Privacy Policy

Last updated: 13 July 2026 · Version 0.2 (draft)

Legal review: currently under review by a lawyer.

Draft — currently being reviewed by a lawyer. This policy is written in good faith to describe how Homies actually handles your data, but it has not yet been reviewed by a lawyer. Please treat it as informational during the pilot.

Who we are

Homies is a community platform helping new immigrants (olim) settle into Israel. During the current pilot it is operated privately by Ilan Danziger, who is the data controller. Contact for anything in this policy, or to exercise your rights: ilan.danziger@gmail.com (the email address for www.danziger.dev).

What we collect, and why

• Your Google identity (name, email, profile photo) — to sign you in. We never see or store a password.
• Your profile (country of origin, languages, age range, family situation, city, arrival date, occupation, a short bio) — used to personalize your acclimation checklist, suggest people and helpers, and, only if you opt in, to show your profile to other members. Providing it is voluntary.
• What you write (community questions and replies, help requests, meetups you create, service listings you submit, experience tips) — shown to other members as you choose (including anonymously, where offered).
• Private and group messages — if you start or join a chat, your messages are stored so the conversation works, delivered to the other participant(s), and screened by automated moderation (below). Do not share sensitive information (home address, bank or ID details) in chat.
• Location you provide — the city on your profile and any venue/address you attach to a meetup. We use these to show relevant nearby content and to place meetups on a map. We do not track your device location in the background.
• Activity— RSVPs, matches, notifications, whether you blocked or reported someone, and taps on a business listing's contact links (a simple count, to show advertisers their listing was useful).
• Basic technical logs (sign-in times, errors) — to keep the service secure and working.

We do not sell your data or share it with advertisers, and we do not use it for any purpose other than running Homies.

Third-party services we use to run Homies

Homies relies on these processors, who handle data on our behalf:

• Google — sign-in (OAuth); hosting and AI on Google Cloud (europe-west1, Belgium); Google Maps, Places and Geocoding to display the meetups map and suggest venue addresses (your browser loads map tiles from Google, and venue text is sent to Google to find its location); and Google Vertex AI (Gemini)for the features in "AI processing" below.
• Neon — our PostgreSQL database, hosted in London, United Kingdom.

AI processing

We use Google's Gemini model (via Google Cloud Vertex AI, processed in the EU) to: personalize your checklist; phrase match suggestions; check new community questions for duplicates; screen free text and messages for abusive or unsafe content. The AI only recommends, organizes and screens content — it never makes decisions against you, and its output is constrained to content we curate or you provide.

Translation is reader-initiated. Everything a member writes stays in the language they wrote it in; nothing is translated automatically. When a reader taps the translate button on a specific question, reply, meetup or message, that text — and only that text — is sent to Google for translation. Translations of publiccontent (community questions, replies, meetups, listings, profiles) are cached so the next reader doesn't repeat the request. Translations of private messages are never cached or stored.

Who can see what

• Homies is open to anyone with a Google account. Members are private by default — you choose at sign-up whether to appear to other members and whether to accept private messages, and you can change both any time in your profile.
• If you opt in to be visible, your profile is shown to other signed-in members so they can find and connect with you.
• You can blockanother member (you disappear from each other and can't message) and report a member to the administrators.
• Questions asked anonymously never display your name to members. Administrators can see the real author — this keeps the community accountable and lets us respond to abuse or legal requests.
• Administrators (the operators, including the community lead) can see member data, messages flagged by moderation, and reports, for support and safety.

Cookies

We use only essential cookies: one to keep you signed in, and one to remember your chosen language. No advertising or third-party tracking cookies.

Where your data lives

Application data is stored with Neon (PostgreSQL) in London, United Kingdom, and the app and AI run on Google Cloud in Belgium (europe-west1). Both jurisdictions provide data protection recognized under Israel's Transfer of Data Abroad Regulations.

Your rights

• Access & portability— download everything we hold about you from your profile page ("Download my data").
• Correction — edit your profile at any time.
• Deletion— delete your account from your profile page. Your profile, checklist, matches, help requests, RSVPs and chat memberships are erased; posts and messages you wrote remain with your identity removed ("Former member") so other members' conversations keep making sense.

Retention & security

We keep your data only while you have an account. Security measures include encrypted connections everywhere, Google-managed sign-in, input validation on every operation, automated content moderation, and rate limiting. Serious security incidents affecting your data will be reported to the Israeli Privacy Protection Authority and to you, as required by law.

Children

Homies is intended for adults (18+). It is not directed at children.

Changes

We'll update this page (and its date above) when anything changes. Material changes will be announced in the app.