Privacy policy

Last updated 30 October 2026

Who we are

Nearsight is run by Guardis Ltd, the data controller for the information described here. You can contact us about privacy at blaqwave5@gmail.com.

What we collect

When you create an account

• Sign-in details: your email address and a password (stored only in scrambled, hashed form), or the identifier Apple or Google gives us if you use Sign in with Apple or Google.
• Profile: your display name, an optional profile photo, and the name of your street. Other members of your neighbourhood can see these.
• Private details: your address, postcode and home location. These are never shown to other members. We use them to suggest neighbourhoods near you and to centre the map.
• Consent records: when you accepted this policy and our terms.

When you use Nearsight

• Neighbourhood membership: which groups you belong to, your role, and any join requests.
• Cameras you register: a name, type and brand, an approximate location, which way it faces, its range and field of view, and how long it keeps recordings. By default the pin is moved 15 to 35 metres from where you place it, so your doorstep is never published.
• Incidents you report: what happened, when and roughly where, an optional photo, comments, how it ended, and a police crime reference if you add one.
• Footage requests: requests you send and receive, and how they were answered (shared, nothing relevant, or declined).
• Clips you share: the video file, its file name, size and recording time, an optional note, and a digital fingerprint (SHA-256 hash) that proves the clip hasn't been altered.
• Notifications: a push notification token for your device, your notification preferences, and the notifications we've sent you.
• Safety and audit records: reports you make about content, people you block, and a record of important actions such as clips being shared, viewed, exported or deleted.

From people without an account

A reporter can send a private link to someone who isn't on Nearsight, asking for footage. If that person uploads a clip, we store the clip and any name they choose to give. The link expires after 7 days, and we keep only a scrambled form of it.

What we don't collect

We don't use analytics or advertising tools, we don't track your location in the background, and we never access your camera or its live feed. If you allow location access, your phone uses it to show where you are on the map. It isn't sent to us.

How we use it and why

Under UK data protection law (the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018) we need a lawful reason for each use:

• To provide the service you signed up for (contract): running your account and neighbourhood groups, routing footage requests to nearby cameras, delivering clips you choose to share, and sending notifications.
• To keep the community safe and the service secure (legitimate interests): moderation, blocking, preventing misuse, and keeping a tamper-evident audit trail so everyone can see how clips were handled.
• Where you've agreed (consent): your optional profile photo and push notifications. You can remove the photo or turn notifications off at any time.
• Where the law requires it (legal obligation): responding to valid legal requests.

Clips can show people, vehicles and places. Camera owners decide what to share and are responsible for footage from their own cameras. If your camera covers public space or a neighbour's property, the ICO's guidance on domestic CCTV explains your responsibilities.

Who can see your information

• Members of your neighbourhood see your display name, photo, street, approximate camera pins and the incidents posted there.
• The person who asked for footage sees the clips you choose to share with them, through private links that expire.
• Neighbourhood admins and moderators also see join requests, reports and the group's audit trail.
• The police receive information only if an incident's reporter creates a police export. This is a secure link to the incident details and shared clips, which expires after 14 days and can be revoked earlier.

We never sell your information or share it for advertising.

Service providers

We use a small number of trusted companies to run Nearsight. They process data only on our instructions:

• Supabase: database, file storage, sign-in and account emails. Data is stored in Ireland, in the EU (eu-west-1).
• Expo: relays push notifications to Apple and Google.
• Apple and Google: Sign in with Apple and Google, push notification delivery, and maps on your device.
• Vercel: hosts this website and the web pages used for guest uploads and police exports.
• OpenStreetMap: provides map images on the web page for adding a camera. Your browser fetches them directly, so OpenStreetMap sees your IP address.

Some of these providers may process data outside the UK, for example in the United States. Where they do, we rely on safeguards approved under UK law, such as the UK International Data Transfer Addendum or the UK Extension to the EU–US Data Privacy Framework.

How long we keep it

• Shared clips: deleted automatically 30 days after upload. A clip attached to a police report is kept until that report is released, then deleted within a day.
• Footage requests and guest links: expire after 7 days if not answered.
• Police export links: expire after 14 days.
• Your account and everything you've posted: kept until you delete your account.
• Audit trail entries: kept for the life of the neighbourhood. When you delete your account they're no longer linked to you.

Deleted information may remain in encrypted backups for a short time before it's overwritten.

Deleting your account

Go to Profile → Privacy centre → Delete my account. This permanently removes your profile, private details, cameras, incidents, comments, requests and clips. If you're the only admin of a neighbourhood, admin passes to another member. If there's no one else, the neighbourhood is deleted.

If you no longer have the app, email blaqwave5@gmail.com from the address on your account with the subject "Delete my Nearsight account". We'll delete the same data within 30 days and confirm by email.

Your rights

You have the right to:

• get a copy of your data. Use Download my data in the Privacy centre, or ask us.
• correct inaccurate data. You can edit your profile at any time.
• have your data deleted.
• restrict or object to how we use it.
• move your data elsewhere. The download is a standard JSON file.
• withdraw consent where we rely on it.

To use any of these rights, contact blaqwave5@gmail.com. We'll respond within one month. If you're unhappy with how we've handled your information, you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk or on 0303 123 1113.

Keeping it secure

Data is encrypted in transit. Clips are stored privately and shared only through signed links that expire. Access rules in the database make sure people only see what their role allows. Private links are stored only in scrambled form, and every clip carries a fingerprint so tampering can be detected.

Age

Nearsight is for adults aged 18 and over.

Changes to this policy

If we make significant changes, we'll tell you in the app before they take effect. The date at the top shows when this policy was last updated.