Privacy Policy

Last updated: 17 May 2026

This Privacy Policy describes how Yaarikut ("we", "us", "our"), operator of https://www.yaarikut.com/ and any related applications (the "Service"), collects, uses, shares and protects your personal information. By using the Service you agree to this Policy. If you do not agree, please do not use the Service.

1. Information We Collect

1.1 Information you provide directly

• Account information: name (first and last), email address, gender, date of birth, password (stored hashed and salted), profile photo, cover photo and any other profile fields you choose to fill (relationship status, religion, location, about-me text, social-network links, education, work, etc.).
• User content: status posts, photos, videos, blog articles, comments, chat messages, livestream broadcasts and any other material you submit.
• Contact form / support correspondence: name, email, subject and message you send via the contact form or by email.
• Payment information: when you purchase a subscription, our payment processors (PayPal or Cashfree) collect billing details directly from you. We receive only a transaction reference, plan, amount and status — we do not store full card numbers.
• Phone number if you choose to add it or pay via Cashfree which requires it.

1.2 Information collected from third-party login providers

If you sign in using Google or Facebook, we receive limited profile information that you authorise the provider to share. Specifically:

• Google Sign-In: Google user ID, name, email address, profile picture, and (with your additional consent) gender, birthday and language.
• Facebook Login: Facebook user ID, name, email address, profile picture URL and (when you grant the corresponding permission) birthday, gender and current city. We download your Facebook profile picture once and re-host it on our servers so it remains visible after the Facebook access token expires.

If the third-party provider does not return an email address, we generate a placeholder email of the form <provider_id>@<provider>.com so you can be uniquely identified; you can replace it with a real email under Settings → Account at any time.

1.3 Information collected automatically

• Device & browser data: IP address, user agent (browser name and version), operating system, device type, screen size, language, and time zone.
• Approximate geolocation from IP: when you log in we approximate your city, state and country from your IP address (third-party IP-to-location service) to personalise content and suggest nearby places. This is overwritten by your saved profile location if present.
• Precise geolocation (only with your explicit browser consent): on the "Places near you" page and on any "near me" feature, we ask the browser for your precise latitude and longitude. We use it only to query the Google Places API. You may deny or revoke the permission in your browser settings at any time.
• Camera & microphone (only when you actively use livestream or webcam photo capture): media streams are processed entirely in your browser and transmitted to our streaming server only for the duration of the broadcast. We do not access camera or microphone outside of those features. Live broadcasts may be recorded; recordings are deleted when the stream ends unless you save them.
• Cookies, localStorage & similar technologies: see Section 5.
• Product analytics events: actions you take on the Service (e.g. pages visited, posts created, searches performed, settings changed). See Section 4.
• Web push subscription: if you grant notification permission, we receive a Firebase Cloud Messaging token that lets us send push notifications. You may disable push notifications at any time from your browser or via Settings → Notifications.

2. How We Use Your Information

• Operate the Service: create and authenticate your account, host your content, deliver messages, livestreams and notifications, match you with friends, render personalised feeds and search results.
• Communicate: send service notifications (friend requests, replies, livestream alerts), password resets, billing receipts, and (with your consent) occasional product updates. You may opt out of marketing emails at any time using the unsubscribe link.
• Personalise content: show nearby users, weather and places using your saved or browser-provided location.
• Improve the Service: aggregate and analyse usage patterns to improve features, fix bugs and design new functionality.
• Display advertising: serve ads through Google AdSense, including measuring ad performance.
• Protect the Service: detect and prevent fraud, abuse, spam, security incidents and violations of our Terms.
• Legal compliance: comply with applicable laws and respond to lawful requests from authorities.

3. Legal Bases (GDPR / UK GDPR)

If you are in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom or Switzerland, we process your personal data on the following bases: (a) performance of a contract with you (creating your account, delivering features); (b) your consent (cookies for ads/analytics, push notifications, camera/microphone access, precise location, marketing emails); (c) our legitimate interests in operating, securing and improving the Service; and (d) legal obligations.

4. Analytics

We use the following analytics products:

• Mixpanel (EU region) — captures product-event data (page views, button clicks, post/chat/stream actions) tied to a pseudonymous user identifier. The email address sent to Mixpanel is a synthesised placeholder (<username>@yaarikut.com) so your real email is never persisted in Mixpanel's user profile. See Mixpanel Privacy Policy.
• Google Analytics 4 — aggregates anonymised traffic statistics. We have not enabled the GA Demographics or Interest reports.

You can opt out of analytics by enabling the Do Not Track signal in your browser (we honour it only for Google Analytics by default), by installing the Google Analytics Opt-Out browser add-on, or by using a private/incognito window or a tracking-protection extension.

5. Cookies & Similar Technologies

We use cookies, browser localStorage and sessionStorage for the following purposes:

• Strictly necessary: authentication tokens (so you stay logged in), CSRF protection, and basic security.
• Functional: remembering your theme, language preference and last-used filters.
• Analytics: Mixpanel and Google Analytics tracking cookies/localStorage entries.
• Advertising: Google AdSense and DoubleClick cookies, used by Google and its partners to serve and measure ads, including personalised ads.

You can control cookies through your browser settings. Disabling strictly necessary cookies will prevent you from staying logged in.

6. Advertising — Google AdSense Disclosure

The Service is partially supported by ads served by Google AdSense. We make the following disclosures as required by Google's program policies:

• Third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on your prior visits to Yaarikut and other websites.
• Google's use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads to you based on your visit to Yaarikut and/or other sites on the Internet.
• You may opt out of personalised advertising by visiting Google Ads Settings. Alternatively, you can opt out of a third-party vendor's use of cookies for personalised advertising by visiting www.aboutads.info.
• If you are in the EEA, UK or Switzerland, you will be presented with a consent prompt before non-essential cookies are set. You may withdraw consent at any time by clearing your cookies for this site.
• We do not direct ads to children and do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18.

7. How We Share Information

We never sell your personal information. We share it only in these limited circumstances:

• Other users of the Service: information you post publicly (profile, posts, photos, livestreams) is visible to other users in accordance with the privacy settings you choose.
• Service providers (processors): hosting (our cloud server), Firebase Authentication, email delivery, push notification delivery, Mixpanel (analytics), Google Analytics, Google AdSense (ads), Google Maps / Places, PayPal & Cashfree (payments), and IP-geolocation services. Each provider is contractually bound to use the data only to provide their service to us.
• Legal compliance: when required to comply with applicable law, valid legal process, or to protect the rights, safety or property of Yaarikut, our users, or others.
• Business transfers: in the event of a merger, acquisition or sale of all or part of our assets, your information may be transferred — we will notify you and any acquirer must agree to honour this Privacy Policy.

8. International Data Transfers

Yaarikut is operated from India. Some of our service providers (Mixpanel EU, Google, Firebase, PayPal) operate in other countries including the United States and the European Union. When data is transferred outside your country we rely on appropriate safeguards, such as the EU Standard Contractual Clauses, where required.

9. Data Retention

We keep your personal information for as long as your account is active. After you delete your account, we will delete or anonymise your profile and personal content within 90 days, except where retention is required by law (e.g. invoices for 8 years under Indian tax rules), or for security/fraud-prevention investigation. Aggregated, anonymised statistics may be retained indefinitely.

10. Your Rights

Subject to applicable law, you have the right to:

• Access the personal data we hold about you;
• Rectify inaccurate or incomplete data (from Settings → Account or Edit Profile);
• Delete your account and associated data;
• Restrict or object to certain processing (e.g. marketing, personalised advertising);
• Portability: receive a copy of your data in a machine-readable format;
• Withdraw consent at any time for processing based on consent;
• Lodge a complaint with your local data-protection authority.

California residents (CCPA / CPRA): you have additional rights including the right to know the categories of personal information collected, the right to opt out of "sale" or "sharing" of personal information (we do not sell, and we do not "share" for cross-context behavioural advertising as defined under the CPRA outside of the AdSense disclosures above), the right to limit use of sensitive personal information, and the right to non-discrimination for exercising your rights.

To exercise any of these rights, email support@yaarikut.com. We will respond within 30 days.

11. Facebook Login — Specific Disclosures

When you log in using Facebook, we receive your Facebook user ID and the profile fields you authorise (typically: public profile, email, and — when you grant them — birthday, gender and current city). We store this information only to provide the Service. Your data on Facebook itself is governed by Facebook's privacy policy.

Revoking access: you may revoke Yaarikut's access to your Facebook profile at any time at facebook.com/settings/applications. Revoking access does not delete the data we have already stored — to delete your Yaarikut account and associated data, follow the deletion instructions below.

Data deletion instructions (required by Facebook Platform Terms): to request deletion of all personal data we hold about you, email support@yaarikut.com with subject "Data Deletion Request" and your Facebook user ID, or delete your account directly from Settings → Account → Delete Account. We will confirm deletion within 30 days and provide a unique confirmation code on request.

12. Google API Services — Limited Use

Yaarikut's use of information received from Google APIs (Google Sign-In, Maps & Places) adheres to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements. We do not transfer Google user data to third parties except as necessary to provide the Service, comply with applicable law, or as part of a merger/acquisition where the acquirer agrees to honour this Policy. We do not use Google user data to serve advertisements, and we do not allow humans to read Google user data except (a) with your explicit consent for specific messages, (b) for security purposes such as investigating abuse, (c) to comply with applicable law, or (d) where data is aggregated and de-identified for internal operations.

13. Data Security

We protect your personal data using industry-standard measures including HTTPS encryption in transit, hashed-and-salted password storage, principle of least privilege for staff access, regular security patching, and operational logging. No system is 100% secure; we cannot guarantee absolute security but we will notify affected users without undue delay in the event of a data breach involving personal data, as required by applicable law.

14. Children's Privacy

Yaarikut is intended for adults aged 18 and older. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18. If you believe a minor has provided us personal information, please contact us and we will promptly delete it.

15. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Policy from time to time. Material changes will be notified through an in-product banner or by email to your registered address at least 14 days before they take effect. The "Last updated" date at the top of this page indicates when it was most recently revised.

16. Contact Us

Questions, requests or complaints about this Privacy Policy, or to exercise any of your rights, email our Data Protection contact at support@yaarikut.com.