ChaloReview Privacy Policy

ChaloReview helps people discover local businesses through community reviews, ratings, photos, videos, and comments.

Information we collect

Account and profile information

We collect information you provide when creating or managing an account, including your username, account identifier, and any recovery email, display name, profile photo, biography, or contact information you choose to provide.

Authentication credentials are handled through Firebase Authentication. We also maintain records of policy acceptance and account-related requests.

Reviews and other contributions

We collect ratings, reviews, comments, photos, videos, audio contained in videos, collections, saved reviews, votes, and other contributions or interactions you make.

Uploaded media may contain embedded information, such as recording details or location metadata. Our service providers receive uploaded files for storage and processing. Avoid uploading files containing information you do not want to share.

We also collect reports of inappropriate content, blocking records, and information needed to investigate abuse and moderate the service.

Location and selected city

With your permission, the mobile app accesses your device's location while you use the app to help identify a supported city. Coordinates are used for reverse geocoding.

You can decline location permission and select a city manually. Your selected city is sent to our services to retrieve relevant content and may be included in activity records and analytics events.

Our providers may derive approximate geographic information from network information, such as your IP address. The app does not request background location tracking.

Device, notification, and usage information

We and our providers collect installation identifiers, notification tokens, device characteristics, app and operating-system versions, language, time zone, and related technical information.

We collect activity such as app launches, screen views, business and review views, votes, saved content, and notification interactions. Account-related activity and notification registrations may be associated with your signed-in account.

Business searches are transmitted to our backend and, where applicable, Google Places to return relevant results.

Diagnostics and support

We collect crash reports, error logs, performance measurements, and technical diagnostics to investigate failures and improve reliability. These may include device information, application state, installation identifiers, and server-request information.

Server logs may contain account identifiers or IP addresses.

If you contact us, we collect the information you provide to investigate and respond to your request.

iPhone app waitlist

If you join the iPhone app waitlist, we store your email address and when you signed up, and use it only to tell you when the iPhone app is available. To be removed, email contact@chaloreview.com.

How we use information

We use information to:

• Create, authenticate, and manage accounts.
• Display business information and publish user contributions.
• Provide city-based discovery, collections, and saved content.
• Deliver notifications and manage device registrations.
• Maintain activity records and support discovery features.
• Process reports, enforce blocking, moderate content, and prevent abuse.
• Respond to support, privacy, and deletion requests.
• Understand usage, investigate errors, and improve performance.
• Meet applicable obligations and protect the service and its users.

Public information

Usernames, public profile information, published reviews, ratings, comments, photos, videos, and public collections may be visible to other people through the app, website, and shared links.

Your password and recovery email are not intended to appear on your public profile.

Other people may copy or share public content. Copies made independently outside ChaloReview may remain outside our control after the original content is removed.

Service providers and sharing

ChaloReview uses external services to operate its features, including:

• Firebase Authentication for account authentication.
• Cloud Firestore and Firebase App Hosting for backend data and website infrastructure.
• Firebase Storage for uploaded media.
• Cloudflare Stream for video processing and delivery.
• Firebase Cloud Messaging and Apple Push Notification service for notifications.
• Firebase Analytics for usage measurement.
• Firebase Crashlytics and Performance Monitoring for diagnostics and performance measurement.
• Firebase Remote Config for application configuration.
• Firebase App Check, Apple App Attest, and DeviceCheck for request integrity and abuse prevention.
• Google Places for business search and selection.
• Device location and geocoding services to help identify a supported city.

These providers process information needed to deliver their respective functions. Their handling of information is governed by applicable privacy policies and service terms. We are responsible for ensuring that providers receiving user information provide protections consistent with this policy and applicable requirements.

We may disclose information when required by law or reasonably necessary to investigate abuse, secure the service, or protect the rights and safety of ChaloReview and its users.

ChaloReview currently does not offer paid promotions. Analytics and notification identifiers are used for the functions described in this policy.

Permissions and choices

You can manage location, camera, microphone, photo-access, and notification permissions through your device settings.

Location permission is optional. You can select a city manually instead.

Camera, microphone, and photo access support corresponding media features. Notifications can be disabled in your device settings.

Public discovery content can be browsed without an account. Signing in is required for account-based contributions and features.

For questions about your information, consent, or available privacy choices, contact contact@chaloreview.com. Withdrawing permission or requesting removal of information may affect features that depend on it.

Retention and account deletion

We retain account and contribution information while needed to operate your account and the service, subject to deletion, moderation, security, and applicable obligations.

You can request account deletion through:

Profile → Settings and privacy → Account and security → Delete account

The app requires password confirmation and displays the consequences before submission.

You can also request deletion on the web at chaloreview.com/delete-account.

Your account is locked when deletion is confirmed. Content is normally removed within a few minutes, with deletion completed within 30 days.

Deletion covers your account and sign-in, profile information, reviews and their media, associated comments and interactions, your comments elsewhere, votes, saved reviews, collections, blocking records, policy acceptance and recovery records, notifications, notification preferences, device registrations, and in-app activity history.

The following exceptions apply:

• A deletion record containing the account identifier, request and completion times, and removal counts is retained for 365 days to document completion.
• Content confirmed by staff to violate our rules, together with the moderation decision, may be retained for 180 days after deletion for safety and legal claims.
• Reports about other people's content remain available to moderators but are no longer linked to your account.
• Public business listings added from Google Maps remain without a link to your account.
• Votes already included in completed City Tournament totals remain without your name or email.
• Server logs, which may include account identifiers or IP addresses, expire after 30 days.

Account deletion does not remove original photos or videos from your device's photo library.

Diagnostic and analytics information held by service providers follows their applicable retention and deletion processes and may have a different lifecycle from your ChaloReview account.

For deletion assistance or questions about retained information, contact contact@chaloreview.com. We may need to verify your identity before acting on a request.

Security and processing location

We use encrypted network connections, authentication, access controls, and abuse-prevention measures to protect information. No storage or transmission system guarantees absolute security.

Our providers may process information outside Pakistan.

Children and age suitability

ChaloReview is intended for users aged 13 and older. We do not currently verify users' ages or implement age-based access restrictions within the app. App-store age ratings provide content-suitability guidance and do not constitute age verification.

Parents or guardians concerned about a child's account or personal information can contact contact@chaloreview.com to request assistance or deletion.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy when our features, providers, or information practices change. We will provide additional notice or seek consent where required.

Contact

For privacy questions, information requests, or deletion assistance, contact ChaloReview at:

contact@chaloreview.com