Privacy Policy

PhareShare ("we," "us") operates the PhareShare app and website at phareshare.com. This policy explains what information we collect when you use PhareShare, why we collect it, and what control you have over it.

Account information. When you create a PhareShare account, we collect your name, email address, and password (handled securely by Firebase Authentication — we never see or store your raw password). If you sign up with Google, we receive your name and email from Google instead.

Profile information. Your role/title and an optional bio, which you provide and which are shown publicly on your PhareShare profile.

Picks and ratings. Products you share ("picks"), including titles, descriptions, and links you provide. When someone rates a pick, we store their rating, a brief written note, and their account identifier — this is tied to their account, not anonymous, so that ratings can be verified as coming from a real person who viewed the product.

Outbound click tracking. When you click through to view a product from a pick, we record that a click happened, associated with your account and the specific pick. This exists to verify that a rating comes from someone who actually viewed the product before rating it, which is core to how PhareShare's trust scores stay meaningful.

Referral and follow activity. If you join via a referral link, or follow/are followed by other sharers, we store those connections.

Push notification tokens. If you enable notifications, we store a device token used to deliver them. You can disable this at any time in your device settings.

Technical information. Standard information collected automatically, such as IP address and general device/browser type, used for security and fraud prevention.

We use the information above to:

• Operate your account and display your public profile and picks
• Calculate trust scores based on verified rating activity
• Verify that ratings come from real people who viewed the product being rated
• Send you notifications you've opted into
• Detect and prevent fraud, spam, and fake accounts
• Improve and maintain the app

PhareShare's mission includes paying sharers a portion of commissions earned through their recommendations. As this feature becomes available, sharers who choose to receive payouts will be required to complete identity verification ("KYC") with a third-party verification provider, which may involve submitting a government-issued Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN).

We want to be specific about what we do and do not store: PhareShare itself never receives or stores your raw TIN/SSN. That information is submitted directly to our verification vendor through their secure system. We store only a verification status and an anonymized identifier confirming your identity has been verified — nothing more.

This section will be updated with the name of our verification vendor and full details before payout features go live.

We do not sell your personal information. We share information only with:

• Service providers who help us operate PhareShare — currently Firebase/Google Cloud (hosting, authentication, database) and Vercel (web hosting)
• A future identity verification vendor, solely for sharers who opt into payouts, as described above
• Other users, for information you've chosen to make public (your profile, picks, and ratings you've given)
• Law enforcement or regulators, only when legally required

You can:

• Edit your profile information at any time from Edit Profile
• Disable push notifications in your device settings
• Delete your account yourself, as described in Deleting your account and data
• Request a copy of the personal information we hold about you

If you are a California resident, you have additional rights under the CCPA, including the right to know what personal information we collect and to request its deletion, subject to the fraud-prevention exception described above.

PhareShare is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect information from children under 13. If you believe a child has created an account, contact us and we will remove it.

We use industry-standard practices to protect your information, including encrypted connections and access-controlled databases. No system is perfectly secure, but we take reasonable steps to protect your data from unauthorized access.

We may update this policy as PhareShare adds new features, particularly around payouts and identity verification. We'll update the "Last updated" date above when we do. Material changes will be communicated through the app.

Questions about this policy or your data? Email us at privacy@phareshare.com.