Garam
Privacy policy
This updated service
This policy covers the rebuilt Garam service, operated by Paran. Questions, peer choices and lived experiences within your adult age group. Accounts and access are separate from the other apps. Previous-service accounts and conversations are not imported.
What you choose to share
We store your chosen display name, adult age group, interests, optional biography, accepted policy version and account timestamps. We do not request an exact birthday, GPS location, address book, Apple email or real name. Text, photos and plan places can contain information you choose to include; avoid private contact details and sensitive information.
Sign in with Apple
Apple verifies sign-in. We use the app-specific account identifier, verification challenges, hashed session credentials and encrypted authorization grants to maintain access and revoke authorization on account deletion. A session expires after 30 days. Unfinished registrations expire after 15 minutes and expired authentication records are cleaned during later authentication processing or periodic maintenance. We never request your Apple password. Apple processes authentication under its own privacy policy.
Messages, choices and photos
We store the questions, answers, poll choices, messages, selected photos and participation records you send to Garam, with account references and timestamps. These records provide the age-peer community features you use. Messages and photos are not end-to-end encrypted; the service operator can access server content for support and safety work.
Only the photo you select
The app uses the system photo picker and uploads only the image you choose to send. It redraws that image as a smaller JPEG before upload, removing the original embedded photo metadata from the image it creates. Visible information in the image is still shared. The server checks image format and size; it does not promise that every possible upload from another client has had metadata removed.
Who can see it
Garam questions and answers are shown under its age-group access rules; answers include the chosen author name. Shared-space messages are visible to eligible participants. Others may keep screenshots or copies of what you share.
Your vote and group results
Garam stores each account’s vote so it can be changed or withdrawn. Other users receive group totals, not a list of who voted for each choice. The total response count can appear before choice counts are shown. Choice counts appear only when at least 10 people in that age group have responded and every nonzero choice has at least 3 responses.
Device records stay separate
Unsent text/photo drafts and account-specific restoration caches are stored in the app’s device storage. Signing out keeps account restoration data. Session credentials use the system Keychain. Device backup and copies you export are governed by your device settings and chosen storage; deleting a service account does not delete those external copies.
Safety and service operation
We store reports, blocking relationships and limited abuse-prevention records to process safety issues. Authentication rate limits use hashed network-address references and time-bucket counts. The traffic ledger stores app-level byte/request totals without account IDs, IPs or message contents. The API does not log request bodies, tokens or profiles. Network and hosting providers still process connection metadata needed to deliver the service. This version has no advertising, tracking SDK, third-party analytics or AI content processing.
Providers and storage region
Online account and content records are stored in Cloud Firestore, and private photos in Google Cloud Storage, in the United States (us-west1). Cloud Functions for Firebase processes API requests in that region. Apple provides authentication. Firebase Hosting delivers the API and policy pages; its delivery network can process connection information outside your country. Providers process information needed for their roles under their contracts and policies. We do not sell app data or provide it for advertising. Do not share information that must not be stored abroad; contact support first.
Control and deletion
You can edit your profile, withdraw a vote or supported participation, block people, and export available records from the relevant screens. Request account deletion in You. Account deletion first completes Apple authorization revocation; if it fails, the account is kept and you can retry. After successful deletion, active account/content records are removed and this upgrade clears the account’s device records and unreferenced photo drafts. Drafts referenced by another signed-out account are preserved. If device storage cannot be safely checked or cleared, the app reports the failure and keeps unverified files. Export does not download every uploaded photo file. Previous-service accounts remain untouched.
Records that may remain
Active account/content records remain until deleted through the supported actions. Safety reports can remain after account deletion: the deleted reporter’s report text and some account/message references are removed, but another reporter’s text may still contain personal information. Reports currently have no automatic expiry. A hashed deletion-retry receipt lasts 24 hours; a hashed Apple subject reference used to reject stale authorization currently has no automatic expiry. Ask support to review retained personal information. Data already copied by another person, exported by you or kept in a device backup is outside service-account deletion.
Recovery copies
The database is configured for daily backups with seven-day retention. Deleted cloud photos can remain in provider recovery storage for up to seven days. Separate encrypted migration snapshots and original backend disks are retained for migration verification and recovery; these copies currently have no automatic expiry. Recovery copies are kept private and are not served as active accounts. Contact support about information that remains in recovery copies. A restore must preserve deletion and access restrictions before the service is reopened.
Questions and privacy requests
The service is for adults 18 and older and does not verify an exact age or legal identity. For access, correction, deletion or privacy questions, contact [email protected] and name the app. Do not send Apple passwords, authorization codes or unnecessary identity documents. We may need to verify account control to avoid disclosing someone else’s data. Changes to this policy will be identified with a new version.