Privacy Policy

Version 1.5 · Last updated: 9 May 2026 · Effective from: App launch

1. Introduction

Bargo ("we", "our", "us") is an Australian price comparison app developed and operated by Christian Biehl (ABN: 91 523 719 179), trading as Biehl Digital, Canberra ACT, Australia.

This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, store, and disclose your personal information when you use our mobile and web application (the "App"). It also explains your rights under the Australian Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs).

By creating an account or using the App, you agree to the collection and use of information as described in this policy.

2. What Information We Collect

2.1 Account Information

When you create an account, we collect:

Email address
Password (stored as a secure hash — we never store your plain-text password)
Display name (optional, if you choose to provide one)
Account creation date and last sign-in timestamp

Authentication is handled by Google Firebase Authentication. We do not store your password directly.

If you sign in using Google Sign-In or Sign in with Apple, we receive your name and email address from that provider as part of the authentication process. We do not receive your password or payment details from these providers. You can revoke Bargo's access to your Google or Apple account at any time through your Google Account settings or Apple ID settings respectively.

2.2 App Usage Data

As you use the App, we store in Google Firestore:

Shopping lists you create, including product names, quantities, and store assignments
Household member names (if you use the household sharing feature)
Saved products and price alerts you set
Your store and category preferences
Age verification status (whether you have confirmed you are 18 or older, for access to bottle shop pricing — see §2.7)
Subscription tier and status

      Your shopping data is yours. Your personal shopping lists, search history, price alert history, and browsing activity are private. Bargo staff do not access or view your individual shopping lists in the ordinary operation of the App. We may access data only where strictly necessary for technical support (at your request), to investigate a security incident, or where required by law.
    

Household sharing and privacy: If you use the household sharing feature, shared lists are visible to all members of your household. Personal lists, search history, price alert history, and individual browsing activity are always private and are never visible to other household members, even within the same household account.

2.3 Location Data

If you choose to find stores near you (for example, to set your nearest IGA or Harris Farm store), the App will request access to your device's location. Specifically:

What we collect: Your device's approximate geographic coordinates at the moment you tap "Allow location."
How we use it: Solely to display a list of nearby stores. Your coordinates are sent to our Google Cloud Function, which queries the relevant store's API and returns a list of nearby locations.
What we don't do: We do not store your location on our servers or in your account. We do not track your location over time. We do not use your location for advertising or share it with third parties beyond the store API query described above.
What we do save: Once you select a store from the list (e.g. "IGA Ainslie"), that store name and identifier are saved to your account as a preference so you don't have to choose it again. This saved preference tells us which store you shop at — it does not tell us where you are, and it is not linked to the coordinates used to find it.
When it's used: Only when you explicitly tap "Allow location" in the store picker. The App does not collect location data in the background.
Your control: You can decline location access at any time by tapping "Not now" in the prompt, or by revoking location permission in your device settings. Declining location access means we cannot show you nearby stores — you can still use all other features of the App normally.

On iOS, location permission is requested as "While Using the App" only. We do not request background location access.

2.4 Device and Analytics Data

We may collect limited technical information to improve the App, including:

Device type and operating system version
App version
Crash reports and error logs
General usage patterns (e.g. which features are used most)

This data is collected via Google Firebase Analytics and Crashlytics, and is aggregated and anonymised where possible. The bargo.au website may use cookies or similar technologies via Firebase for analytics purposes. These are used only to understand general usage patterns and are not used for advertising or tracking individual users across other websites.

2.5 Payment Information

We do not directly collect or store your payment card details. Subscription payments are processed by Apple (App Store) or Google (Google Play) depending on your platform. Their respective privacy policies govern payment data handling. We receive only a confirmation of your subscription status.

2.6 Price Data (Not Personal Information)

The App displays product prices sourced from publicly available retailer websites. This price data is not linked to you personally and is not stored against your account.

2.7 Age Verification for Bottle Shop Pricing

Bargo displays pricing from bottle shops including Dan Murphy's, BWS, Liquorland, and Cellarbrations. In compliance with responsible service of alcohol obligations, access to this pricing requires you to confirm that you are 18 years of age or older.

When you confirm your age in the App, we store a single boolean value (ageVerified: true) against your account in Google Firebase. This record:

Does not store your date of birth
Does not involve any third-party identity verification service
Is self-declared — you confirm your age by tapping "Yes, I'm 18 or older"
Is stored only to avoid asking you again on future sessions
Can be deleted by deleting your account

If you do not confirm your age, you can still use all other features of the App. Bottle shop prices will not be shown or added to your shopping list until age confirmation is provided.

2.8 Push Notifications NEW

If you enable push notifications, we collect and store your device's push notification token (issued via Expo, our notification platform). This token is used solely to deliver:

Price alerts — when a product you are watching reaches your target price
Your weekly specials digest — if you have opted in to this feature (Account → Notifications)

We do not use push tokens for advertising or share them with third parties for any purpose other than delivering the above notifications. You can disable push notifications at any time in your device's system notification settings, or by adjusting individual notification types in the App under Account → Notifications. Push notification tokens are deleted from our systems within 30 days of notifications being disabled or your account being deleted.

3. How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect to:

Create and manage your account
Provide the core features of the App (price comparison, shopping lists, household sharing)
Process and manage your subscription
Send transactional emails (e.g. account verification, password reset)
Deliver push notifications for price alerts and your weekly digest (if enabled)
Find stores near your location when you explicitly request it (store picker feature)
Improve the App through aggregated analytics and crash reporting
Comply with our legal obligations

We do not use your personal information for advertising purposes, and we do not sell your data to third parties.

4. Disclosure of Your Information

We may share your information with the following third parties, solely to operate the App:

Google Firebase (Google LLC) — authentication, database, analytics, crash reporting. Data is stored on servers in the australia-southeast1 region (Sydney, Australia). Google is certified under applicable data transfer frameworks.
Apple Inc. / Google LLC — subscription and payment processing via their respective app stores.
Expo (Expo Technology, Inc.) — our app build, update, and push notification platform. If you have enabled push notifications, your device's push token is processed by Expo's push notification service to deliver price alerts and digest notifications to your device.
IGA / Metcash (igashop.com.au) — when you use the IGA store finder, your approximate coordinates are used to query the igashop.com.au store locator API to find nearby IGA stores. No personal information other than coordinates is transmitted.
Harris Farm Markets — when you use the Harris Farm store finder, a list of all Harris Farm store locations is retrieved from Harris Farm's public API. No location data is transmitted for this feature.

We will not disclose your personal information to any other third party without your consent, except where required by Australian law or a court order.

5. Price Data and Store Availability

Bargo is a price comparison service, not a retailer. All purchases are made directly with the relevant retailer and are subject to that retailer's terms, age verification requirements, and fulfilment policies.

We attempt to retrieve the latest prices from all supported stores multiple times per week. Some stores actively restrict automated price lookups, which may mean certain prices are several days behind. We always show the most recently confirmed price.

IGA store availability: Bargo sources IGA pricing from the Metcash igashop.com.au online platform. Not all physical IGA stores participate in this platform — smaller independent "IGA Local Grocer" format stores may not have pricing available in Bargo. You can find all physical IGA store locations at iga.com.au/stores.

Store-specific pricing: IGA and Harris Farm prices may vary between store locations. Where you have selected a preferred store, Bargo will display pricing for that store where available. For stores without a selected location, Bargo displays the most representative available price.

Unit pricing: Where a store does not provide unit pricing directly, Bargo calculates an approximate unit price from the product name and size. Calculated unit prices are marked with a ~ symbol and may not be exact.

6. Data Storage and Security

Your data is stored on Google Firebase infrastructure in the australia-southeast1 region (Sydney, Australia). Google maintains industry-standard security certifications (ISO 27001, SOC 2).

We take reasonable steps to protect your personal information from misuse, interference, loss, unauthorised access, modification, and disclosure. These steps include:

Encrypted data transmission (HTTPS/TLS) for all data in transit
Data at rest encrypted by Google Firebase using AES-256 encryption
Firebase Security Rules restricting database access to authenticated users
Passwords hashed using industry-standard algorithms by Firebase Auth

No method of transmission over the internet is 100% secure. While we strive to protect your data, we cannot guarantee absolute security.

7. Data Retention

We retain your personal information for as long as your account is active or as needed to provide the App's services.

If you delete your account, we will delete or anonymise your personal data within 30 days, except where we are required to retain it for legal or accounting purposes.

Inactive accounts: If your account has had no sign-in activity for 11 months, we will send a notification to your registered email address advising that your account will be deactivated. If no login occurs within a further 30 days (12 months total inactivity), your account and all associated personal data will be permanently deleted. This policy ensures we do not retain personal data beyond what is necessary. You may reactivate your account by logging in at any time before the 12-month threshold.

8. Your Rights

Under the Australian Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), you have the right to:

Access the personal information we hold about you
Request correction of inaccurate or out-of-date information
Delete your account and all associated personal data at any time, directly within the App via Account → Settings → Delete Account, or by contacting us at contact@bargo.au
Opt out of non-essential communications (including push notifications and the weekly digest)

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at contact@bargo.au. We will respond within 30 days.

9. Children's Privacy and Age Requirements

The App is intended for users aged 13 and over. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under the age of 13. If you believe a child under 13 has provided us with personal information, please contact us and we will delete it promptly.

Users between 13 and 17 may use all core grocery comparison features of the App. Access to bottle shop pricing (Dan Murphy's, BWS, Liquorland, and Cellarbrations) is restricted to users who have confirmed they are 18 years of age or older (see §2.7). If we become aware that a person under 18 has confirmed age verification, we will remove that verification and restrict access to alcohol-related pricing accordingly.

10. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of material changes by posting a notice in the App or by email. Your continued use of the App after any changes constitutes your acceptance of the updated policy.

The date at the top of this document indicates when it was last updated.

11. Contact Us

If you have questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy or our data practices, or wish to make a privacy complaint, please contact:

Christian Biehl
Trading as Biehl Digital
Canberra ACT, Australia
Email: contact@bargo.au

If you are not satisfied with our response, you may contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) at oaic.gov.au.