Privacy Policy
The Spanish version (Aviso de privacidad) is the primary version. If the two differ, the Spanish version prevails.
1. Who is responsible for your data
The La Fila: The Border app ("La Fila", "the app") is developed and operated by La Fila, California, USA. For any privacy matter, email contact@lafilaapp.com.
This policy explains what data La Fila collects, what it is used for, who it is shared with, how long it is kept and how to exercise your rights. It covers the iPhone app and the servers that run it.
2. Summary
- Your location is processed only on your phone. Coordinates are never sent to our servers or to third parties; we only receive the result: that you arrived at the port of entry or left it, and when.
- Your username, avatar, reports, comments and photos are public to other users.
- We do not sell your personal data and the app shows no ads. We use Meta's SDK only to measure which La Fila ads work (section 14).
- You can delete your account in the app at any time.
3. Data we collect
Account
- The email address, name and profile photo Google or Apple provides when you sign in, stored in Firebase Authentication to identify your account and let you sign in. They are linked to your account and not shown to other users.
- Internal identifiers: an account id and a Firebase id.
- The username and avatar you choose. They are public.
- Sign-in method, report count (your contributor tier, public), account status and plan (free or La Fila Pro).
- Your settings, for example whether you want the monthly recap.
Content you post
- Wait-time reports: lane, estimated wait, whether you saw a "gaviota", how far the line reaches, and the time.
- Text: comments on reports, replies, and descriptions you type (for example, where the line or the gaviota is).
- Photos you add to reports or comments. Before storing them we remove all metadata (EXIF, including GPS location, XMP and IPTC). Photos are deleted automatically after 14 days.
- Likes, users you block and content you flag as inappropriate.
Your crossings and personal tools
- Crossing timer ("Mi cruce"): lane, start and end time, total minutes, and whether the end was detected by the app or tapped by you.
- Saved routes and wait-time alerts you set up.
- Crossing goals (La Fila Pro): lane, the time you need to be across, and weekdays.
- My documents: we only store the document type (for example, passport or SENTRI) and its expiration date, to remind you when to renew it. We never ask for or store document numbers, photos, copies or any other information shown on your documents. You can delete this information at any time from the app.
- Monthly and yearly recaps computed from your crossings.
Notifications and devices
- The push notification token of each device you sign in on, with its platform and app version.
- The history of notifications we sent you and whether you read them.
La Fila Pro subscription
- The purchase records Apple sends us: transaction ids, product, purchase, expiration or cancellation dates, and Apple's signed transaction (which includes price, currency and storefront country).
- A random identifier the app gives Apple at purchase, to link the purchase to your account.
- We do not receive or store your card details; Apple processes payment.
La Fila assistant
- When you ask «Pregúntale a La Fila» a question, we send your question and, only when the question needs it, minimal account data (for example, your documents' type and expiry date, your saved routes or your crossing times) to our AI provider, Anthropic, to generate the answer. We don't store your conversations and we don't send your name, email or identifiers. Answers are informational, cite their source and are not legal, immigration or customs advice. We only keep how many questions you asked today (for the daily limit) and usage totals without user data.
- Please do not include personal data (names, document numbers, addresses or phone numbers) in your questions.
Technical data
- Server logs keep your IP address, device or browser type, the request made (some request paths include your account id) and the time, for 30 days, to operate and protect the service.
- Our database does not store IP addresses: to limit abuse we use a keyed hash of the IP that cannot be reversed.
- Crash reports (Firebase Crashlytics, in released versions of the app only): device model, operating system version, app version and the technical details of the error (stack trace). They are linked to a random installation identifier, not to your account.
- When you visit lafilaapp.com, Firebase Hosting (Google) logs your IP address, browser, the page requested and the time, to serve and protect the site.
4. Data we do NOT collect
- Your location coordinates. The app uses your location only on your phone to detect when you arrive at the port of entry and when you leave it, including in the background while a crossing timer is running. Coordinates are never sent to our servers or to third parties; we only send the result (arrived or left) and the time. You can deny or limit location access in Settings › Privacy & Security › Location Services › La Fila and keep using the app; you then mark your crossing by hand.
- Identity document numbers or images.
- Payment data (Apple handles it).
- Phone number, contacts, browsing history or health data. Your device's advertising identifier (IDFA) is shared with Meta only if you allow it in Apple's prompt (section 14).
Keep in mind that text you write (for example, "the line reaches the CFE") is public and can describe a place.
5. How we use your data
We use your data only to make the app work:
- to create and maintain your account, and show your username and avatar next to what you post;
- to show community wait times and compute predictions and recaps;
- for the crossing timer, routes, alerts, goals and document reminders;
- to send the notifications you turned on;
- to activate and renew La Fila Pro;
- to answer your questions in the assistant;
- to moderate content, prevent abuse and keep the service secure;
- to translate what the community posts: when a report, post or comment is posted, Google Cloud Translation automatically detects the language its text is written in. If you tap “See translation”, that comment's text is sent to Google Cloud Translation to translate it; we store the translation so it isn't repeated.
All of these purposes are primary: they are needed to provide the service. We have one secondary purpose: measuring which La Fila ads work, with Meta's SDK (section 14). It is not needed for the service, and you can limit it in Apple's "Allow Tracking" prompt, in iOS Settings or in La Fila › Profile › Settings › Privacy › Ad privacy. We do not use your data for commercial profiling and we do not sell it.
6. Who we share data with
We use service providers that process data on our behalf to run the app. We do not sell them data.
| Provider | Purpose | What data |
|---|---|---|
| Google Firebase | Sign-in, push notifications, photo storage, crash reporting (Crashlytics) and hosting of the lafilaapp.com website | Sign-in email, name and profile photo; device token and the text of each notification; photos (without metadata); crash reports with an installation identifier; website visit logs with IP |
| Google Cloud | App servers and logs; automated review of photos (SafeSearch) and text (Natural Language) for content moderation; language detection and translation of text (Cloud Translation) | Logs with IP (30 days); each photo before it is stored; the text of comments and the latest assistant question; the text of reports, posts and comments to detect its language, and the text you ask to translate |
| Supabase | Database | The app data described in this policy |
| Anthropic | La Fila assistant | The conversation the app sends, public wait-time data and, only when the question needs it, minimal account data (document type and expiry, saved routes, crossing times). No account id, username, email or location |
| Apple | La Fila Pro purchases and iPhone notifications (APNs) | Purchase records; the random purchase identifier; the text of each notification |
| Meta (Facebook) | Measuring La Fila ads (Meta SDK) | App events (app open, account creation, first report, trial or subscription start with price and currency) and technical device data (model, iOS version and IP address); the IDFA only if you allow it. No name, email, comments or GPS location |
| Resend | Sending internal moderation alerts | Type of flagged content, the author's username and up to 200 characters of the text. No account ids |
| Zoho Mail | Support and moderation email (contact@lafilaapp.com) | Emails you send us and the moderation alerts we receive |
| CBP, Caltrans, U.S. Department of State, MTS, OpenWeather, EIA and news sources | Fetching public data (official wait times, closures, advisories, trolley, weather, gas prices, news) | None. We only download public information; no user data is sent |
We may also disclose data when required by law or to protect the safety of users or the service.
Your data is processed in the United States: the Supabase database is in the AWS us-west-1 region (Northern California), and our servers, logs and photos are in the Google Cloud us-west1 region (Oregon). Firebase Authentication, Cloud Messaging, Crashlytics and Hosting are Google services that run on Google's global infrastructure. These providers act as processors and handle the data only to provide their services to us.
7. What is public
Your username, avatar, contributor tier, reports, comments and photos are visible to other La Fila users. "How far the line reaches" descriptions may also appear, without your name, in other La Fila Pro users' goal notifications. Do not post personal data about yourself or others.
8. Lock-screen notifications
Notifications can show on the lock screen the document type and when it expires, lanes and your crossing plans, and they pass through Google's and Apple's services to reach your phone. To hide them, on iPhone go to Settings › Notifications › La Fila › Show Previews and choose "When Unlocked" or "Never", or turn off the alert types you don't want in the app.
9. How long we keep data
| Data | How long |
|---|---|
| Report and comment photos | Deleted after 14 days (90 at most) |
| Report text (comment, how far the line reaches, place typed for "Other", gaviota location) | 90 days, or sooner if you delete the report or your account |
| Reports (lane, wait, gaviota yes/no, time) | Kept for predictions; anonymized, without text or photo, when you delete your account |
| Comments | Until you delete them or your account |
| Stored translations | 90 days, or sooner if the original text is deleted or you delete your account |
| Timed crossings | Kept for predictions; anonymized when you delete your account |
| Notification history | 180 days |
| Push tokens | Until you sign out on that device; deleted if they stop working for 30 days or aren't refreshed in 270 days |
| Usage-limit counters | 30 days |
| Apple's signed transaction | 13 months; transaction ids, product and purchase dates are kept as a purchase record |
| Content flags | 1 year after the flagged content is removed |
| Server logs (with IP) | 30 days |
| Account, profile, routes, goals, documents, recaps, likes and blocks | Until you delete your account (or the item) |
| Assistant conversations | Not stored |
10. Deleting your account and data
You can delete your account from La Fila › Profile › Settings › Delete account (type DELETE and confirm your identity with your password or Google/Apple), or by emailing contact@lafilaapp.com. We delete your account and comments; your reports and posts are unlinked from you and stripped of all text and photos. In detail:
- Deleted: your sign-in account, profile, comments (and the replies to them), photos, likes, blocks, flags you filed, routes, goals, documents, recaps, notifications and your devices' tokens.
- Kept anonymously (with no link to your account): your reports, with only lane, wait, gaviota yes/no and time, no text or photos; and your timed crossings, which contain no text. They power everyone's predictions.
- Kept without a link to your account: Apple purchase records, for refunds, tax obligations and fraud prevention. The signed transaction is deleted after 13 months.
- Server logs are deleted automatically after 30 days, and moderation alerts already sent cannot be recalled.
Deleting your account does not cancel your Apple subscription: cancel it in your Apple ID settings.
11. Children
La Fila is only for people 18 or older. It is not directed to minors, and we do not knowingly collect data from anyone under 18. If we learn that a minor has given us their data, we will delete it; if you believe that has happened, email contact@lafilaapp.com.
12. Your rights
You can request access to your data, its correction and its deletion. Much of this you can do yourself in the app (edit or delete what you posted, delete documents, routes and goals, or delete your account).
Mexico (ARCO rights)
Under Mexico's Federal Law on the Protection of Personal Data Held by Private Parties (LFPDPPP), you have the rights of Access, Rectification, Cancellation and Opposition, and may revoke your consent. Send your request to contact@lafilaapp.com from your account's email, stating your username, the right you want to exercise and the data it concerns. We will respond within 20 business days.
California (CCPA/CPRA)
If you are a California resident, you can ask what personal data we collect and who we share it with, ask us to delete or correct it, and you will not be discriminated against for exercising these rights. Email contact@lafilaapp.com; we will verify your identity through your account's email and respond within 45 days. We offer these rights voluntarily to all California residents.
13. Sale of data
We do not sell your personal data. The only advertising-related data we send to a third party is the Meta ad measurement described in section 14.
14. Ad measurement (Meta)
We use Meta's (Facebook) SDK only to learn which La Fila ads work. It logs basic app events: app open, account creation, first report, and trial or subscription start (with price and currency). We never send your name, email, comments or GPS location. Meta receives technical device data (model, iOS version and IP address). Your device's advertising identifier (IDFA) is shared only if you allow it in Apple's "Allow Tracking" prompt; you can change this anytime in iOS Settings or in La Fila › Profile › Settings › Privacy › Ad privacy. La Fila shows no ads inside the app and does not sell your data.
You can fully turn off ad measurement in La Fila › Profile › Settings › Privacy › Ad measurement; with it off, the app sends no events to Meta. California residents: sending the advertising identifier to Meta to measure ads may be considered 'sharing' under California law; you can prevent it by denying or turning off tracking in iOS or by turning off Ad measurement. Mexico residents: you can refuse the secondary purpose of ad measurement with that same setting or by emailing contact@lafilaapp.com.
15. Cookies
The lafilaapp.com website uses no cookies, analytics or trackers. The app uses no cookies; its only third-party ad-measurement tool is Meta's SDK (section 14).
16. Security
Data is encrypted in transit, server access is restricted and keys are kept in a secrets manager. No system is 100% secure; if an incident affects your data, we will notify you as required by law.
17. Changes to this policy
If we change this policy, we will post the new version on this page with its date. If the change is significant, we will also tell you in the app.
18. Social media posts
We post wait times and forecasts on Instagram and Facebook, calculated from public CBP data and averages of community reports. These posts never include usernames, photos, comments or the text you type in your reports.
19. Place typed in reports
If you choose "Other" and type where you are, that text is shown to other users with your report and is deleted automatically after 90 days, or sooner if you delete the report or your account.
20. Contact
La Fila · California, USA · contact@lafilaapp.com