PLAYGARAJ v2.9.4 - PRIVACY, SAFETY & STABILITY UPDATE

Hello PlayGaraj community! ✌️

This release focuses on what matters most as we grow: stronger chat privacy, clearer reporting tools, safer listings, and a smoother everyday experience—especially around ads and loading screens that used to get stuck.

With v2.9.4, PlayGaraj takes a major step toward a more trustworthy marketplace. Here is everything that changed:

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🔐 CHAT PRIVACY: ENCRYPTED MESSAGES AT REST

Your conversations deserve better protection. Starting with this update, chat message content is encrypted before it is stored.

1. At-Rest Message Encryption
   • New and migrated messages are stored in encrypted form in our database—not as plain readable text.
   • Each chat room uses its own encryption material so rooms stay isolated from one another.
   • Older chats are upgraded in the background when you open them, so privacy improves without interrupting your conversation.
2. Clear Expectations (Important)
   • This is at-rest encryption for stored messages. It is not classic end-to-end encryption (E2EE).
   • Our systems may still decrypt content only when required—for example push notification previews, or when you report a chat so moderators can review it.
   • Full details are explained in our updated Privacy Policy.
3. Chat List Previews Stay Useful
   • Last-message previews on your chat list are handled securely so you still see readable summaries on your device, without leaving plaintext sitting unnecessarily in storage.

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🚨 REPORTING SYSTEM: CHAT, LISTINGS & PROFILES

We rebuilt reporting so the community can flag problems faster—and so moderation has the context it actually needs.

1. Report a Chat
   • From a conversation, you can now report the entire chat room when something feels wrong (scam attempts, harassment, abuse, etc.).
   • Default review scope: To protect privacy, moderators start with the last 30 messages needed to understand the issue.
   • Optional full-history consent: If the situation cannot be judged from those 30 messages alone, you can explicitly allow review of the full chat history.
   • When full access is granted, moderators still review messages in the admin panel in batches of up to 30 at a time—not all messages dumped on screen at once.
   • You can report the same chat again later if new inappropriate messages appear afterward (chat history keeps moving).
2. Report Listings & Profiles (Unified Flow)
   • Listing and profile reports now go through the same modern report sheet and a stronger backend pipeline.
   • Reports are submitted securely through our servers (not as a simple client-only write), which improves integrity and reduces abuse of the reporting system.
3. Clearer Feedback
   • Success messages and chat-report explanations were rewritten across all supported languages so you always know what you are consenting to.

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🛡️ COMMUNITY SAFETY: CLEANER DISCOVERY FEEDS

1. Stronger Moderation for Harmful Listings
   • Spam, scam, and policy-breaking posts can be removed from public discovery (browse, search, and popular surfaces) so they stop reaching other users.
   • Legitimate sellers keep a normal experience; enforcement is handled by our moderation systems—not by other users “voting” a listing offline.
   • If one of your listings is affected, you can still manage it from your own listings area and contact support when needed.
2. Reports Still Matter
   • Community reports help moderators investigate faster—but a single report (or casual mass-tapping) is not a public “hide button.”
   • Please keep reporting real abuse; fake or abusive reporting may itself lead to account action.

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🛠️ FIXED ISSUES AND UX POLISH

Ad & Loading Stability:

1. Stuck Loading Overlays Fixed: Several flows (publish listing, unlock side image, mark as sold, notification deep-links) could leave a spinner stuck on screen if an ad failed, was skipped, or dismissed unexpectedly. Those races are fixed—loading always clears, and the intended screen still opens.
2. Chat Ad Gate Reliability: Opening a chat after an interstitial is more reliable. Even if the ad does not load, the chat still opens exactly once (no double-open, no permanent block).
3. Notification → Content Flow: Tapping a push notification for a listing or follower profile no longer risks a frozen loading state before the destination screen appears.

Chat Experience:

1. Encrypted Chat Compatibility: Opening chats, sending messages, loading older messages, and updating previews all work with the new encryption layer—including legacy plaintext messages until they are migrated.
2. Smoother Read / Sync Behavior: Chat open and read-receipt flows were tightened so encrypted rooms stay responsive and consistent.

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🔒 SECURITY & TRUST IMPROVEMENTS

* Note: Internal backend security details have been safely redacted for public release.

Alongside the privacy and reporting work, we strengthened several platform trust layers:

• Hardened Reporting Pipeline: Report creation is now server-validated, with clearer audit trails for moderation actions.
• Role / Access Sync Improvements: Moderator and admin privileges are synchronized more reliably with our secure backend checks.
• Internal Tooling Cleanup: Certain internal-only admin debugging paths were removed from the public app surface for a cleaner, safer production build.
• Updated Privacy Policy: Our policy now accurately describes chat encryption, reporting review, and related processing. Please review it at playgaraj.com/privacy.

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Update to v2.9.4 as soon as it is available on your store, keep an eye on the refreshed Privacy Policy, and help us keep PlayGaraj safe by reporting abuse when you see it.

Safer chats, cleaner feeds, smoother trades—thank you for being part of the garage. 🚗💨