Privacy Policy

Introduction

WakaGuard is a travel-safety app. You start a trip, our server watches it, and if you have not checked in by your arrival time the contacts you chose are texted your last known location. The app also has an SOS button and a map of road reports from other users. WakaGuard is a product of Inskriba Limited.

This Privacy Policy explains what we collect when you use the app and website, who can see it, and how long we keep it.

Information We Collect

Account Details

You can look at the map of road reports without an account. To start a trip, add contacts or post a report you need one, and we collect:

• Your email address, which you must verify, and a password. Sign-in is handled by Firebase Authentication, a Google service; we do not store your password ourselves
• If you sign in with Google or Apple instead, no password: we receive the name and email address on that account. With Apple you can hide your email, and we then receive an address that Apple forwards to you
• A username you choose
• The name you enter for alerts ("Your name, as they know you"), which appears in texts to your contacts and on your trip page
• A random ID for each phone or browser you use, so that only one device sends a trip's location
• Points and activity counts linked to your reports and sign-ins

Your chosen state, your display settings and any unsent report drafts are kept on your device, not on our servers.

Location During a Trip

When you start a trip, your phone sends its precise location (GPS coordinates and how accurate they are) to WakaGuard:

• Once when the trip starts, then as often as every 30 seconds, and normally at least every 2 minutes, until the trip ends
• In the phone app, this continues with the screen locked or while you use other apps
• In a web browser, only while the WakaGuard page is open and on screen

We store the latest position and the time we received it, and during the trip we build a path of where your phone has been (up to 240 points) for the trip map. We also store the destination you typed (and its point, if you set it on the map), your expected arrival time, the points where the trip started and ended, and any time you added. If you answer "How are you travelling?" when you start a trip, that answer is stored with the trip. You can leave it unanswered.

You can also add vehicle details to a trip: a plate number, and the bus company, the driver's name or the vehicle's colour. They are stored with the trip and are optional. Add someone else's name only as you would tell it to your contacts yourself.

Your phone stops sending its location when the trip ends.

Location at Other Times

Outside a trip, WakaGuard does not follow your location. We receive it only when you do one of these:

• Press SOS: your position is saved with the alert and sent to your trusted contacts
• Send an "I'm okay" text: a recent position, if your phone has one, is included in the text
• Log a checkpoint stop: your position is saved to your account. It is not sent to anyone
• Create a road report: the location you set for the report is shown publicly on the map
• Tap "Use my location" when choosing your state, or set a report's location: the coordinates are sent to OpenStreetMap's look-up service to turn them into a state or an address
• Switch on push notifications in Profile: your position at that moment is saved, so that we can notify you about new road reports within about 10 km of it
• While the app is open on your screen: if you have already allowed WakaGuard to use your location, your rough area, rounded to about 10 km, is sent to our server to look up the weather there. Unless you switch off Morning weather in Settings, we keep that rough area (never your exact position) for the morning weather notification: each look-up replaces it, and it is deleted after 30 days without one, when you switch Morning weather off, or when you delete your account. The app never asks for your location just for the weather

Showing your own position on the map happens on your device and is not sent to us.

Trusted Contacts & Phone Numbers

For each trusted contact you add (up to 5) we store:

• The name and mobile number you enter for them
• Which contacts you chose for each trip
• Whether they have asked WakaGuard to stop texting their number

If you choose "From phone", the app reads your phone's contact list on your device so that you can pick someone. Only the contact you pick is saved.

Important: You must have consent from individuals before adding them as trusted contacts. Their phone numbers are used only to send the safety texts described below.

Road Reports and Community Content

We collect and store content you create, including:

• Report types, descriptions and locations
• Comments on reports
• Votes (upvotes/downvotes, and whether a report is still there or resolved)
• Flags for inappropriate content
• Blocked user lists (stored privately)

Photos

When you upload photos to a report:

• Photos are compressed and resized before upload (max 1600px width, ≤600KB)
• Photos are stored in Firebase Storage
• Photo URLs are publicly accessible to display on reports
• Redrawing a photo for upload leaves out the details your camera embeds in the file (EXIF data, which can include GPS coordinates). What the photo itself shows is not changed

Important: Do not include photos with identifiable people, number plates, or other personal information without consent.

Notifications

If you allow notifications in the phone app, we store a token that identifies your device to Google's and Apple's notification services. We use it to send the "Are you okay?" reminder when a trip passes its arrival time and, if you switch on push notifications in Profile, notices about new road reports nearby. On days with rain, storms, fog or great heat expected in your rough area, we also send a morning weather notification at about 6:30 am Nigeria time; switch it off with Morning weather in Settings.

When Something Goes Wrong in the App

If a screen in the app crashes, or something fails that the app did not expect, the app sends us a short fault report so that we can fix it: what failed and where in the app, the app's build number, and the kind of phone and its system version (for example "Android 11 · Infinix X688B"). It is not linked to your account and does not include your location or your contacts. Numbers, links and long codes are removed from it before it is sent. Fault reports are deleted automatically after 30 days.

How We Use Your Information

We use the collected information to:

• Provide and maintain the WakaGuard service
• Watch a trip's arrival time and alert your trusted contacts if you do not check in
• Show your trip to the people who have its link
• Send the safety texts and reminders described above
• Display reports on the map and in lists
• Enable community voting and commenting
• Moderate content and enforce community guidelines
• Prevent abuse and spam (including SMS rate limiting)
• Find and fix faults in the app, from the fault reports described above
• Improve the app based on usage patterns, for example by comparing planned and actual journey times

Data Retention

Trips

• The path shown on the trip map is deleted when the trip ends. After an SOS it is kept until you end the trip
• The trip link stops working when the trip ends or expires, as described above
• The page your contacts open is deleted 7 days after its link stops working.
• A record of each trip stays in your account after it ends: the destination, the start and end points, the last position we received, the planned and actual times, any time you added, and which contacts you chose. It is deleted automatically 90 days after the trip's link stopped working.
• SOS alerts and checkpoint stops you log, with their locations, stay in your account for 90 days, then are deleted automatically.

These records are private to your account. You can ask us to delete them sooner, and they are all deleted when you delete your account.

Trusted Contacts and Message Logs

A trusted contact is deleted when you remove it. Logs of texts already sent, which include the recipient's name and number, are kept for troubleshooting and abuse prevention for 90 days after each text, then deleted automatically. If you delete your account, they are deleted within 90 days.

Reports

Reports are automatically expired based on their type:

• Traffic: 2 hours
• Accident: 4 hours
• Checkpoint: 4 hours
• Hazard: 24 hours
• Other: 3 days
• Pothole: 7 days
• Closure: 14 days
• Roadwork: 30 days

Expired and resolved reports are hidden from the map, then deleted automatically 90 days after they expired, together with their photos, comments and votes. Reports hidden because other travellers reported them are kept until we have reviewed them. Deleting your account deletes your reports.

Photos

Photos are stored in Firebase Storage and are deleted with their report. Deleting your account deletes your photos.

Comments and Votes

Comments and votes are retained as long as the associated report exists. Removed comments are hidden at once and deleted automatically within 30 days. Deleting your account deletes the comments and votes you posted.

User Accounts

Your account and the data held with it are kept until you delete your account. You can do that yourself at any time: in the app, open Profile and tap Delete account; on the website, open the account menu and choose Delete account. Everything listed above is then deleted straight away, except the log of texts sent to your contacts, which is kept for up to 90 days. The steps, and what is deleted and kept, are set out on the Delete your account page. Signing out, or deleting the app from your phone, does not delete your account.

We keep a daily backup of our database for 7 days, so something deleted can remain in a backup for up to 7 days after it is deleted.

Data Sharing and Disclosure

We do not sell your personal information. We may share data in the following circumstances:

• Your Trusted Contacts: The texts described above share your name, location, destination and trip status with the phone numbers you chose
• Anyone With Your Trip Link: While a trip is open, its page can be opened by anyone who has the link
• Public Display: Reports, comments, and photos are publicly visible to all users
• Service Providers: We use Firebase (Google) for sign-in, data storage, hosting and notifications, and Termii and the mobile networks for SMS. These providers may process data on servers outside Nigeria
• Maps: Map images are loaded by your device from Mapbox, which sees your IP address and the area you are viewing. Location links in texts and on the trip page open in Google Maps
• Weather: Our server asks MET Norway (the Norwegian Meteorological Institute) for the forecast for your rough area, about 10 km across. MET Norway is not told who asked or where exactly you are. The forecasts shown in the app are data from MET Norway
• Place names: When you set your destination on the map, our server looks up the name of that spot using OpenStreetMap's Nominatim service, so it can fill in "Where are you going?". Only the spot is sent, never who you are
• Legal Requirements: We may disclose data if required by law or to protect rights and safety
• Moderation: Flagged content is reviewed by administrators

Your Rights and Choices

You have the right to:

• Choose whether to share location data: it is sent continuously only while a trip you started is running, and you can refuse location permission on your phone
• Choose, for each trip, which contacts are told and whether they are texted the trip link at the start
• End a trip at any time, which stops your phone sending its location and switches off the trip link
• Add or remove trusted contacts at any time
• Turn notifications off in Profile or in your phone's settings
• Block users to hide their content from your view
• Flag inappropriate content for review
• Delete your account and the data held with it yourself, as described under User Accounts above
• Ask us for a copy of the data we hold about you, or ask us to correct or delete it, by writing to info@inskriba.com

Note: The app does not yet have a button for exporting your data, so that request is handled by email. A single report or comment cannot be deleted by its author once posted (only by administrators); deleting your account deletes everything you posted.

Security

We implement security measures to protect your information:

• Firebase Security Rules control database access: your trips, trusted contacts and alerts cannot be read by other users
• A trip page can be opened only with its link, and only while the trip is open
• Only signed-in accounts can upload photos
• HTTPS encryption for data sent between the app and our servers

However, no method of transmission over the Internet is 100% secure, and text messages are not encrypted. Use caution when posting sensitive information.

Children's Privacy

WakaGuard is not intended for children under 13. We do not knowingly collect information from children. If you believe a child has provided us with information, please contact us.

Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of changes by updating the "Last Updated" date at the top of this policy.

Contact Us

WakaGuard is a product of Inskriba Limited, a company registered in Nigeria.

Contact address: Dapo Allied Building, SW8/785 Elewura, beside Zenith Bank, opposite Ibadan/Lagos Expressway Roundabout, Challenge, Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us at:

info@inskriba.com