Privacy policy
RingThru ("we") runs daily check-in calls for elders and shares summaries with their families. This policy explains how we handle personal data. We follow India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (DPDP Act). This policy is written in plain language and is being reviewed by a lawyer during our beta.
Who is responsible
RingThru, based in Kerala, India, is the Data Fiduciary for the data described here. You can reach our grievance officer at hello@ringthru.app.
What we collect
- Family members: name, email, phone number (optional), country, language and notification preferences.
- Elders: the name they like to be called, phone number, language, district, call times, tablets and timings you add, emergency contacts, and notes you choose to add.
- Calls: the time and length of each call, a text transcript, a short summary, facts pulled from the call (like mood, sleep, tablets taken, or a possible scam), and the risk level.
- Consent records: when the elder agreed to calls, or asked us to stop.
- Waitlist and contact forms: what you type into them.
- Technical data: basic logs needed to keep the service secure and working. We use privacy-friendly analytics without advertising trackers.
What we don't collect
- We don't store call audio. Our voice provider, Sarvam AI, handles the audio in India to run the call. It keeps its own copy only for the shortest time its system allows, then deletes it. We never download or keep recordings.
- We never ask for money, OTPs, bank details, card numbers or Aadhaar.
Why we use it
- To make the calls you set up, in the language chosen.
- To send summaries, alerts and the weekly digest to the family members you invite.
- To spot possible scams or health worries and alert your family quickly.
- To keep the service safe, fix problems and improve call quality.
- To produce anonymous, aggregate numbers (for example, total calls made) for reports to grant bodies and partners. These never identify a person.
Consent
The family member who sets up RingThru confirms that the elder knows about it. The elder is then asked for consent on the first call, and daily calls start only after they agree. The elder can withdraw consent at any time by saying so on a call, and a family member can pause or stop calls from the app.
Who we share it with
We don't sell personal data. We share it only with service providers that help us run RingThru, under contracts that limit how they use it:
- Supabase: database and sign-in (servers in Mumbai, India).
- Sarvam AI: the voice calls (servers in India).
- VocalLabs: a backup for the voice calls, used only if Sarvam is unavailable.
- Resend: emails such as alerts and summaries.
- Vercel: website hosting.
We may share data if the law requires it, or to protect someone's life or safety.
Who can see call details
Only the family members linked to an elder can see that elder's calls. A small number of RingThru staff can see them to provide support or to follow up on an urgent alert. Every time staff open a transcript, it is logged.
How long we keep it
- Transcripts and summaries: up to 12 months, unless you delete them sooner.
- Call audio and the provider's own copy of the transcript: kept by Sarvam AI for the shortest period its system allows, then deleted.
- Account and elder details: while your account is active. When you delete your account, we delete them within 30 days.
- Consent records and credit history: kept for as long as the law requires, so we can show that consent was given.
- Waitlist entries: until you ask us to remove them, or 24 months.
Your rights
- See what data we hold about you or your parent.
- Correct or update it.
- Delete it, or delete your whole account.
- Withdraw consent at any time.
- Nominate someone to exercise these rights if you can't.
- Complain to our grievance officer, and if you're not satisfied, to the Data Protection Board of India.
To use any of these rights, email hello@ringthru.app. We reply within 7 days.
Security
Data is encrypted in transit and at rest. Access is controlled at the database level, so one family can never see another family's data. Staff access is limited and logged.
Children
RingThru accounts are for adults aged 18 and over.
Changes
If we make important changes, we'll email account holders before they take effect.