Your rides stay yours.

Last updated: 4 November 2026

The short version

We collect only what Beacon needs to work: your account details, and ride details when you choose to share them.
We never sell your data, never show ads, and never track you in secret.
Your location is only shared while live sharing or SOS is on, and only with the people you choose.
You can see, fix or delete your data at any time. Deleting your account deletes your data.
If you're under 18, use Beacon with your parent's permission.

Who we are
What the website collects
What the app collects
Why we use it
Who we share it with
Cookies and visit counts
If you're under 18
How long we keep it
Your rights
How we protect it
Changes
Contact and complaints

Who we are

Beacon is a safety app for kids and teens in India who take autos, and the parents who look out for them. In this policy, "Beacon", "we" and "us" mean the team that runs Beacon and this website. "You" means anyone who uses the website or the app.

This policy covers the Beacon website and the Beacon app during early access. We follow India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 and its Rules.

What the website collects

When you…	We collect
Join the early access list	Your email and whether you're a rider or a parent.
Create an account	Your first name, your email and your password (stored only as a scrambled hash we can't read). If you use "Continue with Google", we get your name, your email and a Google account ID from Google instead of a password. We never get your Google password. We also save when you agreed to the Terms and ticked the 18+ / parent's okay box.
Log in	A login cookie, so you stay logged in. See Cookies.
Write a review	Your rating, your review, the name you choose to show and whether you're a rider or a parent. Reviews are public.
Suggest a price	The price you pick and anything you write with it. If you're logged in, it's linked to your account.
Allow visit counts	Which page you opened, the website you came from (just its name, like google.com) and whether you're on a phone. Nothing that identifies you.
Visit at all	Our hosting provider records technical logs (like IP address and time) to keep the site secure and working. If something on the page breaks, your browser sends us a short error report (the error, your browser and phone type, and the screen size) so we can fix it. It has nothing that identifies you.

The Instagram posts on our home page are copies of our own posts, stored on our server. Opening the website does not load anything from Instagram, Google or any ad network. Links to Instagram and Discord take you to those services, which have their own privacy policies.

What the app collects

The Beacon app is in early access. Today it works like this:

On your phone only: your rides, number plate photos, ride notes, "something felt off" flags, your streak, points and Buddy, and the contacts you add (like Mom and Dad). These stay on your phone unless you send them.
Messages you send: when you tap to tell your parent, Beacon opens WhatsApp or SMS on your phone with the message ready. You send it yourself. Beacon doesn't read or keep your chats.
Live sharing: only while you turn it on, your location and ride details (start time, where you're headed, the auto's plate) are sent to our server so the people you send the link to can see them. It stops when you stop sharing or the ride ends.
SOS: sends your location and an urgent message to the contacts you picked. Beacon never contacts the police for you; calling 112 is a separate button.

Beacon never tracks you in the background without telling you, and has no hidden mode.

Why we use it

To run your account and keep it secure (like stopping someone from guessing your password).
To tell your chosen contacts about your ride when you ask us to.
To send emails you need: resetting your password, and early access news if you joined the list.
To decide what Beacon should cost, from the prices people suggest.
To show reviews on the website.
If you allow it, to count visits so we know what's useful.

We do not use your data for ads, we do not build profiles about you, and we do not sell or rent it to anyone.

Only with the people you choose (like a parent you send a live link to), and with companies that run parts of Beacon for us and may only use the data to do that:

Hosting and database: to run the website, the app's server and store account data.
Email: to send account emails (password resets).
Google: only if you choose "Continue with Google", to confirm who you are.

Their servers may be in or outside India. We only use providers that protect data at least as well as this policy says. We may share data if the law requires it, for example a valid order from a court or the police. We will tell you about such a request unless the law says we can't.

Cookies and visit counts

We use one essential cookie, called __Host-beacon_sid. It keeps you logged in, can't be read by the page's own scripts, only works over a secure connection and is never used for tracking. It's deleted when you log out. Otherwise it lasts 30 days, and each visit pushes that back, so you don't have to keep logging in. When you use "Continue with Google", a second short cookie (__Host-beacon_oauth) lasts 10 minutes to keep the sign-in safe, then it's deleted.

Visit counts only run if you say yes in the cookie banner. They use no cookies, no IP address and nothing that identifies you: we only add one to a daily count for the page. You can change your choice any time with "Cookie settings" at the bottom of the home page. Your choice is remembered in your own browser.

If you're under 18

We wrote this part for you. Beacon is made for you, so we try to be extra careful:

Ask your parent before you sign up, and show them this page. When you sign up, you tick a box to say your parent or guardian has said yes. We save that you ticked it, and when.
Your parent can see the ride details you share with them, and only while you share them. Beacon always shows you when your location is being shared.
We never show you ads and never sell anything about you.
You or your parent can ask us to delete your account at any time.

How long we keep it

Account: until you delete it. When you do, we delete your account, your review and your login sessions straight away, and remove them from backups within 30 days.
Price suggestions: up to 24 months.
Live sharing data: deleted 24 hours after the ride ends.
Early access list: until launch emails are done, or until you ask us to remove you, and never longer than 12 months.
Visit counts: up to 24 months. They're daily totals, not records about people.
Security logs: 180 days, as Indian cybersecurity rules (CERT-In) require.

Your rights

You can:

Ask what data we hold about you and how we use it.
Fix anything that's wrong.
Delete your account yourself (log in, then choose "Delete my account"), or ask us to delete your data.
Change your mind about anything you agreed to, like visit counts or the early access list.
Choose someone to use these rights for you if you can't.
Complain to us, and if you're not happy with our answer, to the Data Protection Board of India.

Email us at morearsh02@gmail.com. We'll reply within 30 days, and usually much sooner. We may ask you to prove the account is yours first.

How we protect it

Everything travels over a secure connection (HTTPS).
Passwords are stored as one-way hashes, so nobody, including us, can read them.
Login cookies can't be read by scripts on the page, and logins expire.
Repeated wrong passwords are slowed down and blocked for a while.
Our team accounts for hosting, the database, email and the domain use two-factor login.

If a data breach ever affects you, we'll tell you without delay and report it as Indian law requires.

Changes to this policy

If we change this policy, we'll update the date at the top. If a change affects how we use your data, we'll tell you by email or in the app before it applies.

Contact and complaints

Questions, requests or complaints about privacy: morearsh02@gmail.com. This is also the contact for our grievance officer.