Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains what personal data the RoadMates mobile app ("RoadMates", "the app", "we", "us") collects, why we collect it, and what choices you have. By using RoadMates you agree to the practices described here.

1. Information we collect

Information you give us

• Account details — your name, email address and a password, which we store only as a salted hash.
• Profile information — optional profile photo, bio, and details about the vehicles you add to your garage.
• Trip content — trips you create or join, start and destination points, stops, dates, seat counts and trip descriptions.
• Messages and photos — chat messages you send in a trip conversation and photos you upload to a trip album.
• Support requests — anything you send us by email when you ask for help.

Information collected automatically

• Location data — while you are using navigation, the app reads your device location to show your position on the map and give turn-by-turn directions. Location is used live for navigation and is not continuously tracked in the background or sold to anyone.
• Device and usage data — basic technical information such as device type, operating system version, app version and error logs, used to diagnose crashes and improve the app.
• Push notification token — if you enable notifications, so we can tell you about trip invitations, join requests and new messages.

2. Device permissions

RoadMates asks for the following permissions. You can refuse or revoke any of them in your device settings; the related feature simply stops working.

• Location — to show your position on the trip map and provide navigation.
• Photos / camera — to let you pick or take a profile picture and add photos to a trip album.
• Notifications — to alert you about trip and chat activity.
• Speech / audio output — to read navigation instructions aloud. Voice guidance can be muted inside the app at any time.

3. How we use your information

• To create and secure your account and keep you signed in.
• To show trips, participants, routes and chats to the people involved in a trip.
• To calculate routes and provide navigation while you drive.
• To send you notifications about activity that concerns you.
• To fix bugs, prevent abuse and keep the service running safely.
• To respond when you contact support.

We do not sell your personal data, and we do not use it for third-party advertising.

4. What other people can see

RoadMates is a social app, so some information is visible to others by design: your name, profile photo and public profile details, the trips you create or join, and any message or photo you post inside a trip. Please treat trip chats and albums as visible to everyone on that trip.

5. Service providers

We share the minimum data necessary with a small number of providers that help us run the app:

• Amazon Web Services — hosting for our servers and database.
• Mapbox — maps, geocoding and route directions. Coordinates needed to draw a route are sent to Mapbox when you plan or follow a trip.
• Expo — app delivery and push notification infrastructure.
• Email provider — to send account emails such as password-reset codes.

These providers process data on our behalf and are not permitted to use it for their own purposes.

6. Data retention

We keep your account data for as long as your account exists. Trips, messages and photos remain available to the trip participants until they are deleted or the account that created them is removed. When you delete your account, we remove your profile and personal data within 30 days, except where we are legally required to keep certain records. Messages you sent in a group chat may remain visible to other participants in anonymised form.

7. Security

Traffic between the app and our servers is encrypted in transit with HTTPS. Passwords are stored as salted hashes and never in plain text. Access to our production systems is limited to authorised maintainers. No system is perfectly secure, but we take reasonable steps to protect your information and will notify affected users of a breach where the law requires it.

8. Your rights

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to:

• Access the personal data we hold about you.
• Correct information that is inaccurate.
• Delete your account and associated data.
• Object to or restrict certain processing.
• Receive a copy of your data in a portable format.

To exercise any of these rights, email us at support@roadmatessocial.com. You can also delete your account directly from the profile screen in the app.

9. Children

RoadMates is not intended for children under 13 (or the minimum age required in your country). We do not knowingly collect data from children. If you believe a child has created an account, contact us and we will remove it.

10. International transfers

Our servers and service providers may process your data in countries other than your own. Where data leaves your region, we rely on appropriate safeguards such as standard contractual clauses.

11. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as the app evolves. The date at the top of this page always reflects the current version, and significant changes will be announced in the app.

12. Contact us