Last updated: July 2026
This Privacy Policy explains how Locvia Technologies collects, uses, discloses, retains, and protects your information across both the Marketplace and Local Services. It is designed to comply with India's DPDP Act 2023, the IT Act 2000, GDPR, and CCPA to the extent applicable.
Locvia Technologies · Last updated: July 2026 · Effective for all users of Locvia
This Privacy Policy explains how Locvia Technologies ("Locvia", "we", "us", "our") collects, uses, discloses, retains, and protects information when you use the Locvia mobile application and any related services (collectively, the "Service"), including both the hyperlocal Marketplace and Local Services (requesting or providing services such as electrical work, plumbing, carpentry, painting, home cleaning, and scrap collection). This Policy is designed to comply with applicable data protection laws, including India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 ("DPDP Act"), the Information Technology Act, 2000 and its rules, the EU General Data Protection Regulation ("GDPR") for users in the European Economic Area, and the California Consumer Privacy Act ("CCPA") for California residents, to the extent applicable to our operations. By creating an account or otherwise using the Service, you acknowledge that you have read and understood this Policy.
"Personal Data" means any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person. "Processing" means any operation performed on Personal Data, including collection, storage, use, disclosure, or deletion. "User", "you" refers to any individual who accesses or uses the Service, including as a "Customer" (someone requesting a Local Service) or a "Service Provider" (someone offering a Local Service). "Listing" means any item or rental posted on the Marketplace. "Service Request" means a request for Local Services posted by a Customer. "Third-Party Service Provider" means any external service (such as Google Firebase) that processes data on our behalf. Note: this Policy uses "Third-Party Service Provider" only for our infrastructure vendors, and "Service Provider" only for Locvia users offering Local Services — these are distinct terms.
We do not access your device contacts, call logs, SMS messages (other than the automatic OTP retrieval permitted by Android for authentication), camera roll beyond images you explicitly select to upload, or any biometric data. We do not process or collect any actual payment card, UPI, or banking information — all payments for Local Services and marketplace transactions occur directly between users, outside the Service. If any future feature requires additional categories of data, we will update this Policy and, where legally required, obtain your fresh consent before collection begins.
We Process Personal Data for the following purposes: (a) to create and authenticate your account via OTP; (b) to operate the hyperlocal marketplace, including displaying listings within your configured radius; (c) to operate Local Services, including matching Service Requests to nearby, registered Service Providers in the relevant category, and displaying a Service Provider's public profile (name, categories, rating, and completed job count) to Customers considering their Quote; (d) to enable in-app communication between users while shielding your phone number from other users; (e) to send you transactional and service notifications (such as new messages, nearby listings, or new Service Requests matching your provider categories), subject to your notification preferences; (f) to investigate reports of abuse, fraud, no-shows, or policy violations; (g) to maintain, debug, and improve the Service through aggregated or de-identified analytics; and (h) to comply with legal obligations, enforce our Terms & Conditions, and protect the rights, property, and safety of Locvia, our users, and the public.
For users in jurisdictions requiring a legal basis for Processing, we rely on: performance of a contract (to provide the Service you signed up for); legitimate interests (to secure, maintain, and improve the Service, and to prevent fraud), balanced against your rights; consent (for optional features such as precise location or marketing communications, where required); and legal obligation (where Processing is necessary to comply with applicable law).
We do not sell your Personal Data. We do not display your phone number to other users under any circumstance — all buyer-seller and Customer-Service Provider communication occurs through in-app chat. Your first name and general area (not your precise address) are visible on your public listings and profile. If you register as a Service Provider, your name, service categories, business name (if provided), and rating/completed job count are visible to Customers viewing your Quotes or profile — this information is necessary for Customers to make an informed choice and cannot be hidden while offering Local Services. We share information only in the following circumstances:
Locvia is built on Google Firebase and Google Play Services. These providers may independently collect certain technical data (such as device identifiers used for push notification delivery) under their own privacy terms, available at Google's Privacy Policy (policies.google.com/privacy). Our use of Google Play Services is also subject to Google Play's Developer Distribution Agreement. We select service providers who maintain appropriate technical and organizational security measures, but we do not control their independent data practices beyond our contractual instructions to them.
Location access is fundamental to Locvia's hyperlocal marketplace and Local Services model and is used to: (a) determine listings, users, and Service Requests within your configured radius (currently approximately 6 kilometers); (b) auto-populate your area, district, and state during signup and profile edits; (c) match your Service Request to nearby, registered Service Providers offering the relevant category; and (d) improve the relevance of notifications about nearby listings or Service Requests. Location data is stored as coordinates associated with your account, and, where relevant, with a listing or Service Request you post. We do not continuously track your location in the background outside of active use of location-dependent features. You may deny location permission or use manual state/district selection as an alternative; doing so may reduce the accuracy of nearby recommendations and matching. See our standalone Location Services Policy for further detail.
We retain your Personal Data for as long as your account remains active and as necessary to provide the Service. If you delete your account through Settings, your account enters a 30-day grace period during which it is deactivated but recoverable by logging back in. After 30 days, we permanently delete your profile, listings, Service Requests, Service Provider profile, job records, and message content from active systems, except where retention is required to comply with a legal obligation, resolve disputes, enforce our agreements, or as reflected in routine backup cycles, which are purged on a rolling basis. Aggregated or de-identified data that can no longer be linked to you may be retained indefinitely for analytics and product improvement.
Subject to applicable law, you have the right to: access the Personal Data we hold about you; correct inaccurate or incomplete data (via Edit Profile, or your Service Provider profile); request deletion of your account and associated data (via Settings → Account → Delete Account); withdraw consent for optional Processing (such as location access) at any time through your device settings, without affecting the lawfulness of Processing before withdrawal; object to or request restriction of certain Processing; and, where applicable under GDPR, request data portability. EEA and UK residents additionally have the right to lodge a complaint with their local data protection supervisory authority. To exercise any of these rights, contact us using the details in Section 15.
We implement industry-standard technical and organizational safeguards to protect your Personal Data, including encryption of data in transit (TLS) and at rest via our infrastructure provider, access controls limiting internal data access to authorized personnel on a need-to-know basis, and phone number verification via OTP to reduce account takeover risk. No method of electronic transmission or storage is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of any device or session used to access your account.
The Service is not directed to, and we do not knowingly collect Personal Data from, individuals under the age of 18 (or the age of legal majority in your jurisdiction, if higher). This applies equally to Customers and Service Providers. If we become aware that we have inadvertently collected Personal Data from a minor, we will take reasonable steps to delete such data promptly. Parents or guardians who believe a minor has created an account should contact us immediately using the details in Section 15. See our standalone Children Safety guidance in our Safety Center for additional detail.
We may disclose Personal Data in response to a valid legal request (such as a subpoena, court order, or government demand) where we have a good-faith belief that disclosure is required by law, or where necessary to protect the rights, property, or safety of Locvia, our users, or the public, including in cases of suspected fraud, harassment, unsafe conduct during a Local Service visit, or illegal activity. Where legally permitted, we will attempt to notify the affected user before disclosure. We may retain content and account information related to an active investigation or report beyond our standard retention period to preserve evidence.
Our infrastructure providers may process and store data on servers located outside your country of residence, including in the United States, in accordance with their published data center locations. Where we transfer Personal Data of EEA, UK, or Swiss residents outside those regions, we rely on appropriate safeguards recognized under GDPR, such as Standard Contractual Clauses, to the extent applicable through our infrastructure providers' compliance frameworks.
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, the Service, or applicable law. Material changes will be communicated through the app or, where required by law, by obtaining renewed consent. The "Last updated" date at the top of this Policy indicates when it was last revised. Continued use of the Service after changes take effect constitutes your acceptance of the revised Policy.
For any questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or our data practices, contact us at hello.locvia@gmail.com. We aim to respond to all privacy-related inquiries within a reasonable timeframe, consistent with applicable law.