Privacy Policy

Last updated: 13 November 2026

The short version. Car Dude tells your approved friends that you're driving, so they can call you. It never shares where you are, where you're going, or how fast. Your location, motion and Bluetooth signals are used only on your phone to decide "driving: yes or no"; only that yes/no leaves your phone. We don't sell your data and the app has no ads.

Who we are

Car Dude is made by Ilan Schaedel (Israel). Contact: support@cardude.app.

What we collect and why

Data	Why	Who can see it
Email address	To sign you in (we email you a one-time code)	Only us
Name you choose	Shown to friends you've connected with	Your approved friends
Your phone number	So friends who have your number can find you and call you	Your approved friends; used for matching when someone searches their contacts
Phone numbers from your contacts	If you allow contacts access, numbers are sent to check which of your contacts already use Car Dude. They are compared and not stored, except numbers you choose to invite, which are kept so they connect to you when they join	Only us
Driving status (yes/no) and when it last updated	The core feature: showing approved friends that you're driving	Your approved friends, unless you hide yourself
Connections, hides and blocks	To know whom to show you to	Only you and us
When you last called a friend, and how often	To sort the "Who's driving now" list (for example "Haven't talked in a while")	Only you and us
Push notification token and app version	To send notifications such as "Dana started driving"	Only us
App usage events and crash reports	To fix bugs and improve the app (for example which screen was open when a crash happened). Not used for advertising	Only us

Location, motion and Bluetooth stay on your phone

To detect driving, Car Dude uses your phone's motion and activity sensors, location (including in the background, when you allow it), cell-tower changes, and whether your phone is connected to a car's Bluetooth. These readings are processed only on your device to decide whether you're driving. Only the result, "driving" or "not driving", is sent to our server. Your location is never sent, stored on our servers, or shared with anyone.

Background location is needed because driving usually starts while the app is closed. You can switch it off at any time in your phone's settings; Car Dude will then only detect driving while open, or you can set your status by hand.

Contacts

Contacts access is optional. When allowed, Car Dude shows friends by the names you saved in your phone (those names stay on your phone) and can check which contacts already use Car Dude, as described above.

Your controls

Hide: stop showing as driving to everyone, or to one person.
Remove or block a connection at any time.
Notifications can be switched off in your phone's settings.
Delete your account and all its data: see Delete your account.

Services we use

We use these providers to run the app. They process data only on our behalf:

Supabase: database and sign-in.
Expo (650 Industries): app updates, push notification delivery, and crash reports.
Apple Push Notification service and Google Firebase Cloud Messaging: delivering notifications.
Resend: sending sign-in code emails.

We don't sell or rent your data, and we don't share it for advertising.

How long we keep data

Driving status expires automatically within minutes. Account data is kept while your account exists and deleted within 30 days of an account deletion request. Crash reports and usage events are kept for up to 12 months.

Security

Data is sent encrypted (HTTPS). Database access rules ensure people only see what they're allowed to: for example, friends must both approve before either sees the other.

Children

Car Dude is not meant for children under 13, and we don't knowingly collect data from them.

Changes

If we change this policy, we'll update this page and the date above, and tell you in the app for important changes.

Contact

Questions or requests (including access to or deletion of your data): support@cardude.app.