Privacy Policy

VanshVatika ("we," "our," or "us") is a family tree and community networking platform that helps you discover your roots and connect with your community. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, store, and protect your personal information when you use our website and services.

By registering for or using VanshVatika, you agree to the practices described in this policy.

1. Information We Collect

a) Information You Provide

• Account Information: Name, email address, and password when you register.
• Profile Details: Date of birth, gender, birth place, bio, profile photo, religion, gotra, and occupation details.
• Family Tree Data: Names and relationships of family members you add to your tree, including parents, spouses, and children.
• Social Media Links: Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn profile URLs you optionally provide.
• Search Queries: Names, religion, and gotra filters you use to search for community members.

b) Information from Third-Party Login

• If you sign in using Facebook, we receive your name, email address, and profile picture as permitted by your Facebook privacy settings.
• We do not access your Facebook friends list, posts, or any other social data beyond what is needed for authentication.

c) Automatically Collected Information

• Push Notification Tokens: If you opt in to notifications, we store your browser push subscription endpoint.
• Usage Analytics: We use Vercel Analytics to collect anonymous page view and performance data. No personally identifiable information is included.
• Session Data: Authentication tokens to keep you logged in securely.

2. How We Use Your Information

• Build and display your family tree so you and your family members can explore your lineage.
• Enable community search so users can discover others by name, religion, or gotra.
• Detect duplicate profiles to prevent the same person from being added multiple times and to suggest potential matches during registration.
• Send notifications about activity related to your family tree and announcements, if you have opted in.
• Authenticate your identity via email/password or Facebook SSO.
• Improve our services by analyzing anonymous usage patterns.
• Send transactional emails such as password reset links.

3. How We Store and Protect Your Data

• Your data is stored in a secure database with encrypted connections.
• Passwords are hashed using industry-standard bcrypt hashing and are never stored in plain text.
• Profile photos are stored via Cloudinary, a trusted third-party media hosting service.
• All data is transmitted over HTTPS to prevent interception.
• We restrict access to personal data to authorized administrators only, and all admin actions are recorded in audit logs.

4. Data Sharing

We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information to any third party. Your data may be shared only in the following limited circumstances:

• With other VanshVatika users: Your name, profile photo, religion, gotra, and family tree connections are visible to other registered users through search and tree views.
• Service providers: We use Cloudinary (image hosting), Vercel (hosting and analytics), and SMTP email services to operate the platform. These providers process data only as needed to deliver their services.
• Legal obligations: We may disclose information if required by law, regulation, or legal process.

5. Your Rights

You have the right to:

• Access your personal data through your profile page.
• Edit or update your profile information at any time.
• Opt out of push notifications through your browser settings.
• Request deletion of your account and associated data by following our Data Deletion Instructions.
• Withdraw consent for Facebook login by unlinking your account through Facebook's app settings.

6. Cookies and Local Storage

We use essential cookies and browser local storage to manage your authentication session and notification preferences. We do not use advertising or third-party tracking cookies.

7. Children's Privacy

VanshVatika is not intended for children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. Family members under 13 may be added to a tree by a parent or guardian, but they cannot create their own account.

8. Data Retention

We retain your data for as long as your account is active. If you request account deletion, we will remove your personal data within 30 days, except where we are required by law to retain it. Family tree data that other users depend on (e.g., shared relationships) may be anonymized rather than deleted to preserve the integrity of connected trees.

9. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we make changes, we will update the "Last updated" date at the top of this page. We encourage you to review this policy periodically.

10. Contact Us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or wish to exercise your data rights, please contact us at:

support@vanshvatika.com