Privacy Policy

1. Our stance

Circles (“we,” “us”) is a nearby social product built to minimize surveillance-style retention. We do not run a business that sells your personal information to advertisers. Privacy is part of the product design: ephemeral posts, no follower-feed archive culture, and no cross-site ad tracking stack.

This Policy explains what we collect, why, how long we keep it, and your choices. It covers the Circles app, circles.bar, and related services (the “Service”). Contact: info@circles.bar.

2. Data we collect

Account & profile

Information you provide to create and use an account — for example username, credentials or auth tokens, profile details you choose to show, language preference, and referral codes.

Content you create

Posts, stories, tips/Respect or Disrespect actions, messages or transfers you initiate, AI prompts or generated images you request, pins, and similar in-app activity. Ordinary posts and stories are designed to expire after a short window (about six hours unless a paid pin or similar feature extends visibility).

Location (point-in-time)

To power nearby discovery, we process approximate location while you use relevant features — so the Service can show people, places, and moments around you. We do not build or sell a long-term map of everywhere you have ever gone as an advertising product. You can deny or limit location permission in your device settings; nearby features may not work without it.

Social Score & CIRCA

We store Social Score, Respect/Disrespect-related signals needed to compute it, CIRCA balances, and a ledger of wallet movements (earns, spends, transfers, monthly distributions, admin corrections) to operate the economy fairly and fight fraud.

Device & technical data

Basic operational data such as app version, device type/OS, crash diagnostics, and security logs needed to keep the Service running. We do not use third-party advertising SDKs or cross-site trackers as part of Circles’ product model.

Payments

If you buy CIRCA or Premium-related value through Apple, Google, or a payment processor, those providers process card or store-account details. We typically receive confirmation of purchase, amount, currency, and entitlement — not your full card number.

Communications

If you email us or submit a support request, we keep what you send so we can respond.

3. What we do not do

• We do not sell your personal information as an ad product
• We do not operate Google Analytics / Meta Pixel / similar marketing trackers on Circles as our monetization path
• We do not keep a permanent public archive of ordinary ephemeral posts after they expire (subject to Section 5)
• We do not require access to your entire contact book or browsing history to use core nearby features

4. How we use data

• Provide nearby feeds, profiles, and ephemeral sharing
• Compute Social Score and distribute monthly CIRCA rewards
• Process CIRCA spends, transfers, pins, AI features, and Premium
• Secure the Service, prevent fraud and abuse, and enforce Terms
• Respond to support and legal requests
• Improve reliability and product quality using aggregated or de-identified signals where practical

5. Retention

Ephemeral content: designed to disappear from the product after its lifetime (about six hours by default; longer only for paid duration features). Residual copies may briefly exist in backups, caches, or safety queues.

Account, score, and wallet data: kept while your account is active and as needed for ledgers, dispute handling, anti-fraud, and legal obligations after closure.

Safety & legal: we may retain specific content or logs longer when investigating abuse, complying with law, or resolving disputes — even if the public post has expired.

6. Sharing

We share personal data only when needed:

• Other users — what you choose to show nearby (profile, posts while live, public score-related presentation)
• Service providers — hosting, infrastructure, email, crash tooling, or payment partners under contractual limits
• App stores — as required for distribution and in-app purchases
• Legal & safety — when required by law or to protect users and Circles from harm or fraud

We do not sell personal data.

7. Your choices

• Control location and notification permissions in OS settings
• Edit profile information you provide
• Request account deletion and related erasure where applicable — some ledger or legal records may be retained as required
• Contact us for access or correction requests at info@circles.bar

Depending on where you live (for example GDPR/UK GDPR or similar frameworks), you may have rights to access, rectify, erase, restrict, object, or port data, and to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority. We will honor applicable rights.

8. Children

Circles is not directed at children under 13 (or the higher age required in your country). We do not knowingly collect personal data from children below that age. If you believe we have, contact us and we will take appropriate steps.

9. Security & international transfers

We use reasonable technical and organizational measures to protect data. No method of transmission or storage is 100% secure. If we process data in multiple countries, we take steps appropriate to the transfer mechanism required by law.

10. Changes

We may update this Policy as the product evolves (including Social Score, CIRCA, Premium, or ephemeral timing). The “Last updated” date will change when we do. Continued use after an update means you accept the revised Policy where permitted by law.

11. Contact

Privacy questions: info@circles.bar
Circles · circles.bar