📋 Table of Contents
🏠 1. Overview
Hamro App ("we," "our," or "us") is a community mobile application built for the Nepali-speaking diaspora in the United States. We are committed to protecting your privacy and being transparent about how we collect, use, and share your information.
This Privacy Policy applies to the Hamro App mobile application (iOS and Android) and the website hamroapp.us. By using our app or website, you agree to the terms described in this policy.
📦 2. Information We Collect
We collect the following categories of information when you use Hamro App:
Account Information
- Name, email address, and profile photo (provided via Google Sign-In or manual registration)
- City, state, and general location (entered by you for community features)
- Phone number (optional, used for business claim verification)
Content You Create
- Community posts, images, comments, and stories
- Business listings, events, and directory entries you submit
- RSVP and attendance data for events
Usage Data
- App interactions, feature usage, and session data collected via Firebase Analytics
- Crash reports and performance diagnostics via Firebase Crashlytics
Device Information
- Device type, operating system version, and unique device identifiers
- Push notification tokens for sending alerts and reminders
⚙️ 3. How We Use Your Information
We use the information we collect to:
- Provide, operate, and improve Hamro App features
- Display your profile and community contributions
- Send push notifications for events, community posts, and alarms you set
- Verify business ownership claims in the Business Directory
- Sort community content by proximity using your city/location
- Award community points for contributions (posts, listings, RSVPs)
- Analyze app performance and fix bugs
- Respond to support requests and feedback
🔥 5. Firebase & Google Services
Hamro App is built on Google Firebase, which provides our database, authentication, storage, and analytics infrastructure. By using our app, your data is stored and processed on Google's servers in accordance with Google's Privacy Policy.
We use the following Firebase services:
- Firebase Authentication — Manages Google Sign-In and user accounts
- Cloud Firestore — Stores your profile, posts, events, and directory data
- Firebase Storage — Stores images you upload (profile photos, post images)
- Firebase Analytics — Anonymized usage analytics to improve the app
- Firebase Crashlytics — Crash reporting to fix bugs
- Firebase Cloud Messaging — Push notifications
📍 6. Location Data
Hamro App may request access to your device's location for the following purposes:
- Nearby posts: To sort community feed by proximity to your current location
- City detection: To pre-fill your city when creating business listings or events
- Step counter: Background location is not used for step counting
Location access is requested only when you use location-dependent features. You can deny or revoke location permission at any time in your device settings. Precise GPS coordinates are used only in-session and are not stored permanently in our database without your explicit action (e.g., pinning a business address).
We use the Google Places API to provide address autocomplete. Queries you type into address fields are sent to Google's servers per their privacy policy.
🏃 7. Health & Step Data (HealthKit / Google Fit)
Hamro App includes an optional Step Counter feature. If you enable this feature on iOS, the app requests access to read step count data from Apple HealthKit.
- Step data is read only from your device's health store and is used solely to display your daily step count within the app.
- Step data is never uploaded to our servers, shared with third parties, or used for advertising.
- We do not write any data back to HealthKit.
- You can revoke HealthKit access at any time via Settings → Privacy & Security → Health on your iPhone.
👶 8. Children's Privacy
Hamro App is not directed to children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you are a parent or guardian and believe your child has provided us with personal information, please contact us at the address below and we will delete that information promptly.
⚖️ 9. Your Rights & Choices
You have the following rights regarding your personal information:
- Access: Request a copy of the data we hold about you
- Correction: Update your profile information directly in the app
- Deletion: Request deletion of your account and associated data by contacting us
- Opt-out of notifications: Disable push notifications in your device settings at any time
- Revoke permissions: Revoke location or health access via device Settings at any time
To exercise any of these rights, contact us at the email below. We will respond within 30 days.
🔒 10. Data Security
We take reasonable technical and organizational measures to protect your information:
- All data is transmitted over HTTPS/TLS encryption
- Firebase Security Rules restrict database access to authenticated users
- Passwords are never stored by us — authentication is handled by Google
- Firebase Storage access rules prevent unauthorized file access
No method of transmission over the internet is 100% secure. While we strive to protect your data, we cannot guarantee absolute security. In the event of a data breach, we will notify affected users as required by applicable law.
📝 11. Changes to This Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we make material changes, we will notify you via a push notification in the app or a prominent notice on this page, and update the "Last Updated" date at the top.
Continued use of Hamro App after changes take effect constitutes your acceptance of the revised policy.
📬 12. Contact Us
If you have any questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or your personal data, please contact us: