Privacy Policy

Last updated: October 16, 2026 (version 2026-10-16.4)

OnTheBlock ("the app") is operated by Scott Ellis, doing business as OnTheBlock ("we", "us"). Homeowners associations, condo associations and similar communities ("HOAs") use it to run private spaces for their residents. This policy explains what we collect, how it's used and shared, and the choices you have. It covers the OnTheBlock mobile app, the web app at app.ontheblockapp.com and the website at ontheblockapp.com.

The short version: we collect what's needed to run your HOA's private space. We don't sell your information, show ads, or track you across other apps or websites. Your HOA's board can see the information needed to confirm you live there and to run the HOA. You can delete your account at any time.

#1. What we collect

Information you give us

• Account: your name, email address, password (stored securely by Google Firebase; we never see it), street address, and optional phone number.
• Profile picture: if you add one, everyone in your HOAs can see it.
• Neighbor directory: only if you turn it on, the phone number, email and/or address you choose to show to your neighbors. You can turn each one off at any time.
• Messages and posts: messages and photos you send in the neighborhood chat or direct messages, announcements and events, reports you file, and confirmations that you saw an alert.
• Neighborhood alerts: alerts you send or request, including the text, type, an optional photo, and your confirmation that you're responsible for it.
• Maintenance requests: the category, title, description, location and photos you send, and updates on the request.
• Architectural requests: the project type, description, start date, contractor, your home address, photos, and the board's questions and decisions.
• Pet directory: if you add a pet: its name, type, breed, color, notes you write, and an optional photo, with your name as the owner.
• Gate access requests: the dates and times, reason, number of guests or workers and vehicles, guest or company names, vehicle description, your phone number and address, and any details you write.
• HOA information (from the board): the HOA's name, city and state, board positions and permissions, documents (such as bylaws and minutes), meetings, calendar entries, dues settings, and the HOA's contact email.
• Settings: who can message you, which chats you've muted, hidden or read, alerts you've cleared, whether you want email alerts, and which version of these policies you agreed to and when.
• Support emails: anything you send us at support@ontheblockapp.com.

Payment information

• HOA membership with HOA billing: Stripe collects the card or bank details; we never see or store full card or bank numbers. We receive and keep the HOA's name, the billing email address, the plan, invoice and payment status, and Stripe's customer and subscription IDs.
• HOA membership with an Apple ID or Google account: Apple or Google handles the payment. We receive a record that the subscription is active (through RevenueCat) and the name of the person who subscribed, not their card details.
• HOA dues: Stripe collects your card or bank details on the HOA's behalf; we never see full card or bank numbers. We and your HOA's board members with billing access see your name, home address, the amount, date, method (card or bank) and status of each payment, plus payments the board records for your home (check, cash, waived). The HOA's own Stripe account keeps its payment records under Stripe's privacy policy. When an HOA sets up dues collection, Stripe collects the information it requires about the HOA and its representative directly; we only receive whether the account is ready to take payments.

Information collected automatically

• Device information: a push notification token, your device type (iPhone, Android or web) and app version, so we can deliver notifications and fix problems.
• Service records: our hosting providers keep standard technical logs (such as IP address, time and error details) for security and troubleshooting.
• HOA size: we count the different home addresses among each HOA's approved residents to choose the right membership plan. Only the number of homes is used for this.
• Audit log: for each HOA, we record important board actions (for example approving residents, changing permissions, billing changes, and support views) with who did them and when.

What we don't collect

We don't collect your location, contacts, health information, or advertising identifiers, and we don't use analytics or advertising trackers. The app uses your camera or photo library only when you choose to add a photo, and only uploads the photos you pick. The website and web app use only the storage needed to keep you signed in; they don't use advertising or tracking cookies.

#2. How we use it

• To create and secure your account and keep you signed in.
• To let your HOA's board confirm you live in the neighborhood (board members allowed to approve residents can see your name, street address, email and phone).
• To deliver messages, announcements, events, alerts (by push notification and, if you turn it on, email), and updates on your requests.
• To email you messages from your HOA's board: announcements the board chooses to email, and emails the board sends to all residents. These come from "[HOA name] via OnTheBlock", and replies go to the HOA's contact email. You can turn them off in Account → Email me board messages.
• To run HOA features your board turns on: the calendar, documents, meetings, pet directory, gate access, maintenance and architectural requests, and dues.
• To keep the community safe: reviewing reported content, preventing spam and abuse, and enforcing our Terms.
• To run HOA memberships: billing, matching the plan to the HOA's size, and sending billing notices (renewal reminders and plan changes) to the HOA's president and board members with billing access. Everyone in an HOA is notified if its membership ends.
• To answer support requests, fix problems, and improve the app.
• To meet legal, tax and accounting obligations.

We don't use your information for advertising, and we don't make automated decisions about you that have legal or similarly significant effects.

#3. Who can see what in your HOA

• Everyone in your HOA can see your name, profile picture, messages in the group chat, announcements, events, the calendar, documents, meeting details, approved pets (never your address), and maintenance requests and their updates.
• Your neighbor directory details (phone, email, address) are visible to everyone in your HOA only if you choose to share them.
• Your household: each resident's page shows the names of the other residents at the same street address, so neighbors can see who lives together. The address itself isn't shown unless someone shares it. Your page also shows your recent posts, your messages in the neighborhood group chat (which everyone in the HOA can already see) and your approved pets.
• Direct messages are visible only to the people in the conversation, and to the HOA's board if someone reports a message.
• Architectural requests are visible only to you and board members who handle requests.
• Gate requests and any code sent to you are visible only to you and board members who manage the gate.
• Board members with the right permissions can see what they need for their role: residents' addresses, emails and phones for approvals; dues payments for billing; alerts and reports for moderation; and the HOA's audit log.

#4. Sharing

We don't sell your personal information or share it for cross-context behavioral advertising. We share information only:

• With your HOA, as described above.
• With service providers who run the app for us and may use it only to provide their service:
  • Google Firebase and Google Cloud (accounts, database, file storage, server code, and hosting our website);
  • Expo (push notification delivery);
  • Apple and Google (app stores, push notifications and in-app purchases);
  • Stripe (HOA membership billing and HOA dues payments);
  • RevenueCat (Apple and Google subscription status);
  • Resend (sending alert emails and other emails from the app);
  • GoDaddy (our domain and support email).
• For support access. To provide support, fix problems, keep the service secure and enforce our Terms, the OnTheBlock owner can open a read-only view of an HOA's information, protected by a separate owner password. Each support view is recorded in that HOA's audit log, which its president can see. Private direct messages between residents are not shown in the support view. Support can only make changes if the HOA's president allows it in the app, for up to 2 hours at a time, and that is recorded in the audit log too.
• For legal reasons, if we believe in good faith it's required by law, a court order or a valid legal request, or needed to protect someone's safety, or our rights or the rights of others.
• If the business changes hands, as part of a sale or transfer of the app, in which case this policy continues to apply to your information.
• With your permission, in any other case.

#5. Keeping and deleting your data

• Your account: you can delete your account at any time in Account → Delete my account. This removes your profile, address, phone, profile picture, neighbor directory details, message settings, read and mute status, your pets and their photos, and device tokens.
• What may remain after you delete your account: messages you sent may remain visible to their recipients; content you posted to your HOA (such as announcements, maintenance requests and architectural decisions) may stay as part of the HOA's records; and dues and billing records (invoices and payment history) are kept as long as tax and accounting laws require, usually seven years.
• Pending requests: you can delete a maintenance request you reported until the board schedules it, and an architectural request until the board decides it. The request's photos and messages are deleted with it.
• Leaving an HOA: when you leave or are removed from an HOA, you lose access to it, and your directory details and profile picture for that HOA are removed.
• HOAs: when an HOA's president deletes the HOA, its content is deleted, except billing records kept as described above. If an HOA's membership ends, its content is kept for at least 12 months so it can come back when renewed; after that, we may delete it after emailing the president at least 30 days before. The president can ask us to delete it sooner.
• Backups: deleted information may stay in backups for up to 30 days before it's overwritten.
• To ask us to delete anything else, email support@ontheblockapp.com.

#6. Your choices and rights

• In the app you can update your name, phone and profile picture; turn neighbor directory sharing on or off; choose who can message you; mute, hide and block; turn email alerts and board emails on or off; turn off push notifications in your phone's settings; and delete your account.
• Your rights. Depending on where you live (for example California, Washington, Colorado, Virginia and other US states with privacy laws), you may have the right to ask us what personal information we have about you, to get a copy, to correct it, to delete it, and to opt out of its sale or use for targeted advertising (we don't do either). To make a request, email support@ontheblockapp.com from the email on your account. We'll confirm your identity, answer within 45 days, and won't treat you differently for using your rights. You may use an authorized agent with your written permission. If we deny your request, you can appeal by replying to our answer, and we'll respond within 45 days.
• Information your HOA controls. Some information, like the HOA's documents, meeting minutes, architectural decisions and dues records, belongs to your HOA's records. For those, we may refer you to your HOA's board, which decides what to keep under its own rules and the law.
• Global Privacy Control and "Do Not Track." We don't sell or share personal information for advertising or track you across sites, so there's nothing to opt out of; we treat these signals as an opt-out anyway.

#7. Security

We protect your information with encryption in transit (HTTPS), encryption at rest by Google Cloud, security rules that limit each person to the information their role allows, and a separate owner password with automatic lockout for support access. No system is perfectly secure. If a breach affects your personal information, we'll notify you and the authorities as the law requires. Keep your password private and tell us right away at support@ontheblockapp.com if you think your account has been misused.

#8. Children

The app is for adults 18 and older, and isn't directed to children. We don't knowingly collect information from anyone under 18. If you believe a child has created an account, email support@ontheblockapp.com and we'll delete it.

#9. Where your information is kept

OnTheBlock is run from the United States, and your information is stored and processed in the United States. The app is meant for HOAs in the United States.

#10. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy. If a change is meaningful, the app asks you to agree to the new version before you keep using it, and we'll show the new "Last updated" date here.

#11. Contact

Scott Ellis, doing business as OnTheBlock
Olympia, Washington, USA
support@ontheblockapp.com

See also our Terms of Service. Questions? Email support@ontheblockapp.com.