Privacy Policy
Last updated: [DATE OF PUBLISH]
IN PLAIN ENGLISH, FIRST
- We only collect what the app actually needs to work: names, photos, birthdays, family connections, and calendar events you or your family add.
- We never sell your data, and we don't show ads or build advertising profiles from your family's information.
- Children's profiles are added by a parent or guardian who already has an account — children don't sign up themselves, and we ask the parent to confirm they're the child's parent or guardian before adding that profile.
- If you close your account, we delete your data within 30 days.
- If you connect Google Calendar, we only ever read your events to show them in your app calendar — we never edit or delete anything in your real Google Calendar, never use that data for advertising, and never use it to train AI models.
- You can ask us to show you what we hold, correct it, or delete it, at any time, by emailing privacy@nearest-circle.com.
The rest of this policy explains all of that in full detail, as required by law.
1. Who we are
Nearest Circle ("we", "us", "our") is a family calendar and memory PWA operated by [LEGAL NAME/ENTITY TO CONFIRM], based in the United Kingdom, available at nearest-circle.com and app.nearest-circle.com.
For any question about this policy or your data, contact: privacy@nearest-circle.com
2. What information we collect
Information you or your family provide directly
Name, email address, and profile photo (for anyone with their own account); names, photos, birthdays, anniversaries, and family relationships for anyone added to your Family Tree — including children's profiles, which are added and managed by a parent or guardian on the family's account; calendar events, sticky notes, and reminders you create in the app; family photos you upload for the Photo Frame, Traveling Banner, or Memory Timeline features.
Information we receive if you connect Google Calendar
If you choose to connect your Google Calendar, we access your calendar events on a read-only basis — we display them inside Nearest Circle's calendar view, and we never modify, delete, or add anything to your actual Google Calendar. You can disconnect this at any time in Settings.
Information collected automatically
Basic technical information needed to run the app securely (device type, browser type, and standard server logs) — we do not use this for advertising or profiling.
What we do NOT collect
We do not run advertising, and we do not collect data for behavioural advertising or profiling purposes. We do not collect precise location data. We do not sell personal information to third parties, ever.
3. Google API Services Usage Disclosure
Nearest Circle's use of information received from Google APIs adheres to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements. Specifically:
We do not use Google Calendar data to train any generalized AI or machine learning models. We do not allow any human to read your Google Calendar data, except where you have specifically asked us for support help and agreed to that access. We never use Google Calendar data for advertising, including retargeting or interest-based advertising. We limit our use of this data strictly to providing the calendar-display feature described above, which is a prominent, user-facing feature of the app. We do not transfer this data to any other party, except where necessary to provide this same feature (for example, to our hosting provider, Google Cloud/Firebase, which stores the data on our instructions).
4. Why we use this information
We process family and calendar information because it's necessary to provide the service you've asked for — showing your family's calendar, photos, and milestones (this is a contractual necessity basis under UK GDPR). Where we ask for explicit confirmation, such as a parent confirming they're adding their own child's profile, we rely on consent, which can be withdrawn at any time.
5. Children's information
Nearest Circle is a family app, and some of the people whose profiles appear in the app — birthdays, photos, Family Tree entries — are children. This section explains specifically how we handle that.
Children do not create their own accounts or sign up themselves. Every profile for a child is added and managed by a parent or guardian who is a real, signed-in account holder on the family. When a parent adds a child's profile, we ask them to confirm they are that child's parent or legal guardian. A child's information is only ever visible to the other members of that same family's account — never to the public, never to other families, and never used for advertising.
A parent or guardian can view, correct, or delete their child's profile and information at any time from within the app, or by emailing privacy@nearest-circle.com. If you believe a child's information has been added to Nearest Circle without appropriate parental or guardian involvement, please contact us immediately and we will investigate and remove it.
We are UK-based and designed with the UK Information Commissioner's Office's Children's Code in mind, including defaulting to high-privacy settings for all users. If any user of Nearest Circle is a child in the United States under the age of 13, we handle their information in line with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) — in particular, by never collecting a child's information except where added directly by their confirmed parent or guardian, and never using it for advertising or third-party marketing.
6. Who we share information with
We do not sell your information. We share it only with service providers who help us run the app (currently, Google Cloud/Firebase, which hosts our servers, database, and photo storage, and only processes data on our instructions); other members of your own family circle, since that's the whole point of the app; Google Calendar, only if you choose to connect it, and only to read your events; and legal authorities, only if we're required to by law.
7. Where your information is stored
Our hosting provider (Google Cloud/Firebase) may store and process data on servers located outside the United Kingdom, including in the United States. Where this happens, it's covered by Google Cloud's own data processing terms, which include appropriate legal safeguards for international data transfers.
8. How long we keep your information
We keep your family's information for as long as your account is active. If you close your account, we delete your personal data, family profiles, and photos within 30 days. Some limited information may be retained for longer only where we're required to by law, never for marketing.
9. Your rights
You (or, for a child's profile, their parent or guardian) can at any time access the information we hold, correct anything inaccurate, delete an account or profile, withdraw consent, or ask us to export your data. Email privacy@nearest-circle.com — we'll respond within 30 days. UK residents can also complain to the Information Commissioner's Office; US residents can contact the Federal Trade Commission.
10. Security
We take reasonable technical and organisational steps to protect your family's information, including access controls that ensure only your own family's members can see your family's data.
11. Changes to this policy
If we make material changes to this policy, we'll update the date at the top and, for significant changes, let you know directly.
12. Contact us
General support: support@nearest-circle.com
Privacy questions or data requests: privacy@nearest-circle.com