Privacy policy

JiraniChat connects you with the people and communities around you. It uses the same accounts, groups and service as SORDA AI, also run by Dali Data Africa. This policy covers the JiraniChat app and website. If you also use SORDA AI, its own privacy policy covers what you do there. Unaweza kuomba nakala ya sera hii kwa Kiswahili kupitia [email protected].

1. What we collect

• Account: your display name, an email address or phone number (at least one), a password stored only in scrambled, one-way form, and your language. We use these to sign you in, verify your account and contact you about it.
• Location: your device location while you use the app, only with your permission, to show communities, people and places near you. You can also type or pick a place instead. We do not track your location in the background.
• Availability: off until you turn it on. If you choose Members, people in your groups can see you and start a chat. If you choose Public, people within the distance you set can also see your name and about how far away you are. Your position is stored rounded to about 250 metres, is never shown to anyone, and is removed when you turn Public off.
• Messages and posts: messages in groups and one-to-one chats, announcements, comments and likes, and the groups you belong to.
• Photos: photos you choose to share. We re-encode each photo, which removes camera data such as GPS.
• Ask Jirani: the questions you ask and the answers you get.
• Explore searches: what you search for and the area you search in, used to find places. We do not save your searches to your account. Recent answers are held briefly in memory so repeated searches are faster.
• Reports and blocks: people and groups you report or block, and what you write in a report.
• Technical data: server logs such as IP address and request times, used for security and to fix problems.

2. How we use it

• To run the app: chats, groups, people and places near you, and Ask Jirani.
• To keep people safe: review reports, stop abuse and prevent fraud.
• To send account messages and verification codes.
• To secure and improve the service.

We do not sell your personal information, we do not show advertising, and we do not use an advertising ID.

3. Who can see it

• Other people: people in a group see your name and what you post there. In a one-to-one chat, the two of you see the messages and photos. Your email, phone number and exact location are never shown to other people.
• Our staff: administrators and moderators see what they need to review content and support you. If you report a message or post, its text goes to them with your report.
• Service providers who process data for us, and may use it only to provide their service: Google Maps (places, addresses and Explore searches), Groq and other AI providers (Ask Jirani questions), Beem Africa (SMS codes) and our email provider.
• Authorities, when the law requires it, including reports of child sexual abuse and exploitation. See our child safety standards.

4. How long we keep it

We keep your account information while your account is active. Expired sign-in sessions and codes are deleted automatically. Encrypted backups are replaced within 3 days. When you delete your account, your profile, sign-in details and photos are removed and your messages are taken out of view. We keep limited records that we need for security, legal duties and to prevent abuse. Delete your account lists what is removed and what is kept.

5. Your choices

• Change location and photo permissions in your phone settings at any time.
• Turn availability off, or change its distance, in the app.
• Block or report people and groups in the app.
• Delete your account in the app: You, then Delete account.
• Write to [email protected] to get a copy of your information, correct it or delete it.

6. Security

We use encrypted connections, scrambled passwords, encrypted backups and access controls. Chats are encrypted on their way to and from our servers, but are not end-to-end encrypted. No system is perfectly secure, so tell us at once if you think your account was misused.

7. Children

JiraniChat is for people aged 18 and over, and we ask you to confirm your age when you create an account. We do not knowingly collect information from children. If you believe a child has given us information, contact us and we will delete it.

8. Changes

We post changes on this page and, for important changes, tell you in the app.

9. Contact

JiraniChat by Dali Data Africa, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. [email protected]