Privacy Policy

What Ambit collects, why, who else handles it, and how to delete it.

What we collect

• Account: your username, display name, your confirmation that you're 18 or older, and the email address or phone number you sign up with. If you use Google, your name, email and profile photo from Google. Passwords are held by our sign-in provider, never by Ambit.
• Location: your phone sends its precise location with each request so we can tell whether you are inside a group’s area. We do not keep a history of where you have been. We do store the location of groups you create, and the time you were last inside each group you belong to, which lets others in that group see who is there right now. In a public group, only people who are there too, and your friends, can see that you are; you can turn off “Show me as here” on the You tab so that only your friends can. Public group memberships end 30 minutes after you were last there. To catch faked locations, we compare the location your phone sends with the rough area of your internet connection and with where you were last seen in a group; if they don’t fit, we treat you as not being there and keep a short note, without any location, for 30 days.
• What you post: messages, group names and descriptions, reports you file, and people you block.
• Safety records: content our automatic checks refused, and reports about you, so a person can review them.

How we use it

To run the app — show you nearby groups, decide what you can read and post, and deliver messages — and to keep it safe: screening content, reviewing reports, and preventing abuse. We do not sell your personal information, share it for advertising, or show ads.

Who else handles it

• Clerk — sign-in and account security
• MongoDB Atlas — database hosting
• Vercel — server hosting
• Anthropic — automated screening of text before it is posted; the text is sent for checking only
• Google — only if you choose to sign in with Google

We disclose information when the law requires it, including reporting content that sexualizes minors to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, and responding to valid legal process.

How long we keep it

Until you delete your account. Deleting it removes your profile, messages, memberships, blocks and reports, and the private groups you own. We keep records we are legally required to keep — for example, evidence of content sexualizing minors is preserved for at least one year.

Your choices and rights

Change your name and username on the You tab. Delete your account there at any time. You can also ask us what we hold about you, or to correct or delete it, using the contact address below. Residents of California and other states with privacy laws have these rights by law; we honor them for everyone.

Children

Ambit is only for people 18 and older, and we do not knowingly collect information from anyone younger. If we learn an account belongs to someone under 18, we delete it and everything in it. Parents who believe their child has an account can contact us to have it removed.