Privacy Policy for Bharat Vaasi

Last updated: September 2026

This Privacy Policy explains what information Bharat Vaasi ("Bharat Vaasi", "we", "us", "our") collects when you use our app and website (the "Service"), why we collect it, and the choices you have. It's meant to describe what the Service actually does — not a generic template — so if a section doesn't apply to a feature you use, that's because we don't do it.

Table of Contents

1. Information We Collect
2. Groups Are Private
3. How We Use Your Information
4. Payments
5. SMS and WhatsApp Messages
6. How We Share Information
7. Data Retention and Deletion
8. Your Choices and Rights
9. Data Security
10. Children's Privacy
11. Changes to This Policy
12. Contact Us

1. Information We Collect

Account & sign-in. Personal accounts sign in with Google or Apple, which shares your name, email address, and a unique account ID with us; organization accounts sign in with an email address and password instead. We never see or store your Google/Apple password.

Profile information. Your name, profile photo, and — if you choose to add them — address, household details (e.g. number of adults/kids in your household), and other profile fields you fill in. Organization profiles include the organization's name, description, and contact details.

Content you create. Events, personal invitations and their guest lists, RSVPs, group names and membership (see "Groups Are Private" below), social feed posts and comments, announcements, volunteer roles and sign-ups, needs & contribution items and claims, polls and votes, membership tiers, and election ballots, candidates, and votes cast through the Service.

Contacts on your device. With your permission, the app can read your device's Contacts (name, phone number, email) so you can select people to invite to an event or personal invitation. A contact's phone number is hashed on your device before it's sent to our servers to check whether they already have an account — the same hashing described under "Groups Are Private" below; the raw number is not sent for that purpose. If you choose to send an SMS or WhatsApp invite to a contact who isn't yet a user, that contact's name and phone number are sent to our servers and to our SMS/WhatsApp provider, Twilio, solely to deliver that message; their name and email (if provided) are also stored as part of the invitation's guest list. We don't read your Contacts for any other purpose, and don't sell or share them with anyone besides Twilio for message delivery.

Contacts an organization already has. An organization admin can optionally import a CSV of their own contacts (name, phone/email, membership details) to add them to their organization's roster. This is a separate feature from device Contacts access above — it's information the organization already possesses about people it has an existing relationship with — we don't independently source or sell contact lists.

Location. An approximate location (city/area) and your chosen search radius, used to show nearby events and organizations. Address fields you enter for a venue or your own profile are looked up using Google's Places API as you type.

Payment-related information. Ticket purchases, membership dues, and organization subscription payments are processed by Stripe. We never see or store your full card number — see "Payments" below.

Communications data. Phone numbers you provide for SMS/WhatsApp delivery or guest verification, and the notification preferences and device push token used to deliver in-app and push notifications.

Digital wallet passes. If you choose to add an event ticket to Apple Wallet or Google Wallet, your name, the event name/date, and a check-in QR code are included in that pass — see "How We Share Information" below.

Crash and error reporting. We use Firebase Crashlytics to diagnose app crashes and errors (e.g. a failed sign-in attempt) so we can fix them. It collects device/app diagnostic information and crash logs — not your name, email, or other profile information — and is not used for analytics, advertising, or tracking.

We do not use advertising cookies, behavioral ad tracking, or any other third-party analytics SDKs in the Service.

2. Groups Are Private

"Groups" are your own private contact folders (e.g. a family group or a committee list) — they are not a social/public feature. Group membership is visible only to the group's owner; a member's own account can never see or query which group(s) they belong to. When you add someone to a group by phone number, that number is hashed on your device before it's ever sent to our servers — we match existing accounts by that hash, not by storing or sharing the raw number with anyone else.

3. How We Use Your Information

Your information is securely stored via Google Firebase and used to:

• Create and manage your account and organization profile
• Let you create, RSVP to, and manage events, invitations, groups, memberships, elections, and other content described above
• Deliver event reminders, RSVP confirmations, announcements, and other notifications you'd expect from using these features
• Process payments for tickets, dues, and subscriptions via Stripe
• Show you nearby events and organizations based on your location
• Maintain the security and integrity of the Service
• Comply with legal obligations

We do not sell your data to third parties.

4. Payments

Event tickets, membership dues, and organization subscriptions are processed by Stripe, a PCI-DSS compliant payment processor. Bharat Vaasi never receives or stores your full card number — Stripe handles that directly. Organizations that accept payments (for tickets or dues) do so through their own Stripe Connect account; Bharat Vaasi facilitates the connection but is not a party to the underlying payment between an organization and its members or attendees.

5. SMS and WhatsApp Messages

If you provide a phone number and opt in, we use Twilio to send SMS and/or WhatsApp messages for event invitations, RSVP confirmations, reminders, guest verification codes, and updates from hosts and organizations you interact with. Message frequency varies with your activity; message and data rates may apply. Reply STOP at any time to opt out, or HELP for assistance. Full terms are in our Terms and Conditions.

6. How We Share Information

We share information only as needed to run the Service:

• Other users, as the feature intends — e.g. an event host sees who RSVP'd, an organization admin sees its own membership/volunteer/contribution rosters, a group owner sees their own group's members. We don't expose data beyond what a feature is designed to show (see "Groups Are Private" above).
• Service providers we use to run the Service: Google Firebase (hosting, database, authentication, file storage, push notification delivery), Stripe (payments), Twilio (SMS/WhatsApp), and Google/Apple (OAuth sign-in, and Google's Places API for address lookup). Each is bound by its own privacy/data-processing terms and only receives what it needs to perform its function.
• Google Wallet / Apple Wallet — only if you choose to add an event ticket to your phone's wallet, we share your name, the event name/date, and a check-in QR code with Google or Apple to generate that pass.
• Legal reasons — if required by law, legal process, or to protect the rights, safety, or property of Bharat Vaasi, our users, or the public.
• Business transfers — if Bharat Vaasi is involved in a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, your information may transfer as part of that transaction; we'll notify you if this happens.

7. Data Retention and Deletion

We keep your information for as long as your account is active, or as needed to provide the Service (e.g. an event's RSVP history stays available to its host). You can request deletion of your account and associated profile data — including RSVPs and social feed activity — at any time via our account deletion page. We may retain limited records where required for legal, tax, or dispute-resolution purposes even after an account is deleted.

8. Your Choices and Rights

You can, at any time:

• Review and edit your profile information in the app
• Adjust notification and location/search-radius preferences
• Opt out of SMS/WhatsApp messages by replying STOP
• Turn off push notifications in your device settings, or in-app notification settings
• Request a copy of, or the deletion of, your personal data by emailing support@bharatvaasi.app or using our account deletion page

9. Data Security

We rely on Google Firebase's infrastructure and access-control rules to restrict who can read or write your data, and encrypt data in transit. Payment data is handled entirely by Stripe under its own PCI-DSS security program. No method of transmission or storage is 100% secure, so while we work to protect your information, we can't guarantee absolute security.

10. Children's Privacy

The Service is not directed to, and accounts may not be created by, children under 13. This doesn't stop a parent or guardian from including their kids as part of their own household or RSVP (e.g. an "adults/kids" count on an invitation) — that's information about your event party, not a child's own account. If you believe a child under 13 has created an account, contact us at support@bharatvaasi.app and we'll remove it.

11. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We'll update the "Last updated" date above when we do, and for material changes we'll make a reasonable effort to notify you in-app or by email. Continued use of the Service after a change becomes effective means you accept the updated policy.

12. Contact Us

Questions about this Privacy Policy or your data? Email us at support@bharatvaasi.app.

Terms and Conditions

Use of Bharat Vaasi is also governed by our Terms and Conditions, including our SMS/WhatsApp messaging consent terms.