not run advertising trackers.
• We do not read your contacts, messages, location, or files.
• We do not share your data with other companies, except the infrastructure providers below.

Who else processes your data

• Google Firebase Authentication — verifies your phone number and sends the sign-in SMS.
• Google Cloud Platform — hosts the service and the database (region: Mumbai, India). Photos and documents are stored in Google Cloud Storage.
• Google Firebase Cloud Messaging — delivers notifications to the Android app.

These providers process data on our behalf in order to run the service. Nobody else receives it.

Photos and documents are accessible by link

So that they load quickly in the app and on the web, photos and documents are stored at unguessable web addresses that do not require a login. The addresses are not listed anywhere and cannot be browsed, but anyone given a file's exact link could open it. If that matters to you, do not attach it — everything else in the app works without one.

Deleting your data

You can leave any circle from its settings screen; your profile is removed from that circle's directory immediately. To delete your account and every trace of it — including your phone number, all profiles and any photos — email riyazshaikh16in@gmail.com from a message mentioning the number you signed up with. We will delete it within 30 days and confirm when it is done.

The creator may also delete a circle that nobody has joined, or one used to harm or mislead people. Deleting a circle removes it — and its members' profiles and posts there — from CircleConnect.

How long we keep things

Your profile is kept while you are a member of at least one circle. If you delete your account, it is removed. Anonymous usage events are kept in aggregate to understand how the product is used.

Children

CircleConnect is not intended for anyone under 13, and we do not knowingly collect data from them.

Changes

If this policy changes in a way that affects what we collect, we will update the date at the top of this page.

Contact

Questions, or a deletion request: riyazshaikh16in@gmail.com