Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

Fein ("we," "our," or "us") is committed to protecting your privacy and ensuring the security of your personal information. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, and protect your information when you use our application.

This Policy complies with the UAE Federal Decree-Law No. 45 of 2021 on the Protection of Personal Data Protection (UAE PDP Law), the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), and the UK Data Protection Act 2018.

By using Fein, you consent to the collection and use of information in accordance with this Policy. If you do not agree with our policies and practices, please do not use our application.

2. Information We Collect

2.1 Personal Information

We collect the following personal information:

2.2 Location Data

Our application requires access to your device's location services to provide group tracking functionality. We collect:

Background collection. When you enable location sharing, Fein collects location data in the background — including while the app is closed or not in use — so that live sharing, place arrival and departure alerts, trip history, and SOS continue to work. Your location is shared only with members of the groups you join; it is never sold and never used for advertising. You can pause sharing at any time in the app, or revoke the location permission in your device settings.

Motion & activity recognition. With your permission, Fein reads your device's low-power motion activity classification (for example: walking, driving, still) to reduce GPS use and save battery. This classification is processed on your device and is not part of your shared location history.

Battery optimization exemption (Android). Fein may ask you to exempt it from Android battery optimization so the operating system does not suspend background location sharing and SOS alerts. This setting only changes how Android schedules the app in the background; it does not give Fein access to any additional data.

2.3 Technical Information

We automatically collect technical information including:

3. How We Use Your Information

We use your information for the following purposes:

We process your personal data based on the following legal grounds:

4. Information Sharing

We do not sell, trade, or rent your personal information to third parties. We may share your information in the following circumstances:

All third-party service providers are bound by strict confidentiality agreements and data protection obligations.

5. Data Security

We implement comprehensive security measures to protect your personal information:

6. Export, Deletion and Retention

6.1 Exporting your data

You can request a copy of your data from Settings in the app. We build a ZIP archive containing your profile, groups and memberships, saved Places, location history, trips and driving events, the messages you sent, your help and SOS requests, your consent records, device and delivery records, and the photos you uploaded. We email you when it is ready, and the download link is short-lived and only valid for you. Archives expire after seven days, and you can delete one yourself at any time. One request per 24 hours.

6.2 Deleting your account

Deleting your account from Settings removes your profile, your group memberships, your location history and trips, your Places, your messages, your consent records and your devices. If you are the last owner of a group, ownership passes to another member; if you are the only member, the group is deleted with you. Deletion is immediate rather than scheduled — there is no waiting period and no recovery, so export first if you want a copy.

Two things deliberately outlive the account. We keep delivery records (for example that an email or SMS was sent) with your identifiers removed, because we need them to investigate abuse and to prove what we did or did not send. And content you sent into a shared space — a group message, a Lost & Found report someone else is following — may remain visible to the people it was shared with.

6.3 Device backups

Fein does not operate a cloud backup service, and we do not copy your app data to iCloud or Google Drive. The app's local database is excluded from your phone's automatic backups, so reinstalling starts from your account rather than from a device backup. Your phone's operating system may still back up other app state according to its own settings, which are outside our control.

6.4 Retention

We retain your personal data while your account is active, and remove it when you delete your account as described above. Some data expires earlier, automatically: the movement timeline (raw location points) is kept for 30 days; place arrivals and departures, driving incidents and hidden/visible changes for 90 days; the record that a notification was sent to you for 30 days; and the record that an email was sent for 90 days, with the address removed as soon as the account it belonged to is gone. We keep a minimal marker that an emergency SMS or a welcome email was sent so it is never sent twice; the marker holds no message content after its window. A Lost & Found report that has not been re-alerted for 30 days is closed automatically and leaves the community feed; you can re-open it. Trips in Reports are kept until you delete them or your account. Expiry runs as part of normal app activity rather than on a clock, so a row can outlive its window by a short time when the service is quiet. Anonymised, aggregate usage counts that cannot identify you may be kept for service improvement. Some records may be retained longer where the law requires it.

7. Your Rights

Under applicable data protection laws, you have the following rights:

To exercise these rights, please contact us using the information provided in Section 10.

8. International Transfers

Your personal data may be transferred to and processed in countries other than your country of residence. We ensure that such transfers comply with applicable data protection laws through:

9. Children's Privacy

Our application is designed for group use and may collect information about children under 18. We comply with all applicable laws regarding children's privacy:

10. Contact Information

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us:

For EU residents, you also have the right to lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority.

This Privacy Policy is effective as of the date listed above and will remain in effect except with respect to any changes in its provisions in the future.