Privacy is core to how Vicinity was built, not something tacked on after the fact. Here's an honest breakdown of what the app does and doesn't do with your location.
Your exact location is never shared
Vicinity never sends your GPS coordinates to another user. Ever. When proximity is detected, the server simply notifies both parties that they are within range of each other — no coordinates, no street name, no neighborhood is passed along.
Fuzzy location by design
The proximity check happens server-side. Your device periodically sends your location to the Vicinity backend, which checks if any of your friends are within the radius. The result is a yes/no signal — nothing more. Your location is intentionally never passed to other users' devices.
Location data retention
Vicinity does not store a history of your location over time. Location data is used transiently for proximity calculations and is not retained after the check is complete. We do not build a movement profile.
Who can see you
Only mutual friends can trigger proximity alerts. If someone is not in your friends list, they cannot know when you're nearby. You can also go invisible at any time via Ghost Mode, which pauses all proximity detection for you.