Last updated: June 25, 2026
At a glance — what Mircle collects
- Account data: phone number, name, email (optional), profile photo (optional), role, and channel assignments.
- User-generated content: messages, announcements, photos, videos, documents, calendar events, attendance records, and file submissions.
- Location data (precise GPS): collected only from drivers, only while an active ride is in progress. Includes precise latitude/longitude, accuracy, heading, and speed. Used to share the driver's live location with parents of riding students and the school's teachers. Collected in the background (while the app is not on screen) only when a ride is active, with a persistent system notification visible to the driver. Not collected from parents, teachers, or any other user.
- Device and usage data: device type, OS, app version, push notification token, anonymous crash and usage diagnostics.
Mircle does not sell personal information, does not use it for advertising, and does not share it with anyone outside your organization for marketing.
Introduction
Mircle is a communication and operations platform for schools and similar organizations. We provide messaging, announcements, calendars, photo sharing, document signing, attendance tracking, file requests, and (for organizations that opt in) live ride tracking for student transportation.
This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect, how we use it, with whom we share it, and what choices you have. It applies to the Mircle mobile app (iOS and Android) and the Mircle web application.
Mircle acts as a service provider to the organizations that license it (your school, program, or community group). We process information on their behalf to make Mircle work.
Who We Are
Mircle is operated by Vine Develop. You can contact us at:
Information We Collect
Account information
- Phone number (used as your sign-in identifier; verified via SMS one-time code)
- First and last name
- Email address (optional, used for account recovery and notifications)
- Profile photo (optional)
- Role within your organization (Parent, Manager, Organization Admin, or Super Admin)
- Channel and group assignments (which classes / groups you belong to)
- Birthday (optional)
- Driver-eligibility flag (for staff members who may drive scheduled rides)
Information about students
When you add a student to Mircle as a parent, or when a school admin manages a roster, the following may be stored:
- Student's first and last name
- Birthday
- Channel (class / group) assignment
- Optional photo
- Parent linkages (which Mircle accounts are recognized as the student's parents)
- Optional emergency contact and home address
- Attendance records and absentee report responses
- Documents and forms signed on the student's behalf
- Participation in scheduled rides (which stops a student rides at)
Student information is only ever stored for the organization the student belongs to and is only visible to authorized users in that organization.
Content you create
- Messages you send (private, group, or staff-to-staff)
- Announcements you post (if you are staff)
- Comments and reactions on announcements
- Photos and videos you attach to announcements, calendar events, or messages
- Documents you upload, fill out, sign, or submit
- Calendar events, route templates, and stops you create
- Attendance records you take (if you are staff)
- Reminders, schedules, and other configuration you set up
Support requests
When you submit a question through the in-app Help & Support page, we store the text of your question together with your name, email, role, organization, and the device platform you used, so that we can respond. Your submitted questions and any reply are visible to you and to the administrators of your organization, as well as to Mircle support staff. You can view the status and any reply on the Help & Support page.
Location data — precise GPS, foreground and background
Mircle collects precise location data from drivers only as part of the optional live ride-tracking feature used by organizations that schedule student transportation (school buses, vans, carpools). Location data is not collected from parents, teachers viewing the live map, or any other user. The Android permissions used to enable this are ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION, ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION, ACCESS_BACKGROUND_LOCATION, and FOREGROUND_SERVICE_LOCATION.
What is collected and when
- What: precise GPS coordinates (latitude and longitude), location accuracy, heading, and speed
- When: only while you are an active driver on a ride — from the moment you tap "Start ride" until the ride ends (or up to 10 minutes after the system detects arrival at the final destination)
- Background collection: location is collected even when the Mircle app is in the background or the phone screen is locked, so the live map remains accurate for parents and teachers. While background location is active, the device shows a persistent "Mircle ride active" notification on Android and the blue location indicator on iOS
- Sampling rate: approximately every 5 seconds or every 25 meters of movement, whichever comes first
- Storage: stored ephemerally in Firebase Realtime Database during the ride and wiped about 10 minutes after the ride ends; a compressed route polyline is archived to Firestore for 90 days for audit/dispute review and then deleted
- How to revoke: revoke the location permission for Mircle at any time in your device's system settings; you can also stop the ride at any time using the in-app End or Cancel buttons
Why we use background location: Drivers typically place their phone in a dashboard mount while driving. The screen locks between stops, which would freeze the live map for parents if we used foreground-only access. Background access keeps the map continuously accurate so parents know exactly when the driver is approaching their child's stop. We do not collect location data for any other purpose, and we do not collect it when no ride is active.
Who can see a driver's live location during an active ride:
- Parents whose students are being picked up or dropped off on that specific ride
- Teachers (managers) of the channel the ride belongs to
- Organization admins
- No one outside the driver's school / organization, and no one for whom none of the above applies
A compressed history of the ride's route (the path the driver took, plus arrival times at each stop) is retained for 90 days after the ride ends so the school can review trips in case of a dispute or incident, after which it is automatically deleted.
Push notifications
We store a push notification token issued by Apple Push Notification Service (APNs) or Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM) so we can deliver notifications. You can disable notifications at any time in your device's system settings.
Device and usage information
- Device type, operating system, and language
- Mircle app version
- Crash and error logs (limited to anonymous diagnostic data)
- General usage signals (which pages are visited, time spent, in aggregate) to diagnose problems and improve the app
- IP address (collected automatically by our cloud provider; not used to track individuals)
How We Use Your Information
We use the information we collect only to operate, secure, and improve Mircle:
- Authenticate your account and keep your session secure
- Deliver messages, announcements, calendar updates, and other content to the right people in your organization
- Send you push notifications for messages, announcements, ride status, document reminders, and other events you have opted into
- Operate the ride tracker — collect the driver's location, compute ETAs, fire geofence "arrived at your stop" notifications, archive ride history
- Allow admins to organize their organization (channels, groups, rosters, schedules, documents, attendance)
- Respond to questions you submit through the Help & Support page
- Diagnose and fix bugs, monitor system health
- Protect against abuse, fraud, and security incidents
We do not:
- Sell your personal information to anyone
- Use your data to serve advertising
- Share your data with anyone outside your organization for marketing purposes
- Use student information for any purpose other than supporting the school's communication and operations
How We Share Information
Within your organization
Information you create or upload is shared only with authorized users in your organization, scoped by channel or group:
- Announcements — visible to users in the channels the announcement targets
- Messages — visible only to the conversation's participants (and admins for moderation, if needed)
- Calendar events and event photos — visible to users with access to the event's channel
- Ride live location — visible only to riders' parents, the channel's teachers, and organization admins, only while the ride is active
- Documents and submissions — visible to admins and the submitting parent
- Attendance and absentee records — visible to staff of the relevant channel
- File requests and uploads — visible to admins and the submitting parent
- Support questions — visible to you and your organization's admins (and Mircle support staff)
With service providers
Mircle relies on the following third-party providers to deliver the service. They process information on our behalf under contractual data-protection obligations.
| Provider | Purpose |
|---|
| Google Cloud Platform / Firebase | Hosting, authentication, database (Firestore + Realtime Database), file storage, push notifications, serverless functions. Encrypts data in transit (TLS 1.2+) and at rest (AES-256). |
| Google Maps SDK (Android, iOS, JavaScript) | Renders maps in the ride-tracker views. |
| Google Places API | Address autocomplete when admins set up ride stops. |
| Google Geocoding API | Converts addresses to coordinates for the ride tracker. |
| Apple Push Notification Service / Firebase Cloud Messaging | Delivers push notifications to iOS / Android devices. |
| CloudConvert | Used only when a school admin uploads a Word document that needs PDF conversion for the document-signing feature. |
When required by law
We may disclose information when legally compelled (court order, subpoena, valid government request) or when we believe in good faith that disclosure is necessary to protect the safety of users or the public.
Business transfers
If Mircle is acquired, merged, or transferred, your information may be part of that transaction. We will provide reasonable notice, and any successor will be bound by terms at least as protective as this policy.
Children's Information
Mircle is designed for use by adults — parents and school staff — to manage communication and operations involving children. Students do not have their own Mircle accounts. Children do not sign in, do not see or post content in the app, and do not receive notifications themselves.
Information about students is provided by their parents at signup and by school staff who manage the roster. It is stored only to make the school's use of Mircle work — for example, so the right parent gets the right pickup notification and so attendance is recorded correctly.
If you believe a child under 13 has somehow created a Mircle account, please contact us at support@mircleapp.com and we will remove the account.
Data Retention
| Data | Retained |
|---|
| Account, profile, role, channel and group assignments | While your account is active; deleted on request |
| Messages, announcements, comments, reactions | Until deleted by you or an admin |
| Photos and attachments | Until the post they belong to is deleted |
| Calendar events | Until deleted by an admin |
| Documents and submissions | Until deleted by an admin; subject to your school's policy |
| Ride live location (Realtime Database) | Wiped about 10 minutes after the ride ends |
| Ride route history (path polyline + stop times) | 90 days then auto-deleted |
| Attendance and absentee records | Subject to your school's policy |
| Push notification tokens | While the app is installed on a device |
| Diagnostic logs | Up to 90 days |
You may request earlier deletion at any time. See "Account Deletion" below.
Data Security
Encryption
- In transit: All data between your device and our servers is encrypted using TLS 1.2 or higher (HTTPS).
- At rest: Data stored in Firestore, Realtime Database, and Cloud Storage is encrypted using AES-256 on Google's infrastructure.
- File storage: Photos, videos, and documents live in Google Cloud Storage behind access-controlled download URLs.
Authentication and identity
- Phone-based verification: Mircle accounts are verified through SMS one-time codes via Firebase Authentication.
- Biometric login: You can enable fingerprint or face recognition for device-level security.
- Session management: Authentication tokens are stored securely on the device, rotated automatically, and invalidated on sign-out.
- No passwords stored: Mircle does not store passwords, so there is no password database to leak.
Access control
- Role-based permissions: Each account has a role (Parent, Manager, Organization Admin, or Super Admin) that determines what they can read and write.
- Server-enforced rules: Access is enforced at the database layer with Firebase Security Rules — bypass attempts are rejected by the server.
- Channel-based scoping: Most content is scoped to channels and only visible to users assigned to those channels.
- Organization isolation: Every database query is scoped to your organization; users from one organization cannot access another's data under any circumstances.
Infrastructure
- Google Cloud Platform: Mircle runs on Google Cloud, which holds ISO 27001, SOC 1/2/3, and other certifications; supports 24/7 security monitoring, physical data center security, and DDoS protection.
- Automatic backups and redundancy: Data is replicated across multiple data centers.
- Isolated server functions: Sensitive server-side operations run in Cloud Function sandboxes that are not directly reachable from the internet.
Your Rights
You have the following rights with respect to your personal information. To exercise any of them, contact your organization's administrator or email support@mircleapp.com from the phone number or email associated with your account.
- Access: Request a copy of the personal information we hold about you.
- Correction: Update inaccurate information directly in the app, or ask us to correct it.
- Deletion: Request deletion of your account and associated data.
- Restriction: Ask us to limit how we process certain information.
- Objection: Object to specific processing, such as opting out of non-essential notifications.
- Portability: Request a machine-readable copy of the information you have provided.
- Withdraw consent: Where processing relies on your consent (for example, optional location sharing), you can withdraw it at any time.
We aim to respond within 30 days.
California residents
If you live in California, you have additional rights under the CCPA and CPRA, including the right to know what categories of personal information we collect, the right to delete that information (with limited exceptions), and the right to non-discrimination for exercising your privacy rights. Mircle does not sell personal information.
EU and UK residents
If you live in the European Union or the United Kingdom, our lawful basis for processing your information is generally the performance of the contract you have with your organization, our legitimate interests in running the service, or your consent (for optional features like notifications and location sharing). You have the right to lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority.
Account Deletion
You can request deletion of your Mircle account at any time:
- Email support@mircleapp.com from the phone number or email associated with your account, or
- Ask your organization's administrator to delete your account on your behalf.
We will delete your account and the personal information associated with it within 30 days, subject to legal obligations to retain certain records.
If you are a parent and you delete your account, your linked student remains in the school's roster (the school owns that record). You can also ask the school to remove the student.
International Data Transfers
Mircle is operated from the United States. Information you provide is processed on servers operated by Google Cloud, which may be located in the United States or other countries. By using Mircle, you consent to the transfer of your information to these locations. Where required, we rely on standard contractual clauses or equivalent safeguards.
Changes to This Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we make material changes, we will announce them through an in-app notice and update the "Last updated" date at the top of this page. Continued use of Mircle after the update constitutes acceptance of the revised policy.
Contact Us
If you have questions about this Privacy Policy, our security practices, or your data: