Privacy policy · Porchly

Porchly helps people give away things they no longer need and find free things near them. This policy explains what information that takes, what we do with it and what we don’t.

Who we are

Porchly is operated by Porchly by Owais Builds (“Porchly”, “we”, “us”). We are responsible for your personal information in the Porchly app and on this website. Contact us about privacy at kowais915@gmail.com.

The short version

Other people see a listing’s rough area, never your address or exact location. Exact pickup details go only to the one person a giver reserves an item for.
Messages exist only between the two people in an exchange.
No ads. We don’t sell or share your personal information for advertising, and we don’t collect your advertising ID.
You can delete your account in the app at any time.

What we collect and why

Your account. Your email address and the display name you choose. Sign-in is handled by Clerk, which emails you a one-time code; we don’t use passwords. Other people see your display name on your listings and requests. They never see your email address. You also confirm you are 18 or older.

Your approximate location. If you allow it, the app reads your device’s approximate (coarse) location; you can type a city, ZIP or postcode instead. We use it to sort listings by distance.

When you simply browse, your rough location is sent with the request to sort results and is not stored.
When you post a listing or save a search, we store only a point snapped to a grid of about 0.5 km (roughly a third of a mile), plus an area label such as “near Elm Park”. Your exact location is never stored and never shown to anyone.

Listings and photos. The title, description, condition, category, pickup options and photos you post. Photos are resized and re-encoded on your phone before upload, which removes EXIF metadata, including any GPS location embedded by the camera. Photos are stored on Vercel Blob and are public, like the listing they belong to. The private pickup details you write (for example, the exact address) are shown only to the person you reserve the item for.

Requests and messages. When you ask for an item we store your request (the pickup time you chose and any note) and the messages between you and the giver. Only the two people in that exchange can read them. We may review messages if one of you reports them.

Saved items. Listings you save and searches you save, including the alert settings for each.

Notifications. If you turn on notifications, we store a push token for your device so we can send alerts about your requests, listings and saved searches.

Purchases. If you subscribe to Porchly Plus, Google Play handles the payment. We receive the purchase status (for example, which plan is active and when it renews or ends) through RevenueCat. We never receive or store your card or payment details.

Reports and blocks. Reports you make or that are made about you, including the listing, profile or messages reported, and the people you block.

Basic server logs. Like most online services, our servers record technical information when the app or website talks to them, such as IP address, request time, the type of request and app version. We use logs to keep the service secure, prevent abuse and fix problems, and keep them only for a short period.

We don’t collect your contacts, your precise location, your advertising ID or any data from other apps.

How we use it

To run Porchly: showing listings near you, sending and managing requests, delivering messages and alerts, and keeping your account working.
To keep people safe: enforcing our terms, reviewing reports, preventing spam and fraud, and limiting abuse (for example, rate limits on messages).
To provide Porchly Plus to subscribers.
To understand, in aggregate, how the app is used so we can improve it (for example, how many listings get picked up).
To meet legal obligations, including responding to lawful requests from authorities.

Who processes it for us

We use a small number of service providers. They process data only to provide their service to us.

Provider	What for	What they receive
Clerk	Sign-in and accounts	Your email address, sign-in sessions
Neon	Database (hosted in the US)	The account, listing, request, message and other data described above
Vercel	Website and app servers, photo storage (Vercel Blob), server logs	Data passing through our servers; listing photos
Expo	Delivering push notifications (via Google’s Firebase Cloud Messaging on Android)	Your push token and the notification text
RevenueCat and Google Play	Porchly Plus subscriptions	An anonymous app user ID and purchase status
OpenStreetMap (Photon)	Place search	Only the place text you type, sent from our servers, not from your phone

We don’t sell your personal information and we don’t share it with advertisers or data brokers. We may disclose information if the law requires it, to protect someone’s safety, or as part of a sale or reorganisation of Porchly (in which case this policy continues to apply).

How long we keep it

Your account, listings, requests, messages and saved items are kept while your account exists, and deleted when you delete your account (see below). You can delete individual listings at any time.
Messages attached to a report are kept for up to 2 years, so we can act on repeat abuse and help authorities if someone was harmed.
Reports and blocks are kept for up to 2 years.
Purchase records are kept for as long as tax and accounting law requires.
Server logs are kept for a short period and then deleted.

Deleting your account

In the app, go to You → Settings → Delete account. This removes your profile, listings, requests, messages and saved items from our live systems within 30 days, and from backups within 90 days. Reports are kept for up to 2 years and purchase records for as long as tax law requires. Deleting your account does not cancel a Porchly Plus subscription: cancel it in Google Play. Full details are on Delete your account.

Your choices and rights

Location: you can deny location permission and type a place instead. You can change this at any time in your phone’s settings.
Notifications: you can turn them off in the app or in your phone’s settings.
Access, correction, deletion and portability: you can edit your name and listings in the app, delete your account, or email us to request a copy of your data or ask us to correct or delete it.
Objection and restriction: you can ask us to stop or limit certain uses of your data.

Depending on where you live (for example in the UK, the EU or California), you may have these rights by law. We will respond within the time the law requires, usually within a month. You can also complain to your local data protection authority.

Where data-protection law asks for a legal basis, we rely on: performing our contract with you (running the app), legitimate interests (safety, preventing abuse, improving Porchly), consent (location permission and notifications, which you can withdraw) and legal obligation (tax records, lawful requests).

Where your data is stored

Our database is hosted in the United States, and our providers may process data in other countries. Where the law requires it, we rely on appropriate safeguards such as standard contractual clauses for these transfers.

Security

We use encryption in transit (HTTPS), access controls and the security features of our providers. Exact pickup details are only revealed to the reserved person, and photos have their location metadata removed. No system is perfectly secure, so please keep your email account secure, since it is how you sign in.

Age

Porchly is only for people aged 18 or over. We don’t knowingly collect information from anyone under 18. If you believe a minor is using Porchly, tell us at kowais915@gmail.com and we will close the account. See our child safety standards.

Changes

If we make important changes to this policy we will tell you in the app or by email before they take effect. The date at the top shows when it was last updated.

Contact

Porchly by Owais Builds · kowais915@gmail.com