Privacy policy

Last updated: August 25, 2026

Joontos helps neighbors in Los Angeles share a ride they were already taking. This page explains, in plain words, what the app collects, who can see it, and what happens when you delete your account.

It describes the app as it actually works. If something isn't written here, Joontos doesn't do it.

What Joontos never does

• We never take your money. Joontos works out a fair split for gas and mileage, and keeps count. The money moves between you and your neighbor, however you already pay each other. Joontos does not hold funds, process cards, or connect to your bank.
• We never ask where you live. You choose your own starting point for a trip — a corner, a landmark, or an address if that's easier for you. It's your choice, it's never shown to a stranger, and Joontos never routes anyone to a doorstep.
• We never ask for your last name. There is no last-name field anywhere in Joontos.
• We never track you in the background. Location is shared only while a ride is actually happening, only while the app is open on your screen.
• We never sell your information. Not to advertisers, not to data brokers, not to anyone.
• We don't run ads, and there are no ad networks or analytics trackers in the app. Nobody is watching how you tap around.

What we collect, and when

When you sign up

• Your email address. It's how you sign in, and how we could reach you about your account.
• Your password. It is scrambled (hashed) by our login provider before it is stored. Nobody at Joontos can see it, including us.
• Your first name. That's the whole name. There is no last name.

When you fill in your profile — all of this is optional

You can use Joontos without any of it, and you can remove any of it later.

• A profile photo
• What you drive — a plain description like "grey Honda Civic," so a rider can spot the right car at the curb
• Your licence plate — handled specially, see below
• Social media handles (Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, or another link) — handled specially, see below
• Your payment handles (Venmo, Cash App, PayPal, Zelle) — these are just usernames, so your neighbor can pay you back outside the app. Joontos never touches the payment itself.

When you post a trip

• The starting point and destination you type. We send what you type to Mapbox to turn it into map coordinates and to draw the driving route between the two points. We keep those coordinates, the route line, and the text you typed.
• When you're going — the departure time, and either the days of the week or a single date.
• Whether you're driving, riding, or either.

Your list of trips is readable only by you. Other people never see your trips as a list. What they see is the result of a match: how close your starting points are to each other, and how much of the route you have in common.

While a ride is actually happening

• The driver's live location, so the rider can see the car coming.

This one has a whole section below, because it's the part people care most about.

As you use the app

• Your ride history — which rides happened, with whom, and the cost split the app calculated.
• Star ratings between people who have actually ridden together. You can rate someone once, after your first ride with them — never daily.
• Chat messages between people who have matched.
• Reports and blocks, if you report or block someone.

What we do not collect

We don't ask for your phone number, your last name, where you live, your date of birth, your ID, your driver's licence, or your insurance. We don't read your contacts, your photo library (beyond the one picture you choose to upload), your calendar, or anything else on your phone.

About notifications

Joontos sends push notifications about your own rides — someone asking to ride with you, someone saying yes or turning you down, a driver setting off, and when a new trip matches one of yours. Nothing else. We never send marketing notifications, and there is nothing to opt into that would start them.

To deliver them, your phone hands the app a device notification token. We store it in the private half of your profile, where no other user can read it, and it is used for nothing but sending you the notifications above. It is deleted when you delete your account.

Your phone asks your permission the first time it is needed — the moment you send or accept a ride request, not at sign-up. If you say no, the app carries on working; you simply find out about these things when you next open it. You can change your mind at any time in your phone's own Settings.

Notification text deliberately leaves out the details. Notifications appear on a locked screen where anyone nearby can read them, so we never put a message's contents, a pickup address, or an exact meeting spot in one.

Location, in detail

This is the most sensitive thing the app touches, so here is exactly how it works.

Where you meet. When you post a trip, you type a starting point — an address or a meeting point near you. Joontos converts it to coordinates so it can find people going the same way. The exact spot is not shown to strangers. Someone browsing profiles sees only roughly how far you are from them and how much of the route you share. The exact meeting point appears only once you and that person have agreed to ride together.

The reason is simple, and worth stating out loud: nobody should be able to learn the exact corner where a stranger stands alone at the same time every weekday.

Live location during a ride. When a ride starts, the driver's phone shares its location so the rider can see the car approaching.

• It only works while the app is open on the screen. Joontos cannot see your location while the app is in the background or closed. Background location is switched off in the app itself.
• It is shared only with the one person on that ride — nobody else, ever.
• The coordinates are deleted the moment the ride is marked complete. Not archived, not anonymized — deleted, automatically, by the database itself. Joontos does not keep a trail of where you have been.
• Your phone will ask your permission before any of this, and you can say no. You can turn it off any time in your phone's settings.

Who else can see your information

Other Joontos users who are browsing for a carpool can see: your first name, your photo, the languages you speak, your star rating and how many rides you've shared, what you drive, and — for their own trip — roughly how far away you are and how much of the route you share.

Only after you and someone have agreed to ride together can they see: the exact meeting point, your social media handles, and your payment handles.

Only your ride partner can see your licence plate, and only when the ride is actually happening — on the day it’s booked for, or while it’s underway if you set off early. That rule is enforced by the database, not just by the app screens, and the driver can always see their own.

Nobody sees your email address, your password, your list of trips, or your past location.

Companies that help us run the app:

• Supabase — hosts our database, logins, and uploaded photos, on servers in the western United States.
• Mapbox — receives the starting points and destinations you type, so it can turn them into map coordinates and draw the route.
• Apple and Google — distribute the app, and pass notifications to your phone.

That's the whole list. Nobody else receives your information, and we do not sell or share it with anyone.

One thing to know about your photo: profile photos are served from a public web link so they can load quickly in the app. Treat your profile photo as a public picture of yourself, the same as one on any public profile.

Law enforcement. If we ever received a valid legal order for your information, we would comply with it. There's not much to hand over — but we'd rather tell you that plainly than pretend otherwise.

How long we keep things, and what deletion actually removes

• Live ride location: deleted automatically when the ride ends. Minutes, not days.
• Everything else stays as long as your account exists, because it's what makes the app work — your ride history is how your neighbors know you're real.
• When you delete your account, we delete your profile, your login, your trips, your carpool agreements, your ride records, your chat messages, your ratings, your blocks, your car details, your plate, and your social and payment handles. Your email address becomes free to use again. You cannot sign back in.

Two honest caveats about deletion:

1. It also removes your shared history from the other person's app. Your past rides together and your messages disappear from their side too. That's the honest meaning of "delete my account," but it's worth knowing before you tap it.
2. Safety reports outlive the account. If someone has reported you, a copy of that report is kept in a separate record before your account is removed, so that nobody can erase a harassment report by deleting their account. That record is reachable only by Joontos administrators. It is never shown to another user.

How to delete your account

In the app: Me → Delete my account. You'll see exactly what will be removed, and you'll be asked to type the word DELETE to confirm. It happens immediately.

Without the app: if you've already uninstalled Joontos, you can request deletion at the deletion page on our website, or by emailing us at the address below from the email address on the account.

One thing can block deletion: if you still owe a neighbor money — or rather, if you haven't yet marked your side of a split as settled — the app will ask you to do that first. Joontos only keeps count, so that number is a real debt between two people, and it shouldn't vanish from someone else's screen. You are only ever held to your own half: once you've marked your side, you're free to go, whatever the other person does.

Children

Joontos is for adults. You must be 18 or older to use it. We do not knowingly collect information from anyone under 18, and if we learn that an account belongs to a minor, we will delete it.

Your California privacy rights

Joontos is based in Los Angeles and most of the people using it are Californians, so this section is not boilerplate.

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA/CPRA), you have the right to:

• Know what personal information we've collected about you, and where it came from. Most of it is visible right in the app.
• Get a copy of it.
• Correct anything that's wrong.
• Delete it — see above; you can do this yourself, in the app, in under a minute.
• Opt out of the sale or sharing of your personal information. There is nothing to opt out of: Joontos does not sell or share your personal information, and never has. We do not show you ads and we do not use your information for cross-context behavioral advertising.
• Not be treated differently for exercising any of these rights. We won't degrade your service or charge you for asking.

To make a request, email us at the address below from the email on your account. We'll respond within 45 days. You can have an authorized agent make the request for you.

Changes to this policy

If we change how Joontos handles your information, we'll update this page and change the date at the top. If the change is significant — a new company receiving data, a new kind of information collected — we'll tell you in the app before it takes effect.

Contact us

Questions, requests, or anything that reads wrong on this page:

info@ridejoontos.com

Joontos · Los Angeles, California