Privacy Policy for RailHygiene

Last Updated: 10th August 2025

Our Commitment to Anonymity: RailHygiene is designed from the ground up to be an anonymous service. We do not require, ask for, or collect personal information such as your name, email address, or phone number. Our goal is to collect hygiene data without knowing who you are.

1. Introduction

Welcome to RailHygiene ("we," "us," or "our"). This Privacy Policy explains the limited information we collect and how we use it when you use our anonymous mobile application, RailHygiene (the "App").

2. Information We Collect

To make the App work, we collect a minimal amount of non-personally identifiable and user-provided information:

A. Anonymous User Identifier

When you first use the App, a unique, random, and anonymous User ID is generated for your app installation by our backend provider, Google Firebase. This ID is not linked to your identity and is used solely to distinguish one user's feedback from another and to prevent duplicate submissions for the same journey.

B. User-Provided Journey & Feedback Data

Journey Information: To submit a report, you must provide your journey details: PNR (Passenger Name Record), train number, train name, journey date, and coach number.

Hygiene Feedback: We collect the detailed ratings, statuses, and comments you submit through our feedback form. This data is linked to your Anonymous User ID, not your real-world identity.

C. Technical Data

We automatically collect standard technical information, such as crash reports (processed through Firebase Crashlytics), device type, and operating system version. This data is used only for debugging and improving the App and is not used to identify you.

3. How We Use Your Information

We use the collected information for the sole purpose of operating and improving the RailHygiene service:

To associate the feedback you submit with your Anonymous User ID. This allows you to edit or update your feedback for a specific journey from the same device.
To prevent spam and ensure data integrity by using the UserID + PNR combination to allow only one report per user per journey.
To aggregate all anonymous feedback to generate public hygiene statistics for trains and coaches.
To diagnose and fix technical problems with the App.

4. Sharing Your Information

Google (Firebase): We use Google Firebase to generate the Anonymous User ID and to securely store the anonymous feedback data you submit in our Firestore database. You can learn more about how Google handles data in their privacy policy.
The Public: The hygiene ratings and comments you submit may be displayed publicly or to other users. This information is displayed anonymously and is never associated with any personal information (as we do not collect any).
Legal Requirements: We may disclose your anonymous data if required by law, though its utility would be limited as it is not linked to an identifiable person.

5. Data Retention & Your Rights in an Anonymous System

Your feedback data is stored on our servers and linked to your Anonymous User ID. This ID is stored on your device.

If you uninstall and reinstall the App, a new Anonymous User ID will be created. You will lose the ability to edit your previous submissions because the new App installation will not be linked to your old ID. The old data will remain on our servers as "orphaned" anonymous data.

Data Deletion: Because we have no way of verifying your identity, deleting specific data is complex. If you wish to request the deletion of a feedback report you submitted, you must contact us at support@nishanthkesavan.in and provide specific, verifiable details (e.g., the exact PNR, journey date, and train number) so we can locate and remove the entry.

6. Children's Privacy

While our service is anonymous, it is not directed at children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect information from children.

7. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any changes by posting the new Privacy Policy within the App.

8. Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us at: support@nishanthkesavan.in