Kritaare
Privacy policy
1. Who we are
Kritaare is a farm record-keeping app for growers in India, operated by Bishan Kowri, sole proprietor, trading as Kritaare, based in Bengaluru, Karnataka, India. In this policy, "we" and "us" mean that operator, and "you" means the person who holds a Kritaare account.
For the purposes of India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, we are the Data Fiduciary for your account and for the diagnostic data described below.
2. What we collect
We only collect what the app needs to work. There is no advertising SDK in Kritaare and no third-party tracker beyond the Google services listed in section 5.
| What | Details | When |
|---|---|---|
| Account | Email address, and the display name and profile photo from your Google account if you sign in with Google. | At sign-up |
| Profile | Your name, phone number (optional), country, state, district, taluk and hobli, and your chosen language. | You enter it |
| Farm records | Everything you record in the app: farms, plots and areas, crops and varieties, work entries, workers and worker types, wage rates, payments and arrears, income and expenses, harvests, sales, stock, equipment, rainfall and soil test readings. | You enter it |
| Approximate location | Device location, only if you grant the permission — used to place a farm on the map and to localise weather and seasonal tips. You can use the app without it. | With your permission |
| Diagnostics | Crash reports, performance traces and basic usage events via Firebase Crashlytics, Performance Monitoring and Analytics: device model, OS version, app version, screen names, and a random installation identifier. Your farm records are never sent to these services. | Automatically |
| Push token | A Firebase Cloud Messaging token, so we can send reminders and announcements to your device. | Automatically |
| Feedback | Whatever you write in Settings → Send feedback, plus your account id and app version so we can reply and reproduce the problem. | When you send it |
| Anonymous benchmarks | If you switch on "Share anonymous benchmarks", coarse figures such as regional yield and cost ranges are pooled with other farms. Results are aggregated and suppressed unless enough farms contribute, so no single farm can be identified. This setting is off unless you turn it on. | Optional |
Stored only on your phone
Your app preferences, the biometric or PIN screen lock, and the offline cache of your own records stay on the device. We cannot read them. Uninstalling the app removes them.
3. Why we collect it
- To run the app — your records are the product; without storing them there is nothing to show you.
- To sync across your devices and restore your data if you change phones.
- To fix crashes and slow screens using diagnostic data.
- To answer you when you send feedback or a support request.
- To produce regional benchmarks, but only if you opted in.
We do not sell personal data, and we do not share your farm records with buyers, traders, lenders, insurers or input dealers.
4. Data about your workers
Kritaare lets you record the names of the people who work on your farm, the days they worked and what they were paid. That is personal data about someone other than you.
You decide what to enter about your workers, so for that information you are the one responsible for it under the law. We store and process it on your instructions and for no other purpose. Please only record what you genuinely need for wages and attendance, tell your workers that you keep these records, and do not enter identity numbers, bank details or health information — the app does not ask for them and does not need them.
5. Who else sees it
We use a small number of service providers. They process data on our behalf under their own terms and are not permitted to use it for their own purposes.
- Google Firebase / Google Cloud — authentication, database, file storage, cloud functions, push messaging, crash reporting, performance and analytics. This is where your account and records live.
- OpenStreetMap Foundation — map tiles and place-name lookup. When you open a map or search for a place, your IP address and the map coordinates reach their servers. No account or farm data is sent.
We will also disclose data if the law requires it — a valid court order or a lawful request from an authority — and we will tell you unless we are barred from doing so.
If the app or the business is ever sold or merged, your data may transfer to the new owner. You will be told before that happens and this policy continues to apply until you are given a new one.
6. Where it is stored
Your account and farm records are held in Google Cloud's Mumbai
region (asia-south1), in India. Some diagnostic data —
crash reports, analytics and performance traces — is processed by
Google on servers outside India under Google's own safeguards.
7. How long we keep it
- Your records — for as long as your account is open. Farm history is meant to be kept across seasons, so nothing is auto-deleted with age.
- After you delete your account — removed from the live database straight away, and purged from encrypted backups within 30 days.
- Diagnostics — retained on Google's default schedules, which are between 90 days and 14 months depending on the service.
- Anonymous benchmark figures — kept indefinitely. Once aggregated they are no longer linked to you and cannot be pulled back out.
8. Your rights
Under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 you can:
- Get a copy of your data — Settings → Export produces a file of your records, or write to us.
- Correct anything wrong or out of date — most of it is editable in the app.
- Delete your account and data — see Delete my data.
- Withdraw consent — turn off location or benchmarks in Settings, or revoke the permission in Android.
- Nominate someone to exercise these rights if you die or become incapacitated. Write to us to set this up.
- Complain to us first (section 13), and to the Data Protection Board of India if we do not resolve it.
We answer requests within 30 days. We may ask you to confirm your identity from the email address on the account before we act.
9. Deleting your data
You can ask us to close your account and erase everything in it. The steps, what is removed, what is kept and for how long are set out on the Delete my data page.
10. Security
Data is encrypted in transit and at rest by Google Cloud. Access rules are enforced at the database so one account cannot read another's records. Administrative access is limited to accounts holding an explicit admin credential and is used only for support and abuse handling. The app can be locked with your device biometric or PIN.
No system is perfectly secure. If a breach affects your personal data we will notify you and the Data Protection Board as the law requires.
11. Children
Kritaare is for adults running a farm business. It is not directed at children and we do not knowingly collect data from anyone under 18. If you believe a child has created an account, tell us and we will remove it.
12. Changes
We will update this page when the app changes. The date at the top always reflects the current version. If a change materially affects how we use your data, we will tell you in the app or by email before it takes effect.
13. Contact and grievances
For any privacy question, request or complaint, or to reach the Grievance Officer appointed under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 and the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines) Rules, 2021:
- Grievance Officer: Bishan Kowri
- Email: support@kritaare.com
- Address: Bengaluru, Karnataka, India. The full postal address is available on request — write to the email above and we will provide it.
We acknowledge complaints within 48 hours and resolve them within 30 days.