AskAround

1. Who We Are

AskAround (“we”, “us”, “our”) is a platform that helps people find trusted service providers through their personal and professional networks. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, store, and protect your personal information. It is guided by the Australian Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs).

2. What Personal Information We Collect

We collect the following types of personal information:

Account information — your name, email address, username, and password (encrypted)
Phone number — if you choose to provide one (optional at signup)
Profile information — profile photo, bio, and whether you are a service provider
Location information — suburb and postcode (if provided for service listings)
Connection data — who you are connected to on the platform, relationships between users and providers, and network-based discovery signals
Messages — content of messages you send and receive through the platform
Endorsements and reviews — endorsements you write about service providers
Service listings — if you are a provider, details about your services including service type, tags, and business information
Community-added business information — if you add a business on someone else’s behalf, the business name, phone, email, suburb, and service type you provide
Usage data — authentication session data and cookies necessary to keep you logged in

3. How We Collect Your Information

Directly from you — when you sign up, fill in your profile, send messages, write endorsements, or update your settings
From Google — if you sign up using Google OAuth, we receive your name and email from Google
Automatically — authentication cookies and session tokens necessary to operate the service

4. Why We Collect Your Information

We collect and use your personal information to:

Create and manage your account
Connect you with service providers through your network
Display your profile and endorsements to other users
Enable messaging between users
Verify your phone number via SMS (if provided)
Send you notifications about connection requests, messages, and endorsements
Detect fraud, abuse, or misuse of the platform
Prevent abuse and enforce our Terms of Service
Improve the platform based on usage patterns

5. Who We Share Your Information With

Other users: By design, AskAround shares certain information with other users on the platform. When you create a profile, your name, profile photo, bio, and service listings are visible to other users on the platform. Endorsements you write are visible to other users. Messages are visible to the recipient.

Third-party service providers: We use the following services to operate the platform:

Supabase (database hosting and authentication) — your data is stored on Supabase servers in Sydney, Australia
Twilio (SMS verification) — if you verify your phone number, your phone number is sent to Twilio (US-based) to deliver the verification code
Vercel (website hosting) — the platform is hosted on Vercel (US-based), which processes web requests
Upstash (rate limiting) — anonymised request data is used for rate limiting to prevent abuse
Google (authentication) — if you sign in with Google, authentication data is exchanged with Google

These providers only receive the information necessary to perform their services.

Legal requirements: We may disclose information when required to comply with legal obligations, respond to lawful requests from authorities, or protect the safety, rights, or security of users or the platform.

We do not sell your personal information. We do not share your information with advertisers or data brokers.

6. Community-Added Business Listings

Users may add businesses to AskAround on behalf of the business owner. These listings may include the business name, contact details, service type, and location. This information is treated as community-contributed content.

If your business has been listed on AskAround and you wish to have the listing corrected, updated, or removed, please contact us and we will action your request.

7. Where Your Data Is Stored

Your primary data (account, profiles, messages, endorsements) is stored on Supabase servers in Sydney, Australia. Some data is processed by services based in the United States (Twilio for SMS, Vercel for hosting, Upstash for rate limiting). By using AskAround, you consent to this data processing.

8. How We Protect Your Information

All connections to AskAround use HTTPS encryption
Passwords are never stored in plain text — authentication is handled by Supabase using industry-standard hashing
Database access controls are in place to help protect your information
API rate limiting prevents automated abuse
Administrative database operations require separate credentials

No system is 100% secure. While we take reasonable steps to protect your information, we cannot guarantee absolute security.

9. Your Rights

Under the Australian Privacy Principles, you have the right to:

Access your data — you can view most of your information through the Settings page
Correct your data — you can update your profile, phone number, and other details in Settings
Request deletion — contact us to request deletion of your account and associated data
Withdraw consent — you can remove your phone number or deactivate your provider listing at any time

10. Data Retention

We retain your personal information for as long as your account is active. If you wish to delete your account, contact us and we will work with you to remove your data. Some information may remain in system backups for a limited period after deletion.

11. Cookies

AskAround uses only essential cookies required for authentication and session management. We do not use tracking cookies, analytics cookies, or advertising cookies.

12. Children

AskAround is not intended for users under 18 years of age. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, please contact us and we will delete it.

13. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of significant changes by updating the “Last updated” date at the top of this page. Your continued use of AskAround after changes are posted constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

14. Complaints

If you have a concern about how we handle your personal information, please contact us first so we can try to resolve it. If you are not satisfied with our response, you can lodge a complaint with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) at www.oaic.gov.au.

15. Contact Us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or want to exercise your rights, contact us at: support@askaround.online