Privacy Policy for Mikan
Last updated: October 18, 2026
Mikan ("we," "our," or "the app") helps people build a local network for friendship, help, and connection wherever they live or plan to move. This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect, how we use it, and your rights regarding your data.
1. Information We Collect
Account Information: When you sign up, we collect your email address via email/password registration, Google Sign-In, or Sign in with Apple.
- If you use Google Sign-In, we receive your name and profile photo from Google.
- If you use Sign in with Apple, we receive your name and email as you choose to share them (Apple lets you hide your real email behind a private relay address).
Profile Information: Your display name, headline, profile photo (if provided), and selected interests. You may also choose to add a phone number, birth date, and gender. These are optional.
Neighborhood Helper: If you turn on Neighborhood Helper, we store the services you offer, your availability, and the rate you enter (if any).
Photos: Profile photos and photos for hubs, listings, events, and posts. You can take a photo with your camera or choose one from your photo library; the app only accesses the photos you select. Photos are stored directly within our database infrastructure as part of your account data.
Location Information:
- Your area: To show nearby users, hubs, listings, and events on the map, we store a location for your profile. This is based either on your device's location (with your permission) or a place you choose through search.
- Published posts: Hubs, listings, and events you create include the location you set for them.
- Check-in (optional): You can choose to check in and show your exact position on the map for a period you select. This happens only when you check in yourself and agree to share it. Your position is a single snapshot taken at check-in, not tracked or updated in the background, and it stops being shown when the period ends or when you end it.
- Nearby alerts (optional): If you turn on alerts for new events or listings near you, we store your approximate area (rounded to about 1 km) and the alert distance you choose. It comes from the place you chose in Settings or the last location the map found while you were using it, and is updated only while you use the app. Turning both alerts off deletes it.
We never collect your location in the background.
User-Generated Content: Posts, listings, events, event attendance (RSVPs), community hubs, hub updates, chat messages, hub messages, and connection requests.
Safety Information: Users you block, and reports you submit about other users (including who reported whom and when).
Usage and Device Information: A push notification token (if you allow notifications), and your language and display preferences. Your app language is stored with your profile so notifications sent to you arrive in your language. We also store your device platform (iOS or Android) and the app build number you have installed, visible only to you and our server, so we can tell you when a new version is available.
Calendar: When you tap "Add to calendar" on an event, the app opens your device's own calendar form, filled in with the event's details, and you choose whether to save it. Mikan does not read your calendar or store anything from it.
Mikan does not collect or process payment information.
2. How We Use Your Information
Core Functionality: Operating map features, connecting you with nearby users by interests and distance, and enabling direct and group chat communications.
Grammatical Personalization: Gender (if provided) is used only to display the app's Hebrew text in the correct grammatical form.
Notifications: Delivering alerts about messages, connection requests, hub updates, and other activity that involves you, if notifications are enabled. You can turn hub update notifications on or off in Settings → Notifications → Notification Manager; that choice is stored with your profile so the sender's app can respect it. This includes:
- Event changes: If you are going to an event and its host changes the time or place, or cancels it.
- Event reminders: A reminder one hour before an event you are going to. It is scheduled on your own device.
- Nearby alerts (optional, off by default): A notification when someone posts a new event or listing within the distance you choose (2, 5, 10, or 20 km), up to the daily limit you choose (1, 3, or 5). Our server compares new posts with your saved area and sends the notification. Turn them on or off in Settings → Notifications → Notification Manager.
- App updates: A notification when a new version of Mikan is available and your installed version is older. Our server sends it. Turn it off in Settings → Notifications → Notification Manager.
Safety & Abuse Prevention: Enforcing blocks, reviewing reports, and enforcing database access controls.
We do not sell personal information or use collected data for advertising purposes.
3. Visibility and Data Sharing
Public Profile & Posts: Your name, photo, headline, interests, Neighborhood Helper details, general area, recent posts, and public content (hubs, listings, events, and event attendance) are visible to signed-in users of the app. They are not visible to people who are not signed in.
Private Profile Details: Your email address, phone number, birth date, and gender are visible only to you. They are stored separately from your public profile and are not shown to other users.
Location Privacy: Your exact position is shown only while you are checked in. Otherwise, exact locations are shared only through content you choose to post (such as a listing's map pin). We do not track or broadcast live background location.
Hub Updates: Updates posted in a public hub are visible to signed-in users. Updates in a private hub are visible only to its members.
Nearby Alert Area: Your approximate area for nearby alerts is visible only to you and to our server. It is never shown to or readable by other users.
Notification Details: Your push token, app language, and notification choices are stored with your profile. Because the app has no central server, other signed-in users' apps read them to send you a notification (for example, when someone messages you) in your language, and to skip notifications you turned off. They are never shown to other users.
Private Communications: Direct chat messages are visible only to conversation participants. Community hub messages are accessible only to hub members.
Blocking: Users you block cannot message you or see you on the map.
Third-Party Marketing: We do not share user data with third parties for marketing purposes.
4. Third-Party Service Providers
Mikan uses the following providers to process data on our behalf:
- Firebase (Google): Authentication, database storage, and backend infrastructure, including the server functions that send nearby alerts. Refer to Google's Privacy Policy (https://policies.google.com/privacy).
- Google Sign-In and Sign in with Apple: Authentication, if you choose to use them.
- Google Maps: Map display.
- Photon by komoot (OpenStreetMap data): When you search for an address or place, the search text and a rough area (about 10 km, so nearby places are suggested first) are sent to komoot's Photon service to suggest matching places (https://www.komoot.com/privacy).
- Microlink: When you add a web link to a post, the link is sent to Microlink to create its preview (https://microlink.io/privacy).
- Expo Push Notifications: Delivering notifications to your device, if enabled. The notification's title and text, and your push token, are sent to Expo to deliver it (https://expo.dev/privacy).
When you request directions, the app opens your chosen maps app (such as Google Maps, Apple Maps, or Waze), which handles the request under its own privacy policy.
5. Data Retention, Deactivation, and Deletion
Account Deletion: You can permanently delete your account via Settings → Account → Delete Account. This deletes:
- Your profile (including your photo, email, phone number, birth date, gender, location, and Neighborhood Helper details) and your public profile.
- Your blocked-users list, your notifications, and your nearby alert area.
- The listings and events you posted (including their photos).
- Hubs where you are the only member (including their photos, messages, and updates).
- Your membership in other hubs, and your records of hubs, conversations, connections, connection requests, and unread counts.
Shared Content: Some content may remain after deletion because other users depend on it:
- Messages you sent in conversations and hubs.
- Hubs you created that still have other members. Ownership of these hubs is handed over to another member. To remove such a hub completely, delete it before deleting your account.
- Reports you submitted may be retained to protect the safety of the community.
Account Deactivation: A reversible deactivation option is available in the same Settings menu. It hides you from other users until you sign in again.
6. Age Requirement & Child Safety Policy (CSAE)
Age Requirement: Mikan is intended for adults only. You must be 18 or older to use the app. We do not knowingly collect personal data from anyone under 18. If you believe someone under 18 is using Mikan, contact us and we will delete their account.
Child Safety & Anti-CSAE Policy: Mikan maintains a strict zero-tolerance policy against Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) and Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (CSAE).
Prohibited Conduct: Users are strictly forbidden from uploading, sharing, or transmitting any content, text, images, or links that depict, promote, or facilitate child sexual abuse or exploitation.
Reporting Mechanisms: We provide in-app reporting and blocking tools allowing users to flag inappropriate content or suspicious behavior. Users can also report violations directly via email.
Moderation & Enforcement: Reported content is reviewed promptly. Violating content is removed immediately, offending accounts are permanently suspended, and illegal activity involving CSAM/CSAE is reported to relevant law enforcement agencies.
7. Security Measures
Data access is controlled through authenticated, rule-based database permissions. Only you can change your own data, your private profile details can be read only by you, and private data such as chat messages can be read only by the people involved. No method of storage or transmission is completely secure, but we work to protect your information.
8. Policy Updates
We may modify this Privacy Policy from time to time. Material revisions will be reflected in the "Last updated" date above.
9. Contact Information
For inquiries, feedback, or data-related requests, please contact us at: