SamaKa Privacy Policy

In Short

SamaKa lets a driver who is already making a trip offer empty seats to people nearby, who share the fuel cost. Because strangers share a car, we check who is riding and driving. We collect only what that needs, we never sell your data, and SamaKa has no ads and no advertising or analytics trackers.

What We Collect and Why

Google sign-in. Your Google account email and name, to create and keep your account. Other users never see your email.
Profile. The name you choose, the avatar you pick and, if you add one, a profile photo.
Mobile number. Typed by you. Only SamaKa staff can see it, to reach you about your account. Other users never see it.
ID photo and selfie. A photo of a government ID, its type, and a selfie, so our staff can check who is riding and driving. Before the selfie is sent, the app checks on your phone that it shows one face; no face data leaves your phone other than the photo itself. Only SamaKa staff see these; other users never do.
Location. Your phone's location, to find rides near you and to set where a ride starts. While a driver's ride is under way, the driver's location is sent to us so confirmed riders can follow the car, including when the app is in the background (a notification shows while this happens).
Rides. Start, destination, route, pickup and drop-off points, times, seats, the fuel contribution and each step of the ride.
Ride chat. Messages, photos and shared locations you send in a ride's group chat.
Trust and safety. Ratings, reports, blocks and your Trusted Group.
Ride alerts. If you ask to be notified when a ride appears, the place (and destination, if set) you asked about.
Device. A random install ID created by the app, and a push notification token if you allow notifications.

Who Sees What

People finding a ride see the driver's name, avatar, rating and verification badges, the destination, and only an approximate area (a few hundred metres) around where the ride starts, never the exact start.
A driver sees the name, avatar, rating and chosen pickup and drop-off of people asking for a seat.
People in a confirmed ride together (the driver and riders whose seat is confirmed) also see each other's profile photo, the vehicle details, the ride chat and, while the ride is under way, the driver's live location.
SamaKa staff see your mobile number, ID photo and selfie to review your account, and reports to act on them.
Nobody else. We do not sell or rent personal data and do not share it for advertising.

Service Providers

We use these providers to run SamaKa. They process data on our behalf:

Google Cloud and Firebase (Google Sign-In, Cloud Run servers in Singapore, Cloud Storage for photos, Firebase Cloud Messaging for notifications).
MongoDB Atlas (our database).
Mapbox (maps, routes and place names for map points).
Google Places and Foursquare (the place search: the text you type and your approximate location are sent to find places).
DiceBear (the generated avatars; only the avatar's style seed is sent).

How Long We Keep It

The driver's live location is held in memory only, never stored as a history, and is forgotten when the ride ends.
Your account, profile, photo, mobile number, ID photo, selfie, chat messages, ratings, Trusted Group and ride alerts are kept until you delete your account.
Records of past rides (who rode, where and when) are kept to resolve disputes and safety reports. Reports other people made about you are kept so we can act on them.

Your Choices and Deleting Your Data

Change or remove your profile photo, name and avatar in Profile.
Turn notifications and background location off in Settings or in Android settings. Without location, you cannot find or drive rides nearby.
Delete my data in Settings deletes your account at once: you are withdrawn from any ride, rides you offered are cancelled, and your profile, email, mobile number, ID photo, selfie, profile photo, chat messages and photos, ratings, the reports you made, blocks and Trusted Group are removed from our servers. See how to delete your data, also without the app.
To ask what we hold about you, or to correct it, write to chris@vxtory.com. We handle personal data in line with the Philippine Data Privacy Act of 2012.

Security

Data travels over encrypted connections (HTTPS). Photos are stored in private storage reachable only through unguessable links, and ID photos and selfies are only ever shown in our staff review tools. No system is perfectly secure, but we limit who can reach your data to what the service needs.

Age

SamaKa is for adults who can legally arrange their own travel. It is not directed at children, and we do not knowingly collect data from anyone under 18. If you believe a child has an account, write to us and we will delete it.

Changes and Contact

If this policy changes, we update the date above and, for important changes, tell you in the app. Questions: chris@vxtory.com or vxtory.com/contact.