Privacy Policy

Last updated: July 23, 2026

Introduction

Vaylume ("Vaylume," "we," "us," or "our") operates the Vaylume mobile application (the "App"), a social trip-planning and travel-companion marketplace that lets people create, browse, and join group trips, chat with fellow travelers, and coordinate safely while traveling together.

This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect when you use the App, why we collect it, how long we keep it, who we share it with, and the choices and rights you have. By using Vaylume, you agree to the practices described in this policy. If you don't agree with something here, please don't use the App, and feel free to reach out to us at the contact info below — we're happy to talk it through.

Vaylume is intended for adults. It is not directed at children, and we do not knowingly collect information from anyone under 18. See "Children's Privacy" below.

Information We Collect

Account Information

When you create a Vaylume account, we collect basic profile information such as your name, email address, phone number (if provided), date of birth (to confirm you're 18 or older), profile photo, and any bio or travel-preference details you choose to add. We use Firebase Authentication to manage sign-in, so we may also receive authentication identifiers from that service.

Trip Listings and Content

If you create a trip listing as a host, we collect the listing details you provide — destination, dates, description, price, photos, and similar information. This content is visible to other users browsing or joining trips, as intended.

Chat Messages

Vaylume includes in-app messaging so travelers on the same trip can coordinate. Messages you send are stored so they can be delivered and displayed to the people in that conversation, and so conversation history is available if you reopen the app. We use Firebase Cloud Messaging to deliver push notifications for new messages and other activity.

Photos and Media

Photos you upload — to a trip listing, your profile, or a chat — are stored so they can be displayed within the App.

Ratings and Reviews

After a trip, users may leave ratings and written reviews of hosts and travel companions. These are stored and displayed as part of the relevant profile or listing to help build trust in the community.

Location Information — "Companion Radar"

Vaylume includes an optional feature called Companion Radar that lets you share your real-time, precise (GPS-level) location with the other travelers on a specific trip, for the purpose of coordinating meetups and helping everyone stay aware of the group's whereabouts during that trip.

Some important points about this feature:

• It is off by default. We do not collect or share your precise location unless you actively turn Companion Radar on for a given trip.
• It's scoped to your travel companions on that trip only. Your live location is visible only to the other members of that specific trip, never to the general public or to unrelated Vaylume users.
• You can turn it off at any time. When you disable Companion Radar, we stop collecting your live location and it stops being shared with your companions going forward.
• We don't use it for advertising, analytics, or tracking your movements outside of trip coordination. Location data collected through Companion Radar is used solely for the in-app safety and coordination feature itself — not sold, not shared with advertisers, and not used to build a profile of your movements over time.
• Aside from Companion Radar, we may also collect coarse, approximate location (such as the country or city your device indicates) for basic functionality like showing relevant trips or displaying the correct currency — this is separate from precise GPS tracking and does not require Companion Radar to be enabled.

Payment Information

Bookings and deposits on Vaylume are processed through Stripe and Stripe Connect. When you make or receive a payment, Stripe collects and processes information like your card details, billing address, and (for hosts) identity-verification information required for payouts.

Vaylume itself never receives, stores, or has access to your full card number, CVV, or full bank account number. That information goes directly to Stripe, a PCI-compliant payment processor. What we do receive from Stripe is limited payment metadata — for example, the amount charged, transaction status, the last four digits of a card, and confirmation of whether a payout succeeded — which we use to keep your booking history and host earnings accurate within the App.

Device and Usage Information

We automatically collect some technical information, such as your device type, operating system version, app version, crash logs, and general usage patterns (like which screens you visit), to help us maintain and improve the App and diagnose problems.

How We Use Your Information

We use the information above to:

• Create and secure your account, and verify you meet our age requirement
• Operate core features: trip listings, group chat, push notifications, ratings, and Companion Radar
• Process bookings, deposits, and host payouts through Stripe
• Detect and prevent fraud, abuse, and violations of our Terms of Service or Community Guidelines
• Respond to support requests and communicate with you about your account or trips
• Improve app performance, fix bugs, and develop new features
• Send you important service notices (for example, changes to this policy or to a trip you've booked)

We do not use your data for third-party advertising, and we do not sell your personal information to anyone.

How Long We Keep Your Information

We retain your account information, trip listings, chat messages, photos, and reviews for as long as your account is active, since they're part of the ongoing service (for example, past trip history and reviews remain useful and visible to the community). If you delete your account, we delete or anonymize your personal information within a reasonable period afterward, except where we're required or permitted to retain certain records longer — for example:

• Payment and transaction records may be retained as required by financial regulations, tax law, or by Stripe's own retention obligations
• Content necessary to resolve an open dispute, complaint, or investigation may be retained until that matter is resolved
• Companion Radar location data is retained only for the duration needed to support the trip it was shared for, and is deleted on a rolling basis afterward — it is not kept as a long-term location history

Who We Share Your Information With

We share information only where it's necessary to operate the App, and never sell it. Specifically:

• Other users. Your profile, trip listings, photos, ratings/reviews, and chat messages are visible to other users as the App's core functionality intends. Precise location is visible only to companions on a trip where you've enabled Companion Radar.
• Firebase / Google. We use Firebase (Firestore database, Firebase Authentication, and Firebase Cloud Messaging) as our backend infrastructure provider. Firebase, operated by Google, processes and stores account data, app content, and delivers push notifications on our behalf, under Google's own data-processing and security commitments.
• Stripe. We use Stripe and Stripe Connect to process payments, deposits, and host payouts, and to perform identity verification (KYC) for hosts during onboarding. Stripe processes payment and identity information under its own privacy policy and PCI-compliant security standards.
• Legal and safety reasons. We may disclose information if required by law, subpoena, or valid legal process, or where we believe in good faith it's necessary to protect the rights, safety, or property of Vaylume, our users, or the public (for example, investigating a safety report).
• Business transfers. If Vaylume is ever involved in a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, user information may be transferred as part of that transaction, subject to this policy or a materially equivalent one.

We do not share your information with advertising networks, data brokers, or analytics companies for their own marketing purposes.

Your Rights and Choices

Depending on where you live, you may have rights under laws like the GDPR (Europe) or the CCPA (California) — but regardless of location, we're happy to honor the following for all Vaylume users:

• Access — request a copy of the personal information we hold about you
• Correction — update or correct inaccurate information (most of this you can do directly in your profile settings)
• Deletion — request that we delete your account and associated personal information
• Export — request your data in a portable format
• Objection / restriction — object to or request that we limit certain processing of your data

How to exercise these rights: Email us at support@vaylume.app with your request, and we'll respond within a reasonable time (typically within 30 days). You can also delete your account directly from within the App, under Settings → Account → Delete Account, which will initiate deletion of your account and personal data per this policy.

If you're an EU/EEA or UK resident and believe we haven't adequately addressed your concern, you also have the right to lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority.

Children's Privacy

Vaylume is intended for adults 18 years of age and older. It is not directed at children, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18. Account creation requires confirming you meet this age requirement. If we become aware that we've inadvertently collected information from someone under 18, we will delete it promptly. If you believe a child has provided us with information, please contact us at support@vaylume.app.

Security

We take reasonable technical and organizational measures to protect your information, including:

• Encryption in transit. Data sent between your device and our servers is encrypted using industry-standard TLS/HTTPS.
• Firebase Security Rules. Our database access is governed by rules that restrict what data a given user's app instance can read or write, so users can only access information they're authorized to see.
• App Check. We use Firebase App Check to help verify that requests to our backend come from genuine, unmodified copies of the Vaylume app, reducing the risk of abuse from bots or tampered clients.
• Access controls. Access to backend systems and user data is limited to what's needed to operate and support the App.

No system is 100% secure, and we can't guarantee absolute security, but we work to protect your information using practices consistent with standard industry approaches for an app of this kind.

International Data Transfers

Vaylume's service providers (including Firebase/Google and Stripe) operate data centers in multiple countries, which means your information may be processed or stored in a country other than the one you live in, including the United States. Where required by applicable law, we rely on appropriate safeguards (such as standard contractual clauses used by our providers) to protect information transferred internationally.

Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time as our App evolves or as laws change. If we make material changes, we'll notify you through the App (such as an in-app notice) and/or by email before the changes take effect, and we'll update the "Last updated" date at the top of this page. Continuing to use Vaylume after changes take effect means you accept the updated policy.

Contact Us

If you have questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or your personal information, contact us at:

Email: support@vaylume.app
Website: vaylume.app