Privacy Policy

1. Information You Provide

Account Information

When you create an account, we collect your name, email address, and password. We also store your time zone and notification preferences so we can deliver reminders and digests correctly.

Business / Member Profile

If you're a chapter member, your profile includes your business name, address, phone number, email, website, industry classification, and a description of your services. You control which of these fields, such as address, phone, and email, are shown publicly in the member directory versus kept visible to fellow members only.

Member Applications

When you apply for membership, we collect the information on your application, including your business website. To help chapter administrators evaluate applications, we may fetch the public content of the website you provide and pass it, along with your application details, to a third-party AI service to assist with verification. A human administrator makes the final decision on every application; the AI's output is only a recommendation.

Messages

County Connections includes in-app messaging between members. Message content is stored so conversations persist across sessions and devices, and is visible to the participants in a conversation.

Bookings

If you request or manage a booking through the app, we store the booking details, including who it's with and its scheduled time, so it can be confirmed, rescheduled, or canceled by the relevant parties.

2. Information Collected Automatically

Site Analytics

We track visits to the County Connections website (pages viewed, referring source, and browser/device information) to understand how the site is used. We approximate a visitor's city from their IP address using a local, offline geolocation database; we do not collect precise GPS location, and your IP address itself is not sent to any third party for this purpose.

Push Notifications

If you enable push notifications in the iOS app, we store a device token used solely to deliver notifications to your device through Apple's Push Notification service. You can disable this at any time in your device settings or by logging out.

Bot Protection

Certain public forms, such as member applications, are protected by Cloudflare Turnstile to prevent automated abuse. Cloudflare may process your IP address and browser characteristics as part of this check. See Cloudflare's own privacy policy for details on their processing.

3. Information We Do Not Collect

• Precise location. The iOS app does not request or use your device's GPS location.
• Your device's contacts. The app can generate a shareable contact card (vCard) for a member so you can save it to your own Contacts app, but it never reads or accesses your device's address book.
• Biometric data. If you enable Face ID to unlock the app, that authentication happens entirely on your device through Apple's system frameworks. We never receive or store any biometric information.
• Payment or financial information. County Connections does not process payments through the app or website.

4. How We Use Your Information

• To operate your account and provide the directory, messaging, events, and booking features.
• To send transactional emails and push notifications, such as booking confirmations, new messages, and event reminders.
• To help chapter administrators review and manage membership applications.
• To understand overall usage of the site and improve it.
• To protect County Connections, its members, and the public from fraud, abuse, and violations of our Code of Conduct.

5. Who We Share Information With

We don't sell your information. We share it only as needed to operate the service:

• Fellow chapter members, for the directory fields you've chosen to publish, and for messages and bookings you're a party to.
• Chapter and County Connections administrators, who can see member and application details necessary to manage their chapter.
• Service providers, including our email delivery provider, our push notification provider (Apple), and the AI service used to assist with application verification, each of whom is only given the information necessary to perform their function.
• Legal or safety reasons, if required by law or necessary to protect the rights, property, or safety of County Connections, our members, or the public.

6. Data Retention

We retain your information for as long as your account is active. If you leave a chapter or delete your account, we retain the minimum information necessary for legal, security, and record-keeping purposes, and remove or anonymize the rest within a reasonable time.

7. Your Choices

• You can update your profile and notification preferences at any time from within the app or website.
• You can disable push notifications from your device settings or by logging out.
• You can request a copy of your information, or request that we delete your account, by contacting us at the email below.

8. Children's Privacy

County Connections is intended for business owners and professionals. It is not directed at children, and we do not knowingly collect information from anyone under 13.

9. Changes to This Policy

If we make material changes to this policy, we'll update the "Last Updated" date above and, where appropriate, notify members directly.

10. Contact Us

Questions about this policy or your information can be sent to privacy@countyconnections.org.