Privacy Policy

Changing Lifes LLC ("Centinela", "we", "us") operates the Centinela mobile application and related services (the "Service"). Centinela is a personal-safety app: it lets you ask the people you trust for help, share your location with them during an emergency, and receive community safety alerts. This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect, how we use it, who can see it, how long we keep it, and the choices and rights you have.

01 Information we collect

Information you provide

• Account: email address, password (stored hashed) or your Apple or Google sign-in identifier, display name and, optionally, a phone number that only the members of your circles can see.
• Your circles: the circles you create or join, their members, and the messages and photos you send in circle chats.
• Reports and zone chats: alert type, optional description and photo, the location you attach to a report, and the messages you send in zone chats.
• Support: the messages and screenshots you send in the in-app support chat and, only if you choose to include it, the app technical report (app version, device model, permission and protection status, and recent app events). Support messages are translated automatically by our AI provider so our team can answer in your language; on iPhone we ask you first.

Information from the safety features you turn on

• SOS: when an SOS starts, your precise live location and an audio recording of the emergency, so your circle can follow it, listen to it and download the recording.
• No signal: if an SOS cannot be sent, your phone keeps it and sends it as soon as it has a connection. On iPhone, the countdown is also held by our server with your location, so the SOS can go out even if your phone cannot send it; it is discarded if you cancel.
• Check-in and Going out: the route you take while the timer runs and, if you do not confirm in time, a live location and audio stream that your circle can open.
• Rescue: only if you agreed to it in advance, members of your circle can open your live location if you do not answer them, and the person who started the rescue can open your microphone. Your phone announces both, shows a permanent notice while it happens, and your PIN stops it.
• Arrivals: the name of the place you arrive at and the moment you arrive, to tell your circle. The places themselves stay on your phone.
• Safe word and scream detection: listening happens only on your device and nothing is uploaded while it listens. Your safe word is stored on your device as a salted hash; for languages handled by our on-device engine, the phrase is also stored encrypted on your device. It is never sent to us.

Information collected automatically

• Location: your last known location, used to show alerts near you and, if someone nearby asks for help, to let you know.
• Regional promotions: if a promotion applies where you are, we record the days you were present in that area (the date, not your coordinates).
• Device and diagnostics: device model, operating system, app version, language, the country detected from your location, permission and protection status, crash reports and in-app events. When an emergency starts on your phone or reaches it, the app also keeps for 10 minutes a technical log of how it was delivered (notifications, screens and sounds, without audio or location) so we can make sure alerts arrive. This is linked to your account so we can support you.
• Identifiers: your account identifier, a device identifier and the push notification token. The device identifier is also used to give the introductory offer and promotions only once per phone. On Android, the advertising identifier; on iPhone, only if you allow tracking.
• Purchases: the status of your subscriptions, received from Apple, Google and RevenueCat. We never see your card details.

02 How we use information

• To run the safety features: alert your circle when you ask for help, share your location and audio with them during an emergency, run check-ins, rescues and arrivals, and send notifications.
• To alert people near you during an SOS: they receive an approximate area (about 150 m) and the distance, never your name or exact position.
• To show and moderate community alerts and chats, including automatic review of alerts and photos and translation by our AI provider, and review by our team.
• Safety review: our safety team can access circle chats and emergency evidence (locations, audio and photos) to investigate reports of abuse, provide the support you ask for and respond to valid legal requests, and it may post a message in a circle chat when needed for support or safety. Every access is logged.
• To measure advertising: install and subscription events are shared with Meta to measure which ads brought you to Centinela. On iPhone this happens only if you allow tracking; on Android you can reset or delete your advertising identifier in your device settings. Nothing about your location, your circle, your audio or your emergencies is shared with Meta.
• To provide support, keep the Service secure, prevent fraud and abuse (including repeated use of the introductory offer), improve reliability and comply with the law.

03 Legal bases for processing

Where required (for example under the GDPR), we process personal data on the bases of: performance of a contract (providing the Service you ask for), vital interests (protecting you or another person in an emergency), consent (for example location, microphone, notifications and advertising tracking, which you can withdraw at any time), legitimate interests (safety, security, fraud prevention and improvement) and legal obligation.

04 How we share information

We do not sell your personal information. We share it only as follows:

• With your circle: your name, live location, audio and photos during an SOS, a missed check-in or a rescue you agreed to, including the recording they can download; and your circle chat messages.
• With people near you during an SOS: an approximate area and the distance, without your name.
• With the community: your reports and zone chat messages, without revealing who reported.
• Service providers that process data on our behalf under confidentiality and security obligations: hosting (Railway) and storage (Cloudflare), push delivery (Expo, Google Firebase and Apple), subscriptions (RevenueCat, Apple and Google), sign-in (Apple and Google), AI moderation and translation (Anthropic), email (Resend), crash reporting (Sentry), address lookup (LocationIQ, Photon and OpenStreetMap services) and maps (OpenFreeMap, CARTO and Esri).
• Advertising measurement: Meta, as described in section 02.
• Legal and safety: when required by law or valid legal process, or to protect the life, rights and safety of users and others.
• Business transfers: in a merger, acquisition or sale of assets, subject to this Policy.

05 Data retention

• Emergencies (SOS and rescue, with their locations, audio and photos): deleted one year after the emergency ends.
• Circle chat messages: deleted after 90 days, unless an emergency in that circle is still active.
• Check-in routes: deleted 48 hours after you confirm or cancel, or 30 days after a check-in you did not confirm.
• Diagnostic and in-app events, including the emergency technical log: deleted after 180 days.
• Support: conversations are deleted one year after the last message; technical reports after 90 days.
• Community alerts and zone chats stop being shown when they expire. We keep them for safety and audit; when you delete your account they are no longer linked to you.
• Your account: until you delete it. Deletion is immediate and cannot be undone: your profile, the circles you own and their plans, and your emergencies, check-ins and rescues with their locations, audio and photos are erased at that moment. Alerts, zone chat messages and circle chat text you posted remain without your name. We keep a minimal record that the account existed (its internal number, join date, plan type and number of alerts).
• Introductory offer: so it can be used only once per person and per phone, we keep a one-way hash of your device identifier, whether that phone already used the offer and the internal number of the account it was linked to, even after you delete your account. It cannot be turned back into the identifier and is used for nothing else.

06 Your rights & choices

• Access, correction and deletion of your personal data.
• Portability and the right to object to or restrict certain processing.
• Withdraw consent at any time: turn off location, microphone, notifications or any safety feature in the app or in your device settings; on iPhone, turn off tracking in Settings › Privacy & Security › Tracking; on Android, reset or delete your advertising identifier in your device settings.
• Delete your account directly in the app (Settings › Account › Delete account). It is erased immediately.

To exercise any right, contact support@getcentinela.app. You may also lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority.

07 Security

We use encryption in transit, hashed credentials, access controls and audit logging of every staff access to private content. Your PINs and safe word never leave your device. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, but we work continuously to protect your data.

08 Children's privacy

Centinela is not directed to children under 13 (or the minimum age required in your country). We do not knowingly collect personal data from children. If you believe a child has provided us data, contact us and we will delete it.

09 International transfers

Your information may be processed in countries other than your own. Where required, we use appropriate safeguards (such as Standard Contractual Clauses) for international transfers.

10 Changes to this Policy

We may update this Policy from time to time. Material changes will be notified in the app or by email. The "Last updated" date reflects the latest revision.

11 Contact us