Privacy Policy

1. Who this policy applies to

This policy applies to visitors, registered Locals, and anyone who submits information through LocalNearU (the “Site”). In this policy, “LocalNearU”, “we”, “our”, and “us” refer to the operator of the Site.

The Site is intended only for people aged 18 or older. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children.

2. Information we collect

Information from Facebook Login

When you choose Facebook Login, we receive the information Facebook makes available to us for authentication, such as your Facebook user identifier, name, and profile picture. We do not receive or store your Facebook password.

Registration and profile information

We collect information you submit when applying to become a Local, including your name, profile photos, introduction, date of birth, province, optional address details, occupation, languages and proficiency, selected activities, availability, vehicle and teaching capabilities, and hourly price.

Consent and account records

We record account and profile identifiers, account status, sign-in and update times, whether you accepted our legal terms, and whether you confirmed sharing a promotional post.

Technical information and cookies

Our servers and hosting providers may process standard technical information such as IP address, browser type, device information, request times, and error or security logs. We use essential cookies for login sessions and Facebook authentication. These cookies are required for account access and security.

We do not currently use advertising or analytics cookies. If that changes, we will update this policy and request consent where required.

3. How we use information

We use personal information to:

• authenticate users and maintain account sessions;
• create, operate, and display Local profiles;
• help visitors discover Locals by their province, activities, languages, and availability;
• verify identity and promote trust and platform safety;
• review applications and manage profile status;
• prevent fraud, abuse, and security incidents;
• operate, troubleshoot, maintain, and improve the Site;
• respond to support, privacy, and legal requests; and
• comply with applicable laws and enforce our Terms and Conditions.

Depending on the circumstances and applicable law, we process information to provide the service you request, based on your consent, to meet legal obligations, and for legitimate interests such as safety, security, and improving the Site.

4. Information displayed publicly

Published Local profiles may be visible to anyone who visits the Site. Public profile information may include your name, profile photos, introduction, province, age calculated from your date of birth, occupation, languages, activities, availability, capabilities, and hourly price. Your detailed address and date of birth are not displayed publicly.

Do not include a home address, identity-document number, financial details, or other sensitive information in public profile text. Verification email addresses, internal account identifiers, and security records are not intended for public display.

5. When we share information

We do not sell your personal information. We may share or make information available in these circumstances:

• Public profile visitors: information you submit for a published profile is made public as described above.
• Service providers: vendors that provide database, file storage, hosting, security, and technical infrastructure may process information on our behalf. Our current database and file-storage provider is Supabase.
• Facebook: Facebook processes information when you use Facebook Login or choose to share content. Facebook’s handling of that information is governed by its own privacy policy.
• Legal and safety reasons: we may disclose information where required by law, in response to a valid legal request, or where reasonably necessary to protect users, the public, our rights, or the security of the Site.
• Business changes: information may be transferred as part of a merger, financing, reorganisation, sale, or transfer of the Site or its assets, subject to applicable law.

6. International data handling

Our service providers may process or store information in countries other than the country where you live. Those countries may have different data-protection laws. Where required, we take reasonable steps to use appropriate safeguards for international transfers.

7. Data retention

We keep personal information only for as long as reasonably necessary to provide the Site, maintain account and safety records, resolve disputes, enforce agreements, and meet legal obligations. Retention periods vary according to the type of information and why it was collected.

If you request account deletion, we will delete or de-identify information that we no longer need, subject to legal, fraud-prevention, safety, dispute, and backup-retention requirements. Public profile information may remain temporarily in search-engine caches or backups outside our immediate control.

8. Security

We use reasonable technical and organisational measures designed to protect personal information. These include restricted backend access, protected session cookies, access controls, and private storage for identity-verification documents. No internet service or storage system can guarantee absolute security.

You are responsible for protecting access to your Facebook account and device and for notifying us if you believe your LocalNearU account has been compromised.

9. Your choices and privacy rights

Depending on the law that applies to you, you may have the right to:

• ask whether we hold personal information about you and request access to it;
• correct incomplete or inaccurate information;
• request deletion or restriction of certain processing;
• object to certain uses of your information;
• withdraw consent, without affecting processing already carried out;
• request a portable copy of information you provided; and
• complain to the relevant data-protection authority.

These rights may be limited by applicable law. We may need to verify your identity before completing a request. You can also remove LocalNearU from the apps and websites connected to your Facebook account; doing so does not automatically delete information already held by LocalNearU.

10. Third-party services and links

The Site may link to or interact with third-party services, including Facebook. Their privacy practices are controlled by their own policies, and this Privacy Policy does not cover their independent handling of information.

11. Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy as the Site, our providers, or legal requirements change. We will publish the revised policy with a new effective date and provide additional notice when required by applicable law.

12. Contact us

For questions, access or correction requests, account deletion, or other privacy concerns, contact localnearu@gmail.com.

Please do not email a copy of your identity document unless we specifically request it through a secure process.