Privacy Notice

The short version

• Your live location is only shared during an active panic room, and only with the people in that room.
• We don’t sell your information, show adverts or use analytics trackers in the app.
• Incident chat, locations and evidence are kept for 12 months after an incident closes, unless a legal hold applies.
• You can delete your account from the app. You have 7 days to change your mind.

Who we are

AlphaSecure is operated by [Registered company name], [registered address]. We are the responsible party for your personal information under POPIA.

Our Information Officer is [Information Officer name]. You can reach them at [email protected].

What we collect

Your account

Your first and last name, email address and password, or your Google or Apple sign-in if you use one. You can also add a phone number. We give you a codename, which lets people invite you without your details being searchable in the app.

Your household

Your home address, its position on the map, any boundary you draw around it, and who belongs to your household and in what role.

Your device

Your device name and platform, battery level, network type (Wi-Fi or mobile data), when it was last seen, and a push token used to send you alerts. The app updates these readings in the background.

Your location

We do not track or store your location day to day, and we keep no movement history. When an alarm is active, we record where it started, and everyone responding shares their live position with the panic room. We store only the latest position for each person, not a trail. For this to work when the app is closed, the app asks for “Always” location permission.

Alarms and incidents

Who raised an alarm, when, for which household and how it ended, along with panic room chat messages and who responded.

Evidence

Photos and notes you or others in the room add to an incident, with a digital fingerprint and timestamps that show they haven’t been altered. Evidence can include other people, and may reveal sensitive details such as someone’s health or alleged criminal behaviour, so please only add what’s relevant to the incident.

Technical logs

Our servers record technical information so we can keep the service running and secure, and investigate problems or misuse.

Phone features

The camera is used to take evidence photos and to flash the torch during a deterrent alarm. The photo library is used only when you choose a photo to attach. Motion sensors detect a shake if you turn on shake to alert, and that is worked out on your phone. The app does not use your microphone.

Why we use it

• To run the service: your account, household, invites and alerts.
• To respond to emergencies: alerting your household, showing responders where you are and keeping the panic room running. This protects your interests and those of the people responding.
• To keep a reliable record: so that you can use it with the police, insurers or a lawyer, and to establish or defend legal rights.
• To keep AlphaSecure secure: preventing misuse, investigating problems and meeting our legal duties.

We rely on these purposes, and on your consent where it’s needed, such as your phone’s permission prompts and a guardian’s consent for under-18s. Evidence is never used for marketing, analytics or training.

Your name, email address and home address are needed for AlphaSecure to work, so we can’t provide the service without them. Adding a phone number is optional. If you refuse location permission, your household may not be able to find you in an emergency.

Who can see your information

• Your household: members can see your name, role, and your device’s battery level, network type and when it was last seen, including on ordinary days. They see your saved home address, not where you are.
• People in a panic room: participants can see the live position of responders, along with chat, the timeline and device details.
• Evidence audience: evidence can be limited to the people who need it. We provide it through private storage and short-lived links.
• Authorised AlphaSecure staff: only where needed to run the service, respond to a request or deal with misuse. Sensitive staff actions are logged.
• Service providers: companies that provide sign-in, push notifications, maps and address search, and website delivery and security for us. They may only use your information to provide their service to us. Map providers receive the addresses or positions you look up, and may receive your device’s location when a map is in use.
• Law enforcement or courts: where the law requires it. You can also ask us for a copy of your records to share yourself.

Where your information goes

Some of our service providers are based outside South Africa, including in the United States, so your information may be processed there. Where that happens, we rely on the protections POPIA allows for cross-border transfers, such as agreements that require an adequate level of protection.

How long we keep it

ACCOUNT

Until you delete your account. Your name, email address and phone number are then blanked. Your codename stays, so past incidents still make sense to the people who were part of them.

HOUSEHOLD, DEVICES

Until you leave or close the household, remove the device or delete your account. If you own a household, deleting your account closes it for everyone in it.

CHAT, LOCATIONS

12 months after the incident closes, then deleted.

EVIDENCE

12 months after the incident closes, then deleted, even if you’ve deleted your account. Evidence on legal hold or under restriction is kept until that ends.

ALARM RECORDS

Basic records of an alarm, including when and where it started, are kept as incident history and are not currently deleted on a fixed schedule.

AUDIT TRAIL

The record of who did what to evidence is kept after the evidence is deleted, so we can prove how it was handled.

SERVER LOGS

Around 31 days.

Deleting your account

You can delete your account in the app, under Edit profile. Your account is suspended straight away and permanently deleted after 7 days, unless you cancel first. You can’t schedule deletion during an active alarm.

How we protect it

Data travels over encrypted connections, evidence sits in private storage, and access is limited to people and systems that need it. Evidence files are fingerprinted so changes can be detected. No system is perfectly secure. If a breach affects your information, we’ll notify you and the Information Regulator as POPIA requires.

Your rights

Under POPIA, you can:

• Ask whether we hold your information and request a copy.
• Ask us to correct or delete information that’s inaccurate, out of date or no longer needed.
• Object to how we use your information, and withdraw consent where we rely on it.
• Ask us to restrict information, including evidence that concerns you.
• Complain to the Information Regulator.

To use these rights, email [email protected]. We may need to confirm who you are first. We may keep some information where the law requires it or it’s needed for a legal claim, for example if evidence is on legal hold.

If you’re unhappy with how we’ve handled your request, you can contact the Information Regulator at [email protected].

Children

Anyone under 18 may only use AlphaSecure with the consent of a parent or guardian. If you’re a parent or guardian and believe a child is using AlphaSecure without your consent, contact us and we’ll help.

This website

This website doesn’t use cookies, analytics or advertising trackers, and doesn’t load fonts or scripts from other companies. Our hosting provider handles standard web traffic data such as IP addresses to deliver the site and protect it from attacks.

Changes to this notice

We’ll update this notice when our practices change, and revise the date at the top. If a change significantly affects you, we’ll tell you in the app.