Privacy Policy
Petrol & Diesel Price Tracker

1. Summary

Petrol & Diesel Price Tracker is a crowdsourced app that lets registered users discover, add, and update fuel prices at petrol stations near them. Because the app is community-driven, it requires an account and stores the content you submit on our servers so that other users can benefit from it.

We collect only what is necessary to provide the service: your email address to identify your account, your location while the app is open to show nearby stations, and the station and price information you choose to submit. We do not sell your data, serve advertising, or share your information with third parties beyond the Firebase infrastructure described in Section 7.

2. Account information

To submit prices or add stations you must create an account. During registration we collect:

• Email address — used as your login credential and to identify your submissions in the database.
• Password — stored as a salted hash by Firebase Authentication; xeni CODE never has access to your plain-text password.

You may browse the map and view prices without an account. Only write actions (adding stations, submitting prices, casting votes) require sign-in. Guest sessions do not create any server-side record.

3. Location data

The app requests foreground location permission to centre the map on your position and surface nearby stations. Location is read only while the app is open and visible on screen — the app performs no background location tracking.

• Your precise GPS coordinates are not stored on our servers. They are used in-session only to set the map viewport and calculate distance to stations.
• When you add a new station, you place a pin on the map manually. The coordinates stored are those of the pin, not your device's GPS position.
• You can deny the location permission. The app will fall back to a last-known location stored in local preferences on your device, or you can pan the map manually.

4. Camera and on-device OCR

The app provides an optional camera flow that lets you photograph a price board. Frames are processed entirely on your device by the Google ML Kit Text Recognition library — no image data is sent to a remote server during scanning.

• The recognised price values are pre-filled in the price entry form. You review and confirm them before anything is submitted.
• Camera frames captured during scanning are never uploaded and are discarded as soon as the screen is closed.
• You can always enter prices manually without granting camera permission.

5. User-submitted content

Content you choose to submit is stored in our Firestore database and is visible to all users of the app. This includes:

• Station details — brand, area name, street label, and map coordinates of stations you add.
• Fuel prices — petrol and diesel amounts, timestamp of submission, and the fuel type. Each price entry records your Firebase user ID so that authorship and voting rules can be enforced.
• Votes — upvotes and downvotes you cast on price entries. Each vote records your user ID, the direction of the vote, and the timestamp.

Your email address is not displayed publicly alongside submissions. Other users see prices and station details only; the association between a submission and an account is internal to the database.

6. Push notifications

The app integrates Firebase Cloud Messaging to support future push notifications (for example, alerts when a price you submitted is verified by the community). To enable this:

• Firebase generates a device token that is stored in Firestore against your user account.
• No notifications are sent without your explicit opt-in via your device's system notification prompt.
• You can revoke notification permission at any time in your device's Settings app.

7. Third-party services (Firebase)

The app is built on Google Firebase. The following Firebase products are in use:

• Firebase Authentication — manages account creation and sign-in. Stores your email address and a hashed password.
• Cloud Firestore — stores station data, fuel prices, votes, and user points. All data in Firestore is associated with your Firebase user ID.
• Firebase Storage — reserved for future moderator review of submitted prices. If enabled, a single photo may be uploaded temporarily and deleted once reviewed. This feature is not active in the current version.
• Firebase Cloud Messaging — delivers push notifications as described in Section 6.

All Firebase services are operated by Google. Data is processed under Google's Firebase privacy and security terms. Firebase services may process data on servers in the United States or other countries.

8. Permissions requested

• Location (foreground) — Android & iOS — used to centre the map on your position and show nearby stations. No background tracking; no server-side storage of coordinates.
• Camera — Android & iOS — used for the optional price-board scanning flow. Frames are processed on-device and never uploaded.
• Notifications — Android & iOS — used for push notifications via Firebase Cloud Messaging. Opt-in only; can be revoked in system Settings.
• Internet — required to connect to Firebase and load map tiles.

The app does not request access to your contacts, microphone, photos library, calendar, Bluetooth, or any other sensitive system resource beyond those listed above.

9. Sharing and disclosure

xeni CODE does not sell, rent, or trade your personal information. The third-party services involved in operating the app are limited to:

• Google Firebase — account management, database, storage, and messaging as described in Section 7.
• OpenStreetMap / tile provider — map tiles are fetched from a public tile server. Tile requests include your IP address as part of normal HTTP traffic but no personal identifiers from the app.

We may disclose information only if required by applicable law, valid legal process, or to protect the rights, property, or safety of users or the public.

10. Your choices and controls

• Delete your account — contact us at the address in Section 15 to request deletion of your account and all associated data (submissions, votes, points ledger).
• Revoke location permission — open your device's Settings app and revoke location access for Petrol & Diesel Price Tracker at any time. The map will still work; it will not auto-centre on your position.
• Revoke camera permission — revoke in Settings at any time. Manual price entry remains fully functional.
• Revoke notification permission — revoke in Settings at any time. No data is lost; you will simply stop receiving push notifications.
• Sign out — signing out ends your session. Your previously submitted content remains in the database as it is shared with other users.

11. Data retention

Account credentials are retained in Firebase Authentication until you request account deletion. Station data, fuel prices, and votes you submit are retained indefinitely as they form the shared community dataset that other users depend on. Points and voting history in Firestore follow the same retention as the parent records. If you request account deletion, your user ID is removed from Firebase Authentication; submitted content is anonymised (the authorship association is severed) rather than deleted so that the community dataset remains intact.

Your device's last-known location, stored locally via shared_preferences, is removed when you uninstall the app.

12. Children's privacy

The app is intended for general audiences and is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has created an account, contact us and we will delete it promptly.

13. Security

Communication between the app and Firebase is encrypted over HTTPS. Firestore security rules restrict write access to authenticated users and enforce that users can only modify their own votes and account data. Passwords are never stored in plain text. On-device preferences are sandboxed by the operating system.

14. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. The "Last updated" date at the top of this page reflects the most recent change. Material changes will be communicated in the app or in the relevant app store listing.

15. Contact

Questions, concerns, or data deletion requests can be sent to xenicode.company@gmail.com.