Privacy Policy

Last updated: 22 October 2026

This policy explains how Hazinova ("we", "us") collects and uses personal data when you use the Hazinova app and hazinova.app. Hazinova is operated by Tamalaki Business Network Ltd, Upland House, Eastern Bypass, Nairobi, Kenya, the data controller. Contact: hello@hazinova.app.

1. Data we collect

Account data: your email address (we sign you in with a one-time email code), display name, optional bio and photo, preferred language and role.
Stories you create: voice recordings, photos, titles, text, transcripts, translations, language, place names and optional map coordinates you choose to add, and your consent confirmation.
Groups and invites: family and community groups you create or join, your role (for example member or kaitiaki, a trusted story keeper) and invite codes.
Tips and payouts: if you send a tip, Paystack (and, where offered, our other payment providers) processes your payment details; we never see your full card number; we receive the amount, currency, status and a reference. If you receive tips, we store your payout account details (account name, bank and the last four digits) as needed to pay you.
Interactions: reactions, voice replies (which are recordings and are treated like stories), questions you ask a storyteller and follow-up stories, tags, collections, and listens (who listened to a story, shown to the storyteller as "Listened by").
Reports: if you report content or another user, the report, its reason and any evidence you add; if you are the subject of a report or a My Side story, the details needed to handle it and your reply.
Device and approximate country: we read your device's region setting, or do a lightweight IP lookup, to suggest languages. We do not use precise GPS location.
Technical data: logs, IP address and error information needed to run and secure the service.

2. How we use data

To provide the app: store, play and share stories with the audience you choose.
To sign you in and keep accounts secure.
To process tips and pay storytellers.
To moderate content, enforce our Terms and protect storytellers and communities.
To improve the service. We do not sell your personal data.

3. Who can see your stories

You choose a visibility for each story:

Public: anyone, including on hazinova.app and link previews (for example on WhatsApp).
Family / Community: only members of that group.
Restricted: only people allowed by the group's kaitiaki.
Draft / Archive: only you.

Private audio and photos are kept in private storage and shared only through short-lived secure links. Stories marked as indigenous or community knowledge may need a kaitiaki's approval before they're published.

4. AI and translation

Your stories are not used to train AI models unless you opt in. Opt-in is off by default and can be changed at any time.

4a. Indigenous and community knowledge

Stories marked as Indigenous content are governed by the community they belong to. They are never used for AI training, AI processing or public link previews unless the community, through its guardians (kaitiaki), opts in. Guardians may restrict, approve or remove such stories, and the community may withdraw its opt-in at any time.

4b. Reports and right of reply

Anyone can report a story, reply or account. We review reports and may restrict or remove content. "My Side" stories, where someone tells their side of events, are reviewed before they can be made public, and people named or clearly identifiable in them can ask for a right of reply or request a correction or removal by reporting the story or emailing hello@hazinova.app.

5. Service providers

We use trusted processors, including: Supabase (database, sign-in, file storage), Cloudflare (website hosting and security), Resend (sign-in and service emails), Paystack (tips and payouts). For subscriptions such as Family Vault, we may also use Flutterwave, Stripe, and app-store billing through Apple, Google and RevenueCat. They process data only on our instructions.

6. International transfers

Our providers may process data outside your country. Where required, we use appropriate safeguards such as standard contractual clauses, in line with the GDPR and the Kenya Data Protection Act, 2019.

7. Legal bases

Where the GDPR or similar laws apply, we rely on contract (to run your account), consent (for example recording consent and AI opt-in), legitimate interests (security and improvement) and legal obligation (for example payment records).

8. Retention

We keep your data while your account is active. Listens and reactions are kept while the story exists. When you delete your account we delete or anonymise your personal data and private stories, except records we must keep by law (such as payment records).

9. Your rights

Depending on where you live, you can access, correct, export or delete your data, object to or restrict processing, and withdraw consent. Data export: in Settings you can request a copy of your account data, stories, photos, voice replies and tips history. Account deletion: you can delete your account in Settings; your private stories, voice replies, reactions and listens are deleted, and public stories are removed unless you hand them to a family or community group first. You can also email hello@hazinova.app. You may complain to your local data protection authority; in Kenya this is the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner.

10. Children

Hazinova is not intended for children under 13 (or the minimum age in your country) without a parent or guardian's involvement. Stories about children should be shared only with a guardian's consent.

11. Security

We use encryption in transit, access controls and private storage. No system is perfectly secure; tell us at once if you suspect misuse.

12. Changes

We'll tell you about material changes in the app or by email before they take effect.