Privacy Policy

Effective Date: 8 September 2026

Last Updated: 8 September 2026

Operator: Borrow-bee, India

Contact: support@borrowbee.in

This Privacy Policy explains how Borrow-bee collects, uses, shares, stores, and handles personal data when you use the Borrow-bee mobile application, website, application programming interfaces, administration tools, and related support services (together, the Service).

1. About Borrow-bee

Borrow-bee is a peer-to-peer marketplace where people can list items and request to rent items from other users. The Service supports user profiles, identity verification, listings, availability, booking requests, pickup and return status, chat, reviews, notifications, moderation, and support.

Borrow-bee does not process, capture, hold, or verify user payments in the current MVP. After an owner approves a booking, the owner and borrower may arrange payment directly at pickup using Cash, UPI, Google Pay, PhonePe, BHIM, or another method they mutually agree to use. Those payments take place outside Borrow-bee.

2. Data we collect

The information collected depends on the features you use.

Phone authentication and account information

Borrow-bee uses Firebase Phone Authentication to send and verify one-time passwords. Firebase processes the phone number, OTP transaction, authentication token, and security signals needed to authenticate the request. After verification, the Borrow-bee API receives a Firebase identity token and verified phone number. Borrow-bee stores the phone number, the date or time verification occurred, account role and status, and account creation and update times.

The mobile application stores the Borrow-bee signed-in session using device secure storage. The website uses a secure session cookie for the Borrow-bee backend session. Do not share your OTP with Borrow-bee support or another user.

Profile and trust information

Profile information may include your name, email address, profile photo, city, preferred or saved location, account status, verification status, Borrow Score, successful-rental count, ratings, and reviews. We use this information to operate your account, complete marketplace transactions, show trust information, and support safety and moderation.

Your display name, profile image, city, ratings, review count, completed rentals, Borrow Score, and verification indicators may be visible to other users. Your phone number and email address are not intended to be public profile fields.

Location information

If you grant foreground location permission, the mobile application can access precise latitude and longitude to find nearby listings. Borrow-bee does not request background location. The app temporarily caches a recent location in memory to reduce repeated location requests.

When you select or save a location, Borrow-bee may store a place identifier, formatted address, city, latitude, and longitude in your profile. Listing owners provide a pickup address, city, geographic coordinates, and pickup hours for their listings. Search coordinates are sent to the API to calculate nearby results. Google Maps and Places services may process location searches, coordinates, and address requests.

You can decline or disable location permission, but nearby discovery and location-based features may be limited.

Listings, availability, and images

When you list an item, Borrow-bee stores information such as the listing title, category, description, condition, price, stated deposit, rules, booking mode, pickup information, location, availability, blocked dates, listing status, view count, and uploaded images. Active listing details and owner trust information are shown to marketplace users so they can evaluate and request a rental.

Booking and rental information

Borrow-bee stores the listing, owner and borrower identifiers, requested dates, rental duration, rental amount, stated deposit, estimated total, booking status, request and approval information, pickup and return timestamps, cancellation or rejection details, and related evidence images where provided. This information is used to validate bookings, manage availability, prevent overlapping confirmed rentals, track pickup and return, provide rental history, and handle reports or disputes.

Pending requests do not represent a completed payment. Confirmed bookings block the applicable dates according to the availability rules in the Service.

Identity verification information

The current identity-verification flow collects Aadhaar front and back images, a selfie, acceptance of the verification terms, submission and review timestamps, verification status, and any rejection reason. This information is used for manual identity and trust review. It is available only through protected user and administration flows and is not displayed as public profile content.

KYC images are uploaded to authenticated Cloudinary storage and the application stores their protected media references. Do not submit identity documents through ordinary support email unless Borrow-bee specifically provides a secure process for doing so.

Chat, reviews, reports, and other user content

Borrow-bee stores conversation participants, the related listing, message text, message images, voluntarily shared message location, message read status, and timestamps. Chat is available to the relevant owner and borrower only after a booking reaches a chat-enabled confirmed stage.

Borrow-bee also stores ratings, reviews, reports, dispute descriptions, and evidence supplied by users. Messages are available to conversation participants. Reviews and selected trust information may be displayed publicly. Reports, disputes, and verification information are restricted to the relevant users and authorized administrators as applicable.

Notifications and device registration

If you enable notifications, the mobile app creates a Borrow-bee device identifier and sends the device platform, notification permission status, Expo push token, and native Firebase Cloud Messaging token to the Borrow-bee API. These values are used to register the device and deliver booking, return, chat, and other service notifications. Invalid or unregistered tokens may be disabled.

Borrow-bee does not use these notification tokens for advertising.

Searches and technical information

Borrow-bee stores recent searches linked to an account and aggregate listing view counts. When you use the Service, network and hosting systems necessarily process technical information such as IP address, request path, response status, response timing, browser or user-agent information, and security signals. The API uses request information for routing, rate limiting, troubleshooting, security, and abuse prevention.

The current repository does not include an advertising SDK or a general-purpose product analytics or crash-reporting SDK. Firebase, Google, Cloudinary, Expo, Railway, and network providers may maintain their own operational and security logs under their respective policies.

Support communications

If you contact support, Borrow-bee processes your email address and the account, listing, booking, screenshots, attachments, or other information you choose to provide so the request can be investigated and answered.

3. How we use information

Borrow-bee uses information to:

• create, authenticate, secure, and administer accounts;
• provide profiles, listings, search, nearby discovery, booking, availability, chat, pickup, return, reviews, and notifications;
• conduct identity verification and show verification status;
• calculate booking amounts and maintain rental history without processing the direct payment;
• prevent double booking, fraud, spam, unauthorized access, and misuse;
• investigate support requests, reports, disputes, and policy violations;
• operate, diagnose, maintain, and improve the reliability and safety of the Service; and
• comply with applicable obligations and respond to valid legal requests.

4. Offline payments

Borrow-bee does not collect card numbers, bank-account credentials, UPI PINs, payment passwords, or payment OTPs for the current offline-payment flow. Do not send those details through Borrow-bee chat or support.

If you choose Cash, UPI, Google Pay, PhonePe, BHIM, or another direct payment method, that transaction is governed by the terms and privacy practices of the parties and payment service involved. Borrow-bee may retain booking amounts and historical payment-status metadata in its database, but the current user flow does not process or verify the direct payment.

5. How information is shared

Borrow-bee does not sell personal data or use it for third-party behavioural advertising.

Information may be shared with:

• Other Borrow-bee users: Public profile and listing information is visible in the marketplace. Booking counterparties receive information needed to coordinate an approved rental, communicate, arrange pickup and return, and review the transaction.
• Firebase: Firebase Authentication provides phone OTP authentication, and Firebase Cloud Messaging supports Android push notifications.
• Cloudinary: Cloudinary stores and delivers selected profile, listing, message, KYC, and rental-evidence images. Public marketplace media and protected KYC media use different upload types in the current implementation.
• Google services: Google Maps, Places, geocoding, and related services process searches, addresses, and coordinates used by location features. Firebase phone authentication may also use Google reCAPTCHA or other abuse-prevention checks.
• Expo: Expo services may process app, device, project, and push-token information used for app delivery and notification-token registration.
• Railway and infrastructure providers: Railway and database, networking, email, or other infrastructure providers process information needed to host, transmit, secure, and operate the Service.
• Authorities, advisers, or business successors: Information may be disclosed when reasonably necessary to comply with law or a valid request, protect users or property, investigate fraud, establish or defend legal claims, or complete a business transfer subject to appropriate safeguards.

Service providers process information under their own terms and privacy policies as well as the arrangements applicable to Borrow-bee's use of their services.

6. Data retention

Borrow-bee retains personal data for as long as it is reasonably needed to provide the Service, keep accounts and rentals consistent, support users, maintain marketplace safety, investigate misuse or disputes, and meet applicable legal, accounting, or record-keeping obligations.

Retention depends on the type of information and why it is held. For example, active account and profile data is generally needed while an account is in use, booking and communication records may be needed while a rental or dispute remains relevant, and identity-verification information is retained while needed for verification and safety. Provider-controlled logs and backups follow the operational practices of the relevant provider.

When information is no longer reasonably needed, Borrow-bee may delete, de-identify, or restrict it. A verified deletion request remains subject to the limited retention circumstances described below. Borrow-bee does not state a fixed deletion or backup-removal period in the current implementation.

7. Security

The current implementation uses Firebase phone authentication, signed Borrow-bee sessions, authenticated and role-protected API routes, participant checks, rate limiting, database constraints, restricted administration routes, HTTPS media URLs, authenticated KYC media uploads, and secure device storage for the mobile session.

No system can guarantee absolute security. Protect your device and OTP, check the identity and payment destination of the other user, and contact support if you suspect unauthorized access. Production deployments should use HTTPS.

8. Your choices and requests

Depending on your circumstances and applicable law, you may ask to access, correct, or delete personal data, object to or restrict certain processing, withdraw optional consent, or raise a privacy concern.

You can edit supported profile fields in the app or website. You can disable location and notification permissions in device settings, although affected features may stop working. You may request deletion of selected data or your full account by following the process at Delete Account.

Borrow-bee may need to verify that you control the relevant account before providing, changing, or deleting personal data. Requests may be limited where necessary to protect another person, preserve an active rental or dispute, prevent fraud, comply with law, or maintain legitimate transaction and security records.

9. Account and data deletion

Borrow-bee does not currently provide an automatic self-service account-deletion endpoint. The in-app deletion action opens an email request: go to Profile → Help & Support → Data Deletion Policy → Request Account Deletion. You may also email support@borrowbee.in or use the instructions at https://borrow-bee.in/delete-account.

Include the phone number registered to your account and, if available, send the request from your profile email address. Never include an OTP, UPI PIN, payment password, or unredacted identity document in an ordinary email. Uninstalling the app does not delete the account.

After verifying the request, Borrow-bee will generally delete or de-identify account and profile information, saved location, recent searches, notification registrations, active listings and associated media, and identity-verification documents where they are no longer required. Messages, reviews, booking records, reports, disputes, evidence, moderation records, technical records, or limited account identifiers may be retained where reasonably necessary for another user's transaction history, safety, fraud prevention, dispute resolution, legal obligations, or legitimate record keeping. Retained information will not be used to operate a new active profile.

10. Children

Borrow-bee is intended for adults who can enter into rental arrangements. The current Service is not directed to children, and identity verification and marketplace transactions are intended for users who are at least 18 years old.

11. International processing

Firebase, Cloudinary, Google, Expo, Railway, and other infrastructure providers may process information on servers located outside your state or country. Their own privacy terms and data-location practices apply to the services they operate.

12. Changes to this policy

Borrow-bee may update this policy when the Service, data practices, providers, or applicable requirements change. The Effective Date and Last Updated date at the top identify the version currently published.

13. Contact

For privacy questions, correction or access requests, account or data deletion, consent withdrawal, or other privacy concerns, email support@borrowbee.in.

Include enough information to identify the request and the relevant Borrow-bee account, but do not email an OTP, payment PIN, password, or unredacted identity document.