Privacy Policy

I built Circle for my own family first. I'm naturally skeptical of tools that touch intimate parts of my life (my home, my neighbors, my kids). So I built Circle the way I'd want someone to build it for me.

This isn't a privacy policy written by lawyers to protect us from you. It's a straightforward explanation of what we do and don't do with your information.

Account Information

• Your name (first and last)
• Your phone number (for authentication)
• Your household address (to match you with nearby circles)
• Profile photo (optional)

Content You Create

• Messages you send within your Circle(s)
• Help requests and offers you create
• Any photos or voice messages you share

Technical Information

• Device type and operating system (for app compatibility)
• App version
• Crash reports (to fix bugs)
• Push notification tokens (so we can send you notifications)

This is just as important:

• We don't track your location. We don't use GPS, we don't log where you are, we don't build movement profiles.
• We don't read your contacts. We don't access your phone's contact list.
• We don't monitor your activity outside Circle. No tracking pixels, no cross-app surveillance.
• We don't store more than we need. If we can't justify why we store something, we don't store it.

We use your information to:

• Operate the Circle app and provide its features
• Send you notifications about activity in your Circle(s)
• Match you with nearby Circle members (using your address, not GPS)
• Improve the app and fix problems
• Communicate with you about your account or the service

That's it. We don't use your data for advertising, profiling, or selling to third parties.

With your Circle members: Your name, profile photo, and the content you share are visible to members of your Circle(s). That's the point of the app.

With service providers: We work with a small number of service providers who help us run Circle:

• Cloud hosting (to store your data securely)
• Authentication services (to verify your phone number)
• Push notification services (to send you notifications)
• AI services (to provide smart features like message suggestions and voice transcription)

These providers are contractually required to protect your data and can only use it to provide services to us.

About AI processing: Circle uses third-party AI services (such as Claude, OpenAI, ElevenLabs) to power features like voice message transcription, smart suggestions, and content assistance. When you use these features, relevant content (like voice recordings or message text) is processed by these AI providers. This data is used solely to provide the feature and is not used to train AI models. You can avoid AI processing by not using voice messages or AI-assisted features.

We will never:

• Sell your personal information to anyone
• Share your data with advertisers
• Give data brokers access to your information
• Use your data to build profiles for targeting

We keep your data for as long as you have an active account. When you delete your account:

• Your personal information is deleted
• Your messages and content are removed
• We may retain anonymized, aggregated data for analytics
• Some data may persist in backups for a limited time before being purged

You have control over your data:

• Access: You can view your account information in the app
• Correction: You can update your profile information anytime
• Deletion: You can delete your account and all associated data from Settings
• Notifications: You can control notification preferences in the app

If you have questions or requests about your data, email us at privacy@joinacircle.ai

We take security seriously:

• All data is encrypted in transit (HTTPS/TLS)
• Data is encrypted at rest
• We use secure, reputable cloud infrastructure
• Access to user data is strictly limited within our team

No system is perfectly secure, but we work hard to protect your information and will notify you promptly if a breach affecting your data ever occurs.

Circle is designed for adults (18+). We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. While Circle may be used by households with children, the accounts are for adults, and we encourage parents to share only what's necessary for coordination within their trusted Circle.

If you're a California resident, you have additional rights under the CCPA:

• Right to know what personal information we collect
• Right to delete your personal information
• Right to opt-out of the sale of personal information (we don't sell your data, so this doesn't apply)
• Right to non-discrimination for exercising your privacy rights

To exercise these rights, contact us at privacy@joinacircle.ai

Circle is based in the United States. If you use Circle from outside the US, your information will be transferred to and processed in the United States. By using Circle, you consent to this transfer.

We may update this privacy policy from time to time. We'll notify you of significant changes through the app or by email. The "Last updated" date at the top shows when this policy was last revised.

Questions, concerns, or requests about your privacy? Reach out:

• Email: privacy@joinacircle.ai
• General inquiries: hello@joinacircle.ai