Privacy Policy
Vicini ("Vicini," "we," "us") is a neighborhood app. You can see what's happening near you, post to your neighbors, find local events, and let people nearby know your porch light is on. This Privacy Policy explains what we collect, why, and the choices you have. Vicini is operated by AJP Studios LLC (support@vicini.app).
By using Vicini you agree to this Policy. If you don't agree, please don't use the app.
1. Information we collect
Account & identity
- Email address: used to create and sign in to your account (via Sign in with Apple or a one-time email code).
- Account identifier: a unique user ID we generate.
Profile information you provide
- Display name
- Home area: an approximate point you choose on a map, plus a radius (how far your neighborhood extends). We deliberately round the point to roughly a city-block level (~110 m) before it leaves your device. We never collect or store your exact address or precise GPS coordinates on our servers.
- A neighborhood display name (e.g. "Union Square"), derived from the approximate point
Content you create
- Posts (text and photos), comments, and reactions
- Events you host and your RSVPs to others' events
- Porch lights: a short status (a vibe, an optional note) that expires automatically after the duration you pick (30 minutes to 4 hours, or up to 12 hours with Vicini+), and waves you send to others' lights
- Direct messages you exchange with other users
- Reports and blocks you submit about other users or content
Location
- With your permission, Vicini uses your device's location while you are using the app to center the map when you set your home area, and (if you browse without an account) to show nearby posts. We do not track your location in the background and do not store your precise device coordinates on our servers. We keep only the rounded home area described above.
- Posts and porch lights are tagged with your rounded home area, not your device's live location.
- You can deny or revoke location permission in your device Settings; you can still pick your home area by panning the map.
Technical information
- Standard server and security logs from our infrastructure provider (such as IP address, timestamps, and basic device/app information) used to operate and protect the service. Vicini contains no third-party advertising or analytics SDKs.
2. How we use your information
- Provide core features: the nearby feed, posts, comments, events, porch lights, and messages
- Maintain your account across devices
- Keep Vicini safe: review reports, enforce our rules, and moderate content
- Operate, troubleshoot, and improve the app
- Comply with law and protect the rights and safety of users and the public
We do not sell your personal information, and we do not use it for third-party advertising.
3. How information is shared
With other users
Your display name, neighborhood name, posts, comments, events, and active porch light are visible to other users within range by design, because that is how neighbors find each other. Approximate distance (e.g. "0.4 mi") is shown; your exact location never is. Direct messages are visible only to you and the person you're messaging. Don't put anything in your posts, notes, or photos that you wouldn't want neighbors to see.
With service providers (sub-processors)
- Supabase: our backend provider, which hosts our database, authentication, file storage, and real-time messaging on our behalf.
- Apple: map display uses Apple Maps (MapKit), and account/app services use Apple's platform. Their handling of data is governed by Apple's privacy policy.
These providers process data only to provide their services to us.
When you translate a post
Posts and comments written in another language can be translated with the Translate action in the app. This uses Apple's built-in translation, not ours: the text never passes through our servers, and we neither see nor store the translation. By default iOS sends the text you selected to Apple to translate it, and Apple asks your permission before the first time. If you would rather keep translation entirely on your device, turn on offline translation in iOS Settings under Apps > Translate. Apple's handling of that text is governed by Apple's privacy policy.
For legal and safety reasons
We may disclose information if required by law, to enforce our Terms, or to protect the rights, property, or safety of Vicini, our users, or others.
4. Content moderation
Every post, comment, and user can be reported in the app, and you can block any user at any time. We review reports, typically acting within 24 hours by removing content and/or restricting accounts. Blocking someone hides their content from you and prevents them from messaging you.
5. Data retention
- Porch lights expire automatically, after 30 minutes to 4 hours, or up to 12 hours with Vicini+, and stop being shown once expired.
- Posts, comments, events, messages, and your profile are kept while your account is active. You can delete your own posts and comments at any time.
- Reports and blocks are kept as needed for safety and enforcement.
- When you delete your account, we delete or de-identify your personal data, except where we must retain certain records for legal, security, or fraud-prevention purposes.
6. Your choices and rights
- Edit your display name and neighborhood radius any time in the app.
- Delete your own posts and comments in the app.
- Location: control or revoke permission in your device Settings.
- Block other users from the app; manage blocks in Profile → Blocked neighbors.
- Delete your account from the Profile tab, or email support@vicini.app to request deletion.
- Depending on where you live, you may have rights to access, correct, delete, or port your personal data. To make a request, contact us at support@vicini.app. If you are in the EEA, the UK or Switzerland, see section 8b for the detail.
7. Children
Vicini is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from them. If you believe a child has provided us personal information, contact us and we will delete it.
8. Security
We use industry-standard safeguards (including access controls, row-level security, and encryption in transit) to protect your information. No method of transmission or storage is 100% secure, so we can't guarantee absolute security.
8a. International users and transfers
We are based in the United States, and everything described in section 1 is stored and processed there, by us and by the providers listed in section 3 acting on our behalf. If you use Vicini from outside the United States, your information is transferred to and stored in the United States.
Where that transfer starts in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom or Switzerland, it is made under the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses, together with the UK International Data Transfer Addendum where the UK GDPR applies. Our providers are contractually bound by those clauses. Email support@vicini.app if you would like details.
8b. Your rights in the EEA, the UK and Switzerland
If you are in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom or Switzerland, the GDPR (or the UK GDPR) applies to the information described in section 1. The data controller is AJP Studios LLC, a Florida limited liability company, reachable at support@vicini.app.
What we rely on to process it
- Running your account and the core features: the nearby feed, posts, comments, events, porch lights and messages. Performance of a contract, Article 6(1)(b). These are the things you signed up for, and we cannot provide them without the data in section 1.
- Keeping Vicini safe: reviewing reports, enforcing the rules, and acting on blocks. Our legitimate interests, Article 6(1)(f), in running a service neighbors can use safely, and in some cases our legal obligations as an app-store distributor.
- Operating and troubleshooting the app. Our legitimate interests in keeping it working. We have weighed this against your interests; there is no analytics or advertising code in the app, so nothing here is used to profile you.
- Meeting legal obligations, Article 6(1)(c), and protecting the rights and safety of users and the public.
We do not rely on consent for any of the above, so there is no consent for you to withdraw. We do not process your information for advertising or profiling.
Location
Vicini never stores your exact address. You pick an approximate home area on a map and it is rounded to roughly a block, about 110 metres, on your device before it is ever sent to us. Other neighbors see an approximate distance, never a point. You can revoke the location permission at any time in your device Settings.
Special category data
We do not ask for or process special category data under Article 9. If you choose to write something sensitive in a post, a porch light note or a message, that is your content and it is handled the same as any other post, but we never seek it out and never infer it.
Automated decision-making
We do not carry out automated decision-making that produces legal or similarly significant effects. Reports about posts and people are reviewed by a human, typically within 24 hours.
Your rights
You have the right to access your information, to have it corrected, to have it erased, to restrict or object to how we process it, and to receive it in a portable, machine-readable form.
- Erasure is built into the app, in the Profile tab. That removes your account and the personal data tied to it, except the limited records described in section 5. You do not need to ask us.
- Much of rectification is in your hands too: you can edit your display name and radius, and delete your own posts and comments, at any time.
- For access, restriction, objection or portability, email support@vicini.app. We answer within one month, as the GDPR requires. There is no charge.
One limit worth stating plainly: Vicini is a neighborhood app, so your display name, posts, comments, events and active porch light are visible to neighbors in range by design. Deleting your account removes them going forward, but we cannot retrieve what another neighbor already saw or screenshotted.
Complaints
If you think we have handled your information badly, please tell us first so we can put it right. You also have the right to complain to your local supervisory authority. In the EEA you can find yours through the European Data Protection Board at edpb.europa.eu. In the UK it is the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk.
8c. Your privacy rights in the United States
A growing number of US states give their residents privacy rights, starting with California's CCPA as amended by the CPRA, and now including Virginia, Colorado, Connecticut, Utah, Texas, Oregon, Montana and others. The details differ from state to state. Rather than working out which law applies to you, we extend everything below to everyone in the United States.
The categories we collect
Using the categories California uses, and only what section 1 already describes:
- Identifiers: your email address and the account identifier we generate.
- Customer records: your display name and neighborhood name.
- Geolocation data: an approximate home area, rounded to roughly a block on your device before it reaches us, and the radius you choose. We never store your exact address.
- Internet or network activity: the minimum needed to serve the app and keep it secure.
- Audio, visual or similar: any photo you attach to a post.
- Inferences: none. We do not build profiles about you.
We collect these to run the app, keep it safe, and meet legal obligations, as set out in sections 2 and 3. We keep them for the periods in section 5.
We do not sell or share your personal information
We have never sold personal information, and we do not share it for cross-context behavioral advertising. That is why there is no "Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information" link on this site: there is nothing to opt out of. For the same reason, a Global Privacy Control signal has nothing to switch off here. We also do not use personal information for targeted advertising or for profiling that produces legal or similarly significant effects.
On sensitive personal information as California defines it: we do not collect precise geolocation, because your home area is blurred before it ever leaves your phone. We do not collect government identifiers, financial account details, racial or ethnic origin, religious beliefs, or health data. Direct messages between neighbors are stored so they can be delivered, and are never used for any purpose beyond that.
Your rights
- Know and access. Ask what we hold about you, where it came from, why we have it, and who we disclosed it to.
- Delete. Ask us to delete it.
- Correct. Ask us to fix anything inaccurate.
- Portability. Get a copy in a portable, machine-readable form.
- Opt out of sale, sharing, targeted advertising and profiling. There is nothing to opt out of, because we do none of these.
- No retaliation. We will never charge you more, give you a worse service, or restrict features because you exercised a right.
How to make a request
- Deletion is already in the app, and it is the fastest route. See section 5.
- For anything else, email support@vicini.app from the address on your account, which is how we verify it is you. If we cannot match a request to an account, we may ask for more detail, and we will not create an account to answer one.
- An authorized agent may make a request for you if they provide your written permission. We may still contact you to confirm.
- We respond within 45 days. If we need longer we will tell you within that window and take at most a further 45. There is no charge.
If we say no
You may appeal by replying to our decision, and we will answer within 60 days with our reasoning. If you are still not satisfied you may complain to your state attorney general. California residents can also contact the California Privacy Protection Agency.
California Shine the Light
We do not disclose personal information to third parties for those parties' own direct marketing purposes, so there is nothing to request under California Civil Code section 1798.83.
Minors
Vicini is not directed to children under 13, as set out in section 7. We do not sell or share the personal information of any user, and that includes anyone under 16.
9. Changes to this Policy
We may update this Policy from time to time. We'll revise the "Last updated" date above and, for material changes, provide additional notice in the app where appropriate.
10. Contact us
Questions or requests? Email support@vicini.app.