Privacy Policy

What We Collect

All users (with or without an account)

• Location data -- Used to find nearby stations and chargers and calculate routes. Location permission is optional; you can search manually. Places and waypoints are stored when you save a route or alert.
• Local storage -- Preferences and consent choices are saved in your browser or on your device.
• Analytics -- If you consent, PostHog records feature usage, successful actions, failures, and platform information. Signed-in activity uses your internal account ID to connect usage across web, iOS, and Android. Analytics excludes email addresses, vehicle registrations, precise locations, and raw search text.
• Mobile diagnostics -- The app stores startup timings and basic app/device information locally, even when sharing is off. If you enable analytics and diagnostics, we share startup performance with Expo to improve the app. Expo receives an installation identifier, app/build/SDK versions, device/OS details, and Android language information. Its server also receives your connection IP address. We do not attach your account ID, precise location, vehicle registration or authentication information to Expo diagnostics. These identifiers mean the data is not anonymous.

Registered users (with an account)

If you create an account, we additionally store:

• Email address -- Required for account creation and used to send verification emails, password resets, and price alert notifications.
• Name -- Optional, used for display purposes only.
• Password -- Stored as a one-way hash, not as your plain-text password.
• Vehicle data -- If you use the Virtual Garage feature, your saved vehicle specifications (fuel type, tank size, MPG, etc.) are stored to auto-fill the route planner.
• Favourite stations -- Station IDs you have starred are stored to show your favourites list.
• Saved routes -- Waypoints and route configuration for routes you choose to save.
• Price alert preferences -- Fuel type, postcode, threshold price, and notification settings for alerts you configure.
• Session data -- IP address and user agent are stored with your session for security monitoring. Sessions expire after 7 days.
• Notifications -- If you enable notifications, an installation token lets Expo, Apple and Google deliver alerts to your device.

Google Sign-In users

• If you sign in with Google, we receive your email address, name, and profile picture from Google. We do not access any other Google data.

How We Use Your Data

• Account management -- Email verification, password resets, session management.
• Price alerts -- Checking fuel and EV prices against your thresholds and sending you email notifications.
• Personalisation -- Loading your saved vehicles, favourite stations, and preferences.
• Service improvement -- Optional usage analytics and startup diagnostics help us understand feature use and improve reliability and performance. Sharing is off until you consent. You can withdraw consent in the app or website controls.
• We do not sell, share, or transfer your data to third parties for marketing or advertising.

Data Retention

• Account data -- Retained while your account is active. In the mobile app, Account > Delete Account removes your profile, saved data, linked reports, support messages, and marketing records. De-identified aggregate analytics may remain.
• Sessions -- Automatically expire after 7 days. Expired sessions are periodically cleaned up.
• Station reports -- Reporter IP addresses are stored for rate limiting and are not shared publicly.
• Startup diagnostics -- Expo's published Observe retention period is 90 days. Local timing files use a seven-day cleanup threshold when the app performs cleanup; they can remain longer on an inactive device. Our app does not upload measurements from a previous app process.

Third-Party Services

• Cloudflare -- Hosting and data storage. Your data is stored securely on Cloudflare's infrastructure.
• Google -- If you choose to sign in with Google, authentication is handled by Google.
• PostHog -- Product analytics with your consent. Signed-in usage is linked to your internal account ID. Session recording is disabled.
• Expo -- Optional startup diagnostics through EAS Observe, plus notification delivery through Expo's push service. Apple and Google deliver notifications on their platforms.
• Map providers -- The mobile app uses Apple Maps on iOS and Google Maps on Android. Website maps use external map tiles. Requests to map providers include connection information. Choosing Directions opens your selected navigation provider.

Security

• Passwords use one-way hashing and are never stored in plain text.
• All connections are encrypted via HTTPS.
• Sessions are secured using industry-standard practices.
• Rate limiting protects against abuse.

Your Rights

• Access -- You can view all your stored data via your account settings, garage, favourites, and alerts pages.
• Deletion -- You can delete individual items or permanently delete your entire account from the mobile Account screen.
• Portability -- Your data is available through the account pages.
• Opt-out -- You can disable price alert emails in account settings. Use the website analytics controls to change your browser choice. In the mobile app, open Usage analytics in Account and turn off Analytics and diagnostics. Each device keeps its own choice. Declining analytics does not restrict product features. New opt-ins start sharing startup performance on the next app launch. Withdrawal stops future sharing; it does not delete data already received by providers.

Delete Your PetrolPal Account

In the mobile app, open Account, choose Delete Account, and complete the security confirmation. This removes your profile, saved vehicles, favourites, routes, alerts, linked reports, support messages and marketing records.

You can also request account and associated data deletion without installing the app. Email hello@petrolpal.co.uk from your account email address with the subject PetrolPal account deletion. We verify account ownership before processing the request. Do not send passwords, verification codes or recovery codes.

Provider analytics already received are subject to their retention periods and applicable deletion requests. De-identified aggregate statistics may remain. Contact us through the same address to request deletion of associated provider data.

Contact

Questions about privacy or your data? Email hello@petrolpal.co.uk