Last updated: 14 October 2026
RURU Astrology ("we", "our", "the app") is a Vedic astrology, Panchangam calendar, and temple pilgrimage guide app published by RURU ASTRO TECH Private Limited. This policy explains what information the app collects, why, and how you can control it.
| Category | What, and why |
|---|---|
| Account info | When you sign in with Google, we receive your name, email address, and profile photo, used to identify your account and personalize the app. |
| Birth profile data | Birth date, time, and place you enter for yourself and any family/friends you add, used to calculate Panchangam, astrology charts, and readings. This data is stored so you don't have to re-enter it. |
| Location | With your permission, your device's coarse or precise location is used to calculate local sunrise/sunset, muhurta timings, and nearby temples. You can decline this and set a location manually instead. |
| Phone number (optional) | If you choose to add a phone number, it's used to help friends find you or to enable "find friends from your contacts." When you add a number, the choice is shown to you and "Everyone who has my number" is selected until you change it: people who already have your number in their contacts can then find your RURU account with "find friends from your contacts" (only a one-way hash of the number is stored for that, and the number itself is not shown to them). You can instead choose "Friends only", so that only your accepted friends can see it (to call or message you) and nobody finds you with it, or keep it private to your account. You can change this at any time in the Privacy settings. We never fill in your number for you; you type it, and you can remove it at any time. Numbers are not verified by SMS. |
| Email discovery (optional) | People who already know your email address can find your account only if you turn on "Let people find me by email" (off unless you turn it on). Your address is never shown to them. |
| Email shown to friends (optional) | Off unless you turn on "Show my email to friends" in Privacy settings. While it is on, the friends you have accepted can see your Google account email address on your profile; it is never shown to anyone else, and turning the setting off removes it. |
| Public directory | When you are signed in, your name, profile photo and a short handle made from your name are listed in a directory that other signed-in RURU users can search, so friends can find you. A devotee group appears there only if you add one. |
| Birth details shared with friends | Sharing your birth chart with friends is a core purpose of RURU, so "Friends can import my birth details" (Profile tab) is on by default for everyone who has not turned it off. While it is on, your own birth date, time and place (and profile photo) can be read by your accepted friends so they can add your chart. You are told once when it is switched on by default, you can turn it off at any time (which removes the shared copy), and it is never shown to anyone who is not your friend. |
| Birth star tag | While birth sharing is on, one number identifying your birth star and pada is added to your public directory entry. It lets other signed-in RURU users see a short quality tag (for example, on a friend request). It does not contain your birth date, time or place. Turning birth sharing off removes it. |
| Leaderboard | Your name, points, streak and temple count appear on the public leaderboard only if you turn on "Show me on the leaderboard" (off unless you turn it on). Your friends can see your entry in the friends ranking. |
| Messages and reports | Messages you send in direct and group chats are stored so they can be delivered. If you or someone else reports a chat or a group message, the last 30 messages of that conversation are attached to the report so our moderators can review it. |
| Contacts (optional) | If you use "find friends from your contacts," phone numbers from your device's contact list are hashed on your device and checked against our records — we never see or store your contacts' actual names or raw numbers. RURU asks only for permission to read contacts (never to change them), after an explanation in the app. Nothing from your contact list is stored. This requires your explicit permission and can be declined. |
| Photos | Profile photos, temple photos you choose to upload, and photos attached to community posts, used to personalize your profile and the temple community gallery. A photo you share with "Friends only" is protected by a private, unguessable link that the app gives to your friends; anyone who has that link can open the photo, so a friend could pass it on, and a link a friend has already received keeps working after you remove them as a friend. Deleting the post (or the photo) removes it. |
| Usage & app activity | Temple visits you log, readings you view, questions you ask RURU AI, and similar in-app activity, used to power features like your visit passport, XP/streaks, and daily horoscope. |
| Error reports, crash reports & analytics | When the app hits an error, a report (the error message, the app screen and the device type, with email addresses and long numbers masked) is sent to us so we can fix it. On Android, crashes are reported through Firebase Crashlytics. Firebase Analytics records which screens of the app are opened (the screen's name only, never its address or your data), to see which features are used. |
| Your own Gemini API key (optional, premium) | If you choose to use your own Google Gemini key for RURU AI, it is checked with Google, then encrypted (AES-256-GCM) and stored on our server where no app user can read it back, including you. It is used only to answer your own RURU AI questions, and you can remove it at any time on the RURU AI screen. |
| Purchase data | If you buy lifetime premium, purchase and entitlement information is processed by Google Play and RevenueCat to confirm and activate your purchase. We do not see or store your payment card details. |
| Ad & device identifiers | The app shows optional rewarded and interstitial ads via Google AdMob, which may use advertising identifiers to serve and measure ads. See Google's own policy below for how AdMob handles this. |
We do not sell your personal data. Information is shared only with the third-party services listed above, strictly to provide the features they power. With other RURU users it is shared as described above: your directory entry (name, photo, handle) with signed-in users; your birth details with accepted friends while that setting is on; your email address with accepted friends only if you turn on "Show my email to friends"; your leaderboard entry if you turn it on; posts with the audience you choose (friends, or the public Festival feed after review); and reported conversations and reported posts with our moderators.
Data is stored using Firebase's security infrastructure, protected by access rules that restrict who can read or write each piece of data, and by Firebase App Check to help ensure requests come from the genuine app.
We collect and use your personal data on the basis of your consent, for the purposes described above. Under India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 you may ask us to give you a summary of the data we hold about you, to correct or complete it, and to erase it; you may withdraw consent at any time (for example by turning off birth sharing, removing your phone number, or deleting your account); and you may nominate another person to exercise these rights for you. To use any of these rights or to raise a complaint, write to customercare@ruruastro.com with "Privacy request" in the subject; this address is our grievance contact for personal data. We will reply to you at the email you write from.
Readings, tags and timings in RURU are offered for guidance and tradition. They are not a substitute for medical, legal or financial advice, and they are not a prediction of certain events. How the calculations are made is explained in the app under Profile → How we calculate.
RURU is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, please contact us and we will remove it.
We may update this policy from time to time. Material changes will be reflected by updating the "Last updated" date above.