Privacy Policy

Last updated: August 30, 2026

Crowdy (“Crowdy”, “we”, “us”) is a nightlife discovery app operated in Ontario, Canada. This policy explains what personal information we collect, how we use it, and the choices and rights you have. We handle personal information in accordance with Canada’s Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) and, for Quebec residents, Quebec’s Law 25 (An Act to modernize legislative provisions as regards the protection of personal information).

This policy forms part of, and should be read together with, our Terms of Service. By using Crowdy you agree to us handling your personal information as described here. Words given a specific meaning in the Terms carry that same meaning in this policy.

Information we collect

We collect only what we need to run Crowdy:

Email address: to create and secure your account and to send essential account messages.
General location (city level): to show you bars and events in your area. We do not collect precise GPS location unless you explicitly turn it on (see below).
Bar preferences: the filters, favourites, and choices you make, so we can tailor what we show you.
RSVP / “going” data: when you mark that you’re going to a bar or event, so we can display live crowd interest.
Your name and profile photo, if you choose to add them. A profile photo is optional, and it is shown only to you.

You can browse most of Crowdy without an account and without telling us who you are. Where a field is optional, we say so.

Signing in with Google or Apple

If you sign in with Google or Apple, we receive basic profile information from that provider so we can create your account. Today that is your name, email address and profile picture. We do not post anything to your Google or Apple account.

If you run a bar

When someone claims a venue in our owner portal, we collect the contact name, role, email address and phone number of the person claiming it, the documents they upload to prove they are authorized, and the information they publish about the venue itself: description, hours, website, events, promotions and photos. Proof documents are kept in a private area, are used only to check the claim, and are never shown publicly.

If you provide information about another person, for example a colleague’s contact details on a claim, you confirm you are allowed to give it to us.

Information collected automatically

Like most apps and websites, when you use Crowdy our hosting and database providers automatically record technical information: your IP address, device type, operating system, browser type, app version and the pages or screens requested. This is used to run and secure the service, to keep it working on different devices, and to detect abuse.

Crowdy stores a small amount of information on your device so you stay signed in and so the app remembers your settings. We do not use cookies or similar technologies to build advertising profiles, and we do not allow third parties to use them on Crowdy for advertising. Clearing this information in your browser or device settings will sign you out, and some parts of Crowdy may not work properly.

Precise location

We never access your device’s precise (GPS) location unless you give explicit, opt-in consent. You can withdraw that consent at any time in your device or app settings, and we will return to using only city-level location.

Location data

When you turn location on, Crowdy uses it in two ways to power live crowd features. Both are strictly opt-in: nothing below happens until you grant location access, and you can withdraw it at any time in your device or browser settings. The rest of Crowdy keeps working without it.

“Here now” presence. Your device checks whether you are within about 20 metres of a bar. If you are, we save a simple “present at this bar” record tied to your account. That record stops showing in “here now” after 30 minutes of inactivity, so the live view only ever reflects who is currently out. We may keep anonymous, aggregate counts of how busy a bar or area was (never tied to your name) for analytics and to give bar owners insight into their crowd.
Area crowd density. While location is on and the app is open, we record your approximate position about once a minute so we can show how busy different areas are. These points are stored at reduced precision (about 11 metres, four decimal places) and tied only to a randomly generated ID, never your name or email. Each raw point is automatically deleted after 90 minutes; only anonymous, aggregate density counts are kept beyond that.
We use these signals only to power live crowd and area-busyness features. We do not sell or share them, and we do not use them to build advertising profiles about you.

Frosh Passport stamps

During the Frosh Passport (Kingston, August 31 to September 13, 2026), tapping Stamp your Frosh Passport on a bar’s page reads your location once, at that moment, only so our server can confirm you are actually at that bar. What we store is which bar you stamped and the date. Your coordinates are never stored. Your passport is private: only you can see it, there is no leaderboard, and nobody can look up anyone else’s. Deleting your account deletes your stamps. This is separate from the automatic “here now” presence described above, which stays short-lived and is never turned into a record of where you have been.

Printed QR codes

Our posters, flyers and table tents carry QR codes that open the app. When one is scanned we add one count to that code, so we can tell which poster or flyer is working. We do not record who scanned it: no name, no account, no device identifier, no IP address, nothing that could be traced back to you.

Usage analytics

We use Vercel Analytics to count page views and a small number of in-app actions (for example, that a share link was opened, or that someone added Crowdy to their home screen). These counts are anonymous and cookie-free: they carry no name, email, account id or location, and they are used only to understand which parts of Crowdy people actually use.

Separately, we record the days you open Crowdy and whether you opened it in a browser, on iPhone or on Android. This is linked to your account, because its only purpose is to let us count how many people use Crowdy and how many come back. It records no screens, no searches and no location. One entry per day, nothing about what you did while you were here. Our team can only ever see totals, never any individual’s history, and it is deleted with the rest of your data if you delete your account.

Crash and error reports

When something goes wrong in Crowdy, the app sends a report about the fault to Sentry, a diagnostics service we use to find and fix bugs. A report contains the technical description of the error, the name of the screen you were on, the version of Crowdy you are running, whether you are on the web, iPhone or Android, and your device, operating system, browser, language and time zone.

A report carries nothing that identifies you: no name, no email, no account id, no location, and not even your IP address, which we have switched off at the receiving end so it is never stored. We record the screen you were on but not anything after the “?” in the address, so the details of what you were looking at or searching for do not travel with it. These reports are used only to fix faults, are never used for advertising, and are deleted after 30 days.

How we use your information

We use your information to: provide and operate the app; show bars, events, happy-hour times and live crowd levels relevant to you; personalize recommendations based on your preferences; display aggregate “going” counts; keep your account secure; detect and prevent fraud, abuse and misuse; enforce our Terms; and communicate with you about the service. We process this information on the basis of your consent and to provide the service you have requested.

Where you have turned them on, we use your saved bars, plans and activity to send in-app and push notifications, for example a reminder about a plan you saved or news of an event at a bar you follow. You can turn notifications off at any time in your profile or your device settings. We only send you promotional messages if you have separately opted in, and every one of those includes a way to unsubscribe.

What other people can see

Most of what you do in Crowdy is private to you. Your favourites, your taste profile, your badges, your Frosh Passport and your profile photo are visible only to you. To be clear about the exceptions:

Crowd and scene reports you post are shown to other people, as one of a short list of fixed options such as “packed” or “line outside”. They are not attributed to you by name.
“Going” and “here now” counts are shown as numbers, not as a list of who is there.
Plans and polls you share are visible to anyone you send the link to.
Photos and details a bar publishes through the owner portal appear publicly on that bar’s page. Bar owners are responsible for what they publish, and we can remove it.

We never sell your data

We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information to third parties, ever. We do not share it for third-party advertising.

When we share information

We share personal information only with service providers who help us run the app (for example, our database and hosting providers, our email provider, our map provider, the diagnostics service described above, and a payment processor if we introduce paid features), strictly to perform services on our behalf and under confidentiality obligations. Some of these providers may process data outside Quebec or Canada, in which case it may be subject to the laws of those countries; where that happens, we take steps to ensure your information receives a comparable level of protection.

Legal reasons. We may preserve or disclose information where we reasonably believe it is necessary to comply with a law, regulation or legal request, to protect the safety of any person, to address fraud or security issues, or to protect our rights or property or those of someone else. Nothing here limits any objection or legal defence you may have to such a request.

If our business is sold. If Crowdy is acquired, merged or reorganized, or if we sell part of our business, personal information may be transferred to the buyer or its advisors as part of that transaction, subject to confidentiality arrangements and to this policy continuing to apply to it.

Other sites and services

Crowdy links out to places we do not control, such as a bar’s own website, a ticket seller, or your maps or rideshare app. Once you leave Crowdy, the privacy policy of that service applies rather than ours. We would encourage you to read it before handing over information.

How long we keep it

Some information in Crowdy is meant to be live: it shows for a short time and then drops off the current view. To be clear about what that means:

Scene reports (packed, a line outside, great vibe) show to other people for about 90 minutes, then drop off the live feed.
“Going” and “here now” reflect tonight only and reset each night.

“Drops off the live feed” is not the same as “erased everywhere.” After the live window passes, we may keep anonymized and aggregate information, for example counts of how busy a place was, or what kinds of scene reports a bar tends to get, for analytics and to share as insights with bar owners. This kept information is not tied to your name or email and cannot be traced back to you. We keep information that can identify you only as long as needed to run the service and meet legal obligations. When you delete your account, we remove the personal information tied to you as described below.

Your rights

Under PIPEDA and Quebec Law 25, you have the right to: access the personal information we hold about you; ask us to correct it; withdraw your consent; and request that we delete it. Quebec residents also have the right to data portability and to be informed about automated processing. We will respond to verified requests within the timelines required by law.

Deleting your account

You can delete your account yourself, right inside the app: go to your Profile and tap Delete my account. This runs immediately: it permanently removes your account and the personal information tied to it, including your favourites, saved plans, tonight’s plan, and any crowd or location reports you shared. Anonymous, aggregate counts that cannot be linked to you (as described above) may remain.

One thing is kept on purpose. If you ever ticked the box to receive deals and event news, we keep the record of that choice: the email address on the account at the time, and the date you turned it on or off. Canada’s anti-spam law requires us to be able to show we had your permission for anything we sent you, and that record is the proof. It is kept as evidence only, and is never used to message you.

You can also email us at hello@getcrowdy.app to delete your account, or to make any access, correction, or consent request. We may need to verify your identity first. We will delete the non-anonymized personal information tied to you within 30 days of a verified request, except where we are required to retain it by law.

Security

We use reasonable administrative, technical, and physical safeguards to protect your personal information. No method of transmission or storage is perfectly secure, but we work to protect your data and to notify you and the appropriate authorities of any confidentiality incident as required by law.

Age

Crowdy is intended for users who are of legal drinking age in Ontario (19+). It is not directed to children, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 19.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. We will post the updated version here with a new “last updated” date and, where appropriate, notify you in the app.

Contact & privacy officer

Crowdy has designated a person responsible for the protection of personal information, as required by Quebec Law 25. For any privacy question, request, or complaint, contact our Privacy Officer at hello@getcrowdy.app. If you are not satisfied with our response, you may contact the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, or (for Quebec residents) the Commission d’accès à l’information du Québec.