Privacy Policy

1. About This Policy

This policy explains what information Alongside Coalition ("we", "us", "our") collects when you use the Alongside Coalition platform ("Service"), how we use it, and the choices you have. It works alongside our Terms of Service.

2. Information We Collect

Information you give us:

• Account information—your name, email address, password, and sign-in and security settings.
• Profile information you choose to share—such as a handle, photo, bio, and location.
• Faith information—your affirmation of our Statement of Faith, which is required to join, and optional details like the confessions and denominations you select and whether you sign the manifesto.
• Personalization—interests, goals, industries, and a saved location you set to tailor search.
• Business information—if you add your business: its details, address, contact people, and billing contact.
• Content you post—reviews, lists, photos, files, chat and forum posts, other submissions, and recordings of guild video sessions you take part in.
• Messages—direct messages and messages you send through our contact forms.
• Payment information—handled by our payment processor. We do not receive or store your full card number.

Information collected automatically:

• Usage information—pages viewed, searches, clicks, how you interact with pages (which may include session replays), device and browser type, and error reports.
• Approximate location—the location you provide, or your device location when you use Near me (see section 5).
• Notification details—if you turn on push notifications, a token that lets us reach your device.

If you sign in with Google, we receive your name, email address, and profile photo from Google.

3. How We Use Information

• To run the Service: your account, the directory, search, reviews, lists, guilds, and messaging
• To personalize search results and suggestions
• To process payments for plans and memberships
• To send account, billing, and activity emails and notifications, and, if you allow it, updates and announcements
• To keep the Service safe: preventing spam, fraud, and abuse, and enforcing our Terms
• To understand how the Service is used and improve it
• To show businesses aggregate information about how people find them

Faith information. To join, you affirm our Statement of Faith, including the historic creeds and its faith statements. Other details, like the confessions and denominations you select and whether you sign the manifesto, are optional. We use those optional details to match you with businesses and guilds, tailor the emails you get, and understand how Alongside is used. Faith filters you choose in search are used to run that search and to understand how Alongside is used. You can update your optional details anytime in your account settings.

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not use it for third-party advertising.

4. What Others Can See

Your display name appears on reviews you write and on businesses you're connected to. If your profile is public, others can also see your profile details and guild affiliations. If you make your profile private, your profile can't be opened from your reviews or businesses, and your guild affiliations stay hidden. New accounts start private.

Business details you publish are public. Messages you send in a guild are visible to members of that guild, and direct messages are visible to the people in the conversation.

Guild video sessions may be recorded. When a session is being recorded, everyone in it sees a recording indicator. Recordings are kept in the guild's resources, where members at the right rank can watch them. We may also share selected recordings more widely, including publicly.

5. Location Information

The location on your public profile and your saved location are separate. Your profile location is free text you choose to show others. Your saved location is private: we use it only to tailor your search, and we never show it on your profile or to businesses.

When you use Near me, we ask for your device location and use it for that search. We do not store your coordinates. To understand demand, we record only the city and state of the search.

6. Sharing and Service Providers

We share information only as needed to run the Service, with:

• Service providers that work on our behalf: hosting and database, payment processing, email delivery, maps and location lookup, AI-assisted search, spam and bot protection, push notifications, analytics, and tools we use to run our operations. They may use the information only to provide their services to us.
• Other users, as described in section 4.
• Legal and safety—when required by law, or to protect the rights, property, or safety of our users, the public, or us.
• Business transfers—as part of a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, subject to this policy.

Our forms are protected from automated abuse by Cloudflare Turnstile, which may collect device and behavioral data to verify you are human. This use is subject to the Cloudflare Turnstile Privacy Addendum.

AI-assisted search processes the words you search for. It does not receive your name or account details.

If you turn on push notifications, notification content, like the sender's name and a message preview, passes through your device or browser maker's notification service to reach you.

7. Cookies and Local Storage

We use a small number of cookies and similar browser storage to keep you signed in, remember preferences like your theme, protect our forms, and measure how the Service is used. We do not use advertising cookies. You can clear these through your browser settings, but parts of the Service may stop working.

8. Retention and Deletion

We keep information for as long as your account is active or as needed to provide the Service. When you delete a direct message, its content is deleted. When you delete your account, it is scheduled for deletion 30 days later. You can cancel during that time by signing back in. After that, we delete your account information. Content you posted for others, such as reviews and messages, remains and is shown as from a "Deleted User".

When you remove your business, it is deleted 30 days later. After your account is deleted, your search history is kept only in de-identified form. We may keep limited records longer where needed for security, fraud prevention, legal obligations, or resolving disputes. Backups and copies held by our service providers are deleted on their regular schedules.

9. Your Choices and Rights

• Edit your profile and personalization at any time in your account settings.
• Make your profile private from your profile settings.
• Manage emails from your notification settings or the unsubscribe link in any email.
• Turn off push notifications or location access in your device or browser settings.
• Delete your account from your account settings.

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to access, correct, delete, or receive a copy of your personal information, to opt out of certain processing, and to appeal our decision on a request. To make a request, contact us using the details below. We will verify your identity before acting on a request, and we won't treat you differently for using these rights. We respond within 45 days. If we decline a request, you can appeal by replying to our response.

10. Children

The Service is not directed to children. You must be at least 13 to create an account. If we learn that we collected information from a child under 13, we will delete it.

11. Security

We use reasonable safeguards to protect your information, including encrypted connections and optional two-factor authentication. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, so we can't guarantee absolute security.

12. Changes to This Policy

We may update this policy from time to time. We'll let you know about material changes by email or in the app. If you keep using Alongside after a change takes effect, you accept the updated policy. The date at the top shows when it last changed.

13. Contact

Questions or requests about your privacy can be sent through the Contact page or to support@buildalongside.com.