FareCheckr Privacy Policy

Last updated: October 11, 2026

FareCheckr ("the app") helps riders estimate auto-rickshaw and student bus fares, track auto-rickshaw rides, and prepare complaints to transport authorities. This policy explains what data the app uses, where it goes, and how long it is kept.

Location data

FareCheckr uses your device's location to:

• Suggest your current position as the pickup when you plan a ride.
• Track your actual GPS route during an active ride, so it can be compared against the recommended route and used to calculate a fair fare.

In native builds, with background location permission, tracking can continue during an active ride while your screen is locked or you use another app. Android shows an ongoing tracking notification. Tracking stops when you end or cancel the ride. Without background permission, or in Expo Go and the web version, tracking works only while the app is open. Missing GPS coverage causes a route-based estimate; background access does not guarantee uninterrupted tracking if the system stops the app. You can refuse the location permission and still use the app by entering the pickup manually; the actual route then cannot be tracked.

What is sent to our server, and what happens to it

To show search results, routes and addresses, the app sends requests to the FareCheckr server (hosted on Cloudflare), which forwards them to Google and returns Google's answer. Depending on what you do, a request contains:

• the text you type when searching for a place, and your approximate position to rank nearby results;
• the pickup and drop coordinates of a trip you are planning;
• a coordinate, when the app looks up the address of a point on the map;
• at the end of a ride, your GPS route (a list of coordinates), so it can be matched to roads for an accurate distance.

The FareCheckr server does not store this information. It is used only to answer the request. Google processes it under its own terms (see "Third-party services"). Our own logs record only whether a request succeeded or failed, never the text, places or coordinates. Cloudflare, as our hosting provider, may keep short-lived technical logs of connections (such as time, result and network address) under Cloudflare's Privacy Policy; we do not store IP addresses ourselves.

When Google routing is unavailable, the app may request a fallback driving route from the public OSRM service, sending pickup and drop coordinates directly from your device. Development builds may also use Nominatim for fallback place searches. These services handle requests under their own policies.

Anonymous statistics

To understand how the app is used and to improve it, the app sends anonymous statistics:

• Events: that the app was opened, a ride was started, or a complaint was started, with the city and app version.
• Search counts: successful searches, the number of suggestions returned, searches with no suggestions, and selections from search results or recent places. These counts contain no search text, place names, addresses, coordinates or place identifiers.
• Auto-rickshaw ride summaries: for ended and saved rides, the app attempts to send distance (rounded to the nearest half kilometre), recommended and calculated fares, amount charged if entered, whether the fare is estimated or tracked, night / return trip / one-way surcharge flags, whether a complaint was prepared, city, app version and date. A random code per ride prevents duplicate records when a request is retried; it is not an installation code. A calculated fare may be an estimate if tracking was incomplete or the ride was checked without tracking. Failed deliveries are retried from a local queue holding at most 100 summaries for up to 7 days; delivery is not guaranteed.

These summaries contain no locations, addresses, place names, vehicle numbers, contact details or installation codes or device identifiers. Ride summaries are kept for up to about 13 months; event counts are kept only as totals.

Installation code

The first time the app runs, our server gives it a random code. The app attaches this code to its requests so the server can limit how many requests one installation can make each day, which protects the service from misuse and keeps it free. The code is not linked to your name, phone or accounts. The daily counters that use it are deleted after 7 days.

Ride and complaint data

The active auto-rickshaw ride and your most recent 100 saved rides are stored on your device. Saved details include pickup and drop locations, distance, fare, waiting time and, if entered for a complaint, the amount charged, vehicle registration number, ride date and time, traveller name and contact number. You can clear ride history in the app. Numeric fare statistics may also be sent as described above; personal complaint details are not included in those statistics.

Student bus complaint forms include stops, amount charged, ride date and time, and optional bus name, registration number, student name, contact number and institution name. Once you prepare an email, these student complaint details and your edited message are saved in a local draft on your device. They are not saved in ride history or sent to the FareCheckr backend.

For both complaint types, you can edit the recipient, subject and message inside the app. The app then hands the draft to your device's email composer or chosen email app. FareCheckr does not send the email automatically or upload the message to its backend. Your email service receives the draft when it is handed over, and the recipient receives it if you send it. Their privacy and retention policies apply. An email handoff does not confirm that a complaint was sent. FareCheckr retains the latest auto-rickshaw and student complaint drafts locally so edits survive email handoff. Starting another complaint of the same type replaces its draft. Clearing ride history also removes these local complaint drafts; clearing app storage removes them too.

Third-party services

The app relies on the following services to function:

• Google Maps Platform (Maps, Places, Routes, Roads and Geocoding) — to display maps, search for places, calculate routes, snap tracked routes to roads and find addresses. The map itself is loaded directly from Google by your phone. Governed by Google's Privacy Policy.
• Cloudflare — hosts the FareCheckr server. Governed by Cloudflare's Privacy Policy.
• OSRM and Nominatim — public fallback routing and development search services using OpenStreetMap data. Their operators process the coordinates or search text sent to them. See the OSRM project and OpenStreetMap Foundation's Privacy Policy.
• Your email service and chosen complaint recipient — process complaint drafts and sent messages under their own policies.
• GitHub — hosts this policy and, for older versions of the app, a small file used to tell an outdated app to update.

FareCheckr does not currently show advertisements. If that changes in a future update, this policy will be updated first to disclose it.

Security

All communication between the app and the FareCheckr server uses encrypted connections (HTTPS). Google web-service credentials are kept on the server. Native map-display keys are included in the app and require platform and application restrictions.

Data retention and deletion

• On your device: ride history keeps the most recent 100 rides, including entered auto-rickshaw complaint details, until removed by the history limit, cleared in the app, or removed with app storage.
• Search text, places, coordinates and GPS routes: not retained by the FareCheckr server. Recent places and ride information can remain in local app storage.
• Local complaint drafts: the latest draft per complaint type is kept until replaced, cleared with ride history, or removed with app storage. A saved draft older than 30 days is discarded when the complaint screen is reopened.
• Complaint emails: drafts and sent messages held by your email service or recipient are subject to their retention rules.
• Installation-code counters: deleted after 7 days.
• Anonymous ride summaries: kept for up to about 13 months. Because they are not linked to you, we cannot identify or delete a particular person's summary.

Clearing FareCheckr's local storage removes its locally stored ride data and installation code. It does not delete messages or drafts held by an email service or transport authority. If you have any concern about your data, contact us using the address below.

Children's privacy

FareCheckr includes student bus fare estimates. No account, student name, contact number or institution name is needed to calculate a fare. Student complaint forms offer optional personal details, handled as described above. Only include information needed for the complaint; personal student details are not sent to FareCheckr's backend.

Changes to this policy

If this policy changes, the "Last updated" date above will change accordingly. Continued use of the app after an update means you accept the revised policy.