Privacy Policy

Effective September 30, 2026

Beacon Rides ("Beacon", "we", "us") is an app that helps Appalachian State students find and offer rides around town. This policy explains what information Beacon collects, how it's used, who can see it, and the choices you have. We've tried to keep it plain and specific.

The short version: we collect only what the app needs to work: your name, school email, the rides you request or give, and your location during a ride. We don't sell your information, we don't show ads, and we don't track you across other apps or websites.

Information you give us

Account details. Students provide a first and last name and an @appstate.edu email address. Organizations provide an organization name and email address.
Driver details. If you drive, the car make, model, color, number of seats, and the prices you set.
Ride details. For each ride: the pickup and destination you enter, the number of riders, the price, the ride's status (for example requested, accepted, completed), and when these happened.
Messages. Chat messages you send to your driver or rider during a ride.
Friends. Friend requests you send and accept, and the email addresses you use to find friends.
Event flyers. Organizations provide flyer titles, descriptions, addresses, dates, and images.
Payment. Beacon does not currently collect or charge payment cards. Any card shown during testing is a placeholder. If we add real payments, card details will be collected and processed by our payment provider (Stripe), not stored by Beacon, and we will update this policy first.

Location

Beacon asks for permission to use your location while you're using the app. It's used in these ways:

Drivers: during a ride you've accepted, your location is sent to our server so your rider can see where you are on a map.
Friends: if you have "Share my location with friends" turned on, your friends can see where you are while you're on a ride. You can turn this off at any time in the app.
"Use my current location": if you tap this to fill in a pickup address, your coordinates are sent to OpenStreetMap's address service to look up the nearest address.

Our server keeps only your most recent position, only while it's needed for a ride in progress. Location is not saved to your account and is not kept as a history of where you've been. You can turn off location access at any time in your iPhone's Settings, though ride tracking won't work without it.

How we use information

To create your account and confirm you're an App State student (by emailing you a sign-in code).
To match riders with drivers, show ride status, and let riders and drivers message and see each other during a ride.
To show event flyers and friends' activity as described above.
To keep Beacon safe: for example, to investigate reports, suspend accounts that break the rules, or end rides that are stuck.

Who can see your information

Other Beacon users. Riders can see available drivers' names, cars, and prices. When you request or accept a ride, the other person sees your name, the pickup and destination, and the number of riders. During the ride, they can see messages and (for riders) the driver's location.
Your friends can see your name and email, and your location during rides if sharing is on.
Beacon administrators can see account and ride records to run and moderate the service.
Service providers that help run Beacon, only as needed to provide their service:
- Railway (hosts our server and database)
- Resend (sends sign-in code emails)
- OpenStreetMap (map images and address lookup; your device requests these directly, so OpenStreetMap receives your IP address)
- Stripe (payment processing, only if real payments are added in the future)
Legal reasons. We may share information if required by law, or to protect the safety of our users or others.

We do not sell your personal information or share it for advertising.

How long we keep it

Account, driver, friend, and flyer information is kept until you delete your account.
Chat messages are deleted automatically when the ride ends.
Location is kept only while a ride is in progress, as described above.
Ride records (pickup, destination, price, and times) may be kept after you delete your account for safety and record-keeping, but are no longer linked to your name.

Your choices

Delete your account at any time in the app's menu. This removes your account, driver listing, friends, and any flyers you posted.
Turn off location sharing with friends in the app.
Turn off location access for Beacon in your iPhone's Settings.
Ask us to see, correct, or delete your information by contacting us below.

Security

Information is sent between the app and our server over encrypted connections (HTTPS), and you sign in with one-time codes rather than passwords. No system is perfectly secure, but we take reasonable steps to protect your information.

Age

Beacon is intended for university students. It is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect information from them.

Changes to this policy

If we change this policy, we'll update the date at the top and, for significant changes, let you know in the app before they take effect.

Contact

Questions or requests? Email beaconrideapp@gmail.com.