Privacy Policy & POPIA Disclosure

Last Updated: March 2026

1. Our Privacy Philosophy

At SOVO Secure Labs, we believe communication requires consent. We built S'ovo to fundamentally reject the "phone book scraping" model used by legacy apps. We do not require, collect, or store your phone number. We strictly adhere to the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) of South Africa, ensuring your data remains yours.

2. Information We Collect

  • Account Information: An email address, display name, optional bio, and profile picture.
  • Technical Data: Device model, operating system (iOS/Android), and Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM) tokens required to deliver push notifications.
  • Discover Feed Data: If you choose to post to the public Discover feed, we securely store the image, caption, and an anonymized geohash to show your post to nearby users. Exact coordinates are never exposed publicly.
  • Date Safe Data: During an active "Date Safe" session, your live location and provided vehicle/check-in details are temporarily processed to keep you safe, accessible only to your selected trusted contacts.

3. Information We DO NOT Store (End-to-End Encryption)

All private messages, voice notes, files, audio calls, and video streams are End-to-End Encrypted (E2EE) and routed via our decentralized MQTT architecture. We do not store your private conversational content on our servers. Once a message is delivered, it is only accessible on the sender and receiver's devices. "View Once" media is automatically purged from device memory after viewing.

4. How We Use Your Information

Your data is used strictly to provide the S'ovo service: authenticating your account, delivering notifications, facilitating time-boxed connections, and generating legally-bound PDF audit trails for your NDA Sessions. We do not sell your data to advertisers or third-party data brokers.

5. Your Rights (POPIA & GDPR)

You have the right to:

  • Request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
  • Correct inaccurate information.
  • Request Account Deletion: You may delete your account and all associated profile data at any time via the App Settings > Account > Delete Account, or by emailing us.

6. Contact Us

If you have any questions regarding this Privacy Policy or wish to exercise your data rights, please contact our Information Officer at privacy@sovo.co.za.