Privacy Policy & Safety Disclosures

1 Introduction & Non-Commercial Community Purpose

Welcome to Peer Pooling (referred to herein as "Peer Pooling", "we", "our", or "the platform"). This Privacy Policy explains clearly how personal information is collected, safeguarded, used, and processed through our mobile application (Android Package Name: com.ukapps.peerpooling).

Peer Pooling is an exclusive, trusted community carpooling and ride-coordination network tailored for bona fide employees, officers, township/quarters residents, and their families (including industrial and power plant units such as TGGENCO, KTPS-Paloncha, and interconnected transit routes across Telangana and Andhra Pradesh).

2 Information We Collect

To maintain an authentic, high-trust environment where colleagues and families feel completely safe traveling together, we collect only data that is strictly necessary for identity verification, passenger safety, and ride coordination:

3 Android Runtime Permissions & Hardware Access

Peer Pooling requests explicit runtime permissions on Android devices strictly for mission-critical commuting and safety functions:

• POST_NOTIFICATIONS (Android 13+): Required to send essential trip notifications, including booking approvals, seat auto-confirmations, 30-minute departure nudges, and urgent cancellation alerts. Users can manage or silence non-critical notification channels in device system settings.
• USE_FULL_SCREEN_INTENT, WAKE_LOCK, & VIBRATE (Urgent Safety Alarms): Crucial Commuter Safety Feature: If a host cancels a confirmed ride at the last minute (within 1 hour of scheduled departure), our application triggers an immediate, insistent full-screen alarm on the passenger’s device even if the screen is locked or idle. This ensures plant employees on critical shifts or families heading to stations are awakened and alerted instantly so they are never stranded.
• CALL_PHONE: Allows a confirmed passenger or driver to directly dial each other with a single tap for route coordination (e.g., finding the pickup gate in the colony). It also enables one-tap calls to the designated Plant Admin Verification Coordinator. Calls are placed through your carrier dialer; Peer Pooling never records phone audio.
• INTERNET & ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE: Standard permissions required to establish secure, encrypted HTTPS/TLS connections with Firebase Cloud Firestore, Firebase Authentication, and Cloud Messaging servers.

4 How We Use Your Information

We strictly process collected information for legitimate, user-consented operational purposes:

1. Identity Authentication & Account Protection: Authenticating phone numbers via one-time SMS passwords to prevent spoofing or account takeovers.
2. Ride Matching & Roster Management: Displaying origin, destination, departure schedules, and available seats to colleagues traveling along identical routes.
3. Safety & Preference Filtering: Implementing the "Ladies Only Pool" filter (for women traveling safely together), family-on-board indicators, and cadre-matching preferences.
4. Driver Safety Approvals: Drivers are permitted their initial drive upon entering their Driving License, with subsequent drives governed by plant administrator verification.
5. Real-Time Departure Coordination: Transmitting automatic 30-minute departure reminders and urgent cancellation alarms to confirmed poolers.
6. Community Accountability: Managing the peer vouching questionnaire and dynamic Trust Score system to maintain high trust within the residential colony.

5 Data Sharing, Third-Party SDKs & Advertising

Visibility Between Ride Participants:

To maintain commuter privacy, your full phone number, quarter number, and vehicle registration are visible only to confirmed co-travelers sharing a specific booked journey. Casual app users browsing the ride feed see only route endpoints, first names, plant units, and cadre designations.

Third-Party Infrastructure & Essential Service Providers:

We rely on enterprise-grade cloud infrastructure provided by Google Cloud Platform and Firebase to operate Peer Pooling securely:

• Google Firebase Authentication: Handles secure telephone number verification and tokenized session management.
• Google Cloud Firestore: Fully encrypted cloud database (ISO 27001, SOC 2 compliant) storing user profiles, rides, and vouch records under strict security rules.
• Google Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM): Dispatches secure push payloads and background alerts to registered device tokens.
• Google Firebase Crashlytics & Analytics: Collects anonymized crash diagnostics and latency metrics to resolve software bugs and improve app stability.
• Google Play In-App Updates API: Distributes seamless security patches and feature releases to user devices.

Third-Party Advertising & Monetization (Google AdMob & Partner Networks)

To keep Peer Pooling completely free for plant employees, community commuters, and their families, and to offset server maintenance and SMS verification costs, our application may display non-intrusive contextual or interest-based advertisements powered by Google AdMob (Google LLC) and certified advertising networks.

What Advertising Partners May Collect & Process:
Third-party ad SDKs operate in a strictly isolated sandbox and may automatically collect pseudonymous technical data as permitted by Android developer guidelines:

• Device Advertising Identifiers: Resettable advertising identifiers (such as the Google Advertising ID — AAID).
• General Telemetry & Diagnostics: Device make and model, operating system version, carrier, network connection type (Wi-Fi or mobile data), and device language.
• Coarse Geographic Location: High-level regional or city-level location inferred from your IP address to serve locally relevant notices (precise GPS coordinates are never collected for ads).
• Ad Interaction & Performance Metrics: Data on ad impressions, views, clicks, and diagnostic telemetry used to prevent click fraud and enforce frequency capping (ensuring you do not see repetitive ads).

How to Opt Out of Personalized Ads:

You have full control over personalized advertising through your Android device settings at any time:

• Android 12 & Newer: Open Settings > Privacy > Ads (or Settings > Google > Ads), and tap "Delete advertising ID". This prevents apps from associating your usage with an advertising profile.
• Older Android Versions: Navigate to Settings > Google > Ads, and toggle on "Opt out of Ads Personalization" or tap "Reset advertising ID".

Note: Opting out of personalized ads does not eliminate advertising; you will still receive non-personalized, contextual advertisements based on general app context rather than your browsing history.

6 Fuel Cost Settlement & UPI Disclosures

Peer Pooling promotes seamless peer-to-peer fuel cost recovery without retaining financial custody:

• Direct Peer-to-Peer UPI: Drivers may optionally save their Virtual Payment Address (UPI ID). This ID is shared strictly with confirmed passengers so they can settle their exact fuel contribution via their own preferred UPI apps (e.g., Google Pay, PhonePe, Paytm, BHIM).
• Zero Financial Intermediation: Peer Pooling does not operate a digital wallet, does not act as an escrow agent, does not collect payment commissions, and never requests or stores bank account numbers, debit/credit card details, CVVs, or UPI PINs.

7 Peer Vouching, Trust Bands & Anti-Fraud

Safety in quarters and plant communities relies on mutual accountability. Peer Pooling incorporates a decentralized vouching mechanism:

• When new users register, existing community members or plant administrators verify whether the colleague resides in the quarters or works at the plant unit.
• Vouchers answer structured questions verifying identity, quarters residency, and cadre match.
• Users maintain a dynamic Trust Band (Green, Yellow, Orange, Red) and Trust Score. Submitting false or collusive vouches triggers an automatic -15 Trust Score penalty.
• Users flagged with suspicious behavior or repeated unnotified cancellations are automatically escalated to plant coordinators for review.

8 Data Security & Storage Architecture

We employ state-of-the-art security safeguards to protect your personal information against unauthorized access, alteration, or disclosure:

• Encryption in Transit: All communications between the mobile application and backend services are enforced using TLS 1.3 / HTTPS encryption.
• Encryption at Rest: Cloud Firestore encrypts all database records at rest using 256-bit Advanced Encryption Standard (AES-256).
• Granular Role-Based Access Control (RBAC): Server-side Firestore Security Rules strictly prohibit users from viewing or modifying records outside of their authorized roles. Administrative dashboards are restricted solely to authorized plant coordinators.
• Sanitization & Standardized IDs: Client and server inputs undergo strict schema validation and normalization through an IdStandardizer to eliminate injection attacks and dirty data corruption.
• Local-First Synchronization: Offline data stored locally in the device Room/SQLite database is scoped solely to the application's private sandbox storage.

9 Account Erasure & User Data Deletion Protocol

In full accordance with Google Play's User Data Deletion policy and the Digital Personal Data Protection Act (DPDP Act 2023), users have the absolute right to request the complete deletion of their account and all associated personal data at any time.

Deletion Timeline & Purge Verification: Upon triggering account deletion, all active credentials, phone number mappings, push tokens, and vehicle documentation are immediately deactivated and permanently scrubbed from active production databases within 30 calendar days.

10 Children's Privacy & Family Safety Protection

Peer Pooling is an enterprise and community transit coordination utility designed exclusively for adult plant employees, staff members, township residents, and authorized adult co-commuters aged 18 years or older.

We do not knowingly solicit, collect, or store personal information from children under the age of 18 (or under 13). If a parent, guardian, or township coordinator discovers that a minor has submitted personal details without parental consent, please contact us immediately at ukapps3@gmail.com, and we will purge the corresponding records forthwith.

In compliance with Google Play's Families & Ads policy, any third-party advertising SDK integrated into the platform is strictly configured to adhere to Google Play Developer Program policies, and interest-based profiling of minors is strictly prohibited.

11 Modifications to This Privacy Policy

We may update our Privacy Policy periodically to reflect enhancements in application features, safety standards, or applicable statutory regulations. Any modifications will be posted to this URL with an updated "Effective Date".

For material adjustments affecting user privacy or permissions, we will provide prominent in-app notification broadcasts or direct push alerts prior to implementation. Continued use of Peer Pooling following notice of changes constitutes acceptance of the revised terms.

12 Developer Identity, Grievance Officer & Contact Details

In accordance with Google Play Developer Policies, the Information Technology Act 2000, and the Digital Personal Data Protection Act (DPDP Act 2023), the official developer and designated Grievance Officer for Peer Pooling is: