Privacy policy
Last updated: 22 October 2026
This policy explains how Samewae ("Samewae", "we", "us") handles personal data when you use the Samewae app and website (samewae.com). Samewae is operated by [Company name, registration in progress], India. For the purposes of India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, we are the Data Fiduciary for the data described here.
1. What we collect
| Data | Why we need it | Who can see it |
|---|---|---|
| Name, email address, and how you signed in (email code, Google or Apple) | To create and secure your account | Your name: other members. Your email: only you and Samewae. |
| Hometown, the city you live in, photo (optional) | To help people on your route recognise and trust you | Other members |
| Gender, as you state it | Only to show or hide women-only journeys | Not shown to anyone |
| Mobile number | To verify you're a real person before you post or connect | Not shown. Shared in a chat only when you tap "Share my phone". |
| Journeys you post: route, date, time window, mode, places, what would help, notes | To match you with people on the same journey | Members on that route, or only your chosen circles. Women-only journeys: only women. |
| Flight or train number (optional) | Only to put people on the same flight or train first | Never shown to anyone |
| People you post for (first name, relation, age band) | To post a journey for a family member | Their first name and your relation, to members who can see the journey |
| Chats and messages | So the people you match with can plan together | Only the people in that chat. Circle admins can't read chats. |
| Answers during sign-up (school, college, workplace) | To suggest circles you might belong to | Not shown; used for suggestions |
| Circles you join, reviews, thank-you notes, reports and blocks | To run circles, recognise helpers and keep the community safe | Reviews: in summary on profiles. Reports: only Samewae. |
| Device notification token | To send you notifications about messages and requests | Not shown |
We don't collect your location, contacts or photos from your phone, and we don't use advertising trackers.
2. How we use it
- To run Samewae: accounts, journeys, matching, chats, circles and notifications.
- To keep people safe: phone verification, reviewing reports, enforcing the community rules, and preventing fraud and abuse. Reports may be sorted by an automated tool first, and a person always makes the decision.
- To improve Samewae, using counts and trends rather than individual profiles.
- To meet legal obligations, such as responding to lawful requests from authorities.
We use your data on the basis of your consent, given when you create an account, and for the legitimate uses the law allows, such as safety and legal compliance. You can withdraw consent at any time by deleting your account.
3. Who we share it with
We don't sell personal data. We share it only with the services that run Samewae for us, under their data protection terms:
- Supabase: our database, sign-in and file storage, hosted in Mumbai, India.
- Google (Firebase and Google Cloud): phone number verification by text message, and Google sign-in.
- Apple: Sign in with Apple, on iPhone.
- Expo: delivering notifications to your phone.
- Google Workspace: sending sign-in codes and replying to your emails.
Some of these services process data outside India. Where they do, it's protected by their contractual commitments and handled as Indian law allows. We may also disclose data when the law requires it, or to protect someone from serious harm.
4. How long we keep it
- Journeys expire after their travel date. Chats close after the journey.
- When you delete your account, we delete your profile, journeys, chats, circle memberships and the reviews you wrote straight away.
- We keep reports about an account, and records of cards for late cancellations, for as long as needed for safety and legal reasons, normally up to 2 years.
- If you tell us why you're leaving, that note is stored without your name or account.
5. Your rights
You can:
- See and correct your details any time in the app's You tab.
- Delete your account in the app (You → Settings → Delete my account) or by following these steps.
- Ask for a summary of the personal data we hold about you.
- Nominate someone to exercise your rights if you're unable to.
- Complain to our Grievance Officer, and, if unresolved, to the Data Protection Board of India.
6. Age
Samewae is for people aged 18 and over. A parent or guardian can post a journey for a younger traveller and stays responsible for it. We don't knowingly create accounts for anyone under 18.
7. Security
Data is encrypted in transit, and access rules in our database ensure members can only see what's meant for them. For example, nobody else can read your flight number or your chats. No system is perfect, so if you notice anything wrong, tell us straight away.
8. Changes
If we make important changes to this policy, we'll tell you in the app before they take effect.
9. Contact and Grievance Officer
Grievance Officer: Abdul Alim
Email: admin@samewae.com
We aim to respond within 7 days, and to resolve grievances within the time the law requires.