Privacy policy
Last updated 30 October 2026
Who we are
Circle is a members-only app run by its operator in India. Members list things they make or grow, and other members contact them directly. This policy explains what we store about you and why, in plain English.
What we store
- Your mobile phone number, your name, your city and, if you add one, your area.
- An optional "about" line and an optional WhatsApp number, if you add them.
- Your listings and their photos. Location and other hidden data (EXIF) is removed from photos when you upload them.
- Requests you send or receive, and the notes on them.
- Invite links you make, with any label you type on them, and who invited whom. This is how the app knows who is within two invites of you.
- Reports you make about a listing, with your note.
- Sign-in sessions (a random token in a cookie; we store only a hash of it) with the browser type, and when you last used the app.
- Sign-in codes (hashed) and the IP address each one was asked from, kept for two days to stop abuse.
- A log of actions in the app (who invited, listed, requested, reported, hid or suspended what, and when), kept as a record for moderation.
- Server logs, which include IP addresses, kept for a short time to keep the service running and to stop abuse.
Who can see what
- Your name, city, area and listings are visible to members within two invites of you.
- Your phone number is shown only on your listing pages and on requests, to members within two invites of you. A seller sees a buyer's number only after accepting the buyer's request. This is the consent you give when you join.
- Nothing about you is shown to the public, except that anyone who opens an invite link you made sees your first name on the join page. We never share or sell your data.
- The operator can see all member records to run the service and act on reports.
Your location
If you tap "Use my location" when you join or edit your profile, your phone works out which city in our list is nearest. That happens on your phone, once; your position is never sent to us and is not stored. We keep only the city you choose, and your area if you type one. If you say no to the location prompt, you pick your city from the list.
Where it is stored
Your data is stored on a server in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, run by Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. Encrypted backups are kept for 35 days. This is the same for every member, in India and in the Gulf: the same rules, the same server in Riyadh.
SMS
To send you a sign-in code, your phone number is passed to an SMS provider (Twilio, or MSG91 in India). It is used only to deliver that code. Codes to Gulf numbers are sent through Twilio.
Cookies
One sign-in cookie. No analytics, no advertising, no tracking.
How long we keep it
- A sign-in session ends after 14 days without use, or 30 days at most.
- Your account, listings and requests are kept until you ask us to delete them.
- Server logs are kept for a short time and then discarded.
Your rights
Under India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023 you can ask to see the data we hold about you, have it corrected, or have it erased. You can withdraw your consent at any time by asking us to delete your account. We then remove your name, phone number, city, area, listings, photos and notes; your invites stop working. The people you invited stay connected to each other, so an unnamed placeholder stays in the invite tree where you were, and the moderation log keeps the fact that an account existed. Copies in backups are deleted within 35 days. Write to us using the contact below.
Email: ajayshankar1996@gmail.com
Grievance officer
Our grievance officer is Ajay Shankar, reachable at the contact above. Complaints are acknowledged within 24 hours and resolved within 15 days, as required by the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021.
Age
Circle is for adults. No one under 18 may join.
Changes
If this policy changes, the date at the top changes. Check it now and then; a change that affects what we store or show about you is announced to members by WhatsApp.