In short. We collect only what a society needs to run its gate, safety and maintenance. We do not sell your data, we do not track your phone's location, and we do not process card or bank payments. You can ask us to correct or delete your data at contact@urbangate.in.
1. Who we are
UrbanGate is a society management app and web panel operated by DarkHorse Link Private Limited, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India ("UrbanGate", "we", "us"). You can reach us at contact@urbangate.in.
Two parties are involved when you use UrbanGate:
- Your society (its committee or association) decides who lives there, who may enter and what is billed. For the records of its residents, visitors, staff and maintenance, the society decides why and how the data is used.
- UrbanGate provides the software and keeps the data on the society's behalf. We decide how to run and secure the service and we are responsible for the account data we hold to let you sign in and use the app.
2. Who this policy covers
It covers residents (owners, tenants, family members), security guards, society staff and committee members who use the app or the web panel, visitors whose details a guard or resident records, and people who contact us through this website.
3. What we collect
| Data | Examples | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Account | Name, mobile number, role, preferred language, the society and flat you are linked to | To sign you in and show you the right society and screens |
| Society records | Blocks and flats, household members, tenancies, domestic and society staff, committee roles | To run the society |
| Visitors | Name, mobile number, photo, purpose, flat visited, vehicle number, entry and exit times, who approved | Gate security and entry history |
| Vehicles | Registration number, type, insurance and PUC dates, QR sticker | Gate checks and expiry reminders |
| Emergencies and tasks | SOS type, message, who raised it and who responded; guard task runs and who marked them done | Safety and accountability |
| Complaints and helpdesk | The text and any attachment you submit, replies and status | To handle your request |
| Maintenance | Bills, payments you report (amount, date, mode, reference), approvals, receipts, society expenses | Billing and accounts of the society |
| Audit log | Who approved, changed or reversed what, and when | Security and trust in the records |
| Device and notifications | A push notification token, the device type, app version | To deliver alerts to your phone |
| Usage analytics | Screens opened, role, society ID and user ID. Never what you type | To fix problems and improve the app |
| Website enquiries | What you write in the contact form and your email, sent to us by your own email app | To reply to you |
We do not collect your phone's GPS location, your contacts, your photos beyond the ones you choose to attach, government ID numbers, or card and bank account details.
4. App permissions
The app asks for these permissions and uses each only for the reason given. You can change them in your phone's settings. Some features stop working if you refuse.
- Notifications. To deliver visitor requests, SOS alerts, guard tasks, notices and maintenance updates.
- Full-screen alerts and display over other apps. So that a visitor request, SOS or guard task can open on a locked or busy phone.
- Camera. Only when you scan a QR code or take a photo, for example of a walk-in visitor. It is not asked for when the app starts.
- Microphone. Only when you choose to dictate text by voice. UrbanGate does not record or keep audio.
5. How we use data
- To provide the service: sign-in, visitor approval, alerts, billing, receipts, notices and support.
- To keep the service and the society safe: preventing misuse, finding faults and keeping a record of who did what.
- To send service messages such as one-time codes, visitor and SOS alerts and payment updates. We do not send advertising through the app.
- To meet legal obligations and to answer lawful requests from authorities.
We do not sell personal data and do not use it to show third-party ads.
6. Who can see your data
Inside your society
Access depends on role. A resident sees their own home, household, vehicles, dues and receipts. A guard sees what the gate needs, such as visitors and vehicle lookups. Committee members and society administrators see what their permissions allow. Owners see their flat's maintenance, and a tenant does not see an owner's dues.
Service providers
We use trusted providers to run the service. They handle data only to provide their service to us:
- Google Firebase (Cloud Messaging for push notifications, and Analytics for usage statistics).
- MSG91 (sending one-time codes and service SMS).
- Our hosting provider (the servers where the data is stored).
Legal reasons
We may share data when the law requires it, or to protect people's safety, for example in response to a valid request from the police or a court.
7. How long we keep data
- Account and society records are kept while your society uses UrbanGate and you remain linked to it.
- Visitor entries, SOS records and audit logs are kept as the society's security record, for as long as the society needs them.
- Maintenance bills, payments and receipts are kept for the society's accounts and are not removed when a payment is reversed. A reversal is recorded as a separate entry.
- In-app notifications are cleared automatically after a fixed period.
- One-time codes expire within minutes.
When data is no longer needed, we delete it or make it anonymous. Backups are overwritten on their normal cycle.
8. Your rights
Under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 and other applicable Indian law you can ask us to:
- tell you what personal data of yours we hold and why;
- correct data that is wrong or incomplete;
- erase your data, subject to what we must or may keep (see account deletion);
- withdraw consent you gave, for example for notifications, which you can also switch off on your phone;
- nominate someone to exercise your rights if you cannot.
Write to contact@urbangate.in from the email you registered or with your registered mobile number and society so we can confirm it is you. For records that belong to your society, such as flat ownership or maintenance entries, we may ask the society office to confirm or make the change.
9. Grievances
If you have a complaint about how your data is handled, write to our grievance contact at contact@urbangate.in with the subject "Privacy grievance". We acknowledge complaints promptly and aim to resolve them within 30 days. If you are not satisfied, you may complain to the Data Protection Board of India once it is operational.
10. How we protect data
- Connections to UrbanGate are encrypted (HTTPS).
- Sign-in uses a one-time code to your mobile number. We do not store passwords.
- Each society's data is kept separate and access is checked on the server for every request.
- Committee members have only the permissions they need and their actions are logged.
No online service is completely secure. If a breach affects your data, we will tell you and the authorities as the law requires.
11. Children
UrbanGate is not directed at children. Children may appear in society records as household members, added by a parent, guardian or the society office. We process such data only for running the society and with the consent of the child's parent or guardian.
12. This website
This website does not use advertising or tracking cookies. It stores your light or dark theme choice in your browser. The contact form opens your own email app, so we receive nothing until you send the email.
13. Changes to this policy
We will update this page when our practices change and change the date at the top. If a change is significant, we will also tell users in the app.
14. Contact
DarkHorse Link Private Limited
Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India
Email: contact@urbangate.in