Privacy Policy
1. Who we are
Swoop is a service of PEDESTLE LLC, doing business as Swoop ("Swoop", "we", "us"). Swoop is a peer-to-peer local delivery service: people who need a package carried across town ("senders") are matched with independent couriers nearby. Our pilot area is Plano and Frisco, Texas.
This policy explains what personal information we collect through the Swoop app and our website, https://joinswoop.app, how we use it, who we share it with, and the choices you have.
Contact: [email protected] · 4236 Cederbrook Cir., Richardson, TX 75082 · (214) 690-1200
Before launch. Swoop is not yet open to the public. Until we launch, the service runs in test mode with test payments only: no real card is charged, no courier is paid, and Swoop does not send text messages; texts start at launch.
2. What we collect
Your account. Your phone number (you sign in with a one-time code sent to it), your name, and your email address if you choose to add one. When you sign in, the app creates an identifier for your device so that we can keep you signed in securely; we also use the internet (IP) address a sign-in request comes from to limit repeated attempts. Our servers also keep technical logs of each request (including the IP address and the technical details your phone sends with each request) to run and secure the service.
Addresses. The addresses you save or use for pickups and drop-offs, with the map position you confirm for each. If you add an address outside our service area to our waitlist, we keep that address.
Your orders. For each delivery: the pickup and drop-off addresses, the package size, the value you declare for the package, a photo of the package, your notes for the courier, whether the package may be left at the door, the tip, your rating of the courier, and the order's history (when it was accepted, picked up and delivered). We also record when you accept our prohibited-items list.
Information about other people that you give us. When you send a package you give us the recipient's name and phone number, and — if someone else hands over the package — the pickup contact's name and phone number. We keep them with the order. We do not text or call these people, and couriers never see their phone numbers.
Location. The app reads your phone's location only while the app is open, and only:
- to pin an address on the map when you ask it to;
- if you deliver: while you are online, to offer you nearby jobs; while you are on a delivery you have accepted, to show the sender where you are; and at each pickup and drop-off, to record where the package was collected and delivered.
The app never asks for your location in the background. When a courier switches to offline in the app, we clear their last known position — unless they are still carrying a package, in which case the sender can keep seeing where it is until it is delivered. If the app is closed, loses its connection or turns itself offline without reaching our servers, the last position stays stored until the courier next switches to offline in the app or their account is closed.
Photos. The package photo a sender takes, and the pickup and delivery photos a courier takes. Before we store any photo we re-create the image and remove all hidden information from it, including the location where it was taken. The location record for a pickup or delivery is the courier's position that the app sends at that moment.
Payments. Payments are handled by Stripe. You enter your card in Stripe's own form, and your card number goes directly to Stripe — it never reaches our servers. We keep only the references Stripe gives us, the card brand, the last four digits and the expiry date, and the amounts of each charge, refund and tip. We do not send Stripe your name, phone number or email address.
If you apply to deliver (couriers).
- The application: your legal name, date of birth (couriers must be at least 18), how you will travel (on foot, bike, scooter or car), and for a scooter or car its make, model, colour and plate. You may add a short description to help senders recognise you.
- For a scooter or car: photos of your driver's licence and insurance card.
- Identity verification by Stripe Identity. Stripe asks you for a photo of a government ID and a live selfie, and checks that the ID is genuine and that the selfie matches it. Stripe collects those images; our systems do not receive or store them or the details Stripe reads from them. We receive only the result (verified or not) and Stripe's reference for the check.
- Background check. Before any courier delivers, a background check is run by a consumer reporting agency (we plan to use Checkr). For couriers who drive a car or scooter it includes a motor-vehicle record. The check is run only with your permission, and only after your identity has been verified. The agency gives us the result and lets us view the report so that a person at Swoop can make the decision; the agency keeps the report, and you can ask it for a copy.
- Your earnings, from the deliveries you complete and any fees paid to you.
Messages to support. What you write to [email protected].
Crash reports. If the app crashes, it may send a crash report to Sentry, our error-reporting service: the error, the app version, and the phone's model and operating system. For errors in the app's own code, the app tries to remove phone numbers, addresses, map positions and codes before the report is sent. Reports of crashes inside the phone's system code are not filtered this way. Crash reports also carry an anonymous install identifier.
Our website. The sign-up forms on https://joinswoop.app (provided by Tally) collect your email address and city, only so that we can tell you when Swoop launches.
3. How we use it
- To run the service: sign you in, price and arrange your deliveries, match orders with nearby couriers, show the sender where an accepted delivery is, confirm each handover with a code or a photo, and send you updates about your order.
- To take payments, pay couriers, issue refunds and tips, and keep accurate financial records.
- To check that couriers are who they say they are and are eligible to deliver.
- To keep the service safe: to prevent fraud and misuse, to investigate problems with a delivery, and to answer questions or complaints.
- To fix problems with the app.
- To send you text messages, as described in section 5.
- To tell people who used our website's forms when Swoop launches.
We do not sell your personal information, and we do not use it for advertising.
4. Who we share it with
Between the people on a delivery. A sender sees the courier's first name, how they travel, the description they added, and for a scooter or car its model, colour and plate — and the courier's live location only while the courier has an accepted delivery that is not yet delivered. A courier on an accepted job sees the pickup and drop-off addresses and the names, notes, package size and declared value on the order. Phone numbers are never shown to the other party.
Our service providers. We use these companies to run Swoop. Each receives only what it needs to provide its service to us:
- Stripe — card payments, refunds and courier payouts; identity verification for couriers (Stripe Identity).
- Checkr (planned) — background checks for couriers, as a consumer reporting agency.
- Twilio — sending our text messages, from launch (section 5).
- Railway — hosts our servers and the private storage for photos and documents.
- Neon — hosts our database.
- Upstash — briefly holds sign-in codes and counters used to limit repeated attempts.
- Sentry — crash reports from the app.
- Google and Apple — the maps and the address lookup built into your phone (Google on Android, Apple on iPhone) when you type or pin an address, and Google's maps drawn in the Android app.
- Tally — our website's sign-up forms.
- Zoho — our email, including [email protected].
- Cloudflare — the domain-name service and hosting for joinswoop.app and its pages.
- Expo — the service we use to build the app. We do not send it your account information.
When the law requires it, or to protect people. We may disclose information when we believe the law requires it, or when it is needed to protect the safety of a person or to prevent fraud.
If our business changes hands. If PEDESTLE LLC is merged, sold or reorganised, personal information may pass to the new owner, who must keep honouring this policy.
5. Text messages (SMS)
From launch, we send text messages only to people who sign up themselves — senders and couriers — and only messages about the service: sign-in codes, status updates about your deliveries, and, for couriers, notices about jobs and about your application. We do not send marketing messages, and we do not text recipients or pickup contacts. You can reply STOP to stop our texts and HELP for help; the full terms are in the "SMS Terms" section of our Terms & Conditions.
We do not sell or share your SMS opt-in data or personal information with third parties for marketing purposes.
6. How long we keep it
- Courier licence and insurance photos: deleted 30 days after the application is decided. We keep the decision.
- Identity verification: 30 days after the application is decided, we ask Stripe to erase the ID and selfie images and the details read from them. We keep the result.
- Rejected courier applications: deleted 12 months after the decision; a minimal record that a decision was made is kept.
- Package, pickup and delivery photos: kept 180 days after the delivery, because questions about a delivery or a card charge can come up months later, then deleted.
- In-app notifications: deleted after 90 days.
- Sign-in codes: expire after a few minutes.
- Payment and accounting records: kept for at least seven years.
- Accounts, orders and other records: we have not set a fixed deletion period yet. We keep them while your account is open and after it is closed. You can ask for erasure (section 7). When we set a deletion period, we will update this policy.
- Website sign-ups: until you ask us to remove them.
- Crash reports: kept by Sentry under its own retention settings.
7. Your choices and requests
- See and correct your details. You can see and edit your name, email address and saved addresses in the app.
- Location, camera and photos. You can refuse or withdraw these permissions in your phone's settings. Without location you can still type an address; couriers need location to go online.
- Delete your account. In the app, go to your profile and choose "Delete account". Your account is closed straight away and you are signed out on every device within 15 minutes. If you sign in again with the same number within 30 days, your account is restored; after that it stays closed and a new sign-in starts a fresh account. An account cannot be deleted while one of its deliveries is in progress.
- Ask for a copy, or for erasure. Email [email protected] to ask for a copy of your personal information or for it to be erased. We will handle the request by hand. We may need to keep some records — for example payment records — where the law requires it.
- Text messages. Reply STOP to any text from us to stop them (see our Terms & Conditions, "SMS Terms").
- Website sign-ups. Email [email protected] to be removed.
8. Children
Swoop is for people aged 18 and over. We do not knowingly collect information from anyone under 18. If you believe someone under 18 has an account, email [email protected] and we will close it.
9. Security
We protect your information with measures that fit a small, early-stage service. Your card number never reaches our servers. Photos and documents are kept in private storage, encrypted by our hosting provider, and can be opened only through links that stop working after 60 seconds. Each link is recorded with who asked for it. The app talks to our servers over encrypted connections. Phone numbers are never shown to the other person on a delivery. No system is perfectly secure, and we cannot promise that information will never be accessed without permission.
10. Changes to this policy
When we change this policy we update the "Last updated" date at the top of this page.
11. Contact us
PEDESTLE LLC, doing business as Swoop
4236 Cederbrook Cir., Richardson, TX 75082
(214) 690-1200
Email: [email protected]
Website: https://joinswoop.app