Privacy Policy

The short version:CarPool only collects what we need to run your carpool — your name, your email, your family, and the events and messages you share with your group. We don't sell your data, we don't advertise to you, and only the families in your carpool group can see your activity inside the app. You can delete your account anytime by emailing carpool-app@googlegroups.com.

Who we are

CarPool is a private carpool-coordination app for small groups of families, operated at carpool.family. In this policy, "CarPool", "we", and "us" mean the operator of that site and app. If you have questions about this policy, email carpool-app@googlegroups.com.

What we collect

Account information

• Your name and email address — provided directly or pulled from Google when you sign in with Google.
• Your Google profile picture, if you sign in with Google — shown only inside the app as your avatar.
• A hashed password, if you sign up with email and password (we never see or store your plain-text password).

Family and carpool information

• The family name and color you choose.
• The first names of your kids, as you enter them. We don't ask for last names, birthdays, photos, or contact information for children.
• The carpool group you join or create, and the other families in that group.
• Events you create or participate in— name, date, times, locations, who's riding, who's driving.
• Messages you send in event chat threads.
• In-app notificationsgenerated for you (for example, "needs a driver", "driver confirmed").

Technical information

• Standard server logs from our hosting and backend providers (timestamps, IP addresses, browser type) — used for security and debugging.
• A session cookieor token to keep you signed in. We don't use tracking or advertising cookies.

Why we collect it

• To run the carpool service you signed up for — show events, route messages, send in-app notifications, keep you signed in.
• To keep the app secure — detect abuse, prevent fraud, fix bugs.
• To contact you about CarPool if needed (for example, a critical service issue or a substantive change to this policy).

We do not use your information for advertising, and we do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information.

Who can see your information

• You can see your own family and account data.
• Other families in your carpool groupcan see events you share with the group, the kids you've added to events, your name and family color, and the messages you post in event chats. They cannot see your email address, your password, or anything outside the group.
• CarPool staff can access account and data records when necessary to operate or debug the service, respond to your support requests, or comply with legal obligations.
• We do not share your information with third parties except for the service providers listed below, or when required by law.

Service providers we use

CarPool is built on top of a small set of trusted infrastructure providers. Each one processes some of your data on our behalf:

• Convex — our backend database and server platform. Stores families, events, messages, and notifications. Data is hosted in the United States. See Convex's privacy policy.
• Vercel — hosts the CarPool website and application code. See Vercel's privacy policy.
• Google— only if you choose "Sign in with Google." Google shares your name, email, and profile picture with us, with your consent, so we can create your CarPool account. See Google's privacy policy.

Children's information

CarPool is designed for parents and other adult caregivers to coordinate carpools. It is not intended for use by children under 13, and we do not knowingly create accounts for them.

The only information about a child that CarPool stores is the first nameyou enter as a parent so you can assign your child to an event. We do not collect children's email addresses, photos, last names, birthdays, locations, or contact information. If you would like a child's name removed, email carpool-app@googlegroups.com and we will remove it.

How long we keep your information

We keep your data for as long as your CarPool account is active. When you delete your account (or ask us to delete it), we remove your account, family, and personal information from our active systems within 30 days. Some content may remain in encrypted backups for a limited period before being overwritten.

Messages you posted to a group chat are part of that group's shared history. When you leave a group, your past messages remain visible to other group members so the conversation stays coherent. You can ask us to remove specific messages by emailing carpool-app@googlegroups.com.

Your rights

You can, at any time:

• See and edit your family, kids, and event information inside the app.
• Leave a group— use the "Leave group" action in the family-switcher menu.
• Delete your account — email carpool-app@googlegroups.com and we will close the account and remove your personal data.
• Ask for a copy of the information we hold about you — email the address above.

Depending on where you live, you may also have additional rights under laws like the GDPR (EU/UK) or the CCPA (California). To exercise any of those rights, email carpool-app@googlegroups.com.

Security

CarPool uses encrypted connections (HTTPS) everywhere, stores passwords as one-way hashes, and limits access to production data to people who need it to operate the service. No internet service is perfectly secure, but we take reasonable steps to keep your information safe.

Changes to this policy

If we make material changes to this policy, we'll update the "Last updated" date at the top of the page and, where appropriate, notify you inside the app or by email. Continued use of CarPool after a change means you accept the updated policy.

Contact

Questions, concerns, or requests? Email carpool-app@googlegroups.com.