Privacy policy

This policy explains what personal data Edwyz Excellence (“Hillpods”, “we”) collects when you use the Hillpods app for passengers and customers, the Hillpods Driver app for drivers, couriers and service professionals, and our web pages; why we collect it; who we share it with; and the choices you have.

Hillpods is a marketplace. Passengers and customers post a request with the price they offer, independent drivers and other providers accept it or make a counter-offer, and the two sides agree the fare. To make that work, some of your data has to be shared with the person on the other side of the trip, as described below.

Edwyz Excellence is the “Data Fiduciary” for the personal data described here, as the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (“DPDP Act”) calls it. You can reach us using the details in Contact.

What we collect and why

Account details

Your phone number, your name, an email address if you add one, a profile photo if you add one, and your city. We use your phone number to sign you in with a one-time code and to protect your account; depending on how sign-in is set up, the code is sent and checked by us or by Google Firebase Authentication. When we send the code ourselves we keep only a scrambled (hashed) copy, for a few minutes. Your name and photo identify you to the other side of a trip.

Driver and provider verification (Hillpods Driver)

If you register to drive or provide services: your identity document, a selfie, your driving licence, your vehicle registration and a photo of the vehicle; vehicle details (type, make, model, colour, year, plate number, seats, cargo capacity); the services you offer and an optional short bio. Verified drivers also send a new selfie and vehicle photo in regular photo checks. Our team reviews these documents to confirm who you are, that you may drive and that the vehicle matches, which protects passengers, prevents fraud and meets our legal obligations.

Location

• Passengers and customers: if you allow it, the app uses your device’s precise location while you are using it, to suggest a pickup point and to find drivers and addresses near you. We store the pickup, stop and drop-off points of your requests and the places you save (such as home and work).
• Drivers and providers: while you are online in Hillpods Driver and the app is open on your screen, it sends your precise location every few seconds. We use it to show you nearby requests, match you with passengers, show the passenger where you are and when you will arrive, and keep trips safe. The app does not collect your location in the background or while you are offline, and going offline removes you from the live map.
• SOS: if you press SOS, your location at that moment is attached to the alert our team receives.

Requests, trips and history

The requests you make and accept: the service, route, scheduled time, the price offered, the offers drivers make and the fare you agree, comments, and the details you add for a delivery, freight or a service (such as the item, its photos, and the recipient’s name and phone number), the delivery code, status changes and times, distance and duration, cancellations and their reasons, and City to City trips and seat bookings. We use them to provide the service, issue receipts, show your history, handle support and disputes, apply fair use rules (such as limits on cancellations) and keep accounting records.

Ratings and reviews

The stars, tags and comments passengers and drivers give each other after a trip. They keep quality and safety standards up: drivers whose average rating falls below our standard can be suspended. Reviews are shown to the person they are about without the rater’s name.

Messages and support

Chat messages between passenger and driver during an order, support tickets and your messages with our team, safety reports and SOS alerts. We use them to help you during a trip, solve problems and investigate safety issues.

Payments and wallet

The payment method you choose for each order (cash by default), whether it was paid, your wallet balance and its transactions (top-ups, fares, service fees, adjustments) and, for drivers, payout requests with the account number, card number or UPI ID they go to. It is stored encrypted, only our payouts team sees it in full, and it is erased when you delete your account. Card payments are available only where we have enabled a payment provider: card details go to that provider, and we keep only the card brand, its last four digits, the expiry date and the provider’s token, never the full card number or security code. We use this to collect and settle fares and fees, pay out earnings, keep the records the law requires and prevent fraud.

Notifications

A push-notification token for your device, its platform and the notifications we send you. We use them to tell you about offers, trip progress, messages, payments and your account. You can turn notifications off in your device settings.

Technical data and logs

Our servers record technical information about each request, such as IP address, time, the app or browser making it, and errors. We use it to keep the service secure and running, to stop abuse (for example repeated sign-in code requests) and to fix problems.

We do not sell your personal data, and we do not use it for third-party advertising.

Your consent

We use your personal data only for the purposes described above. When you create an account and accept this policy, you consent to that use. We also process data without consent where the DPDP Act allows it, for example to comply with the law or a court order, or to respond to a medical emergency or a threat to someone’s safety.

You can withdraw your consent at any time, as easily as you gave it: turn off location or notification access in your device settings, or delete your account. Withdrawing does not affect what we did before. Some data is needed for the service to work, such as your phone number to sign in and, for drivers, location while online, so without it we cannot serve you.

What the other side of a trip sees

• Drivers who can take your request see its route, price, comment and details, and your name, photo and rating, so they can decide whether to make an offer.
• Passengers see the name, photo, rating, number of completed trips and verification status of drivers who make offers, and their vehicle (make, model, colour and plate number).
• Once an offer is accepted, both sides can chat in the app, and the passenger sees the driver’s live location until the trip ends.
• During an active trip the passenger and the driver can call each other from the app. The call uses your real phone number, so the other side sees it; it is shown only while the trip is under way.
• For deliveries, the courier sees the recipient’s name and phone number that you entered.
• If you share a trip, anyone with the link sees the route and its status and, while the trip is under way, the driver’s first name, the car and its live position.

Service providers we use

We share personal data only with providers who process it for us under contract, and only what they need:

• Google Firebase (Google LLC): phone-number sign-in (Firebase Authentication) and push notifications (Firebase Cloud Messaging).
• Google Maps Platform (Google LLC): maps, address search, place details and routes, where enabled. Searches and map views send the search text or the map area to Google.
• OpenStreetMap-based services: map tiles, address search and road routing, where we use them instead of Google.
• Our hosting provider, which runs the servers and databases that store your data.
• A payment provider, only where card payments are enabled.

Some of these providers store or process data outside India. The DPDP Act allows this, except to countries the Government of India restricts, and our contracts require these providers to protect the data. We also disclose data when the law requires it, for example to the police in an emergency or on a valid order from a court or a government authority, and to protect the safety of our users.

How long we keep it

• Account details: until you delete your account.
• One-time sign-in codes: a few minutes.
• Drivers’ live location: only the latest position is kept, for dispatch; the pickup, stop and drop-off points stay with the trip records.
• Trip, payment and wallet records: for as long as tax and accounting law requires (usually several years), anonymised once you delete your account.
• Verification documents: while you drive with Hillpods and afterwards for as long as the law requires or we need them to handle claims and prevent fraud.
• Chat, support, ratings and safety records: as long as needed to resolve disputes and keep the service safe, anonymised once you delete your account.
• Server logs: a short period, normally no longer than 90 days, unless needed to investigate abuse or a security incident.

Deleting your account and your rights

You can delete your account at any time in either app (Profile, then Delete account) or by following the steps on our account deletion page. Deletion removes your name, phone number, email, photo, saved places, saved cards and device tokens; trip and payment records stay, without your name, where the law requires us to keep them.

Under the DPDP Act you have the right to:

• Access: get a summary of the personal data we hold about you, how we use it, and who we have shared it with.
• Correct and erase: correct, complete or update your data (most of it in Profile in the app), and ask us to erase it, except what the law requires us to keep.
• Withdraw consent: as described in Your consent above.
• Nominate: name someone to use these rights for you if you die or become unable to.
• Grievance redressal: complain to us about how we handle your data. We acknowledge a complaint within 24 hours and resolve it within 15 days. If you are not satisfied with our answer, you can complain to the Data Protection Board of India.

To use these rights, write to us using the details in Contact. We may ask you to confirm the request from the phone number you sign in with.

Age

Hillpods is only for people aged 18 or over. We do not knowingly collect data from anyone younger; if you believe a minor has an account, contact us and we will remove it.

Security and changes

We protect your data with encryption in transit, access controls and audit logs for staff actions. No system is perfectly secure, so please keep your phone and sign-in codes to yourself. If a breach affects your personal data, we will tell you and the Data Protection Board of India, as the law requires. We will update this policy when the service changes and show the new effective date at the top; for important changes we will tell you in the app.

Grievance Officer

For a complaint about the service, a trip, a provider, something posted in the app or how we handle your personal data, write to our Grievance Officer. Include the phone number you sign in with and, for a trip, the order number. We acknowledge a complaint within 24 hours and resolve it within 15 days of receiving it.

Contact