Privacy Policy
1. Quick summary
TipidGas is a community-driven price tracker for Philippine gas stations. You help by submitting pump photos; in exchange we show you the cheapest gas near your location. Here's the short version of what this document says in detail below:
- We collect your mobile number, name, device identifier, and (when you submit a price) a photo of the pump display plus your approximate GPS at submission time.
- We use this to show real-time prices, verify submissions are legit, and prevent fraud/spam.
- We don't sell your data. We don't run third-party ad trackers. We don't send marketing texts.
- You can request full deletion of your data at any time at tipidgas.ph/delete-account.
2. Who we are
TipidGas is operated from the Philippines as a solo-founder project in beta (as of April 2026). For the purposes of the Philippine Data Privacy Act of 2012 (Republic Act No. 10173, “DPA 2012”), we are the Personal Information Controller for the data described in this policy. You can reach us at hello@tipidgas.ph.
3. What we collect
We collect only the data we need to run the service:
| Data | When collected | Why we need it |
|---|---|---|
| Mobile number | Waitlist signup and, in the future, sign-in via SMS OTP | Uniquely identify you, contact you when your beta slot opens, prevent duplicate accounts |
| Name | Waitlist signup | Personalize greetings in the app and in communications |
| Device identifier (a random UUID generated on your device) | First time you open the app or landing page | Rate-limit submissions, prevent spam from a single device, link anonymous submissions across sessions |
| Photo of the pump display | Only when you submit a price | Verify the price is real (OCR reads the digits; community verifies) |
| GPS coordinates (at submission moment) | Only when you submit a price, with your permission | Confirm the submission is physically at or near the gas station |
| City (optional, self-entered) | Waitlist signup | Roll out the beta per-city; prioritize areas with most interest |
| Referral code & referrer code | Waitlist signup via a share link | Track who invited whom, move active contributors up the waitlist |
| User agent string | Waitlist signup (sent automatically by your browser) | Debug compatibility issues, aggregate usage stats |
| Fill-up log entries (liters, price per liter, odometer, optional notes) | Only when you manually log a fill-up in-app | Compute your personal fuel economy and savings — visible only to you |
What we do not collect: your contacts, SMS inbox, photos outside of pump submissions, background location when the app is closed, payment details (no payments exist in the app), or anything from third-party ad networks (there are none).
4. How we use it
The data above is used only for:
- Displaying prices to you and the community in real time.
- Verifying submissions — cross-checking the photo, GPS, and device history so fake prices don't get in.
- Waitlist management — queuing your beta slot by signup date and referrals.
- Preventing abuse — rate-limiting rapid-fire submissions from a single device, flagging anomalies.
- Contacting you about your beta access, your own submissions, and material changes to this policy. No marketing texts, no blasts.
- Aggregate analytics — total signups by city, verify rate, etc., used only to improve the app. No individual-level profiling.
Legal basis under the DPA 2012: we process this data because it is necessary to perform the service you signed up for (Section 12 (b)), or with your consent (Section 3 (b)) — and in the case of location and photos, you grant permission explicitly each time.
6. How long we keep it
- Waitlist signups: kept until the beta rolls out in your city, or until you request deletion — whichever comes first.
- Price submissions and the attached photo: retained as part of the public price history. If you request account deletion, your name and device identifier are stripped from the submission row, but the price and photo may remain because other users rely on them. See section 8 for details.
- Fill-up logs: deleted when you delete your account.
- Deletion requests: kept for 24 months after processing, as proof we honored the request. Phone number is truncated after processing to just the operator prefix (e.g. +639••••••••).
- Server logs & error reports: 30 days, then automatically purged.
7. Your rights (DPA 2012)
Under the Philippine Data Privacy Act of 2012, you have the following rights. You can exercise any of them by emailing hello@tipidgas.ph or via the specific channels listed:
- Right to be informed — this document, plus our in-app onboarding.
- Right to access — request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
- Right to object — decline processing that is not strictly necessary to run the service.
- Right to rectification — ask us to correct data that's wrong.
- Right to erasure (deletion) — see section 8, or go straight to tipidgas.ph/delete-account.
- Right to data portability — request your data in a machine-readable JSON export.
- Right to damages — if we mishandle your data and you're harmed as a result, you may seek compensation per Section 16 (f) of the DPA.
- Right to file a complaint — with the National Privacy Commission at 5th Floor Delegation Bldg., PICC Complex, Pasay City, complaints@privacy.gov.ph.
We aim to respond to any rights request within 15 working days.
8. How to delete your data
Two ways, take your pick:
- Go to tipidgas.ph/delete-account, enter the mobile number you used to sign up, and submit the form.
- Email us at hello@tipidgas.ph from the email associated with your account.
We process deletion requests manually (because we verify each one isn't malicious) within 30 days. When your deletion is processed:
- Your waitlist signup row is permanently deleted.
- If you ever signed in to the app, your authenticated account, fill-up logs, saved stations, and profile row are permanently deleted.
- Your price submissions are anonymized — your user ID and device ID are stripped so the submission can no longer be tied to you. The price and photo remain in the public record because the community relies on historical data to spot trends. If this isn't acceptable to you, email us and we'll work it out on a case-by-case basis.
9. Security
- All traffic between your phone or browser and TipidGas is encrypted in transit via HTTPS / TLS 1.2+.
- Data at rest in Supabase is encrypted with AES-256.
- Access to the database is gated by row-level security policies scoped to your own account. Admin access is a separate audited channel requiring two-factor sign-in.
- Passwords (when we eventually add password sign-in) are hashed with bcrypt; we never store them in plain text.
- No system is bulletproof. If we ever detect a breach affecting your data, we will notify you within 72 hours of confirming it, as required by the DPA and NPC Circular 16-03.
11. Children
TipidGas is designed for drivers and riders aged 18 and up. We do not knowingly collect data from anyone under 18. If you believe a minor has provided data, email hello@tipidgas.ph and we will delete it promptly.
12. Changes to this policy
If we materially change how we handle your data, we will announce the change at least 14 days before it takes effect: banner on the landing page, in-app notice, and SMS/email to known users. Minor clarifications (fixing typos, rewording for clarity) take effect on publication and do not trigger a notice.
History of changes will be kept at the bottom of this page.
13. Contact us
- Data Protection Officer (interim): Ralph, hello@tipidgas.ph
- National Privacy Commission (complaints): privacy.gov.ph, complaints@privacy.gov.ph