Privacy Policy

DropBy is a porch light for your people. You turn your light on when you're free, and the people you choose can see it and drop by. This policy explains what DropBy handles to do that, who can see it, and how to delete it. DropBy is made by Ora et Labora Technologies LLC, a Missouri company ("we", "us").

1. Your light

When you turn your light on, the people you chose for it see that it's on and, if you set a timer, how long it will stay on. You choose who that is:

• All my people — everyone you've connected with on DropBy,
• Select people — only the people you check, or
• Select groups — only the people in the groups you check, including anyone you add to those groups later.

DropBy saves your choice until you change it. Each person you choose gets their own copy of your light, encrypted with a key that only you and that person share. People you leave out never receive a copy, so nothing they can see changes when your light turns on. If you take someone out while your light is on, it goes off for them, just as if you'd turned it off. No one else can read your light, including us. Apple stores it; section 6 explains how your encryption key is protected there. Like any cloud service, iCloud also records which iCloud account saved each encrypted record and when; Apple and we can see that, but not what a record says or who it's for.

Your light stays on when you leave the app or switch to another one, until you turn it off, its timer runs out, or you sign out. When you turn it off, DropBy turns it off for the people who could see it as soon as it can reach iCloud. A timer runs out on its own.

Your local time, lantern, and ways to drop by. So your people know what time it is where you are, DropBy shares your device's time zone with everyone you've connected with, whether or not your light is on, along with the lantern you picked in Settings and the ways you're open to (a call, FaceTime, a text, or in person; Settings → Ways to Drop By). You can stop sharing your time zone in Settings (Share my local time). It's encrypted the same way, so only they can read it.

2. What DropBy handles

Your sign-in. Google Firebase Authentication runs DropBy's sign-in. Depending on how you sign up, it handles your phone number (sign-in by text message), your email address and password, a username, or nothing at all if you sign in anonymously. Firebase gives your account an ID, and records technical details needed to sign you in, such as your IP address, your device type, and the version of its sign-in software. If you sign in with your phone number, Google keeps it with your account, sends you a text (your carrier's rates may apply) and, under Google's own policies, may use the number to fight spam and abuse across its services. To confirm the request comes from the real DropBy app, Firebase uses Apple's push service, which gives Google your device's push token, or, if that isn't available, a Google reCAPTCHA check in a browser view. DropBy tells you this before you enter your number. We can see the sign-in details Firebase holds (such as your phone number or email, and when you signed up and last signed in) and use them only to run and protect your account.

Your name. The name you choose in Settings (or, until you choose one, your username) travels only inside invitations you send or accept, encrypted. Your people see you under the name they saved for you.

Your photo. Your profile photo stays on your device; DropBy never uploads it. Like other app files, it's part of your device's own backups.

Your contacts and groups. You pick people to import in Apple's contact picker, which runs outside DropBy: DropBy receives only the people you pick and never has access to the rest of your address book. For each person you pick, DropBy saves their name and a code made from their phone number or email (so it can spot duplicates) to your own private iCloud database. For people you're connected with, it also saves their DropBy account ID and the public half of their key. Groups you create are saved the same way. DropBy encrypts all of this on your device before it reaches iCloud. Apple protects the key, and if you turn on Advanced Data Protection for iCloud, it's end-to-end encrypted, so Apple can't read it either. If more than one DropBy account uses the same iCloud account, each one sees only its own contacts and groups. DropBy doesn't send the people you pick anywhere else or use them to look for other users. We can't see your private iCloud database.

Invitations. You connect with people only by inviting them, or by accepting their invitation. An invitation link carries a secret after the "#" sign, which browsers never send to our website. The invitation holds your name, your DropBy account ID, and the public half of your encryption key, encrypted so that only someone holding the link can open it. Anyone you share the link with can open it, so share it only with the people you mean to. A personal invitation works once, for 14 days; a Porch Code works for up to 20 people, for 72 hours. You confirm everyone who uses your invitation before they join your people.

When invitations are removed. Once an invitation can't be used anymore, DropBy removes it from iCloud: when you answer a personal invitation, when you replace a Porch Code with a new one, or, for an invitation that expired, the next time you open DropBy at least an hour after it expires. If iCloud can't be reached then, DropBy tries again the next time you open the app, and deleting your account removes it at the latest. Until it's removed, anyone holding the link can still open it. When you accept an invitation, DropBy leaves the person who sent it a reply with your name, DropBy account ID, and the public half of your key, encrypted so only they can open it. DropBy deletes your reply once they've let you in and their invitation is gone (it checks each time you open the app). If they don't let you in, the reply stays until you delete your account.

Drop-bys. When you ask to drop by, DropBy leaves the person a note saying when and how you'd like to (a call, FaceTime, a text, or in person), encrypted so only they can open it. Their answer, yes or no, comes back to you the same way. Neither names anyone; each app shows the name its owner saved for the other person. Each person keeps the 20 most recent drop-bys and answers from you.

Doorbells. To make the other person's phone ring, DropBy also leaves a small "doorbell file" in iCloud's public storage. It contains no names. It holds only a short line such as "would like to drop by" and a random-looking code that only your two apps can match to each other; to anyone else, it doesn't show who it's from or who it's for. DropBy deletes your doorbell files after about 10 minutes, the next time you open the app or send another, and when you sign out or delete your account.

Encryption keys and settings. DropBy creates a private key for your account and keeps it, encrypted, in your private iCloud database, along with your light settings. The public half of the key is shared only inside invitations.

On your device. DropBy keeps a copy of your people's lights for when you're offline, a summary for the Home Screen widget (first names and whose light is on), your preferences, and the phone numbers of the people you import or add a number for, so you can call or message them from DropBy. Those numbers stay on this device; DropBy never uploads them. iOS data protection covers these files, and like other app files they're part of your device's own backups.

Notifications. If you allow them, DropBy's notifications tell you when someone asks to drop by or answers you. For each person you're connected with, DropBy asks iCloud to notify your devices when a doorbell file with your shared code appears. Each request holds that code and the name you saved for the person, so the notification can show it. Apple keeps these requests with your iCloud account, without DropBy's encryption, and delivers the notifications through its push service. DropBy updates them when your people change and removes them when you sign out or delete your account. Apple delivers them to every device signed in to that iCloud account, so if several DropBy accounts share one, a notification may appear on each of those devices.

What DropBy doesn't collect. No analytics or crash-reporting tools, no advertising identifiers, no location, and no tracking across other apps or websites. If you choose to share crash reports with app developers in iOS Settings, Apple may pass DropBy's to us.

3. How we use it

Only to run DropBy: to sign you in, show your light to the people you choose and show you theirs, deliver drop-bys and answers, notify you of them, connect people through invitations, and keep accounts secure. We don't use your information for advertising or profiling, and we don't sell it or share it for advertising.

4. Who receives it

• People you choose: the people your light is for see it; everyone you're connected with sees your local time; people you ask to drop by see your request, and people you answer see your answer; people you invite see your name.
• Apple (iCloud): stores DropBy's data and delivers its notifications. Your contacts and groups, and everything you share, are encrypted on your device before they reach iCloud. Apple protects the keys; with Advanced Data Protection for iCloud turned on (by you, and for what you share, by the other person too), Apple can't read them.
• Google (Firebase Authentication): runs sign-in, as described above.
• Cloudflare: hosts dropbyapp.com and processes standard request details, like your IP address, to deliver and protect it. The site has no accounts, forms, cookies, or analytics. Its typefaces are served from dropbyapp.com itself, so visiting it sends nothing to Google.

Apple, Google, and Cloudflare handle this data under their own privacy terms and protections, and, apart from Google's anti-abuse use of phone numbers described above, only to provide their services to DropBy. We may disclose information we can access if the law requires it, but we can't read your light, your drop-bys, or your private iCloud database. If Ora et Labora Technologies is ever merged or sold, this policy keeps applying to your information.

5. Keeping and deleting

Your information stays while your account exists. Your light and local time are replaced each time they change.

Removing someone from your people deletes the drop-bys, light, and local time you shared with them.

Deleting your account (Settings → Delete Account) first asks you to confirm it's you, with your password or a new code texted to your number (anonymous accounts skip this step). Then it deletes everything you created: the lights and local time you shared, the drop-bys and answers you sent, your doorbell files and notification requests, your invitations, contacts, groups, light settings, encryption key, and sign-in account, plus DropBy's data on that device. If any of it can't be deleted, your account stays active so you can try again.

• Drop-bys and lights that other people shared with you belong to their accounts and stay until they delete them. Once your key is deleted, no one can open them as you. Your people also keep the name they saved for you in their own contacts.
• Google keeps deleted sign-in records in its backups for up to 180 days.
• Delete your account on a device signed in to the Apple ID you've used DropBy with: records saved under another Apple ID can't be reached from it.
• Deleting the app doesn't delete your account. An anonymous account can be deleted only from the app that created it; if the app is removed first, we can't tell which account was yours, and its sign-in record stays with Google.

You can turn off DropBy's notifications in iOS Settings at any time.

6. Security

DropBy encrypts everything it sends. Lights, local time, and drop-bys are encrypted on your device with a key that only you and each person share; invitations are encrypted with a secret that travels only in the invitation link. Your own encryption key is kept in your private iCloud. Apple protects it there, and if you turn on Advanced Data Protection for iCloud, it's end-to-end encrypted, so Apple can't read it either. Sign-in tokens are kept in the iOS Keychain. No system is perfectly secure; if a breach affects your information, we'll tell you as the law requires.

7. Children

DropBy isn't meant for children under 13, and we don't knowingly collect information from them. If you believe a child under 13 has a DropBy account, contact us and we'll delete what we can access and help remove the rest.

8. Your choices and rights

• You can see and change your name, contacts, groups, and light settings in the app, and delete your account in Settings.
• You can ask us for a copy of, or a correction or deletion of, information we can access, at the address below.
• Do Not Track: DropBy doesn't track you across apps or websites, and doesn't let anyone else do so, so there's nothing for a Do Not Track signal to turn off.
• We don't sell personal information, including under Nevada law. Nevada residents can send requests about the sale of personal information to the address below.

9. Changes to this policy

When we change this policy, we'll update the date above. For a material change, we'll tell you in the app before it takes effect.

10. Contact us