Privacy Policy

Last updated 21 October 2026

The Giving Circle is a community app operated by The Giving Circle FZC, a free zone company registered at Sharjah Publishing City Free Zone, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates (licence 4432058.01). This policy explains what we collect, who can see it, and how to have it removed. It is written to be read, not to protect us.

We handle personal data under the UAE's Federal Decree-Law No. 45 of 2021 on the Protection of Personal Data.

What we collect

• Your account — name, email address, phone number, and a password you set. The password is handled by Google Firebase Authentication and is never visible to us.
• What you post — the meals, items, jobs, requests, events and cases you share, with any photos you attach.
• Approximate location — only if you allow it, and only to sort what is near you and to place a shared meal on the map. We do not track you in the background.
• Messages — conversations between you and other members.
• Give Back documents — when a case is submitted, we ask for identification for the person submitting it and for the person in need, along with evidence of the situation.

Who can see it

The Giving Circle is not a public website. Nothing in it can be read without an account.

• Shown to other members: your name, your phone number, and what you posted. This is how somebody reaches you about a meal or an item. Every posting form says so before you post, and you have to agree to it.
• Shown to the people in a conversation, and nobody else: your messages. Our team can read them only where we are investigating a report of harm or abuse.
• Never shown to members: identification documents submitted with a Give Back case. They are used only by the small team that reviews cases, and are never published in the app.

Where it is kept

Your data is stored on Google Firebase, part of Google Cloud, which we use for the database, sign-in and file storage. Access is restricted by security rules so that members can only read what has been shared with them.

Identity documents are kept apart from everything else and are not reachable by a link. A photograph on a listing has a web address, because it is meant to be looked at. A passport does not: it is fetched only by the app, only for the person who uploaded it or the team reviewing their case, and a copied address gets nobody anywhere.

Payments

Membership is sold through Apple's App Store and Google Play. They take the payment and hold the card details. We never see your card number. The app knows only whether a membership is active.

How long we keep it

• Your account and posts — until you delete them or close your account.
• Give Back documents — kept while the case is being reviewed and for as long as it stays open. Ask us and we delete them; we delete them in any case when the account closes.
• Messages — kept while both members have the conversation.

Your rights

You can delete your account yourself, from inside the app. Profile, then "Delete my account" at the bottom. It closes the account for good and removes what you posted with it. You do not have to ask anyone.

You can also ask us at any time to:

• tell you what we hold about you
• correct anything that is wrong
• delete your account and everything in it, if you would rather we did it

Email info@the-circlegroup.com and we will act within 30 days. You do not have to give a reason.

Reporting and blocking

Every listing in the app carries a menu that lets you report it or block the person who posted it. A report reaches our team and we look at every one within 24 hours. Blocking is immediate, takes nothing from you but that person's posts and messages, and they are not told.

Children

The Giving Circle is for people aged 18 and over. If we learn that an account belongs to a child, we delete it.

Changes

If this policy changes in a way that matters, we will say so in the app rather than quietly updating this page.

Contact

The Giving Circle, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
info@the-circlegroup.com