Privacy Policy
Effective Date: July 26, 2026
Welcome to Civic! We are committed to protecting your privacy and being transparent about how we collect, use, and share your information. This Privacy Policy explains our practices regarding the personal information we collect through our mobile application, website, and related services (collectively, the "Service"). By using Civic, you consent to the practices described in this policy.
1. Information We Collect
A. Demographic Information
To provide relevant civic content and enable meaningful poll participation, we may collect the following information with your consent: age range, geographic location (state, districts), political affiliation or preferences, issues of interest, and voting history or registration status.
Linked to Identity: This information is linked to your account to personalize your experience and enable demographic analysis of poll responses.
B. Political Preferences and Engagement Data
We may collect information about your political interests and civic engagement, including politicians, candidates, or representatives you choose to follow, legislative issues you track or express interest in, your responses to polls and surveys within the app, content you save, share, or engage with, and your participation in discussions and community features.
Linked to Identity: This data is used to provide personalized recommendations and analyze civic engagement patterns.
C. Usage and Analytics Data
We may collect information about how you use our Service, such as device information (hardware model, operating system, app version), usage patterns and feature interactions, time spent in different sections of the app, and search queries and browsing behavior within the app.
Linked to Identity: Some usage data may be linked to your account for personalization, while other data is aggregated and anonymized.
D. Location Data
With your permission, we may collect precise location data to provide local representatives and ballot information, as well as general location data (city/state level) for relevant civic content.
Linked to Identity: Location data is linked to your account to provide location-relevant civic information.
E. Payment and Subscription Information
If you purchase a subscription or make a payment, we collect and store your subscription tier, status, and transaction history. Payment card details are collected and processed directly by our third-party payment processors — Stripe (web), Apple (App Store), or Google (Google Play) — under their own privacy policies. We never receive or store your full card number.
Linked to Identity: Subscription status is linked to your account to provide member benefits.
2. How We Use Your Information
A. Core Service Delivery
We use your information to provide information about your representatives, local elections, and relevant legislation. We also personalize content based on your interests and political preferences, enable participation in polls and surveys, and facilitate community discussions and civic engagement.
B. Personalization and Recommendations
Your data helps us recommend politicians, candidates, or representatives based on your interests and political views. We suggest topics, legislation, or civic issues relevant to your preferences, customize your news feed and content recommendations, and tailor notifications about elections, legislative updates, or civic opportunities.
C. Research and Analysis
We conduct polls and surveys within the app and analyze poll responses by demographic characteristics. This helps us understand civic engagement trends and preferences, which we may publish as aggregated poll results and civic insights.
D. Service Improvement and Communication
We analyze usage patterns to improve app functionality and develop new features based on user needs. We also send important updates about elections, legislation, or civic opportunities and respond to your questions or support requests.
3. How We Share Your Information
Civic does not sell your personal information. We share information only in the following circumstances:
A. Aggregated and Anonymized Data
We may share poll results and civic engagement statistics without personal identifiers, demographic trends and political preference insights, and public reporting on civic engagement and political participation.
B. Service Providers
We work with trusted third-party providers (such as Google Cloud, and our payment processors Stripe, Apple, and Google) who are contractually required to protect your information and use it only for services they provide to us.
C. Legal Requirements
We may disclose your information if required by law, legal process, or government request, or to protect the rights, property, or safety of Civic, our users, or others.
D. SMS Messaging and Mobile Information
Your mobile information will not be sold or shared with third parties for promotional or marketing purposes.
All the above categories exclude text messaging originator opt-in data and consent; this information will not be shared with any third parties.
We will not share your opt-in to an SMS campaign with any third party for purposes unrelated to providing you with the services of that campaign. We may share your Personal Data, including your SMS opt-in or consent status, with third parties that help us provide our messaging services, including but not limited to platform providers, phone companies, and any other vendors who assist us in the delivery of text messages.
4. Your Privacy Rights and Controls
A. Account and Data Controls
You can update your profile information and preferences at any time, choose which types of notifications you receive, control your participation in polls and surveys, and delete your account and associated data at any time.
B. Communication Controls
You have the ability to unsubscribe from promotional emails, adjust notification preferences, and opt out of personalized recommendations (though this may limit app functionality).
C. Location Controls
You can control location permissions through your device settings and disable location-based features while maintaining access to the app.
5. Political Data Protection
We recognize that political preferences and civic engagement data are sensitive. We commit to using political preference data only to improve your civic engagement experience, protecting the confidentiality of your political views and voting choices, never sharing individual political preferences with third parties for commercial purposes, and allowing you to control how your political data is used.
You can always review and modify your political preferences and choose how much information to share.
6. Data Security
We implement industry-standard security measures including encryption of data in transit and at rest, regular security audits, access controls, and employee training. However, no system is completely secure, so we encourage you to use strong passwords and report any suspicious activity.
7. Data Retention
We retain your information for as long as necessary to provide our services. Account information is kept until you delete your account, poll responses are retained indefinitely in aggregated, anonymized form, and usage data is typically kept for 2-3 years, or longer if aggregated and anonymized. Payment and transaction records are retained as required for accounting, tax, and legal compliance.
8. Children's Privacy
Civic is intended for users 13 years and older. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. Users between 13-17 must have parental consent before using our Service.
9. Changes to This Privacy Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy periodically. We will notify you of material changes via email or app notification and update the "Effective Date" above.
10. Contact Us
For questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy, please contact us at civic.app.politics@gmail.com. For privacy requests such as data access, deletion, or correction, please email us directly.
This Privacy Policy will remain in effect until modified in accordance with its terms.