Last Updated: November 7, 2025
Welcome to Gately ("we," "us," or "our"). We are committed to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your information when you use our mobile application (the "Application"). Please read this privacy policy carefully. If you do not agree with the terms of this privacy policy, please do not access the application.
1. Information We Collect
We collect information about you in a few ways when you use our Application:
Account Information: We use Google Sign-In (Firebase Authentication) to create and secure your account. We only receive your basic profile information (such as your email address and name) for identification. We do not access your Google contacts or other private data.
User-Generated Content: We store the data you provide, including gate names, access codes, notes, and the specific geographic coordinates (latitude and longitude) you pin for each entry.
Location Data: To provide the core "Proactive Code Notification" feature, the Application collects your device's location data. This is used to create geofences around your saved entries and trigger notifications upon your arrival. This feature requires location access "Allow all the time" (background location) to function when the app is not open. Your location is processed on-device and is not stored or tracked on our servers.
2. How We Use Your Information
We use the information we collect to:
- Create and manage your secure account.
- Provide the core services: storing your codes, providing geofence-based notifications, and enabling secure sharing links at your request.
- Synchronize your encrypted data across your devices using Firebase Cloud Firestore.
3. Our "Zero-Knowledge" Security Model
Your privacy and security are the most important part of Gately.
Master PIN: The Application requires you to create a Master PIN. This PIN is stored only on your device in its native secure storage (e.g., Android Keystore). It is never transmitted to us or stored on our servers.
Client-Side Encryption: Your sensitive data (specifically your gate codes and any notes) is encrypted on your device using your Master PIN before it is ever transmitted and stored in our Firebase database.
What This Means: We cannot see, read, or access your actual gate codes. They are stored as unreadable, encrypted text. Only you, with your device and your Master PIN, can decrypt them. If you lose your Master PIN, your data cannot be recovered, as we have no way to decrypt it.
4. Information Sharing
We do not sell, trade, or otherwise transfer your personally identifiable information or your encrypted user content to outside parties, with one specific exception you control:
Ephemeral Shareable Links: If you choose to use the "Share Code" feature, you must approve the creation of a temporary, public link. For this feature to work, the specific code and notes you are sharing are copied and stored in an unencrypted, publicly readable document in our Firebase database. This link is protected by a unique, hard-to-guess ID and is automatically deleted after approximately 1 hour (as per our Time-to-Live policy). Anyone with this link can view the unencrypted code and notes until it expires. You can also manually delete these links at any time from the "Manage Shared Links" screen in the app.
Service Providers: We use Google's Firebase platform to provide authentication, cloud database (Firestore), and other backend services. Your primary, encrypted data resides on this secure infrastructure.
5. Children's Privacy
Our services are not intended for or directed at children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13.
6. Changes to This Privacy Policy
We may update this privacy policy from time to time. We will notify you of any changes by posting the new privacy policy in the Application and updating the "Last Updated" date.
7. Contact Us
If you have any questions or suggestions about our Privacy Policy, do not hesitate to contact us at: support@gately-app.com