The short version
- We need your mobile number to sign you in. Other users never see it unless you switch that on.
- People who scan your badge see only what you mark as public.
- We do not sell your data, show ads or use tracking tools.
- You can download your data or delete your account at any time, in the app or on this website.
This policy explains what personal data CarTag collects when you use the CarTag app and this website, why we collect it, who we share it with, how long we keep it and what your rights are.
Who we are
We decide how and why your personal data is used and are responsible for it (the "data controller").
For anything about your data, use the contact options on our support page.
What we collect
| Data | What it includes |
|---|---|
| Your account | Your mobile phone number, the country it belongs to, the language you choose, and when you signed up and last signed in. |
| Sign-in codes | A scrambled (hashed) copy of each one-time code we send you, never the code itself, and a hashed form of the network address that asked for it. |
| Your profile | What you fill in: a display name, an optional WhatsApp number, your message for people who find your car, quick messages, and your privacy choices. |
| Your car | The plate number and its country, the make, model, colour and year, and any extra details you add, each marked public or private. |
| Your badge | A random code linked to your car, and the history of its scans: the time, whether the person was signed in, and a hashed form of their network address and browser that cannot be turned back into the original. |
| Contact requests | When someone contacts you or you contact someone: the reason, the message, the time, what was revealed, and a masked form of the sender's number (for example +9053******67). Owners never receive the sender's full number. |
| Conversations | Everything written between you and the other person after a contact request: messages, one-tap replies, when each was sent and read, and a record of calls. The text is never put in notifications. |
| Web chat sign-in | If you contact an owner from your browser: a sign-in record for that browser (when it started and when it was last used), kept in a cookie that works only on the chat pages. |
| Calls | Who called whom, when, for how long and how the call ended. We never record or store what is said. |
| Blocks and reports | Who you blocked or reported and why, and the outcome of a moderator's review. |
| Your devices | The notification token of each phone you sign in on, and its operating system. |
| Plate searches | The country, a masked form of the plate and the result, with a hashed network address for guests. |
| Security records | Sign-ins, wrong codes, blocks, reports, deletions and similar events, with masked phone numbers and hashed network addresses. |
| Web server logs | The network address, time and page of each request to our servers, kept briefly to keep the service running and secure. |
What we do not collect
- Your location.
- Your contacts, photos or files. A photo of a plate is read on your phone and deleted there; it never reaches us.
- What is said in a call.
- Advertising identifiers. There is no advertising, analytics or tracking software in the app or on this website.
Camera and microphone
The app uses the camera to scan badges and to read plates. Both happen on your phone, and no image is uploaded.
The app uses the microphone only during a call you start or accept. The audio travels between the two phones, encrypted. When the two networks cannot connect directly, the encrypted audio passes through our relay server, which forwards it without being able to listen to it. Nothing is recorded.
What other people see
- Anyone who scans your badge sees only what you mark as public: your display name, the car, your message and any public extra details. The plate is shown in full, partly or not at all, as you choose. Your phone number is never shown.
- Someone who searches your plate without an account learns only whether the car is on CarTag. You can turn this off in Me → Privacy → Findable by plate number.
- A verified user who contacts you receives your WhatsApp number only if you turned on "Share WhatsApp with verified people", and your phone number only if you also turned on "Share my phone number too" (off by default).
- An owner you contact sees the reason, your messages, your display name if your profile allows it, and a masked form of your number, never your full number. If you allow it, they can call you back through CarTag without seeing your number.
- In a call both sides see only display names. Neither sees the other's number.
Why we use your data
- To provide CarTag, as agreed when you create an account: signing you in, your badge, plate search, messages, calls and notifications.
- To keep CarTag safe, our legitimate interest in preventing abuse: limits on requests, bot checks, blocks, reports, moderation and security records.
- To meet legal obligations, such as answering lawful requests from the authorities.
- With your permission, where the law requires it, for example notifications, which your phone asks you to allow. You can withdraw it at any time in your phone's settings.
Who we share it with
We share data only with the service providers that help us run CarTag, only as much as each one needs, and under agreements that require them to protect it:
- Our SMS provider receives your phone number and the text of the message, to send you sign-in codes.
- WhatsApp (Meta) receives your phone number and the sign-in code, to send you the code on WhatsApp. If WhatsApp cannot deliver it, we send the code by SMS instead.
- Cloudflare protects and delivers this website and our servers, and runs the "are you a person?" check (Turnstile) when you ask for a code or search a plate as a guest.
- Expo, Google (Firebase Cloud Messaging) and Apple (Apple Push Notification service) receive your device's notification token and the notification text, to deliver notifications.
- Our hosting provider runs the servers that store CarTag's data.
- Google Play: when you install CarTag from a badge link, Google Play tells the app which badge you came from, so that the app can open it for you.
We do not sell personal data and do not share it with advertisers or data brokers. We disclose data to the authorities only when the law requires us to.
Transfers abroad
CarTag serves several countries, so our servers and some of our providers may be in a different country from yours. When data leaves your country, we rely on the safeguards your law provides for such transfers, such as contractual commitments.
How long we keep it
| Data | How long |
|---|---|
| Account, profile, car, badge and blocks | Until you delete your account, or until you change or remove them. |
| Sign-in code records | 7 days. |
| Badge scan history | 90 days. |
| A phone number a sender chose to share | 90 days. |
| Call records | 90 days. The call stays in the conversation like a message. |
| Conversations | 180 days after the last message in them, unless a report about them is still being handled. |
| Web chat sign-in | Until you sign out of that browser, or after 30 days without a visit, and never longer than 90 days. |
| Contact requests and reports | While your account exists. After an account is deleted, those that involve it are kept without its phone number for up to 365 days, so that disputes and abuse can still be handled. |
| Security records | As long as needed to protect CarTag and investigate abuse. They hold only masked phone numbers and hashed network addresses. |
| Web server logs | Normally about two weeks. |
When you delete your account
- At once: you are signed out everywhere, your badge stops working, and your profile, car, devices and blocks are removed. Your number can be used for a new, empty account straight away. Your conversations are closed, so no one can write to you.
- After 30 days: your phone number and name are removed from everything that is left. Your conversations are deleted, with every message in them.
- After 365 days: remaining contact requests and reports that involve you are deleted.
Your rights
Depending on where you live, for example under Türkiye's Personal Data Protection Law No. 6698 (KVKK), Saudi Arabia's Personal Data Protection Law, Egypt's Personal Data Protection Law No. 151 of 2020, or the data protection rules of Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait or Oman, you can:
- find out what we hold and get a copy: in the app, Me → Download my data;
- correct it: edit your profile and car in the app;
- delete it: in the app, Me → Delete my account, or without the app on our account deletion page;
- object to or restrict some uses of your data, and withdraw a permission you gave;
- complain to the data protection authority of your country.
Security
- Every connection to CarTag is encrypted.
- Sign-in codes are stored only in scrambled form, work once, expire after 5 minutes and are locked after 5 wrong tries.
- CarTag's own records keep phone numbers masked and network addresses hashed.
- Staff see only what their role needs; moderators never see full phone numbers.
No system is perfectly secure. If a breach affects your data, we will tell you and the authorities as the law requires.
Age limit
CarTag is meant for adults. You must be at least 18 years old to create an account, and we do not knowingly collect data from children.
Cookies on this website
This website uses no advertising or analytics cookies. It sets a cookie only to remember the language you choose. Forms, such as the account deletion page, set a security cookie that protects against forged requests, and that page uses Cloudflare Turnstile, which looks at technical details of your browser to tell people from bots. If you contact an owner from this website, a sign-in cookie keeps you in that conversation; it works only on the chat pages and ends when you sign out, after 30 days without a visit, or after 90 days at most.
Changes to this policy
We update this policy when CarTag changes. The date at the top shows when it last changed. If a change affects you significantly, we will tell you in the app before it takes effect.