Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how Basavaiah LLC (“Basavaiah,” “we,” “us,” or “our”), the publisher of the Saarathi mobile application and the website at saarathi.us (together, the “Service”), collects, uses, shares, and protects information about you.

We have written this policy to be readable. If anything is unclear, write to us at privacy@saarathi.us and we will explain.

1. Who we are

Basavaiah LLC is a limited liability company registered in the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. Our mailing address is:

Basavaiah LLC
8401 Mayland Dr, Ste A
Richmond, VA 23294-4648
United States

For all privacy-related questions, requests, or complaints, contact privacy@saarathi.us.

2. What this policy covers

This policy applies to:

• The Saarathi mobile application on iOS and Android.
• The Saarathi web application at saarathi.us/app.
• The Saarathi marketing website at saarathi.us and www.saarathi.us.

It does not cover third-party websites or services that we link to. Those services have their own privacy policies, which you should review.

3. Information we collect

3.1 Information you provide directly

• Account information. Your email address, your display name, and a password (which is stored only as a salted hash — we never see your password in clear text).
• Profile information. A profile photo (avatar), language preference, and any interests or categories you select.
• Content you create. Events, comments, playlists, and any images, audio, or video you upload. This content is stored on our servers.
• Activity you take. Likes, saves, RSVPs, and event subscriptions.
• Event registration answers. When you RSVP to an event, the organizer may ask you to answer registration questions they have written themselves (for example a meal choice, a t-shirt size, or how many guests you are bringing). Your answers are stored with your RSVP and linked to your account. Because organizers write these questions, we cannot know in advance what they will ask — please share only what you are comfortable with the organizer seeing, and see Section 6.3 for who that is.
• Messages. Notifications, broadcasts, or feedback you send through the Service.
• Communications with us. Email, support tickets, and any correspondence with our team.

3.2 Information collected automatically

• Network information. IP address (used briefly for delivering requests and for abuse prevention; not stored long-term against your account).
• First-party product analytics. By default, we collect raw in-app search queries, dictionary misses, content views and shares, audio plays, missing-content observations, session counts and timestamps, selected interests, referral source, and app/device information such as device model, operating-system and app versions, language, locale, and time zone, so we can operate and improve search, content, and app performance. These records use a random per-install UUID. They are pseudonymous rather than inherently anonymous and may become linked to your account if you later sign in. We do not use them for ads or cross-app tracking. You can turn this off at any time under Profile → Settings → Privacy.
• Local anonymous profile. The app keeps the random per-install UUID on your device so guest features, deduplication, rate limits, and explicit requests can work. By default, the app also keeps the product-analytics profile fields described above locally and uploads them to our first-party systems. If you turn analytics off in Settings, the app retains only the functional UUID and removes those additional local fields.
• Requested-function activity. We record actions needed to provide something you request, such as likes, saves, subscriptions, attendance, reports, explicit content requests, and whether you opened today’s vachana after enabling a daily reminder (so we do not send an unnecessary reminder). These functional records are not controlled by the analytics setting.
• Push notification token. If you grant notification permission, your device’s push token, so that we can deliver notifications to you.
• Crash and diagnostic information. If the app crashes, technical information about the crash so that we can fix the bug. This does not include the content you have created.

Product analytics is on by default so we can operate and improve the Service; turning it off does not prevent browsing, searching, playback, sharing, or other requested features. You can turn it off at any time under Profile → Settings → Privacy.

3.3 Permissions we request on your device

We only request a device permission when a feature you have chosen to use needs it. You can deny or revoke any permission in your device settings; the corresponding feature will then be unavailable but the rest of the app will keep working.

3.4 Information we do not collect

To be clear about what is not happening:

• We do not collect your precise GPS location. One narrow exception: audio and video files are not uploadable by ordinary users at all — only our own content-admin team can add them to the catalog. Those admin-uploaded audio/video files may still carry technical metadata embedded by the device that originally recorded them, inside the file’s own container information, which can include location coordinates. That is metadata already present in the file when our team uploads it, not something we separately collect about you, and it does not apply to images (which are re-processed and stripped of this kind of metadata before upload) or to any other content in the Service.
• We do not access your microphone. The current version of the app requests no microphone permission at all. If we introduce a sing-along learning feature that uses the microphone, we will update this policy and the app’s permission request first — and any such processing will happen on your device, not on our servers.
• We do not access your contacts.
• We do not read or collect your calendar entries. (With your permission, we only add events you explicitly choose to your device’s calendar — see Section 3.3.)
• We do not read data from health or fitness apps and do not provide health-related features. Event organizers write their own registration questions (Section 3.1), however, so a question could ask for health-adjacent information such as a dietary restriction or accessibility need. If you choose to enter that information, it is collected as your answer and shown only to the event organizer and delegated event administrators as described in Section 6.3. We do not combine it into a health profile or use it for a health purpose. You can choose not to answer and not to attend.
• We do not currently collect financial or payment data. If we introduce paid features that require payment information, we will update this policy first.

4. How we use information

We use the information described above for the following purposes, and no others:

• To operate the Service — authenticate you, deliver content to you, save what you create, and let you interact with other users.
• To communicate with you — deliver push notifications you have opted into, respond to your support requests, and tell you about important changes to the Service.
• To recommend content — show you Vachanas, events, and publishers we think you may find interesting, based on what you have engaged with.
• To keep the Service safe — detect abuse, spam, and violations of our Community Guidelines; investigate reports; and enforce our Terms of Service.
• To improve the Service — understand searches, content engagement, missing-content demand, app versions, and device compatibility so we know what to fix or build next, using the first-party product analytics described in Section 3.2 (on by default; you can turn it off in Settings). Individual records may carry the random install UUID or an account link; reports used for product decisions may also be aggregated.
• To comply with law — respond to lawful requests from authorities and meet legal obligations.

5. Legal basis (for users in the EU, UK, and similar jurisdictions)

Where the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), UK GDPR, or similar law applies, our legal bases for processing your information are:

• Contract. Processing necessary to provide the Service you have asked us to provide.
• Legitimate interest. Operating, securing, and improving the Service — including the first-party product analytics described in Section 3.2 — where this is not overridden by your rights. You can object to this processing at any time by turning analytics off in Saarathi Settings.
• Consent. For push notifications. You can revoke notification permission in your device settings.
• Legal obligation. Where the law requires us to keep or disclose data.

6. Who we share information with

We do not sell or share personal information in the sense defined by California’s CCPA / CPRA. We share information only in the limited circumstances below.

6.1 Service providers (“sub-processors”) that help us run the Service

Each provider is bound by their own privacy and security commitments. We keep this list up to date; when we add a sub-processor we update this policy.

6.2 Other content you make public

Content you publish in the Service — for example, an event you create, a broadcast you send to an opted-in audience, or a public comment — is visible to other users of the Service in the way the Service is designed to show it. That is its purpose. You are responsible for what you choose to publish.

6.3 Event registration answers

Your answers to an event’s registration questions (Section 3.1) are not public. They are visible only to the organizer who created that event and to the administrators that organizer has explicitly delegated for it — a deliberately narrower group than the people who can see the plain attendee list.

Organizers can download the attendee roster for their own event as a spreadsheet (CSV) file, which includes each attendee’s display name and their answers to the registration questions. It does not include attendee email addresses or phone numbers. Once an organizer has downloaded that file it sits on their own device and is outside our systems, so we cannot recall or delete it — another reason to answer registration questions with only what you are comfortable sharing with that organizer.

6.4 Legal disclosures

We may disclose information if we believe in good faith that doing so is necessary to:

• Comply with a law, regulation, subpoena, court order, or other lawful request from a government authority.
• Investigate or prevent fraud, abuse, security incidents, or violations of our Terms or Community Guidelines.
• Protect the rights, property, or safety of Basavaiah LLC, our users, or the public.

6.5 Business transfers

If Basavaiah LLC is involved in a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, information may be transferred as part of that transaction. We will notify users before any such transfer takes effect and any new owner will be bound by this Privacy Policy or one no less protective.

7. How long we keep information

• Account information is kept for as long as your account exists.
• Content you create is kept for as long as your account exists, unless you delete it sooner.
• Raw in-app search logs are kept for up to 180 days.
• Other first-party product analytics, such as attributable views, shares, plays, app-version sessions, and a linked anonymous profile, follow the retention of the underlying operational record. Turning analytics off in Settings stops new collection and removes those fields from the local profile, but it does not immediately erase records already sent to our systems. If those records are linked to your account, they are deleted from active systems when you delete the account. Non-identifying aggregate counts may be kept indefinitely.
• Dictionary-miss statistics record words our dictionary could not find, to help us improve it. If you were signed in when you searched, the record for that word is associated with your account. Terms searched three or more times are kept indefinitely as a product-quality record; less-common terms age out after 180 days.
• Safety and moderation records may be retained for up to 2 years where needed to prevent abuse. They are not linked to a replacement account.
• Event registration answers are kept for as long as both your RSVP and the event exist. They are deleted automatically when you cancel your RSVP, when the organizer deletes the event, or when you delete your account — whichever happens first. Copies an organizer has already downloaded as a spreadsheet (Section 6.3) are outside our systems and are not covered by this schedule.
• Crash logs are kept for up to 90 days.
• Communications with our team are kept for as long as needed to resolve your issue and meet our legal obligations.

When you delete your account, we delete or anonymize the information associated with it according to the schedule on the Account deletion page. Copies held by our sub-processors (Section 6.1) are subject to each provider’s own retention terms after deletion: crash reports already sent to Sentry (tagged with an internal identifier only) age out under Sentry’s retention window, and content sent to OpenAI or Google for moderation may persist in those providers’ service logs for the limited periods their API terms allow. We do not use any of these copies after your deletion.

8. Your rights and choices

Subject to applicable law, you have the following rights over your information:

• Access. Request a copy of the information we hold about you.
• Correction. Ask us to fix information that is wrong or out of date.
• Deletion. Ask us to delete your account and the information associated with it. See Account deletion.
• Export (portability). Ask us to provide your account data in a portable format.
• Withdraw consent. Where we rely on consent — push notifications — withdraw it at any time by revoking permission in your device settings.
• Object or restrict. Object to or restrict certain processing, including the first-party product analytics described in Section 3.2. Turn it off under Profile → Settings → Privacy; this stops future collection but does not retroactively delete records already retained under Section 7.
• Complain. Lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority.

To exercise any of these rights, write to privacy@saarathi.us from the email address tied to your account. We will respond within 30 days.

8.1 If you are a California resident (CCPA / CPRA)

You have the right to know what personal information we collect, to delete it, to correct it, and not to be discriminated against for exercising these rights. We do not “sell” or “share” personal information in the meaning of the CCPA. The categories of personal information we collect are described in Section 3; the purposes in Section 4; the recipients in Section 6.

9. Children

Saarathi is not directed at children under 13 (or under 16 in the European Economic Area and United Kingdom). We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, please contact privacy@saarathi.us and we will delete it.

10. How we protect information

We take reasonable steps to protect the information we hold:

• All traffic between the Saarathi app, the website, and our servers is encrypted in transit using HTTPS/TLS.
• Passwords are stored only as a salted hash; we never see your password.
• Our database uses row-level security to make sure your data is only readable by you and the people who should see it.
• Access to production systems is limited to a small number of authorized personnel and is logged.

No method of transmission or storage is perfectly secure. If we learn of a security incident that materially affects your information, we will notify you and the appropriate authorities as required by law.

11. International transfers

Basavaiah LLC is located in the United States, and our sub-processors operate in the United States and other countries. If you are accessing the Service from outside the United States, your information will be transferred to, processed in, and stored in the United States. Where required, we rely on standard contractual clauses or equivalent safeguards for such transfers.

12. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. When we make a change that materially affects how we handle your information, we will:

• Update the “Last updated” date at the top of this page.
• Post a notice in the app, by email, or both, at least 14 days before the change takes effect, where reasonably possible.

Continued use of the Service after a change means you accept the updated policy.

13. Contact

Email

privacy@saarathi.us

Mail

Basavaiah LLC
8401 Mayland Dr, Ste A
Richmond, VA 23294-4648
United States

Support

saarathi.us/support