Privacy policy

Who we are

Halqa (“we”, “us”) runs halqahub.com and the Halqa apps. For anything about your data, write to support@halqahub.com.

What we collect

Things you give us

• Account: your name, @username, email address and password (stored only as a secure hash). If you turn them on, your passkeys and two-step verification settings.
• Profile: anything you add, such as a photo, cover image, bio, location or links.
• What you post and send: posts, comments, reactions, messages, photos, voice messages, communities you create or join, and your follows and blocks.
• Marketplace: listings (with their photos, price and area), saved items, offers, orders and reviews.
• Reports and appeals: what you report, and what you write when you appeal a decision.
• Contacting us: the emails you send us.

Things collected when you use Halqa

• Sign-in and security: your IP address, the country it’s in, your browser or device type, and when you signed in. We use these to keep your account safe, for example to spot a sign-in from a new device and email you about it.
• Notifications: if you allow them, a push address for your browser or phone, provided by your browser, Google (Android) or Apple (iPhone), so we can send you notifications.
• Settings: your language, notification choices and quiet hours.

We don’t use advertising or analytics trackers, and we don’t access your contacts, your precise location, or files you haven’t chosen to upload. The camera and microphone are used only when you take a photo or record a voice message.

How we use it

• To run Halqa: show your profile and posts, deliver your messages and notifications, and run the marketplace.
• To keep people safe: detect spam, scams and abuse, review reports, enforce our community guidelines and handle appeals.
• To protect your account: sign-in checks, alerts about new devices and suspicious activity, and account recovery.
• To talk to you: sign-in codes, security alerts, notices about your account, and, if you haven’t turned them off, updates and reminders.
• To meet legal duties, and to defend against legal claims.

Our legal bases (where the law asks for one) are providing the service you signed up for, our legitimate interest in keeping Halqa safe and working, your consent (for example, for notifications, which you can turn off at any time) and legal obligations.

Who can see what

• Public: your name, @username, profile photo and bio; your public posts; posts in public communities; and marketplace listings. Public pages can appear in search engines.
• Private messages are visible to the people in the chat. Halqa staff don’t browse chats; they see a message only when someone in the chat reports it, and then only the reported messages and a little context around them.
• Private accounts and communities: only approved followers or members see your posts.

Who we share it with

We share data only as needed to run Halqa:

• Our hosting provider, which runs the servers that store Halqa’s data.
• Notification services: Google Firebase Cloud Messaging (Android), Apple Push Notification service (iPhone) and your browser’s push service deliver notifications. A notification shows who it’s from and a short preview, for example the start of a message; you can turn previews off by turning off message notifications in Settings → Notifications.
• Cloudflare, which protects the site and tells us the country a visit comes from.
• Authorities, when the law requires it, or to protect someone from serious harm, for example child safety reports.

We don’t sell or rent personal data, and we don’t share it with advertisers.

How long we keep it

• Your account data, for as long as you have an account.
• Sign-in history and security records, for a limited time to protect accounts.
• Server backups, for up to 14 days, after which deleted data is gone from them too.
• Moderation records (reports, decisions, appeals) and an audit log, for longer, because we need them to keep Halqa safe and to answer appeals and legal requests.

Deleting your account

You can delete your account at any time in Settings → Account → Delete account, on the web or in the app. It happens straight away: your profile, email, password, posts, comments, listings, follows, memberships and notifications are removed. Your @username is held for 30 days so nobody can impersonate you, then released. Messages you already sent stay in the other people’s chats (shown as from “Deleted account”), and completed orders and reviews stay in the other person’s records. More about deleting your account.

Your choices and rights

• See and download your data: Settings → Account → Download your data.
• Correct it: edit your profile and settings at any time.
• Control notifications: Settings → Notifications, per kind of activity, including quiet hours; or turn them off in your browser or phone.
• Privacy settings: make your account private, choose who can message you, and block people.
• Delete your account, as described above.

Depending on where you live, you may also have the right to object to or restrict some uses of your data, and to complain to your data protection authority. To use any of these rights, email support@halqahub.com from the address on your account.

Security

Connections are encrypted (HTTPS). Passwords are stored only as secure hashes. You can add passkeys and two-step verification, and we alert you about sign-ins from new devices. No system is perfectly secure, so please use a strong, unique password.

Cookies

We use only the cookies Halqa needs to work: one that keeps you signed in, one that protects against forged requests, and one that remembers your language. Your light or dark theme is saved in your browser. There are no advertising or tracking cookies.

Children

Halqa isn’t for children under 13, and we don’t knowingly collect their data. If you believe a child under 13 has an account, email us and we’ll remove it.

Where data is processed

Halqa’s servers may be in a different country from yours, and the notification services above operate worldwide. We only use providers that protect data to the standards the law requires.

Changes

If we change this policy in a way that matters, we’ll tell you in the app or by email before it takes effect. The date at the top shows the latest version.