privacy policy

account information — information you provide when creating or updating your account, including your name, phone number, profile photo, age or eligibility information, account settings, and login and authentication information.

verification information — phone verification status; school, work, or organization email address; organization domain and name; organization verification status; and verification timestamps.

organization verification only confirms access to an eligible email domain. it does not mean hytch performed a background check, safety screening, criminal history check, employment check, or identity investigation.

location and route information — approximate or precise location depending on your device settings; route origin and destination; pickup and dropoff areas; route timing and status; detour estimates; route match information; and live route activity while a route is active.

vehicle and driving information — if you use driver features: vehicle make, model, color, and license plate; seat availability; max detour preference; driver route details; and driver activity status.

matching preferences — gender and same-gender matching preference, which are used privately for matching and are not displayed on your public profile.

optional savings information — after a completed route, an amount you choose to record for voluntary expense sharing that occurred outside hytch, along with hytch-generated comparison estimates. the amount itself is private to you and is never shown to other users.

route feedback — after a completed route, each participant may answer a short set of questions about the other person and select from a fixed list of descriptive tags. hytch stores the tags, the answers, and who gave them. hytch does not write, verify, moderate for accuracy, or endorse what another person says about you.

user activity and interaction information — route searches; shared routes; route requests; accepted, declined, cancelled, expired, or completed route activity; blocked users; reports; support requests; app interactions; and feature usage.

communications and support information — if you contact hytch or submit a report: your message, report details, screenshots or attachments you provide, contact information, and support history.

device and technical information — device type, operating system, app version, IP address, crash logs, diagnostics, performance data, and security and fraud prevention signals.

hytch may use information to:

• create and manage accounts;
• verify phone numbers and organization emails;
• provide route matching and show relevant route results;
• help users request, accept, decline, cancel, and manage routes;
• display route activity and history;
• estimate pickup distance, detour time, and route overlap;
• provide private post-route savings estimates when you choose to record voluntary expense sharing;
• provide safety, report, and block features;
• personalize app settings and saved places;
• provide support;
• detect fraud, abuse, spam, unsafe behavior, and policy violations;
• improve app performance, reliability, and debug crashes;
• comply with legal obligations;
• enforce our terms, community guidelines, and safety rules.

hytch shares limited information with other users when needed to coordinate route activity. depending on the feature and route status, other users may see:

• your first name or profile name and profile photo;
• phone verification status;
• organization verification badge, such as “UIC verified”;
• route origin or pickup area, and destination or dropoff area;
• estimated pickup time and route status;
• vehicle information, if you are a driver and a request is accepted;
• summarised route feedback on your profile once enough routes have been reviewed, shown as grouped tags rather than individual reviews. some of these tags are negative, and they are visible to another user deciding whether to share a route with you;
• route-related details needed to coordinate the shared route.

route feedback is shown in aggregate. hytch does not display who gave a particular tag, the free-text notes, or the amount anyone recorded for expense sharing.

hytch does not intentionally show your full organization email to other users. hytch may show an organization badge or organization name instead.

hytch may share information with third-party service providers that help operate the app, such as hosting and database providers (including supabase), authentication providers, SMS or phone verification providers, email verification providers, map and location service providers (including google maps platform), analytics and crash reporting providers (including posthog and sentry), customer support tools, and app store platforms.

these providers may process information only as needed to provide services to hytch, subject to their own terms and privacy practices.

some of these providers, including supabase, posthog, and sentry, store and process information on servers located in the united states.

hytch records in-app events, such as opening the app, completing an onboarding step, searching for a route, and completing a route, to understand how the app is used and to find problems.

hytch may also record app screen sessions to diagnose problems. text and images are masked on your device before a recording is sent, and hytch does not capture console logs or network request details.

analytics events and session recordings are processed by posthog on hytch’s behalf and are kept for up to 12 months, then deleted automatically.

hytch may share information if we believe it is reasonably necessary to comply with law, legal process, or government requests; enforce our terms or community guidelines; investigate fraud, abuse, security issues, or safety concerns; protect the rights, safety, and property of hytch, users, or others; respond to emergencies; or support a merger, acquisition, financing, restructuring, or sale of assets.

hytch needs location and route information for core features.

while you are on an accepted shared route and sharing is active, hytch collects your precise location in the background, which means it continues while the app is not open on screen. ios shows its own location indicator the whole time this is happening. background collection starts only after both people have accepted a route and stops automatically when the route ends, expires, is cancelled, or goes idle.

your precise live location during an active route is visible only to the one person you are matched with on that route.

you can control location permissions through your device settings. if you disable location access, some hytch features may not work properly, including route matching, pickup estimates, live route activity, and nearby route discovery.

hytch may use approximate or precise location depending on your permission settings and the feature being used.

hytch does not process ride payments, fares, tips, payouts, or driver earnings.

if users choose to discuss optional cost-sharing outside hytch, that transaction is not processed by hytch and is not covered by hytch payment systems.

after a completed route, you may optionally record an amount that already changed hands outside hytch. the record is used only for your savings summary and does not create, enforce, or prove a payment obligation.

hytch keeps information for as long as reasonably necessary to provide the service, maintain accounts, support safety features, comply with legal obligations, prevent fraud or abuse, resolve disputes, enforce terms, and improve the app.

usage and analytics events are kept for up to 12 months, then deleted automatically.

some route, report, safety, or account information may be retained after account deletion where required or permitted for legal, safety, security, fraud prevention, or dispute resolution reasons.

you may delete your account in the app (settings → account → danger zone) or by contacting hytch at support@hytchapp.com.

deletion takes effect in two stages. as soon as you request it you are signed out, your active routes and requests are cancelled, and your profile stops being visible to anyone else. your account and personal data are then permanently deleted 7 days later. during those 7 days you can sign in with the same phone number to restore your account, which is the only reason the data is kept that long. the phone number stays attached to the account for that period and cannot be used to start a new one.

when your account is deleted, hytch will delete or de-identify account information unless retention is required or permitted for legal, safety, security, fraud prevention, or dispute resolution reasons.

account deletion also removes your analytics profile, including any session recordings associated with it.

depending on your location and applicable law, you may have choices or rights related to your information, such as accessing certain information, correcting inaccurate information, deleting your account, changing location permissions, opting out of certain communications, and contacting hytch about privacy questions.

to make a privacy request, contact hytch at privacy@hytchapp.com.

hytch is not intended for users under 18. hytch does not knowingly collect personal information from children under 18. if you believe a child has provided information to hytch, contact us so we can take appropriate action.

hytch uses reasonable administrative, technical, and organizational safeguards designed to protect information. however, no system is perfectly secure. hytch cannot guarantee that information will always remain secure.

hytch may contain links or connections to third-party services, such as map providers, app stores, websites, or support tools. hytch is not responsible for the privacy practices of third parties.

hytch may update this privacy policy from time to time. if changes are material, hytch may provide notice through the app, website, or other reasonable means. your continued use of hytch after the updated policy becomes effective means you acknowledge the updated policy.

for privacy questions or requests, contact hytch at privacy@hytchapp.com.