Privacy Policy

1. About Locality

Locality is a platform that helps customers discover local merchants and their offerings, place orders, communicate with merchants, and manage their orders. Merchants can use Locality to manage orders and communicate with customers.

In this policy, "Locality", "we", "us" and "our" refer to the service operating under the name Locality. "You" or "your" refers to a person using the Locality application.

2. Information We Collect

Depending on how you use Locality, we may collect the following information.

Account and profile information

• First name
• Last name
• Email address
• Mobile phone number
• Information associated with your Locality account
• Profile information or profile picture where you choose to provide it

Location information

Locality may request access to your device location when you give the app permission to do so. Location information is used to provide area-related information, help you discover relevant merchants, support location-based features, and assist with map and directions functionality.

You can manage location permission through your device settings. Some location-based features may not work correctly if location access is denied.

Order and delivery information

When you place or manage an order, Locality may process information associated with that order, including merchant details, items ordered, order amount, order status, order date, delivery address, contact number, preferred delivery date or time slot, delivery-related information, and comments or instructions that you provide.

Reviews and ratings

If you submit a merchant rating or review, Locality may store the rating, review text, your name and other profile information associated with the submission. Information displayed with a review may be visible to other users as part of the merchant's public review section.

Chat and communication information

Locality provides customer-to-merchant communication through its chat feature. Messages may include the sender and recipient account identifiers, message content, message type, timestamps, read status and information required to associate a conversation with an order.

The current Locality chat feature supports text communication and order-related messages. Image attachments are not enabled in the current version of the feature.

Presence information

When you use the chat functionality, Locality may process information indicating whether your account is currently online and the approximate time you were last active. This information is used to provide the online and last-seen indicators in conversations.

Notification information

Locality uses push notifications to provide information such as chat messages, order updates and other service notifications. A device or messaging identifier may be processed for the purpose of delivering these notifications.

3. How We Use Information

We use the information described above for purposes such as:

• Creating and maintaining your Locality account.
• Authenticating your account and keeping the service secure.
• Showing merchants, products and other information relevant to your area.
• Processing and managing orders.
• Providing delivery-related functionality.
• Displaying merchant information, ratings and reviews.
• Enabling communication between customers and merchants.
• Showing online, offline and last-seen information in chat where applicable.
• Sending order, chat and service notifications.
• Maintaining and operating the Locality service.
• Detecting, preventing and investigating misuse, unauthorized access, fraud or other security issues.
• Responding to support requests and communicating with you about the service.
• Complying with applicable legal obligations.

4. Payments

Locality currently supports cash on delivery. The current version of the service does not use an online payment gateway for customer orders and does not collect or process card, UPI or online banking payment credentials through a payment gateway.

If Locality introduces online payment services in the future, this Privacy Policy will be updated to explain the relevant payment processing and data practices before or when those features are introduced.

5. Services and Technology Providers

Locality uses third-party technology services to operate particular parts of the application. These providers process information on behalf of Locality or provide infrastructure required for the service.

Firebase

Locality uses Firebase services provided by Google for functionality including authentication, cloud data storage, file storage and push notifications. Depending on the feature being used, information such as account identifiers, chat data, notification identifiers and service-related data may be processed through these services.

Locality currently uses Firebase Authentication, Firebase Firestore, Firebase Storage and Firebase Cloud Messaging. Firebase Analytics and Firebase Crashlytics are not used by the current Locality application.

Google Maps and location services

Locality uses map and location functionality to display merchant locations and provide directions or other location-based features. Location access is subject to the permissions you grant through your device.

6. Sharing of Information

Locality does not sell your personal information.

Information may be shared or made available in the following circumstances:

• With merchants: Information needed to process and fulfil an order or communicate with you may be made available to the relevant merchant. This can include your name, contact number, delivery address, order details and messages you send through the chat feature.
• With service providers: We use technology and infrastructure providers such as Firebase and mapping services to operate the application and its features.
• For legal or security reasons: We may disclose information where reasonably necessary to comply with applicable law, respond to lawful requests, protect the rights or safety of users or others, investigate fraud or abuse, or protect the security of Locality.
• With your direction: Information you choose to make visible through features such as reviews or communications may be shared with the people or businesses for whom that information is intended.

7. Data Security

We take reasonable measures to protect information handled through Locality against unauthorized access, alteration, disclosure or destruction. Access to information is controlled according to the requirements of the service, and third-party infrastructure is used where appropriate to support secure operation of the application.

No method of transmitting or storing information can be guaranteed to be completely secure. For this reason, while we take reasonable precautions, we cannot guarantee absolute security of information.

8. Data Retention

We retain information for as long as it is reasonably necessary to provide Locality's services, maintain account and order records, operate and secure the platform, resolve disputes, enforce applicable terms, and meet legal or regulatory obligations.

Different types of information may be retained for different periods depending on why the information is needed. Where information is no longer required for these purposes, we may delete or anonymize it, subject to applicable legal and operational requirements.

9. Account and Data Deletion

If you want to request deletion of your Locality account and associated personal information, contact us at admin.locality@gmail.com.

Please include the email address or mobile number associated with your Locality account so that we can identify the account and process the request.

When an account deletion request is accepted and processed, we will delete or anonymize personal information associated with the account that we are not required or permitted to retain. Certain information may need to be retained for a limited period where required for legal compliance, fraud prevention, security, dispute resolution or other legitimate purposes.

Important: Locality is working toward providing a dedicated account-deletion option within the application and an external account-deletion page. Until that functionality is available, users can submit deletion requests through the email address above.

10. Your Choices

• You can manage device permissions, including location permissions, through your device settings.
• You can choose whether to provide optional profile information where the application allows you to do so.
• You can contact us to request access, correction or deletion of personal information, subject to applicable law and legitimate retention requirements.
• You can manage notification permissions through your device settings.

11. Children's Privacy

Locality is not designed specifically for children. We do not knowingly seek to collect personal information from children in violation of applicable law. If you believe that a child has provided personal information to Locality without appropriate authorization, please contact us so that we can review the situation and take appropriate action.

12. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy when the Locality service, its features, or its data practices change. When we make material changes, we will update the effective date shown at the top of this page and may provide additional notice where appropriate.

You should review this Privacy Policy periodically to stay informed about how Locality handles information.

13. Contact Us