1. Scope and who we are
This Privacy Policy explains how OurPart ("OurPart," "we," "us," or "our") collects, uses, discloses, and retains information when you use the OurPart mobile application, website, public share pages, and related services (collectively, the "Service"). It applies to information handled by OurPart through the Service, but not to third-party websites or services that have their own privacy policies.
OurPart is a civic-information and community-discussion service. We are not a government entity. Legislative records and legislator information in the Service generally come from public government records or legislative data providers; this policy focuses on information relating to people who use the Service.
2. Information you provide
Account and authentication information. When you create an account, we process your email address, account identifier, username, and authentication information. Passwords are handled through Supabase authentication and are not stored in your OurPart profile record. If you use Google Sign-In or Sign in with Apple, we receive the account information the provider makes available for sign-in, such as your email address or Apple private relay address, name when provided, and a provider identifier used to connect the sign-in to your account.
Profile information. You may provide a first and last name, profile photo, biography, state, and legislative district information. Your username is required for community features. You can choose not to provide optional profile fields.
Community content and activity. We store comments and replies you post, mentions, votes or reactions on comments and bills, bills you track, follows, blocks, and related timestamps. These actions can reveal your interests or views about civic and political topics.
Reports and communications. If you report a comment, user, or AI-generated item, we collect the report category, the content or account involved, any explanation you submit, and review status. If you contact us, we receive the information in your message and the contact information you use.
Account-email support requests. We privately store the account identifier you provide, your contact email, request details, reference number, submission time, and handling status so our support team can respond. Submitted identifiers are not proof of account ownership. Do not include passwords or verification codes.
Coverage email requests. If you ask to be notified when a state is added, we store the email address you submit or the current email on your signed-in account, the state you selected, and the request time. We normalize the email to lowercase and allow only one pending state request per email. Signed-in users can remove their request in Settings; public-page visitors can ask us to remove or change a request by contacting [email protected] from the submitted email address.
Subscriptions and plan choices. We may store the access tier or plan you select and receive subscription, trial, renewal, expiration, store, and entitlement status associated with your account. RevenueCat helps us coordinate subscription access across platforms. Apple and Google process purchases made through their app stores. If web subscriptions are offered, RevenueCat Billing and its connected payment processor, such as Stripe, process the checkout and payment method. OurPart does not receive or store your full payment-card number.
3. District calculator and location information
You can enter your state and congressional district manually without providing a street address. If you choose the district calculator, you submit a U.S. street address, city, state, and ZIP code. The address is sent through our Supabase-hosted function to the U.S. Census Bureau Geocoder so the Service can identify your congressional and, where available, state legislative districts.
The district calculator is designed not to save the street address, city, or ZIP code in your OurPart profile or application database. We save the resulting state and district numbers and the date they were updated. The address is still transmitted to and processed by Supabase and the Census Bureau for the lookup, and those providers may create ordinary security or request logs under their own practices. The Service does not request your device GPS location.
4. Profile photos and automated moderation
If you upload a profile photo, the image is processed by our Supabase-hosted upload service. When Google Cloud Vision moderation is enabled, the image is also sent to Google Cloud Vision for automated SafeSearch analysis for adult, violent, or sexually suggestive content. The result may cause an image to be rejected. Accepted profile images are stored in a public Supabase Storage bucket so they can be displayed in profiles, comments, and share previews.
Do not use a profile image that you do not want other members, recipients of a profile share link, or people who obtain the image URL to see. You can replace your image in your profile settings, and the stored avatar is removed as part of a successful account deletion.
5. Information collected automatically
When you use the Service, our systems and service providers may receive technical information such as IP address, request headers, device or browser type, operating system and platform, app version, timestamps, pages or features requested, session and authentication events, and error or performance information. We use IP addresses and request timing for security and rate limiting on public share previews.
For the public coverage-request form, we use a one-way derived network bucket identifier to enforce request limits. The coverage signup table does not store a raw IP address, account identifier, profile details, or marketing preferences.
If you enable push notifications, we collect an Expo push token, platform type, whether the token is active, and last-seen timestamps. Expo and the applicable device platform, such as Apple or Google, process the token and notification payload to deliver notifications.
The app and website use local device storage and similar technologies to keep you signed in, preserve settings such as theme and filter preferences, remember notification or onboarding state, and support Service functionality. We do not use an advertising SDK or third-party advertising cookies in the current Service.
If error reporting is configured, Sentry may receive crash details, limited performance traces, and technical context needed to diagnose a failure. Our configuration disables Sentry's default collection of personally identifying information, but diagnostic events may still contain technical data or context associated with the error.
6. How we use information
We use information to create and secure accounts; authenticate users; provide profiles, comments, voting, follows, bill tracking, sharing, and other requested features; identify representatives and determine state-based access; and remember preferences.
We also use information to send requested coverage-availability emails, in-app notifications, and opted-in push notifications; operate public share pages; moderate photos, usernames, comments, users, and reported content; enforce rate limits and our Terms; prevent fraud, abuse, and security incidents; debug and improve reliability; respond to support requests; comply with law; and protect OurPart, our users, and others.
Where applicable law requires a legal basis, we process information as needed to provide the Service you request, based on consent for optional features where required, for our legitimate interests in operating and securing the Service, and to comply with legal obligations or protect legal rights.
8. AI-generated legislative content
OurPart displays labeled AI-generated titles, summaries, topic classifications, and explanations based on legislative information. The generative AI features currently shown in the Service concern legislative data; the app does not send your profile, district, comments, votes, tracked bills, or follows to a generative AI model as part of creating those legislative items.
Profile-photo SafeSearch review is a separate automated moderation process described above. If you submit a report about AI-generated content, we store the report and any explanation you provide so it can be reviewed and the Service can be improved.
9. How we disclose information
Service providers. We disclose information as needed to vendors that operate the Service on our behalf, including Supabase for authentication, databases, storage, and server functions; RevenueCat for subscription and entitlement management; Apple and Google for sign-in, app-store billing, and device services; Stripe if web subscription billing is offered; Google Cloud Vision for optional image moderation; Expo and device-platform providers for push delivery; Sentry for configured error and performance reporting; and the U.S. Census Bureau Geocoder for an address-based district lookup you request. These providers process information for the relevant service and may handle it under their own terms and privacy notices.
Other users and share-page visitors. We disclose profile and community information as described in Section 7 when you use social features or when an opaque profile share link is opened.
Legal, safety, and enforcement. We may preserve or disclose information if we reasonably believe it is required by law or legal process, necessary to investigate fraud, abuse, or a security issue, needed to enforce our agreements, or necessary to protect the rights, property, or safety of OurPart, our users, or others.
Business transactions. If OurPart is involved in a merger, financing, reorganization, bankruptcy, acquisition, or sale of assets, information may be reviewed or transferred as part of that transaction, subject to applicable law and appropriate confidentiality protections.
At your direction. We may disclose information when you request or clearly authorize the disclosure. We may also use or disclose information that has been aggregated or deidentified so it cannot reasonably be linked to you, and we will not attempt to reidentify it except as permitted by law.
10. No sale or targeted advertising
We do not sell personal information for money, rent user lists, or share personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising. The current Service does not display third-party behavioral advertising. We also do not knowingly sell or share for cross-context behavioral advertising the personal information of anyone under 16.
11. Retention and account deletion
We retain account, profile, community, and district information while your account is active and as needed to provide the Service. Retention periods vary by the type of information and why it is held. We consider how long the information is needed for the feature, security and abuse prevention, dispute resolution, legal compliance, and the operation of backups. Short-lived technical and rate-limit records may be retained separately from account content.
You can request account deletion in Settings > Account > Delete Account. A successful deletion removes your authentication account, profile, stored profile image, comment text and authorship, votes, bill tracking, follows, blocks and reports tied to your account, pending coverage email requests, your notification history, and registered push devices from active OurPart systems. If the account is linked to Sign in with Apple, the iOS deletion flow also asks Apple to verify the request and revokes the associated Apple authorization before deletion. Other users' replies may remain connected by empty “Comment deleted” placeholders that retain only the structure and ordering of a thread, not your original text, author identity, mentions, or reactions. Empty placeholders are removed when no replies need them. Notifications identifying you as an actor, including grouped notifications containing your identifier, and notifications generated by your deleted comments are removed from active OurPart systems. Notifications about surviving replies may remain. Notifications already delivered to a device cannot be recalled.
Deletion may not remove information that another person independently copied or captured, and limited copies may remain temporarily in routine backups, security logs, or service-provider systems. We may retain information when reasonably necessary to comply with law, resolve disputes, prevent fraud or abuse, or establish, exercise, or defend legal claims. When retained for those purposes, it is not used for unrelated purposes and is deleted or deidentified when the retention need ends.
12. Your choices and privacy rights
You can review and edit available profile fields in profile settings, choose manual district entry instead of the address calculator, decline to add optional profile information, add or remove a pending state-coverage email request in Settings, manage push permission in your device settings, and delete your account in the app. If you used the public coverage page without an account, contact [email protected] from the submitted email to change or remove the request. You can also contact that address to ask for access to, correction of, or deletion of information associated with you.
Depending on where you live and subject to legal exceptions, you may have rights to know or access personal information, correct inaccurate information, delete information, receive a portable copy, opt out of certain sales, sharing, targeted advertising, or profiling, limit certain uses of sensitive information, and not be discriminated against for exercising a privacy right. Because we do not sell personal information or use it for cross-context behavioral advertising, there is no separate sale or targeted-advertising opt-out in the current Service.
We may need to verify your identity before completing a request. Where permitted, an authorized agent may submit a request, but we may require proof of authorization and direct confirmation from you. If applicable law gives you a right to appeal a denied request, reply to the decision or contact [email protected] with the subject "Privacy Appeal." We will respond within the period required by applicable law.
13. California and other U.S. state disclosures
For purposes of U.S. state privacy notices, the categories we may collect include: identifiers (such as email, account ID, username, name, IP address, and push token); profile and user-provided information; internet or electronic activity and diagnostics; location-related information (a saved state and districts, plus an address processed transiently if you request lookup); visual information (a profile photo); user-generated content and civic activity; and inferences about interests from the bills and community features you choose to interact with.
We obtain this information from you, your use of the Service, Google or Apple when you choose their sign-in service, other users who interact with or report content, and service providers that help operate the Service. We use it for the business and operational purposes described in Section 6. We disclose relevant categories to the service-provider and recipient categories described in Section 9. We have not sold or shared these categories for cross-context behavioral advertising during the 12 months preceding this policy's effective date, and we do not offer financial incentives for personal information.
Browser privacy signals. Because the current Service does not use cross-site behavioral advertising or sell or share personal information as those terms are defined by applicable state privacy laws, browser Do Not Track or Global Privacy Control signals do not change the Service's behavior. We do not integrate advertising parties that collect your activity through OurPart over time and across unrelated websites for their own targeted advertising. Operational service providers may process technical data to provide their services as described in this policy.
14. Children
The Service is not directed to children under 13, and you must be at least 13 to create an account. If you are under the age of majority where you live, you may use the Service only with permission from a parent or legal guardian as described in our Terms of Service. We do not knowingly collect personal information from a child under 13. If we learn that we have done so, we will take reasonable steps to delete it. A parent or guardian can contact [email protected] about a child's information.
15. Security
We use administrative, technical, and organizational safeguards intended to protect information, including authenticated access, database access controls, limited public preview fields, opaque share tokens, rate limiting, and secure transport provided by our platforms. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security. Protect your credentials, use a strong unique password, and notify us if you believe your account has been compromised.
16. U.S. processing and third-party links
OurPart is a U.S.-focused service. Information may be processed in the United States and in other places where our service providers operate. Those locations may have privacy laws different from those where you live. Where required, we use legally recognized protections for cross-border transfers.
The Service links to official government websites and other third-party sources. Their collection and use of information is governed by their own privacy practices, not this policy. We encourage you to review those policies before providing information to a third party.
17. Changes to this policy
We may update this policy as the Service or legal requirements change. We will post the revised policy and update the date above. If a change materially affects how we collect, use, or disclose personal information, we will provide additional notice through the Service or another reasonable method before the change takes effect when required by law. Your choices and rights will be governed by the policy in effect when the relevant processing occurs.
18. Contact us
For privacy questions or requests, contact OurPart at [email protected]. Please use the subject "Privacy Request" and identify the account email or username involved. Do not send a password or other unnecessary sensitive information. We may ask for additional information to verify the request.
7. Social visibility and public share links
OurPart member profiles are not generally offered as an open, searchable public directory. Within the signed-in Service, however, other members can see profile and community information needed for social features, including your username, optional name, photo, bio, join date, comments, and certain activity or aggregate counts. Members may also see follow relationships and interact with your comments. Your email address and saved district information are not included in the member profile view.
A signed-in member may share a permanent, opaque link to an OurPart member profile. When the profile owner enables public previews in Settings > Account, anyone with that link can see a limited preview containing the username, profile photo, and a short biography. This preview does not include the member's name, email, join date, state, districts, street address, comments, activity counts, votes, tracked bills, or follow relationships. Public previews are enabled by default and can be disabled without hiding the profile from signed-in members. The random token reduces casual enumeration but does not make the preview private; recipients can forward or capture it. Disabling the preview prevents new page loads from showing it, but messaging apps and other recipients may retain previously saved previews or images.
Public bill and legislator share pages display legislative or official public-record information. They do not make your account information public merely because you viewed or shared the page.