Privacy Policy

1. Who we are

Citizen Connect is an independently operated civic problem-solving platform serving citizens and local communities in India. It is not a government application and does not represent, or claim affiliation with or endorsement by, any government or political entity. In this policy, “Citizen Connect”, “we”, “us” and “our” refer to the developer and publisher identified as Citizen Connect in the app-store listing.

Privacy contact: support@citizenconnect.org.in

2. Information we collect

Depending on the features you choose to use, we may collect:

• Account information: mobile number, OTP authentication status, name, email, preferred language and account identifiers.
• Profile and civic-area information: address, locality, ward, city, date of birth, gender and profile photograph when provided.
• Identity and voter information: if you choose to enter an Aadhaar number, the complete number is stored in encrypted form for the identity-verification feature, while only its last four digits and verification status are displayed in the app. Aadhaar OTPs are not stored. We may also process voter/EPIC details that you choose to provide or retrieve through an official voter-service workflow. Government identification numbers are never intended for public display.
• Location: precise or approximate location when you use nearby services, address detection, issue reporting, SOS or other location-based features.
• User content: civic reports, descriptions, comments, feedback, messages, photographs, attachments and resolution reviews.
• Community information: saved addresses, family relationships, neighbour profile details, trusted-circle relationships, volunteer preferences and emergency information you choose to provide.
• Device, app and diagnostic information: push-notification token, a randomly generated app installation identifier, platform, app and operating-system version, screen views, feature activity, timestamps, crash logs, error messages and technical stack traces. Crash reports may be associated with an internal account identifier; our reporting code is designed to remove phone numbers, email addresses, location coordinates, Aadhaar/voter identifiers and authentication tokens from JavaScript error details before transmission.
• Permissions: camera, microphone, notifications, location and limited media/storage access only when needed for a feature you select.

3. How we use information

• Authenticate accounts and protect access.
• Submit, route, track and resolve civic reports.
• Provide location-based civic information and nearby services.
• Deliver notifications, ward announcements and emergency alerts.
• Enable communication with corporators, civic teams, trusted contacts and other users where you request it.
• Operate verification, learning, volunteer, feedback and achievement features.
• Secure, troubleshoot, measure and improve the service and prevent misuse.
• Meet legal obligations and respond to valid government or safety requests.

4. Sharing and service providers

We do not sell personal or sensitive information. We share information only as needed to operate a feature, at your direction, or where law requires. Recipients may include authorised Citizen Connect administrators, relevant civic representatives or operational teams, users you communicate with, and trusted infrastructure providers.

Our service providers include Supabase for authentication, databases, storage and server functions; Firebase Cloud Messaging for push notifications; and Firebase Crashlytics for mobile-app crash and error diagnostics. An Aadhaar authentication request will be sent to an authorised identity provider only if that feature is available and after you provide specific consent. A voter-search feature may open the official Election Commission of India website; information entered there is also subject to that service’s policies. External maps, directions or government links are governed by their respective providers.

5. Public and community-visible content

Some civic reports, updates, community profiles or feedback may be visible to relevant representatives, administrators or other users as indicated in the app. Do not include Aadhaar numbers, OTPs, financial details or unrelated personal information in public descriptions or images.

6. Legal basis and permissions

We process information to provide features you request, protect the service, comply with law and, where required, based on your consent. Device permissions are requested in context. You may withdraw a device permission in system settings, although the related feature may stop working.

7. Retention and deletion

We retain account information while your account is active and keep other records only as long as necessary for the purposes described above, security, dispute resolution and legal obligations. You can permanently delete your account in the app under Profile → Privacy & Security → Delete Account, or use our web deletion page.

Account deletion removes the authentication account and associated profile, sessions, addresses, verification records, notifications, civic reports, messages, uploaded files and other user-linked records. We may retain narrowly limited non-identifying security or legal records where required by law. Backups may take a limited period to expire under controlled retention schedules.

8. Security

We use HTTPS encryption in transit, OTP authentication, access controls and database row-level security. No system is completely secure, so please protect your phone and OTP and contact us if you suspect unauthorised access.

9. Children

Citizen Connect is not designed for children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from a child under 13 without legally valid authorisation. A parent or guardian may contact us to request review or deletion.

10. Your choices and rights

You can review or update profile information in the app, control device permissions, sign out, request support, and delete your account. Depending on applicable law, you may also request access, correction, restriction or a copy of your information.

11. Changes

We may update this policy when features or legal requirements change. We will update the date above and provide additional notice when a material change requires it.

12. Contact

Email privacy and data requests to support@citizenconnect.org.in. You can also use our support page.