Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

Welcome to Kalye. Kalye is a location-based platform that helps you discover local stores, earn rewards through check-ins and referrals, save your favorite spots, and support the businesses in your neighborhood.

This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, share, and protect your personal information when you use the Kalye application and related services. By using Kalye, you agree to the practices described in this policy.

2. Information We Collect

We collect the following types of information to provide and improve our services:

• Account Information: Your name, email address, profile picture, and authentication credentials when you create an account.
• Location Data: Your geographic location to power store discovery and neighborhood-based features. See Section 5 for details.
• Usage Data: Information about how you interact with Kalye, including check-in history, favorite lists, stores you browse, referral activity, and points earned.
• Device Information: Device type, operating system, app version, and unique device identifiers used for security and troubleshooting.

3. How We Use Your Information

• Store Discovery: Showing you relevant local stores based on your location, preferences, and search queries.
• Rewards & Points: Tracking check-ins, calculating streaks, processing referral bonuses, and managing your points balance.
• Personalization: Tailoring your experience based on your favorites, browsing history, and neighborhood activity.
• Vendor Features: Enabling vendors to manage their store profiles and understand how customers discover their stores (in aggregate only).
• Service Improvement: Analyzing usage patterns to improve features, fix bugs, and develop new functionality.
• Communication: Sending you important updates about your account, rewards, and changes to our services.

4. Information Sharing

We do not sell your personal information. We may share limited information in the following circumstances:

• Vendors: Store owners may see aggregate, anonymized data about customer engagement with their store listings (e.g., view counts). They do not receive your personal information.
• Service Providers: We work with trusted third-party services for hosting, analytics, and infrastructure (e.g., Firebase, cloud providers) that process data on our behalf under strict agreements.
• Legal Requirements: We may disclose information if required by law, regulation, or legal process, or to protect the rights and safety of Kalye, our users, or the public.

5. Location Data

Location is core to how Kalye works. Here is how we handle your location data:

• What We Collect: Your device's geographic coordinates (latitude and longitude) when you use location-based features such as store discovery and neighborhood maps.
• How We Use It: To show you nearby stores, calculate distances, power map features, and enable location-aware search results.
• Storage: We do not continuously track your location. Location data is collected when you actively use location features and is not stored beyond what is necessary to provide the service.
• Opt-Out: You can revoke location permissions at any time through your device settings. Some features that depend on location (such as nearby store discovery) will have limited functionality without location access.

6. Points & Rewards Data

Kalye's rewards system involves collecting and processing the following data:

• Check-in History: Records of your daily check-ins, including timestamps and streak information, used to calculate bonus points.
• Referral Tracking: Your referral code usage and the status of referral bonuses. We track which codes have been shared and claimed to prevent abuse and ensure proper credit.
• Points Balance: Your current points balance, transaction history, and redemption records are maintained to provide accurate rewards tracking.

7. Data Security

We take reasonable measures to protect your personal information, including:

• Encryption of data in transit (TLS/SSL) and at rest.
• Access controls that limit who can view or modify your data within our organization.
• Regular security reviews of our infrastructure and application code.
• Secure authentication through Firebase Authentication with industry-standard practices.

While we strive to protect your information, no method of electronic storage or transmission is 100% secure. We encourage you to use a strong, unique password for your Kalye account.

8. Your Rights

You have the following rights regarding your personal data:

• Access: Request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
• Correction: Update or correct inaccurate information in your account.
• Deletion: Request deletion of your account and associated data. Some data may be retained as required by law or for legitimate business purposes.
• Portability: Request your data in a structured, commonly used format.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us using the information in Section 11 below.

9. Children's Privacy

Kalye is not intended for children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If we become aware that we have collected data from a child under 13, we will take steps to delete that information promptly. If you believe a child under 13 has provided us with personal information, please contact us immediately.

10. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or for legal, operational, or regulatory reasons. When we make significant changes, we will notify you through the app or by email. We encourage you to review this page periodically for the latest information on our privacy practices.