Privacy Policy

NearbyGPT is an AI assistant that helps people in Alexandria, Egypt decide where to eat. We operate the NearbyGPT website, the iOS and Android apps, and the backend service behind them. We are the controller of the personal data described here.

The data controller is NearbyGPT. You can reach us at [email protected] for any privacy question or request.

• Location is optional. If you say no, the app searches whatever area the map is showing instead, and nothing else changes.
• What you submit may be processed by AI to understand your request and help discover, filter, and compare restaurants from our curated Alexandria restaurant database.
• Submitted content can include typed messages, relevant conversation and restaurant context, menu images or documents, document URL content, and text imported from social links.
• In mobile versions with AI consent controls, you can consent before your first AI chat or choose Not now and continue browsing the map without AI features.
• Your chat conversations are not published to other users. Menu contributions may update restaurant records.
• We do not sell personal data, and we do not use it for advertising or cross-app tracking.
• You can delete your account and everything tied to it at any time.

We ask for location permission the first time you open the map. We ask only for location while the app is in use. We never track your location in the background. Android lets you grant approximate or precise location, and we treat location as precise. On iOS, we request when-in-use location.

Location or map-area context is sent to our backend with a search request so we can work out which part of the city to search. The app may also store pending request payloads, including location or map-area context, on your device. It saves the last map position on your device so the map opens where you left it.

Location permission is optional and costs you nothing. If you decline, pan or zoom the map to the neighbourhood you care about. The app searches whatever area the map is showing, and every feature works the same way.

• We use location to centre the map on you and narrow restaurant results to the area around you.
• We do not use location to track your movements or build a location history.
• Our map SDK is Mapbox. It receives the map area being viewed so it can draw the map.

We use Anthropic, OpenAI, Google (Gemini), OpenRouter for AI processing. Submitted messages, relevant earlier conversation, and restaurant context are processed to understand requests and discover, filter, and compare restaurants. OpenAI creates numeric embeddings used to search our restaurant data.

Optional menu images, PDFs, and content fetched from a submitted document URL are processed by Google Gemini, with Anthropic used as a fallback. When you import a social link, extracted post or profile text is sent for AI processing. OpenRouter dynamically routes requests to downstream model hosting providers, so the recipient for a request may vary.

The backend receives map-area or location context to narrow results. Text you submit may itself contain personal details such as your name, location, or dietary preferences, and those details can be included in AI processing.

Recommendations come from our curated Alexandria restaurant database. AI helps interpret requests, perform the processing described above, and phrase responses. Processing an uploaded menu may also update a restaurant record.

Provider and model configurations may change. We keep this disclosure current and seek additional consent before a change in sharing goes beyond your existing permission. Changing a model alone does not automatically require new consent. Provider information is available from Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, and OpenRouter. Provider retention and use for model improvement depend on the applicable service terms and settings.

In mobile versions with AI consent controls, the app shows a prompt before your first AI chat explaining which providers may receive your data and what is sent. Choosing Accept & Enable AI Features records consent with your account in Clerk and enables AI features. Choosing Not now lets you keep browsing the map without AI features. Your consent choice is account based and applies across logins and devices running these versions. You can withdraw consent in account settings; withdrawal blocks future AI requests from these versions, but cannot recall data already sent or stop server work already started. Withdrawal is not account deletion.

We keep your conversation history so you can come back to it. It is retained until you delete your account or ask us to delete it. Nothing you type is shared with other users or published anywhere.

We use information to:

• Answer your requests and recommend restaurants.
• Keep your conversation history available across sessions.
• Keep the map centred usefully.
• Let you add a restaurant to your own private collection.
• Investigate crashes and errors.
• Measure which searches and restaurants are popular, in aggregate, to improve the database.
• Respond to support requests.
• Meet legal obligations.

We share information only with:

• Clerk — sign-in and account management. It holds your email, password, and any Google profile details.
• The AI provider handling a restaurant request — submitted messages and relevant conversation and restaurant context.
• OpenAI — your query text, for search indexing.
• Google Gemini, with Anthropic as a fallback — menu images, PDFs, and content fetched from submitted document URLs.
• AI providers — text extracted from social-link posts or profiles.
• Downstream model hosting providers selected dynamically by OpenRouter — the content included in requests routed through OpenRouter.
• Mapbox — the map area being viewed, to draw the map.
• Sentry — crash and performance reports, including your account identifier, email address, and name.
• PostHog — usage analytics and session replays from our website and web app, including your account identifier, email address, and name if you are signed in.
• Cloudflare R2 — storage for menu photos and documents you upload.
• Resend — sends transactional email, such as replies to a contact or deletion request.
• Expo — delivers app updates.
• Legal authorities, where the law requires it.
• A successor, if the business is sold or merged.

We do not sell your personal data, and we do not share it with advertisers or data brokers.

• Account details and conversation history are kept until you delete your account.
• Crash reports are kept for up to 90 days by Sentry.
• Usage analytics are kept for up to 1 year and session replays for up to 30 days by PostHog.
• Aggregated, anonymised statistics about searches and restaurant popularity are kept indefinitely because they can no longer be connected to you.
• Records the law requires us to keep are kept only for as long as the law requires.

In the app, go to Settings → Account → Delete account. If you have lost access to your account, request deletion at https://nearbygpt.app/delete-account. The web request requires no login and no app install.

Deletion is processed automatically and usually completes within 24 hours. In rare cases it may take up to 30 days. Once processed it cannot be reversed.

We operate from Egypt. Egypt's Personal Data Protection Law (Law No. 151 of 2020) applies to how we handle your data. Because our database is hosted in the European Union and our users may travel, we also honour GDPR rights for everyone, wherever they are.

These rights are access, rectification, erasure, portability, restriction, objection, and withdrawal of consent. Send a request to [email protected]. We will respond within 30 days. You also have the right to complain to a supervisory authority.

NearbyGPT is intended for people aged 18 and over. We do not knowingly collect data from anyone under 18. If we learn that we have, we delete it. If you believe a child has given us data, write to [email protected].

We use encryption in transit and access controls to protect personal data from unauthorised access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction. Sign-in credentials are handled by Clerk and are never stored by us.

No system for electronic transmission or storage is perfectly secure.

We operate from Egypt and serve Alexandria. Our database is hosted in the European Union. Usage analytics are processed by PostHog in the United States. AI providers, including downstream providers selected by OpenRouter, may process data in other countries as described in their privacy information. Those locations can vary as provider configurations change.

We may update this Privacy Policy periodically. When we make material changes, we will update the effective date and provide notice where required by applicable law. We will also announce material changes in the app before they take effect.

NearbyGPT

Alexandria, Egypt

Email: [email protected]

We aim to reply within 30 days.