Privacy Policy — AutosPlug
At Autosplug, your privacy is important to us. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, and protect your personal information when you use the Autosplug mobile app and website (collectively, "the Service").
1. Information We Collect
We collect the following types of information to provide and improve our services:
- Personal Information: Name, email address, phone number, and user/dealer profiles provided during account creation.
- Vehicle Preferences: Search filters, pricing caps, and vehicle categories chosen to locate listings.
- Precise Geolocation: Real-time coordinates collected from your mobile device via GPS to calculate vehicle search radius and locate local sellers.
- Camera and Photos: Vehicle images uploaded directly from your device storage to add photos to listings.
- Usage Data: Information about how you interact with the app, such as features used, screens visited, and session durations.
- Device Information: Device model, operating system, unique device tokens, and IP address.
- Payment Information: Subscription details and billing records. Secure transactions are processed by our third-party payment provider, Stripe. We do not store raw card numbers.
2. How We Use Your Information
We use the collected information to enhance your experience and provide personalized services:
- Service Delivery: To process account registrations, display active vehicle listings, facilitate dealer verifications, and provide customer assistance.
- Location-Based Search: To calculate physical distances and showcase local car advertisements based on your search radius.
- Secure Communication: To enable instant messaging (chat) between buyers and sellers within the app.
- Payment Management: To handle dealer subscription billing and boosted ads securely via Stripe.
- Security: To detect and prevent fraudulent activities, ensure system rate limits, and secure listing details.
3. Sharing Your Information
We respect your privacy and do not sell your data. However, we may share information in the following cases:
- With Service Providers: Trusted partners who assist in operating the service, such as Supabase (data hosting and storage) and Stripe (payment processing).
- Legal Requirements: When required by law, regulation, subpoena, or legal processes to protect user safety and security.
- Business Transfers: In connection with corporate mergers, asset sales, or structural acquisitions, ensuring identical data protections.
- With Your Consent: When you explicitly agree to share specific listing details or contact info.
4. Your Privacy Rights
Depending on your location, you have rights regarding your personal data:
- Access and Correction: You can review, update, or edit your personal profile information directly within app settings.
- Deletion: You can request that we permanently delete your account and all associated personal data.
- Data Portability: You can request a copy of your personal data in a structured, portable format.
- Opt-Out: You can turn off marketing emails or push notifications at any time in system preferences.
5. Data Security Measures
We implement industry-standard security protocols to protect your personal information from unauthorized access, alteration, disclosure, or destruction:
- Encryption: Sensitive communications and database records are encrypted both in transit (TLS) and at rest (AES-256).
- Access Controls: Database credentials are restricted to authorized operational staff.
- Regular Audits: We periodically review cloud databases and API configurations to address potential vulnerabilities.
- Incident Response: In the event of a security compromise, we follow established procedures to notify affected users promptly.
6. Cookies and Tracking Technologies
Our website and mobile app use cookies and local storage tokens to enhance user experience:
- Types of Cookies: We utilize essential authentication tokens and performance analytics cookies.
- Purpose: Cookies keep you securely logged in and help us analyze screen loading speeds.
- Managing Cookies: You can disable cookies through your browser settings or adjust system-level application settings.
7. Children's Privacy
Protecting children's data is a priority for us:
- Age Restrictions: Our services are not intended for individuals under 13 years old. Users must have legal capacity to enter contract negotiations.
- Parental Consent: We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If we discover records belonging to a minor under 13, they are permanently removed immediately.
- Contact: Parents can reach out to us at
support@autosplug.co.uk to request deletion of accidental minor registrations.
8. Changes to This Privacy Policy
We may update this privacy policy periodically to reflect changes in our practices or legal requirements:
- Notification: Important updates will be broadcasted via in-app alerts or direct email updates.
- Effective Date: The date at the top of the policy indicates when the latest version took effect.
- Continued Use: By continuing to use our services after updates, you agree to the revised terms.
9. App Store & Google Play Compliances
To meet developer policies for the Google Play Store and Apple App Store, we provide the following specific disclosures:
- Device Permissions: The mobile application requests permissions for GPS Location (to enable radius search filters) and Photo Gallery/Files access (to select and upload car images). You can modify or revoke these hardware permissions at any time via your device OS settings.
- In-App Account Deletion: You have the right to request deletion of your account and all associated personal data directly within the application. To do so, navigate to the Profile tab in the app, click Delete Account, and confirm your request.
- Web Deletion Requests: If you are unable to access the mobile application, you can submit an account and data deletion request by emailing
support@autosplug.co.uk. We will verify your identity and delete your profile, active vehicle listings, message logs, and subscription tokens within 30 days.
- UGC Safety & Moderation: To comply with Apple App Store Guideline 1.2 and Google Play policies for user-generated content, we collect and process report logs, blocklist records, and flagged content profiles. This data is utilized strictly for moderation purposes to filter objectionable listings, prevent abuse, and enforce user compliance. Action on objectionable content reports is taken within 24 hours.
- Data Retention: Stored data is deleted immediately from production systems upon account closure. Offsite backups are purged in accordance with standard data cycle retention limits.
