RydPal

Privacy Policy

Last updated 21 September 2026. Applies to the RydPal rider app, the RydPal Driver app, and our websites at rydpal.com, app.rydpal.com and admin.rydpal.com.

RydPal is operated by Smart Coders LLC, 17 Comiso, Irvine, California 92614, United States. This policy explains what we collect, why, who we share it with, and the choices you have. We do not sell your personal information.

1. Information we collect

Everyone with an account

Data	Why
Mobile phone number	It is how you sign in. We send a one-time code by SMS.
Name, and email address if you give one	So your driver or rider knows who to expect, and for receipts and support.
Notification token for your device	To send ride updates and requests to your phone.
Device type and sign-in times; IP address in server logs	Security, fraud prevention and debugging.

Riders

Data	Why
Pickup and dropoff addresses and coordinates	To price the trip, dispatch a driver and complete the ride.
Your device location, while the app is open	To set your pickup point and show nearby drivers. The rider app never collects location in the background.
Trip history, fares and ratings	Receipts, support, and dispute resolution.

Drivers

Data	Why
Precise location, including while the app is in the background or closed	Collected only while you are online. Used to send you nearby ride requests, to show your rider where you are and estimate your arrival, and to record the route taken for fare and dispute checks. Collection stops when you go offline.
Date of birth	To verify you are at least 21, as state rules require.
Driver's licence, insurance, vehicle registration and a profile photo	To verify you may drive, as state rules require. Reviewed by our staff and shown to no one else.
Vehicle make, model, year, colour and licence plate	Shown to your rider so they can identify your car.
Background check and driving record status, training completion	Regulatory compliance. We store the outcome and date, not the underlying report.
Trips, earnings, ratings and acceptance rate	To pay you and to maintain service quality.

Location, stated plainly

While a driver is online, the RydPal Driver app sends location to our servers about every three seconds, including when the app is in the background or the phone is locked. This is the core of the service: without it we cannot offer you a ride request or tell a rider where their car is. It stops the moment you go offline, and we do not collect a driver's location while offline. Riders' location is collected only while the rider app is open.

2. How we use information

To provide rides: matching, navigation, pricing, receipts and support.
To verify identity and eligibility, as state transportation rules require.
To keep people safe and to investigate incidents, complaints and fraud.
To meet legal, tax and regulatory obligations, including records regulators may require.
To improve the service, using aggregate patterns rather than individual profiles.

We do not use your data for advertising, and we do not sell or rent it.

3. Who we share it with

Recipient	What they receive
Your driver or rider	First name, rating, and what is needed for the trip: pickup and dropoff, and for drivers the vehicle and plate. Riders never see a driver's documents; drivers never see a rider's history.
Twilio	Your phone number, to deliver the sign-in code.
Cloudflare	Driver documents, stored encrypted in the United States.
Expo	Your notification token, to deliver push notifications through Apple and Google.
Komoot (Photon)	Address search text you type, to return suggestions. We are moving this in-house.
Regulators, insurers and law enforcement	Only what the law requires, or what is needed to handle an insurance claim or a safety incident.

When we introduce card payments, our payment processor will handle card details directly. RydPal never stores full card numbers.

4. How long we keep it

Idle driver location is not stored. Positions used for matching live in memory and expire within about thirty seconds.
Trip records, including the route, are kept for two years for disputes, and longer where tax or transportation rules require.
Driver documents are kept while you drive with us and for the period regulators require afterwards.
If you delete your account, we remove your profile and contact details within 30 days and anonymise what remains, except records we must keep by law.

5. Your choices and rights

Location: you can refuse or withdraw background location in your phone settings at any time. Drivers can work with foreground-only location, but ride requests will stop arriving when the app is in the background.
Notifications: can be turned off in your phone settings.
Access, correction and deletion: email privacy@rydpal.com and we will respond within 30 days.
California residents have the right to know, delete, correct and limit the use of sensitive personal information under the CCPA as amended, and the right not to be discriminated against for exercising them. Precise location is treated as sensitive personal information; we use it only to provide the service.
New Jersey residents have comparable rights under New Jersey privacy law.

6. Security

Traffic is encrypted in transit. Documents are held in private storage reachable only through short-lived links issued to you or to a reviewer. Access to production data is limited to staff who need it, and administrative actions are recorded in an audit log.

7. Children

RydPal is not for anyone under 18, and drivers must be at least 21. We do not knowingly collect information from children. If you believe a child has given us information, write to us and we will delete it.

8. Changes

If we change this policy in a way that matters, we will notify you in the app before the change takes effect and update the date at the top.

9. Contact

Smart Coders LLC, 17 Comiso, Irvine, CA 92614, United States
privacy@rydpal.com