What changed in version 3.0: This policy now covers the UniUze Marketplace (buying, selling and renting items between students) alongside carpooling. New sections describe listing photos and on-device image labelling, saved items, meetup requests, ratings, reports and blocks. Section 5 has also been corrected to accurately describe where your data is stored.
1. Introduction
UniUze operates a mobile application for verified college students in India. The app provides two services:
Carpooling — discovering and joining shared rides with other students
Marketplace — listing, discovering, buying, selling and renting items within your own college community
This policy explains what we collect, how we use it, where it is stored, and what control you have over it, across both services. As an individual developer operation, all data handling serves solely operational purposes.
2. Eligibility Requirements
The app restricts access to enrolled college students in India, verified through college email domain via OTP-based verification. Both carpooling and the marketplace are available only to verified students.
3. Information We Collect
3.1 Account & Profile Information
Applies to both services.
Full Name
College Email ID (OTP verification)
Gender
College Name
Academic Programme
Year of Study
Profile photo (if you upload one)
Password (stored in hashed format)
3.2 Carpooling / Ride Data
Ride creation dates and times
Origin/destination coordinates (via Google Places API)
Seat availability information
User participation lists
Ride status and history
3.3 Marketplace Data
When you use the marketplace, we collect and store the following.
3.3.1 Listings you create
Item title and description
Whether the item is for sale or for rent, the asking amount, the rental period (per day, week or month), and whether the price is negotiable
Category, item condition, and any additional item details you enter (such as brand, model or specifications)
Listing status (active, paused, locked, sold or deleted) and timestamps
Your college, which determines who can see the listing
Please note: a listing is visible to every verified student at your college. Do not put your phone number, home address, bank details, UPI ID or any other personal contact information into a listing title, description or photo.
3.3.2 Item photos
You may attach photos to a listing (currently up to three per item)
Photos are compressed on your device and uploaded directly to our image storage provider
Item photos are served from a public web address. This means anyone who has the direct link to a photo can view it, including people who do not use the app, and this remains true after a listing is sold or deleted. Please photograph only the item itself, and check that no personal documents, faces, addresses or vehicle number plates are visible in the frame
3.3.3 On-device image labelling (search keywords)
To help other students find your item through search, the app analyses your listing photos on your device using Google ML Kit Image Labeling with a bundled offline model, and derives a short list of descriptive keywords (for example "laptop", "bicycle", "book").
Your photo itself is never sent to Google for this analysis. The image is processed entirely on your phone
Only the resulting text keywords are sent to our servers and stored alongside the listing, where they are used to improve search matching
Google ML Kit may send its own performance and diagnostic statistics to Google about how the labelling component ran. This does not include your photos
3.3.4 Saved items
If you save an item to your wishlist, we store a record linking your account to that item, and the time you saved it.
3.3.5 Meetup requests (orders)
When a buyer requests an item, we store a meetup record containing:
The item, the buyer and the seller
The meeting spot on campus that you choose (for example "Main Entrance" or "Library")
The date and time you plan to meet
An optional offered or negotiated amount
The status of the request (requested, accepted, declined, cancelled or completed) and timestamps
This record is a meeting arrangement only. It is not a payment record — see section 3.4.
3.3.6 Ratings and reviews
After a completed meetup, the buyer and the seller can rate each other with a star rating (1–5) and an optional written comment. Your average rating, the number of ratings you have received, and recent reviews together with the reviewer's name are shown on your profile to other students at your college.
3.4 Payment Information
We do not collect or process any payment information. UniUze does not currently handle, hold, escrow or transfer money between users. Payment for marketplace items is arranged and settled directly between buyer and seller, in person and off-platform. We therefore hold no card numbers, bank details, UPI IDs or transaction records. Any amount stored against a meetup request is simply the price the two of you discussed in the app.
3.5 Chat Data
In-app communications are stored in our database. This covers both ride group chats and direct buyer–seller conversations about a marketplace item. Please note that chats are not end-to-end encrypted.
Marketplace chats may also contain automatically generated request cards showing the item name, the discussed amount, and the proposed meeting spot and time.
3.6 Reports and Blocks
To keep the community safe, we store:
Reports you submit about a listing or a user — including the reason category you select, any description you write, who you reported, and the outcome of our review
Blocks — a record of which accounts you have blocked, so that we can prevent further contact and prevent meetup requests between you
Reports are visible to us for moderation purposes. We do not tell a reported user who reported them.
3.7 Device & Technical Data
Device type and OS version
IP address
Push notification tokens (Firebase)
Request logs for security purposes
3.8 Analytics Data (via Firebase Analytics)
We use Firebase Analytics, a service provided by Google, to collect anonymized app usage data. This includes:
App usage patterns (screens viewed, features used)
Session duration and frequency
App crash reports and performance metrics
General device and network information
Marketplace sharing events, including the identifier of the item shared and the sharing method used
This data is collected in anonymized/aggregated form and is not linked to your personal identity.
3.9 OTP & Verification Logs
Email delivery logs
Attempt timestamps
Verification status
4. How We Use Your Data
Identity and student status verification
Creating and displaying ride listings
Creating and displaying marketplace listings to students at your college
Matching search queries to listings, including via on-device image keywords
Coordinating meetup requests between buyers and sellers
Displaying ratings and reviews so students can judge who they are dealing with
Investigating reports, enforcing our Community Guidelines, and preventing fraud, scams and misuse
App usage analytics via Firebase Analytics (by Google) to understand feature usage, improve performance, and enhance user experience
Security and misuse prevention
5. Data Storage & Location
Application data — including your account, ride listings, marketplace listings, meetup requests, ratings, saved items and chat messages — is stored in a managed PostgreSQL database provided by Supabase, hosted in the India (Mumbai) region.
Uploaded images, including profile photos and marketplace item photos, are stored in Amazon S3 object storage and delivered over HTTPS from a public asset address.
Google ML Kit Image Labeling (runs offline on your device; see section 3.3.3)
Firebase Analytics data may be processed on Google's servers, which may be located outside India. Google's privacy practices are governed by Google's Privacy Policy.
6. Who Can See Your Information
Visibility matters most in the marketplace, so we set it out plainly:
Restricted to your college. Marketplace listings are shown only to verified students at the same college as the seller. You will not see listings from other colleges, and students at other colleges will not see yours
Visible to students at your college: your name, profile photo, course details, your active listings, and your rating summary and recent reviews
Visible to the other party only: the contents of your direct chat, and the details of a meetup request between you
Visible to anyone with the direct link: uploaded item photos, as explained in section 3.3.2
Private to you: your saved items list, your blocks, and any reports you submit
Never shown to other users: your email address, your password, and your device or technical data
7. Data Sharing Policy
We do NOT share personal data with:
Advertisers
Government authorities (except upon valid legal request from Indian authorities)
Data brokers
Marketing partners
We do not sell your data, and we do not use your marketplace activity to target you with advertising.
Firebase Analytics (by Google) receives anonymized app usage data to help us understand and improve the app. No personally identifiable information is shared with Google for advertising or marketing purposes.
8. Data Retention
Currently, there is no automatic deletion schedule
Personal information is stored indefinitely unless you request deletion
Ride listings and chat messages are retained for operational and safety purposes
Marketplace listings you delete are hidden from the app, but the underlying record is retained, so that any past meetup requests, ratings and reports referring to that item remain intelligible for dispute resolution and moderation
Uploaded item photos are retained in our image storage and remain reachable at their direct link even after a listing is sold, edited to remove the photo, or deleted
Meetup requests, ratings and reviews are retained indefinitely
Reports and blocks are retained so that moderation history is preserved
Verification logs are maintained for security
9. Your Rights
9.1 Available Rights
Access your personal information via email request to support@uniuze.com
Delete your own marketplace listings, provided the item is not locked to an accepted meetup request
Pause a listing at any time to hide it from the marketplace without deleting it
Remove items from your saved list at any time
Delete your own ride listings when they are inactive
Block another user to stop all contact and prevent meetup requests in either direction
Report a listing or a user for review
Delete your account. Your account is deactivated immediately, and your identifying details — name, email, profile photo and phone number — are removed or anonymised after a grace period. Please note that your listings, meetup requests, ratings and chat messages are retained in anonymised form, because they form part of other students' records
9.2 Currently Unavailable
Profile data correction (planned for future)
Analytics opt-out (operationally essential)
Deleting a rating you have given or received
Erasing an item photo from our image storage yourself once it has been uploaded — please email support@uniuze.com if a photo needs urgent removal and we will action it manually
10. Security Measures
We implement the following security measures:
HTTPS for all data transfers
Hashed passwords
JWT-based authentication with refresh token rotation
College-scoped access controls on marketplace listings
Server and database access controls
Host-level encryption at our database and storage providers
Note: No system can be 100% secure. We continuously work to improve our security practices.
11. Children's Privacy
UniUze is intended for enrolled college students. We do not knowingly collect data from anyone under 18. If you believe a minor has created an account, please contact support@uniuze.com and we will remove it.
12. Policy Changes
We may update this policy from time to time. Continued use of the app after changes indicates acceptance of the modified terms. We encourage you to review this policy periodically.
13. Contact Us
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us at: