Verandah is the village social app, based in Melbourne. We run it for the company that operates your community (“your operator”). We do not sell information, and we do not use it for advertising.
What we keep
Account: name, email, and which community you belong to.
What you choose to share: who’s who (photo, street, interests), photos, comments, messages, poll votes and room bookings.
Activities: which ones you say you will be at, and which you attended. The host can mark attendance, including for people who never open the app.
Lifts: lifts you offer or take, and when.
The office: maintenance reports, questions, and other notes you send.
Family: if you invite someone to follow you, their name and email.
Mobile: only if you add it for texts, or the office adds it to the phone list with agreement.
Village companies and local shops: the name, email and phone of the person who signs up, the business or company name, and when you accepted our Service Agreement.
Payments: card payments are handled by Stripe. We see the plan, the amount and whether it was paid. We never see or store full card numbers.
Technical: notifications you allow, and basic logs that keep the app working and secure.
We do not collect health information. We do not track your location.
Why
To run the app: what’s on, who’s going, and so you can join in.
So staff can see who has stopped coming, and say hello. That is about staying connected. It is not health or safety monitoring.
To send reminders and notices from your village office.
To give your operator anonymous totals, such as how many activities ran.
Who can see it
Neighbours in the same village see what you choose to share, and that you are going to an activity.
Staff and head office see attendance and who has gone quiet. Other residents do not.
Messages stay between the people in them. If someone reports a message, the office sees a copy.
Maintenance and questions: you and staff.
Family only see what you turn on. Never messages. Never neighbours.
Other villages cannot see anything about you.
Where it lives
Records are stored in Australia (Sydney) with our database provider, Supabase. The app runs on Vercel. Email is sent by Resend. Texts are sent by ClickSend. Card payments are processed by Stripe. Some of that processing can happen outside Australia, including in the United States. We pick providers that protect information to a similar standard as the Australian Privacy Principles.
How long
While you are part of a Verandah community. If you leave, or the village stops using Verandah, we delete our copy within 30 days except what the law requires us to keep. The operator gets an export of their community’s records.
Your choices
See, correct or download what we hold: ask the office, or email us.
Choose what neighbours see on who’s who.
Turn off notifications on your phone at any time.
Delete your account in Settings. It happens straight away.
If something goes wrong
If a data breach is likely to cause serious harm, we will tell you and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC), as the law requires.
Questions
Email hello@verandahapp.com.au. We will reply within 30 days. If you are not satisfied, you can complain to the OAIC at oaic.gov.au or on 1300 363 992.