Privacy Policy

Last Updated: 10 October 2026

RideConnect ("we", "us", "our") operates the RideConnect mobile application (the "App"). This Privacy Policy describes how we collect, use, store, and share your information when you use our App.

By using RideConnect, you agree to the terms of this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree, please do not use the App.

1. Information We Collect

1.1 Information You Provide

• Account Information: Your display name (alias), username, phone number, profile photo, cover photo, and emergency contact details (name, phone number).
• Health Information: If you choose to complete your health card, we store your blood group, allergies, medical conditions, medications, organ-donor preference, insurance details, and doctor's contact details. This is sensitive personal data and is provided entirely at your option — the App works without it. It exists so that it can be shown to a responder after a crash.
• Vehicle Information: Vehicle type, name, registration number, and colour, where you choose to provide them.
• Ride Data: Room names, passwords (4-digit PINs), and ride configurations you create or join.
• Ride Chat Messages: Text messages you send in a ride's chat, stored with your name and user ID as part of that ride's shared record. See section 3.3 for how long these are kept.

1.2 Information Collected Automatically

• Location Data: Real-time GPS location while the App is in use or running in the background during an active ride. This is essential for the core ride-sharing and group tracking functionality.
• Device Information: Device identifier (anonymized), device model, operating system version, and app version.
• Usage Data: Ride history, duration, distance traveled, and route polylines.
• Usage Analytics (optional): With your permission, the App uses Google Analytics for Firebase to count how its features are used: which screens are opened, sign-ins, rides created, joined, started and finished (with distance and duration rounded to whole kilometres and minutes), navigation started, crash alerts and how they were answered, emergency alerts sent, and the ride warnings the App shows (for example "No GPS signal" or "Weak signal"). These counts are linked to a random identifier for this installation of the App, together with your device model, operating system and app versions, and an approximate location (city level) that Google derives from your internet connection. They do not include your name, phone number, account identifier, ride codes, place names, GPS positions or messages. The App does not use an advertising identifier, and this data is not used for advertising. Usage analytics is on unless you turn it off in Profile → Preferences → Share usage analytics. Turning it off stops collection on this device and deletes any analytics data not yet sent.

1.3 Voice Chat Data

• Voice Communication: When you use the in-ride voice chat feature, audio is transmitted in real-time to other ride participants. We do not record or store voice communications. Audio is streamed peer-to-peer and is not retained on our servers.

2. How We Use Your Information

We use the information collected for the following purposes:

3. Data Storage and Security

3.1 Storage

• Local Storage: Ride history, user preferences, health card details, and cached data are stored locally on your device in an app-private SQLite database and an app-private preferences store. These are protected by your device's own storage encryption and by Android's app sandbox, which prevents other apps from reading them. We do not apply a separate layer of database encryption.
• Cloud Storage: Your profile, health card, ride history, and safety record are stored in Google Firebase (Firestore, Realtime Database, and Cloud Storage) under your account, so that they can be restored if you reinstall the App or sign in on another device.
• Active Ride Data: While a ride is running, room information, rider locations, and destinations are stored in Google Firebase Realtime Database so that group members can see one another. A ride room stops being joinable 24 hours after creation (extendable once, to 48 hours), after which the App no longer shows it to you. The underlying ride room record is not automatically erased from our servers at that point — see section 3.3.
• Emergency Contacts: Stored locally on your device and in your Firebase user profile. They are shown to you, and are included on the health card that can be shown to a responder. The App does not contact them itself — it sends them no SMS, calls, or notifications.

3.2 Security Measures

• All network communication uses HTTPS/TLS encryption.
• Firebase Security Rules restrict data access to authenticated users, and a ride's live rider locations can only be read by members of that ride.
• Your profile, health card, ride history, and safety record are readable and writable only by your own account.
• Room PINs restrict who can join a ride group. A PIN is a convenience measure, not a security boundary: it is four digits and is checked by the App rather than by our servers.
• You are identified across the App by your Firebase account identifier. This identifier is not derived from your device, but it is not anonymous — it is tied to the phone number or Google account you signed in with.

3.3 Data Retention

• Voice Data: Never stored — transmitted in real time only.
• Live Rider Locations: Your position within a ride is overwritten by each new position and is not kept as a history. Your rider entry in a ride is removed when you delete your account.
• Positions Shown on the Website: The copy used by rideconnect.live (section 4.1) is also overwritten by each update and kept no longer than your ride: it is removed when you finish or leave the ride, or stop sharing. If your phone stops before then (for example, the battery runs out), the last position it sent stays in that copy. The website stops showing it once the ride's time is up, or after 24 hours for a live location link. A live location link left over this way is deleted the next time you open a ride in the App. When you delete your account, the App also deletes your live location link and your entries in the rides you are still in.
• Ride History: Retained on your device and in your account until you delete an individual ride or delete your account.
• Route Data: A completed ride's recorded route is stored as part of that ride's history, and is retained for as long as the ride is.
• Safety Record: Crash and emergency records, including where and when they occurred, are retained with your account until you delete your account. They are kept so that you have a record to show an insurer or a responder.
• Health Card: Retained until you clear the fields or delete your account.
• Ride Rooms: A ride room stops being joinable after its 24-hour window (48 if extended). The room record itself, including its route and its ride log, is not erased from our servers automatically at that point, because a ride is a shared record belonging to everyone who was on it rather than to one participant. A room you created is deleted if you delete your account while you are its only remaining member.
• Ride Chat: Messages you send in a ride's chat are retained as part of that ride's shared record, together with your name and user ID, and are not removed when you delete your account. A ride's chat is a shared, append-only log: it can be read by the other riders who were there, and no participant — including us, through the App — can edit or delete an individual message after it is sent. This is deliberate, so that a ride's record cannot be quietly rewritten afterwards. If you need messages removed, contact us using the details in section 10 and we will assess the request.

4. Data Sharing

We do not sell your personal information. We may share data in the following limited circumstances:

4.1 With Other Ride Participants

• Your display name, approximate avatar, and real-time location are shared with members of ride rooms you join.
• Emergency status and crash alerts are shared with ride group members.
• On our website: while a ride is running, anyone who has the ride's code and its PIN can see, at rideconnect.live/track, each rider's display name, latest position and when it was last updated, whether they have raised an emergency, and the ride's name and destination. No sign-in is needed, so share the code and PIN only with people you trust. When you finish or leave the ride, your position is removed from there.
• Live location links you share: if you choose "Share my live location" during a ride, anyone who opens the link you send can see your display name, latest position and when it was last updated, whether you have raised an emergency, and the ride's name and destination. The link stops working when you stop sharing, finish or leave the ride, or after 24 hours, and your position is then removed from it.

4.2 Emergency Contacts and Health Information

• We do not contact your emergency contacts. The App sends them no SMS, calls, or notifications. Their details are stored so that you can see them, and so that they appear on the health card you can show to a responder.
• Your health card is not shared with other riders or with us for any other purpose. Showing it is an action you take, on your own device.
• When you raise an emergency during a ride, your emergency status and last known location are shared with the other members of that ride so they can reach you.

4.3 Third-Party Services

We use the following third-party services:

• Google Firebase — Authentication, real-time database, cloud storage
• Google Analytics for Firebase — Usage analytics, if you allow it (see section 1.2)
• Google Maps Platform — Maps, directions, places, geocoding
• Google Navigation SDK — Turn-by-turn navigation
• Weather API — Current weather conditions
• Netlify — Hosts our website, rideconnect.live
• OpenStreetMap — Map images on the website's live location and Track rider pages, loaded by the visitor's browser

These services have their own privacy policies, and we encourage you to review them.

4.4 Legal Requirements

We may disclose information if required by law, regulation, legal process, or governmental request, in accordance with applicable Indian law.

5. Your Rights

Under applicable Indian law, including the Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023 (DPDPA), you have the right to:

• Access your personal data stored by us.
• Correct inaccurate personal data.
• Delete your personal data (right to erasure).
• Withdraw consent for data collection at any time (which may limit App functionality).
• Nominate a person to exercise your rights in case of death or incapacity.

To exercise these rights, contact us at help@rideconnect.live.

5.1 Deleting Your Account

You can delete your account yourself, from Profile → Preferences → Delete Account. It cannot be undone.

Deleting your account removes:

• your account itself, so you can no longer sign in with it;
• your profile, username, display name, photos, vehicle details, and health card;
• your ride history, including recorded routes;
• your safety record, including crash and emergency records;
• your rider entry in every ride you had joined, including your last known position;
• all of the above from this device, as well as from your account.

Two things behave differently, and both are described above in section 3.3:

• Rides you created. If other riders are still in a ride you created, that ride is handed over to one of them and continues; the group does not lose it. If you are the only one left in it, the ride is deleted.
• Ride chat. Messages you sent remain in the ride they were sent to, attributed to your name, because a ride's chat is a shared append-only record. If you need messages removed, contact us using the details in section 10.

If you have not signed in recently, the App will ask you to sign in again before deleting the account. This is a security measure; nothing is deleted until it succeeds.

6. Location Data

6.1 Why We Need Location Access

RideConnect requires location access to:

• Share your position with ride group members on a live map.
• Calculate and display routes and navigation.
• Show your last known location to your ride group when you raise an emergency.
• Detect crash events using motion sensors.
• Record the route of a completed ride for your ride history.

6.2 Background Location

The App may access your location in the background only during an active ride to maintain location sharing with your group. Background location access stops when you leave a ride room.

6.3 Disabling Location

You can disable location access through your device settings. However, this will prevent the App's core functionality from working.

7. Children's Privacy

RideConnect is not intended for use by individuals under the age of 18. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, please contact us and we will delete it.

8. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Changes will be posted within the App, and the "Last Updated" date will be revised. Continued use of the App after changes constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

9. Grievance Officer

In accordance with the Information Technology Act, 2000, and the DPDPA 2023, the Grievance Officer for the purpose of this Privacy Policy is:

Name: Nandan Patil
Email: help@rideconnect.live
Address: {{COMPANY_ADDRESS}}

Grievances will be addressed within 30 days of receipt.

10. Contact Us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact:

RideConnect
Email: help@rideconnect.live
Address: {{COMPANY_ADDRESS}}

This Privacy Policy is governed by the laws of India.