We are committed to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains how EchoPulse ("we," "us," or "our") collects, uses, stores, shares, and protects your personal information when you use our mobile application on iOS and Android devices.
By creating an account or using EchoPulse, you agree to the practices described in this policy.
When you create an EchoPulse account, we collect your email address, display name, username (your unique @handle), and password (stored securely by Firebase Authentication).
You may choose to provide additional profile details, including bio text, location (city or region), profile photo, and custom profile banner image.
When you use the App, you may create and share photos and images, videos (including edited video content), text posts and review captions, Whisper ratings, business and freelancer tags, comments, replies, group chat messages, direct messages, and emoji reactions.
If you create a Merchant account (Verified Business or Verified Freelancer), we additionally collect your business or service provider name, category, description, address or service area, and any contact information you choose to make public (website, Instagram handle, phone number).
We collect your push notification token (Expo Push Token), used solely to deliver push notifications, and device type, used to determine push notification compatibility.
We collect data about how you interact with the App, including likes, saves, and reactions; follow actions; search queries; post view counts and feed scroll behavior; category selections and browsing patterns; session frequency and session length; conversation activity (message timestamps, read receipts); and feature interactions such as screens visited and posting frequency. This behavioral data is used for analytics and product improvement as described in Section 4.
GPS coordinates are collected only when you explicitly grant location permission. Location data is used for the Nearby discovery feature and for tagging a location on your posts. You can revoke location permission at any time through your device settings.
Access to your camera and photo library is requested only when you choose to create a post, send a photo in a message, or update your profile photo. We do not access your camera or photo library without your action.
We use the information we collect for the following purposes:
We do not sell your personal information to third parties. We do not use your data for third-party advertising outside of the EchoPulse platform.
Your data is stored using the following services:
We take reasonable measures to protect your data, including HTTPS encryption in transit, Firebase Authentication for credential management, and Firestore security rules configured to control data access. While we strive to protect your information, no method of electronic transmission or storage is completely secure.
We use Firebase Analytics (by Google) to collect data about how users interact with the App. Firebase Analytics automatically tracks events such as app opens, session length, and screen views. We also log custom events specific to EchoPulse, including post creation details, category selections, search queries, reactions, merchant profile views, onboarding completion, and first post creation. Firebase Analytics data is subject to Google's Privacy Policy.
We may use additional third-party analytics tools, such as Mixpanel, to analyze user behavior, measure retention, and understand user segments. Any such tools receive only usage and behavioral data and do not receive your name, email address, or other directly identifying information beyond an anonymized user identifier.
EchoPulse uses automated systems, including algorithmic ranking and recommendation technology, to determine which content appears in your feed and which posts and businesses are surfaced in search results. These systems use your activity data, location, and category preferences to personalize your experience. You acknowledge that content ranking is determined algorithmically and that EchoPulse does not guarantee the visibility of any specific content.
We may classify users into behavioral segments (for example, new users, active users, or users who have not returned after signing up) for the purpose of improving the App experience, sending relevant notifications, and understanding platform health. This classification is based on your usage patterns and is used internally only.
We generate internal reports summarizing platform activity such as weekly summaries of new sign-ups, post volume, and user retention. These reports use aggregated and anonymized data and do not identify individual users.
EchoPulse uses the following third-party services to operate. Each service receives only the data necessary for its function:
| Service | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Firebase (Google) | User authentication, database storage, server-side Cloud Functions, and analytics |
| Cloudinary | Media storage, processing, and delivery |
| Expo | Push notification delivery and app build services |
| Google OAuth | Optional sign-in using your Google account. When you sign in with Google, we receive your name, email address, and profile photo. We do not receive your Google password. |
| Analytics Providers | Usage analytics and behavioral data analysis — these providers receive anonymized usage event data only |
We do not share your personal information with any other third parties except: for legal compliance (if required by law, regulation, or governmental request); for safety and abuse investigation (if we believe disclosure is necessary to protect the rights, safety, or property of EchoPulse, our users, or the public); or in connection with a business transfer (merger, acquisition, or sale of assets).
If you create a Merchant account, the information you provide for your Merchant profile — business name, category, description, service area, and any contact information you choose to make public — will be visible to other users of the App. You control which contact details are made public during the Merchant onboarding process. Merchant responses to reviews are permanently associated with your Merchant account and visible on the relevant review.
Merchants may promote their business through sponsored posts in the EchoPulse feed. If you use sponsored post features as a Merchant, we collect information about your campaign including targeting parameters, impression data, and engagement data. Users who view sponsored posts do not have their personal data shared with the sponsoring Merchant. Targeting is based on general category interest and geographic location only.
EchoPulse may now or in the future offer additional monetization features including affiliate links, creator programs, and brand sponsorships. Where such features involve the collection or use of your data, we will update this Privacy Policy and provide appropriate notice.
Push notifications are enabled by default when you create an account and grant notification permission. You can turn push notifications on or off at any time using the toggle in the App's Settings screen. Push notification payloads may include the sender's name and a preview of the relevant content.
EchoPulse requests access to your device's GPS location only for the Nearby discovery feature and for tagging a location on posts. Your live location is not continuously tracked or stored on our servers. When you tag a location on a post, the place name and coordinates are stored as part of that post. You can revoke location permission at any time through your device's system settings.
EchoPulse is not directed to children under the age of 13 and does not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If we discover or are notified that an account belongs to a child under 13, we will immediately delete that account and all associated data without notice. If you are a parent or guardian and believe that your child under 13 has created an account or provided personal information to EchoPulse, please contact us immediately at privacy@echopulse.app.
EchoPulse is a native mobile application. We do not use cookies or browser-based tracking technologies. Within the App, we use Firebase Analytics and may use additional analytics SDKs as described in Section 4. We do not use third-party advertising trackers.
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we make changes, the "Last Updated" date at the top of this document will be revised. For significant changes, we will make reasonable efforts to notify you through the App. Your continued use of EchoPulse after changes are posted constitutes your acceptance of the updated policy.
If you have questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or your personal data, please contact us at privacy@echopulse.app.
This Privacy Policy applies to the EchoPulse mobile application available on iOS and Android.