This policy explains what personal data the Go Mysuru mobile app (the "App") collects, why, where it is stored, how long it is kept and how you can delete it. The App is made by Tatva Digital Solutions ("we", "us"), India. It is an independent visitor companion for Mysuru Dasara and is not affiliated with the Dasara committee, the police, the Government of Karnataka or any other government body.
We process personal data under India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (the "DPDP Act"). The App is offered in India only.
1. Summary
- To use the App you sign in with Google or, on iPhone, with Apple. An account identifier is created when you sign in and linked to that Google or Apple account. We never ask for a password, and we never use your phone number to sign you in. Only vendors verify a mobile number, by SMS, before applying; volunteers give a mobile number so the app team can verify them. Calling 112 from the sign-in screen works without signing in.
- Your exact location is used on your phone. Crowd sharing is anonymous, on by default while the App has location permission, and you can switch it off.
- Photos, ratings, comments and places you add are public, shown with your first name.
- Emergency contacts you add stay on your phone only.
- The App shows advertising from Google AdMob on some calm screens. Ads are never shown on emergency, safety or missing-person screens.
- Our servers are in India (Google Cloud, Mumbai region
asia-south1). - You can delete your account and data at any time in the App: Me → Delete account (also under Me → Privacy and my data), and get a copy of your data by email.
2. Data we collect and why
| Data | When | Why (purpose) |
|---|---|---|
| Account identifier (a random user ID) | When you sign in (a technical session is started on first launch and linked to your Google or Apple account at sign-in) | To keep your settings, coupons and reports linked to your account and to protect our services from abuse. |
| Name and email address from Google or Apple | When you sign in with "Continue with Google" or "Sign in with Apple" | To sign you in and keep your account, settings and reports when you change phones. Apple may give us a private relay address instead of your real email. We do not receive your Google or Apple password. If you delete your account we also revoke the App's Sign in with Apple access. |
| Phone numbers you type | Only when you enter one, for example a guardian or emergency contact on a safety tag, or your number for a guide call-back | Used only for that feature (see the rows below). We never verify these numbers and never use them to sign you in. |
| Precise location (foreground) | While you use the App, if you allow it | To show the nearest toilets, help desks and attractions, walking times, and to attach a place to reports you choose to send. For travel times we send only a rounded area (about 1 km), not your exact position. |
| Crowd sharing (anonymous zone signals) | On by default while the App has location permission; you can switch it off in the App | When your phone enters or leaves a festival zone, it sends an anonymous zone signal with a token that changes every day, never a track of where you go and never linked to your account. Without background location this happens only while the App is open. |
| Background location (optional) | Only if you allow it: "Always" location on iPhone for crowd sharing, or nearby shop alerts | Crowd sharing then also works when the App is closed. Nearby shop alerts: when you pass a shop in a category you chose, the App tells our server which shop it is so the alert can be sent (within the alert limits below). |
| Visit prompts | While the App is open, unless you switch "Ask about places I visit" off | If you stay near a place for a while, your phone shows a local notification asking you to rate it or add a photo. This uses your location on the phone only; nothing about your visits is sent to us. |
| Crowd and facility reports | When you send one | To show live crowd levels and broken or closed facilities to other visitors. |
| Safety tags | When you create a tag for someone in your care | First name, age band, languages, an optional short medical note and the guardians' names and phone numbers, so a finder who scans the QR code can alert the family. Finders see the first name, age band and languages only, never phone numbers. |
| Family groups | When you create or join one | Member names, a meeting point and, if you choose to share it, your location with the group for at most 12 hours. |
| Missing-person reports | When you report someone missing | Name, description, where they were last seen and an optional recent photo, shown only to verified volunteers and the app team while the case is open. |
| Lost and found reports | When you report an item | The item description and place, and a secret detail (stored only as a one-way hash) used to check claims. |
| Emergency contacts | When you add them | Stored only on your phone. The SOS screen opens your phone's SMS app with your location so you can send it; we never receive these contacts or the message. |
| Questions to the AI guide | When you ask one | To answer from our checked content library using Google's Gemini model on Vertex AI (run from our servers in India). Questions and answers are logged without your name (with a hashed user ID) for 30 days so we can check answer quality. Do not type personal details into questions. |
| Guide call-back requests | When you ask a human guide to call you | Your phone number and request are shared with that guide. |
| Photos, ratings, comments and places you add | When you post one | Shown to everyone in the App with your first name after an automatic check (Google Cloud Vision SafeSearch for photos, a word filter for text). Other visitors can report an item; reported items can be held for review by the app team, who may remove them. Photos are stored in Google Cloud (Mumbai) and served through Cloudflare's network. Your phone removes the photo's hidden data (EXIF) before upload, and we keep no location for a photo. A place you add shows the spot you pinned. |
| Notification settings and device token | If you allow notifications | A push token, your language, the alerts you chose and the festival area you were last in (overwritten, used for at most 3 hours) so safety and area alerts reach the right people. Shop and sponsor alerts are capped at 3 per day, 1 per hour, none between 10 pm and 8 am. |
| Coupons | When you save or redeem one | A signed coupon code so the shop can check it. The shop sees the coupon, not your name or phone number. |
| Vendor mobile number | Only when you apply as a vendor | You verify your mobile number with a one-time SMS code (sent by Firebase Authentication, Google). The verified number is linked to your account and shown to the app team on your application, so we can contact you about your stall, manage your vendor account and prevent fake listings. It is never used to sign in and never shown to visitors. |
| Vendor, guide and volunteer applications | When you apply | Vendors: business name, category, stall location, optional note and GSTIN. Guides: name, languages, speciality, rate, experience and optional licence number (kept private). Volunteers: name, mobile number, organisation, languages, availability and first-aid training; the mobile number is seen only by the app team, to verify you. Used to verify you and publish approved listings. On shift, a volunteer's rounded position is shared with the team so nearby cases can be shown. |
| Settings and choices | When you set them | Language, interests, text size and alert choices, saved to your account so a reinstall can restore them. |
| Legal acceptance | When you accept these documents | The version you accepted, the time, the app version and that you confirmed you are 18 or older or have a parent's or guardian's consent. If you give an email address, we use it once to send you a copy (see section 6). |
| Usage statistics and crash reports | Automatically, unless you turn them off in the Privacy centre | Google Analytics for Firebase and Firebase Crashlytics: screens viewed, buttons tapped, device model, OS and app version, and crash traces, to fix problems and improve the App. No location, names, phone numbers or free text are sent. |
| Advertising data | When an ad is shown | See section 4. |
3. Location in more detail
- Foreground location is used on your phone for distances, the map and nearest facilities. It is sent to us only with a report you choose to send, a rounded area for travel times, or the meeting and sharing features you turn on.
- Crowd sharing is on by default while the App has location permission. It sends only anonymous zone signals; counts below 20 phones are never shown and raw signals are deleted after 24 hours. You can switch it off at any time in the App.
- Background location is off unless you allow it ("Always" on iPhone, for crowd sharing) or turn on nearby shop alerts. You can switch it off at any time in the App or in your phone's settings.
- Visit prompts use your location on the phone while the App is open, and never leave it. Switch them off with "Ask about places I visit".
- If someone scans a safety tag you created, the finder may choose to share their own location with you. That is the finder's choice.
4. Advertising (Google AdMob)
The App is free and is paid for by vendors, sponsors and advertising. We show banner ads from Google AdMob (banners only, no full-screen or video ads) in a single strip at the bottom of a few calm tabs (Home, Explore, Food and Shop). We never show ads on the SOS, Help, safety tag, missing-person, finder, onboarding or legal screens.
- Google collects your device's advertising identifier (Android Advertising ID, or on iPhone the IDFA only if you allow tracking), IP address, device and app information and ad interactions to deliver, measure and limit ads and prevent fraud.
- Personalised ads are shown only with consent. On iPhone the App asks for permission through Apple's App Tracking Transparency prompt; if you decline, ads are non-personalised. Where Google's consent message applies, the App shows it before ads load and you can change your choice later in Privacy and my data → Ad privacy choices. On Android you can reset or delete your advertising ID or opt out of personalised ads in your phone's Google settings.
- We do not give AdMob your name, phone number, precise location, reports or any content you enter.
- Google's use of data is described at policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites.
5. Who we share data with
- Google (our processor; Google Cloud and Firebase in the Mumbai region, India, for our database, functions and photo storage): Firebase Authentication (including the SMS code for vendor phone verification), Cloud Firestore, Cloud Functions, Cloud Storage, Cloud Messaging, Cloud Vision, Analytics, Crashlytics, Vertex AI (Gemini) and the Routes API, and AdMob as described above. Our database and functions run in Google Cloud's Mumbai region.
- Cloudflare, which delivers public visitor photos and sees your IP address like any website.
- Everyone using the App: photos, ratings, comments and places you add, with your first name.
- Apple and Google push services, to deliver notifications.
- People you choose: guardians on your safety tags, your family group, verified volunteers (for open missing-person cases), a guide you ask to call you, and shops when you redeem a coupon.
- Gmail (Google), to send the copy of these documents if you ask for one, and your data when you ask for it.
- An Indian SMS provider, only if the SMS fallback for safety alerts is switched on and you opted in. It is currently off.
- Authorities, when Indian law requires it or to protect someone's life or safety.
We do not sell personal data. Map tiles and photos for places are loaded from our public file host on GitHub, which sees your IP address like any website.
6. Copy of these documents by email
When you accept this policy and the Terms of Use you may give an email address. We use it only to email you a copy of both documents, through Gmail from our address. We do not save the address in our database or use it for marketing. A copy of the sent message stays in our sending mailbox; ask us and we will delete it.
7. How long we keep data
| Data | Kept for |
|---|---|
| Anonymous crowd signals | 24 hours (only counts by zone are kept after that) |
| Crowd reports / facility reports | 24 hours / 90 days |
| Family group location | Shared for at most 12 hours; the group ends after 3 days |
| Missing-person case and photo | Photo deleted 7 days after the case closes |
| Lost and found reports | 30 days after the report is closed |
| Safety tags and guardian contacts | Until you delete the tag or your data |
| AI guide questions and answers | 30 days, with a hashed user ID |
| Notification delivery records | 30 days |
| Daily alert counters | 2 days |
| Settings, devices, legal acceptance | Until you delete your data |
| Coupons | Until used or expired; anonymous redemption and billing records for vendors are kept 2 years for accounts and tax |
| Vendor, guide and volunteer applications | While the role is active, then on request |
| Public photos, ratings, comments and places you added | While they are shown; after you delete your data they stay without your name |
| Audit log of admin actions | 1 year |
| Analytics / crash reports | Google's default retention (Analytics up to 14 months; Crashlytics 90 days) |
8. Your rights and choices
- Delete: Me → Delete account (or Me → Privacy and my data → Delete my data) deletes your settings, devices, safety tags, family groups, lost-and-found reports, closed missing-person cases and photos, coupons, call-back requests, applications, guide profile, contributions not yet public and your account (including your Google or Apple sign-in link). Public contributions such as photos, ratings and places you added stay in the App without your name; facility suggestions and a shop listing stay without any link to you, and the shop's active offers and coupons end. It is refused while a missing-person case you reported is still open (mark the person found first) and for vendor, guide, volunteer and team accounts, which we delete on request. Anonymous crowd counts, hashed AI logs and vendor billing records are not linked to you and stay.
- Sign out: Me → Sign out signs you out on this phone; your account stays until you delete it.
- Withdraw consent: turn off usage statistics, crowd sharing, visit prompts, notifications, nearby shop alerts and personalised ads in the App or in your phone's settings. Withdrawal does not affect processing already done.
- Access: Me → Privacy and my data → Email me my data emails a copy of your data (JSON) to your sign-in email address, once a day.
- Your rights under the DPDP Act: you may ask for a summary of your data and of who we shared it with, have it corrected, completed, updated or erased, have a grievance answered, and nominate someone to exercise your rights if you die or cannot act. Write to our Grievance Officer (section 12). If you are not satisfied with our answer you may complain to the Data Protection Board of India.
9. Children
You must be 18 or older to use the App, or use it with the consent and supervision of a parent or guardian, who accepts this policy for you. The App asks you to confirm this before you start. Under the DPDP Act, a child's data needs a parent's or guardian's consent; if we learn that a child is using the App without it, we may suspend the account and delete its data. Safety tags and missing-person reports about children are created by a parent or guardian, who decides what to enter; that data is used only to reunite the family and is deleted as described above. We do not knowingly track children or show them personalised ads.
10. Security
Data is encrypted in transit and at rest by Google Cloud. Access is limited by security rules and roles; guardian contacts and lost-item secrets are stored separately from public data, and access by the team to personal data is logged. No system is perfectly secure. If a personal data breach happens we will tell the people affected and the Data Protection Board of India, and report to CERT-In where required, as the law requires.
11. Changes
When we change this policy we raise its version. The App then shows the new version and asks you to accept it before you continue. Older versions are available from us on request.
12. Contact and Grievance Officer
Tatva Digital Solutions, [OWNER: registered postal address of Tatva Digital Solutions, India].
Grievance Officer and data protection contact: [OWNER: Grievance Officer's name and title], manohar.nv@gmail.com, at the address above. We acknowledge a grievance within 24 hours and aim to resolve it within 15 days.
In an emergency, call 112 (women's helpline 181, child helpline 1098). Do not wait for a reply from us.