Privacy Policy

1. Summary

Area is operated by Area Swipe Ltd. It is designed to let you browse Malta homes (rent, rooms, and buy) without signing up. The area.casa website has no user accounts at all. In the mobile app, creating an account is optional and only needed for favorites, messaging, and publishing listings. We never ask for payment details to use the public product. This policy covers both the website and the Area mobile app.

2. On the website

The only user-specific data the website stores in your browser is your favorites list, kept in local storage under the key area:favorites. This is a list of listing IDs you chose to save. It stays on your device and is not sent to our servers as part of normal browsing.

• You can remove favorites at any time inside the app.
• Clearing site data in your browser removes this list.
• We do not use local storage for advertising profiles or cross-site tracking.
• No registration forms, no newsletter sign-up, no payment processing.

3. In the app: optional account data

If you sign in (with email, Google, Apple, or TikTok), we store your email address, username, display name, and avatar to operate your profile. You can optionally save a WhatsApp number; it stays private until you choose to send it in a chat. Listings you publish are stored with their photos and video while they are live. Authentication is handled by Clerk, our sign-in provider. You can delete your account from the Profile screen at any time. That removes your account, profile, live listings, and later messages. Price, size, and location from listings you posted stay as anonymized market facts — they are not tied to your name.

4. In the app: messages

Chats are stored on our servers so we can deliver them. Your messages are visible to the other participant in the conversation. If you report a conversation or write to Support, we may read those messages to help. Announcement threads from @area are one-way service messages. Deleting a conversation hides it from your inbox; deleting your account removes your messages.

5. In the app: push notifications

If you grant notification permission, we store a push token for your device (via Expo's notification service) so we can notify you about new messages, your listing going live, and Area announcements. The token is removed when you sign out, and you can disable notifications at any time in your device settings.

6. In the app: analytics

The app uses Mixpanel, hosted on EU servers, to understand how it is used (screens viewed, swipes, feature usage) so we can improve it. Once you sign in, this usage data is linked to your account ID. We also use AppsFlyer to measure app installs. The website does not run third-party analytics. We do not sell your data and we do not use it for third-party advertising.

7. Server and technical data

Like most apps and websites, our hosting infrastructure may process technical information needed to deliver the service, such as IP address, device/browser type, requested URLs, and timestamps in server logs. We use this for security, debugging, and performance—not to build marketing profiles.

8. Third-party sources and links

Listing content originates from external platforms. When you follow a listing to its source, that third party may collect data under its own privacy policy. Area does not control those services.

9. Maps and media

Some features load map tiles or images from external providers (for example Geoapify for maps, and photo URLs from listing sources or our CDN). Those requests go directly from your device to the relevant provider.

10. Your choices

• Stop using Area at any time.
• Clear browser local storage or app data to delete saved favorites and drafts.
• Turn push notifications off in your device settings.
• Delete conversations from your inbox, including Area announcement threads.
• Delete your account from the Profile screen in the app. Your profile, live listings, and messages go away. Price, size, and location stay as anonymized market facts.

11. Changes

If our practices change, we will update this page. Material changes will be reflected in the "Last updated" date above.