Seat Trade Privacy Policy

1. Information we collect

We collect the following categories of information when you use Seat Trade:

• Account & authentication data
  When you sign in using phone number authentication (via Firebase Authentication), we collect:
  • Your mobile phone number
  • Verification codes you enter to complete sign-in
  • Device identifiers used by Firebase to prevent abuse and support verification
• Journey & PNR information
  To provide PNR status and journey-related features, you may provide:
  • PNR numbers you enter into the App
  • Derived data such as train number, train name, class, quota, journey dates, boarding and destination stations
  • Passenger status details (e.g., coach, berth, booking and current status) fetched from PNR APIs
• Seat exchange information
  To enable seat exchange and coordination with other passengers, we may process:
  • Seats you offer for exchange (train, coach, berth, preferred berth type)
  • Exchange requests you send or receive
  • Chat messages and related metadata (timestamps, request IDs) used for coordinating exchanges
• Device & technical data
  When you use the App, certain technical information may be collected automatically, such as:
  • Device model, OS version and basic device settings
  • App version
  • Crash logs and performance data
• Push notification tokens
  If you enable push notifications, we collect a device-specific push token via Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM) to send you alerts about seat exchanges, requests and other updates.
• Local storage data
  Some data (such as your recent PNR searches and journey history) is stored locally on your device using Apple’s storage technologies (e.g., AppStorage, SwiftData).

2. How we use your information

We use the information we collect for the following purposes:

• To create and maintain your account, and authenticate you using your phone number.
• To fetch, display and update PNR status, journey details and passenger information.
• To allow you to create, manage and respond to seat exchange offers and requests.
• To provide in-app chat for coordinating seat exchanges with other passengers.
• To show and maintain your recent journeys and PNR search history for convenience.
• To improve reliability, security and performance of the App (e.g., debugging, crash analysis).
• To send you notifications about important changes, seat exchange events, or account-related alerts.
• To comply with legal obligations and enforce our terms of use.

3. Legal basis for processing

Depending on your location, we may rely on different legal bases to process your personal data, including:

• Performance of a contract: To provide the App features you request, such as PNR lookup and seat exchange.
• Legitimate interests: To maintain and improve the App, keep our services secure and prevent misuse.
• Consent: For optional features such as push notifications, where you can enable or disable them in your device settings.

4. Third‑party services & data sharing

We do not sell your personal data. We may share your information with carefully selected third parties only as necessary to operate the App:

• Firebase (Google LLC)
  We use Firebase services for:
  • Firebase Authentication – phone number sign-in and verification.
  • Cloud Firestore / Realtime database – storing offers, requests, chat messages and related metadata.
  • Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM) – sending push notifications.
  These services may process device identifiers, IP addresses and usage information in accordance with Google’s privacy policy.
• PNR / train status API providers
  When you check a PNR, we call third‑party APIs to obtain PNR and journey details. Your PNR number and, where required, basic request metadata may be shared with these providers solely to retrieve the requested information.
• Service providers
  We may engage trusted service providers (e.g., hosting, monitoring or analytics partners) who process data on our behalf and are bound by appropriate confidentiality and data protection obligations.

We may also disclose information if required by law, legal process, or to protect our rights, users, or the public.

5. Data retention

We retain your information only for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined in this Policy, unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law. Generally:

• Account and authentication data is kept while your account is active.
• Seat exchange offers, requests and chats are kept while they are relevant to your journeys, and may be archived or deleted afterwards.
• Local PNR history and journey history stored on your device can be cleared by you in the App (where such feature is available) or by uninstalling the App.

6. Data security

We take reasonable technical and organizational measures to protect your information from unauthorized access, loss, misuse or alteration. These measures may include:

• Using trusted infrastructure providers such as Firebase and Apple’s secure storage mechanisms.
• Limiting access to personal data to authorized personnel and systems only.
• Encrypting data in transit where supported (e.g., HTTPS requests).

However, no method of transmission or storage is completely secure. We cannot guarantee absolute security of your data.

7. Your rights & choices

Depending on your jurisdiction, you may have some or all of the following rights with respect to your personal data:

• Right to access the personal data we hold about you.
• Right to request correction of inaccurate or incomplete data.
• Right to request deletion of your data, subject to legal obligations.
• Right to object to or restrict certain types of processing.
• Right to withdraw consent where processing is based on consent (e.g., push notifications).

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at devhookdeveloper@gmail.com. We may need to verify your identity before fulfilling your request.

8. Children’s privacy

Seat Trade is not directed to children under the age of 13 (or the minimum age in your jurisdiction). We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe that a child has provided us with personal data without appropriate consent, please contact us and we will take steps to delete such information.

9. International data transfers

Our service providers (such as Firebase) may process data in countries other than your country of residence. Where required by applicable law, we will ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place for international transfers, such as standard contractual clauses or equivalent mechanisms.

10. Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, technologies, legal requirements or other factors. When we make material changes, we will update the “Last updated” date at the top of this Policy and may notify you within the App or by other reasonable means.

Your continued use of the App after any changes to this Privacy Policy constitutes acceptance of the updated Policy.

11. Contact us

If you have any questions, concerns or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or our data practices, please contact us:

• Email: devhookdeveloper@gmail.com
• Subject: “Seat Trade – Privacy Inquiry”