Privacy Policy

Effective date: August 20, 2026

This Privacy Policy explains how CheckedInn Inc. ("CheckedInn," "we," "us," or "our") collects, uses, and shares information when you use the CheckedInn mobile application and related services (collectively, the "Service"). By using the Service, you agree to the practices described here.

1. Information We Collect

1.1 Information you provide

Account info. Your phone number (used for sign-in via one-time SMS code), display name, username, optional bio, optional city, optional profile photo, and avatar color.
Content you create. Hotel reviews, ratings, captions, photos, comments, likes, bookmarks, vibes, travel type, stay dates, and follow relationships.
Contacts (optional). If you use "Find friends," we access your device contacts only to find people you know who are already on CheckedInn. Phone numbers are converted to one-way cryptographic hashes on your device; we never receive or store your contacts' raw phone numbers or names, and we don't upload your address book. You can decline or revoke contacts access at any time in your device settings.
Communications. Messages you send to us (e.g., support requests).

1.2 Information collected automatically

Device & usage data. Device model, operating system, app version, language, time zone, and aggregate usage events (via Firebase Analytics).
Crash diagnostics. Crash logs, stack traces, and performance metrics collected by Firebase Crashlytics to help us diagnose and fix bugs.
Device attestation. A short-lived token from Apple App Attest, sent via Firebase App Check, that verifies requests come from a genuine, unmodified install of CheckedInn. The token does not identify you personally.
Approximate location. If you grant location permission, we use your device's location to help you find hotels nearby. We do not store precise location coordinates server-side except as embedded in stays you choose to log.
Push notification tokens. Push notifications are opt-in: iOS will prompt you the first time, and you can change permission anytime in iOS Settings. If you accept, we store an FCM token associated with your account so we can deliver push messages.
Siri & Shortcuts. You can trigger certain CheckedInn actions (such as opening your journal or starting a review) through Siri, the Shortcuts app, or Spotlight. Your voice requests are processed by Apple under Apple's privacy policy; CheckedInn receives only the resulting action to perform and never any audio.

1.3 Information from third parties

Google Places. When you search for or view a hotel, we retrieve hotel data (name, location, photos, ratings) from Google Places. Google may log your queries — see Google's privacy policy.

2. How We Use Information

Provide, maintain, and improve the Service.
Authenticate you and secure your account.
Show you hotel reviews, recommendations, and social activity from people you follow.
Send push and in-app notifications you have opted into.
Detect and remove abusive or inappropriate content (including running uploaded images through Google Cloud Vision SafeSearch).
Diagnose crashes and improve performance.
Comply with legal obligations.

3. How Information Is Shared

Other users. Content you post (reviews, photos, comments, likes, follows) is shared with other users according to the audience setting you choose for each review ("Everyone," "Followers," or "Only you") and your profile privacy setting (public or private). Reviews marked "Only you" are visible only to your account and are never shown to other users; like all content, they are stored on our servers (Google Firebase) and are deleted when you delete them or your account.
Service providers. We use Google Firebase (Authentication, Firestore, Storage, Cloud Functions, Cloud Messaging, Analytics), Google Cloud Vision, and Google Places, which process information on our behalf under their terms.
Legal & safety. We may disclose information to comply with applicable law, enforce our Terms, or protect the rights, property, or safety of users or the public.
Business transfers. If CheckedInn Inc. is involved in a merger, acquisition, or asset sale, information may be transferred subject to this policy.

We do not sell your personal information.

4. Your Choices

Profile privacy. Set your profile to private from the Profile tab. Approved followers will see your content; everyone else will not.
Per-review audience. Choose "Everyone," "Followers," or "Only you" (a journal-only entry no one else can see) each time you post, and change it later by editing the review.
Notifications. Granular toggles for likes, comments, new followers, follow requests, and a master "Following only" scope are in Profile → Notifications. You can also disable push permission in iOS Settings.
Location. Manage location access in iOS Settings → CheckedInn.
Delete content. You can delete your own reviews and comments from within the app.
Delete your account. You can delete your account from within the app at Profile → Settings → Delete account, or email support@checkedinnapp.com. We will delete your account and associated data within 30 days, except where retention is required by law.

5. Children

CheckedInn is intended for users 17 years of age or older. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 17. If you believe a person under 17 has provided us with information, please contact us at support@checkedinnapp.com and we will take steps to delete it.

6. Data Retention

We retain personal information for as long as needed for the purposes described in this policy. Typical retention periods:

Account information (profile, settings) — for the life of your account.
Content you create (reviews, photos, comments, stays) — until you delete the content or your account.
Usage analytics and crash diagnostics — up to approximately 14 months, then deleted or aggregated.
Support communications — up to 3 years.
Deleted accounts — account data and content are deleted within 30 days of a deletion request, except where a longer period is required for security, fraud prevention, dispute resolution, or legal compliance. Residual copies may persist in encrypted backups for a limited period before being purged.

Aggregated or de-identified data that no longer identifies you may be retained for analytics.

7. Security

We use industry-standard safeguards to protect your information, including encryption in transit (HTTPS/TLS) and at rest, authenticated access controls, Firebase security rules that restrict who can read and write data, device attestation (Apple App Attest) to block tampered clients, and internal practices that limit access to user data. No method of transmission or storage is 100% secure; we cannot guarantee absolute security.

8. International Users

The Service is operated from the United States, and your information is stored and processed on Google Cloud servers in the U.S. Where we transfer personal information from the United Kingdom, the European Economic Area, or other jurisdictions with data-transfer restrictions, those transfers rely on our service providers' approved safeguards — including Google's data-processing terms incorporating the Standard Contractual Clauses (and the UK Addendum where applicable).

8.1 United Kingdom & European Economic Area

If you are in the UK or EEA, we process your personal information under the UK GDPR / GDPR on these legal bases: performance of a contract (providing the Service you signed up for — accounts, reviews, your journal); legitimate interests (keeping the Service safe, preventing abuse, and understanding aggregate usage); and consent where we ask for it (such as location access and notifications, which you can withdraw at any time in system settings).

You have the right to access, rectify, erase, and port your personal information, to restrict or object to certain processing, and to withdraw consent at any time. Most of these are available directly in the app (see Section 4), including full account deletion; for anything else, email support@checkedinnapp.com and we will respond within one month. You also have the right to complain to your supervisory authority — in the UK, the Information Commissioner's Office (ico.org.uk); in the EEA, your national data-protection authority.

8.2 Canada, Australia & New Zealand

If you are in Canada, Australia, or New Zealand, we handle your personal information consistent with PIPEDA, the Australian Privacy Principles, and the New Zealand Privacy Act 2020 respectively. You may request access to or correction of your personal information using the contact details above, and you may complain to your privacy regulator (the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, the OAIC, or the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of New Zealand).

9. Your Rights (US State Privacy Laws)

Depending on your state of residence (including California, Colorado, Connecticut, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and others with comprehensive privacy laws), you may have the right to:

Know / access the categories and specific pieces of personal information we have collected about you;
Correct inaccurate personal information;
Delete your personal information;
Port your personal information in a usable format; and
Non-discrimination — we will not discriminate against you for exercising any of these rights.

For reference, the categories of personal information we collect are described in Section 1 and map to: identifiers (phone number, username, device identifiers), user-generated content (reviews, photos, comments), coarse geolocation (when you grant permission), and internet activity/diagnostics (app usage events, crash logs). We collect them from you and from your device, use them for the purposes in Section 2, and disclose them only as described in Section 3.

We do not sell personal information, and we do not share personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising.

To exercise any of these rights, email support@checkedinnapp.com from the account you wish to act on, or use the in-app tools (most access, correction, and deletion actions are available directly in the app — see Section 4). We verify requests by confirming control of the phone number associated with the account. You may use an authorized agent where permitted by law; we will ask the agent for proof of authorization. If we decline a request, you may appeal by replying to our decision, and we will respond as required by your state's law.

9a. Automated Processing

We use automated systems to help keep the Service safe — for example, images you upload are automatically screened by Google Cloud Vision SafeSearch, and clearly violating images are removed. We do not use your personal information to make automated decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects about you. If you believe content was removed in error, contact support@checkedinnapp.com.

10. Third-Party Links

The Service may link to or display content from third parties (e.g., hotel listings via Google Places). We are not responsible for the privacy practices of those third parties.

11. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will post the updated policy here and update the effective date. Material changes will be communicated through the Service when reasonably possible.

12. Contact Us

CheckedInn Inc.
2810 N Church St PMB 129153
Wilmington, Delaware 19802-4447, US
Email: support@checkedinnapp.com