Privacy Policy

WayMates is a free app for a driver and the friends they take along: the driver plans each trip, friends answer, and the driver keeps a record of the rides and what was paid. This policy explains what the app stores, why, who can see it, and how to delete it.

Who we are

WayMates is made and run by an independent developer (“we”, “us”): the developer named on WayMates’ pages in the App Store and on Google Play. For anything about your data, write to support@waymates.dev.

What we store, and why

Your account

• Your name and email address, to sign you in and to show your name in your groups. Your password is handled by Firebase Authentication; we never see it.
• If you choose: your gender, only so that the Arabic text addresses you correctly, and a profile photo.
• Your app language and your time zone, so that notifications reach you in your language, with the right “today” or “tomorrow”.

Groups, trips and rides

What you enter to run your carpool:

• A driver’s group: its name, currency, prices and usual times; its pickup points (a name, a colour, the minutes from the driver, and optionally a location on the map, a note and a price); and the friends who ride (a name, and optionally a phone number, gender and photo). A driver can add a friend before the friend has the app.
• Trips: dates and times, trips called off and the reason given, traffic-check results, delays, and when the driver reached or left each pickup point.
• Friends’ answers: “I’ll be there” or “I’m not going”, when they reached their pickup point, and another pickup point chosen for one trip.
• Rides and money: who rode, the price, what was paid and what is still owed, rides to another place and their extra cost, and subscriptions agreed between the driver and a friend. WayMates does not handle payments: these are notes the driver keeps.

Photos

Photos are optional. They are kept as small square pictures (320 pixels, about 25 KB) in our database. The app asks for access to your camera or photo library only when you take or choose a photo.

Notifications

To send you notifications we store your phone’s notification token (Firebase Cloud Messaging). On iPhone, the live trip card on the Lock Screen uses tokens from Apple so that our server can update it. You can turn notifications off in your phone’s settings at any time.

Location

WayMates asks for your location only while you are using the app, and uses it only for:

• Check traffic (drivers): when you set off, your current position and your pickup points are sent to our server, which asks Google’s Routes API for the drive times with today’s traffic. The resulting times are saved on the trip; your position is neither saved nor logged.
• Finding a spot on the map, when you choose a pickup point’s location. The point you pick is saved with the pickup point; your own position is not.

WayMates never tracks your location in the background. The maps in the app are Google Maps, and Route & traffic opens the Google Maps app or website; Google’s own privacy policy applies to them.

Emails to support

When you write to us from Help & feedback, we receive your email address and your message, together with a few technical details that the app adds at the end of the email so that we can help: the app version, your phone’s system and version, the app’s language and theme, and your account ID. You can see them, and remove them, before you send.

Technical data

• The Firebase services the app uses create an installation ID, to deliver notifications and the app’s settings (Firebase Remote Config, which tells the app when an update is needed).
• Our server functions keep short technical logs (for example, that a notification could not be delivered) to find problems. They are deleted after 30 days.
• To keep traffic checks within their daily limit, we count how many each driver has used that day.
• Your theme and other display choices are kept only on your phone.

What we don’t do

• No advertising, no analytics and no tracking tools. We do not sell or rent your data, and nobody receives it for marketing.
• No access to your contacts.
• No payments: WayMates does not take, hold or transfer money.

Who can see what

• The driver of a group sees everything in it: its trips, the friends’ answers and arrivals, their photos, rides and payments.
• A friend who rides in a group sees the group’s name, pickup points and trips, the driver’s photo, and only their own answers, rides, payments and subscription, never another friend’s.
• Photos: the driver chooses which photo they see for each friend. A photo that a driver sets for a friend is seen only by that driver.
• Your email address is seen only by you, not by the drivers or friends in your groups.
• Notifications show trip details (names, pickup points, times) on the phones they are sent to, including on the Lock Screen, depending on each phone’s settings.

The services we use

• Google Firebase: sign-in (Authentication), the database (Cloud Firestore, in Frankfurt, Germany), server functions (Cloud Functions, also in Frankfurt), notifications (Cloud Messaging), app settings (Remote Config) and this website (Hosting).
• Google Maps Platform: the maps in the app, and the Routes API for traffic checks.
• Apple Push Notification service: delivers notifications and live trip card updates to iPhones.
• Name.com: forwards emails sent to support@waymates.dev to our mailbox, which is hosted by Google (Gmail).

They process data on our behalf, under their own terms and data protection commitments. Some of them (for example Firebase Authentication and Cloud Messaging) may process data outside your country, including in the United States, under safeguards such as the European Commission’s standard contractual clauses.

Why we may use it

• To provide the app you asked for: your account, groups, trips, rides and notifications.
• Your consent: notifications, location, camera and photos (given in your phone’s permission prompts and withdrawn in its settings), and your optional gender and photo.
• Our legitimate interests: keeping WayMates secure and working, answering support requests, and keeping costs under control (the traffic-check limits).

Drivers: please add only friends who are happy to be added, and their photos only with their agreement.

How long we keep it

• Your account and what you entered: for as long as your account exists.
• A driver’s group, with its trips, rides, payments and photos: until the driver deletes it or their account.
• Server logs: 30 days. Traffic-check counts: replaced every day.
• Support emails: as long as needed to answer you and follow up.

Deleting your data

• Delete your account in the app: My groups → your photo in the corner → Your profile → Delete account (it asks for your password).
  • Groups you drive are deleted for everyone in them, with their trips, rides, payments and photos.
  • In groups you ride in, your account is unlinked: the driver keeps your rides and payments under the name they gave you (they are the driver’s records), and the photos you added are removed. Your invite code works again if you come back.
  • Your account, name, email address, photo and notification tokens are deleted.
• Or leave just one group: open the group → ⋮ → Leave the group. The driver keeps your rides and payments.
• Can’t use the app? Write to support@waymates.dev from your account’s email address, and we will delete your account. We may ask you to confirm.
• Added by a driver, without the app? Ask the driver to remove you, or write to us.

Deleted data is removed from our database straight away; Google, which runs it, removes any remaining copies within its standard deletion periods.

Your rights

Depending on where you live (for example under the GDPR in the European Union, or the KVKK in Türkiye), you can ask to access, correct or delete your data, to receive a copy of it, and to object to or restrict how it is used. You can see and change most of it in the app; for anything else, write to support@waymates.dev and we will answer within 30 days. You can also complain to your data protection authority, such as the Personal Data Protection Authority (KVKK) in Türkiye.

Security

Your data travels encrypted (HTTPS). Our database rules let each person read and change only what their place in a group allows, as described above, and every change is checked against them. Passwords are handled by Firebase Authentication.

Children

WayMates is for people who arrange their own trips. You must be at least 13 years old to create an account, or older where the law of your country requires it. A driver who takes children along, on a school run for example, should add them only with a parent’s agreement.

This website

waymates.dev uses no cookies, analytics or tracking. Firebase Hosting, which serves it, processes your IP address to deliver the pages.

Changes to this policy

If this policy changes, we will update this page and the date at the top. We will also tell you about important changes in the app.