Privacy Policy

myHoodora (“we”, “us”) runs the myHoodora neighbourhood network: the website and the iPhone and Android apps. We are the data controller for the personal data described here, and we process it in line with the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023 (NDPA). This policy covers the website and the apps alike.

Questions about this policy and requests to use your rights go to privacy@myhoodora.com. You can reach our Data Protection Officer, Peace Arakunle, directly at dpo@myhoodora.com. More ways to reach us are in section 14.

What you give us

• Account details: your name, email address and how you sign in (email and password, or Google or Apple, who share your name and email with us).
• Your age check: when you join we ask your date of birth, only to check you're 18 or over. We don't store the date: we keep only that you passed, and when.
• Where you live: the address you enter and your device's location when you confirm your neighbourhood, and the neighbourhood we place you in.
• Profile: anything you add, such as a photo or short bio.
• What you share: posts, comments, reactions, poll votes, event RSVPs, listings, photos, videos and PDF files, group activity, messages and reports.
• Your answers to our questions: ratings, polls and feedback you choose to give when we ask how myHoodora is working for you.
• Business pages: if you apply to list a business, its name, category, description, the areas it serves and its address, plus the contact person's name, phone number and email, and its CAC number if you give one.
• Support: what you write to us, and your email address.
• Settings: your notification and privacy choices, and people you block.

What we collect automatically

• Technical data: your IP address, device and browser type, app version and logs needed to keep the service secure and working. We may use your IP address to estimate your general area so we can suggest your neighbourhood during sign-up.
• Ad views and clicks: which local ads you've seen, tapped or hidden, so each ad is counted fairly and ads you've hidden stay hidden.
• Push notification token: if you allow notifications, an ID for your phone that lets us deliver them.
• Crash reports from the app, which carry your account ID only (see section 4).

What we get from others

• Google or Apple, if you sign in with them: your name, email address and an account ID.
• Other members, when they mention you, add you to a group, message you or report something you posted.

We don't collect your phone number (unless you list a business), your ID documents, your contacts, or anything from your microphone.

The app asks before it uses any of these, and works without them:

• Location: only while you're using the app, once, to find the neighbourhood you live in. You can type your address instead. We never track your location in the background.
• Camera and photos: only when you choose to take or add a photo for a post, listing or your profile. The app sees only the photos you pick. The same goes for files: the app sees only a PDF you choose to attach.
• Notifications: to tell you about messages, replies and alerts in your neighbourhood. You choose which ones in Settings → Notifications.
• Calendar: “Add to calendar” opens your phone's own new event screen for you to save. The app doesn't read your calendar.

The app doesn't ask for your contacts or microphone, and doesn't track you across other apps and websites. You can turn any permission off at any time in your phone's settings. On the website, your browser asks before sharing your location.

• To provide myHoodora (performance of our contract with you): create your account, place you in your neighbourhood, show your feed, deliver messages and notifications.
• To keep neighbourhoods safe and genuine (legitimate interests): verify that members live where they say, prevent fake accounts, spam and fraud, review reports and enforce our community guidelines.
• To show local ads (legitimate interests): ads and promoted listings are chosen by the neighbourhood and city you're looking at, not by a profile of you. We count views and clicks so each ad is counted fairly. Advertisers never get your name or details.
• To improve the service (legitimate interests): understand how features are used, ask for your feedback and fix problems. The mobile app sends crash reports that carry your account ID only, never your name, email, messages or screenshots.
• To send service emails (performance of our contract): confirming your email, account and safety notices, and the notification emails you switch on in Settings → Notifications. We don't send marketing email. If we ever do, we'll ask first, separately from these terms, and every such email will have a one-click unsubscribe.
• With your consent: precise location from your device, push notifications, and anything else we ask your permission for. You can withdraw consent at any time.
• To meet legal obligations: for example, responding to lawful requests from Nigerian authorities.

Automated decisions. We place you in a neighbourhood automatically from the address you give us. If we get it wrong, or can't place you, you can ask for a person to look at it. Limits on how many messages or listings a new account can send are also automatic. We don't make decisions with legal or similarly significant effects about you by automated means alone: reports and account suspensions are reviewed by people.

Neighbours see your name, photo (if you add one), neighbourhood, and what you post or share with them. We never show your address, street, house number or exact location to anyone. You can choose who can see your full profile and who can message you in Settings → Privacy & blocking. Private group posts are visible only to that group's members, and messages only to the people in the conversation.

We do not sell your personal data. We share it only with:

• Other members, as described in section 5 and as you choose when you post, message or join a group.
• Service providers who run myHoodora for us, under contracts that allow them to use it only to provide their service to us and require them to protect it. They provide sign-in, our database, hosting for the app and website, photo and video storage, email delivery, push notifications, crash reports, and maps and address lookup. See every provider, what they handle and where they store it.
• Authorities, when the law requires it or to protect someone from serious harm.
• A new owner, if myHoodora is merged or sold. We'll tell you first, and this policy will continue to protect your data.

If you sign in with Google or Apple, or open a link to another website, their own privacy policies apply to what they collect.

Our service providers store or process data on servers outside Nigeria (mainly in the United States and the European Union), so using myHoodora involves sending your data abroad. The country for each one is on our service providers page. We rely on the safeguards the NDPA allows (sections 41 to 43): contracts with each provider that require them to protect your data to the NDPA's standard, and where a provider offers them, standard contractual clauses. You can ask us for the details of the safeguard for any provider at the address below. Our fonts are served from our own servers, and the website loads no analytics, advertising or session-recording scripts.

We keep data only as long as we need it for the purposes in section 4:

• Your account and what you share: while your account is open.
• Address checks: only your last 10, so a person can review a failed check.
• Your date of birth: not kept at all.
• If you deactivate your account (Settings → Account → Deactivate account), your profile, posts, listings and comments are hidden until you log in and choose Reactivate. Nothing is deleted, and we stop emailing you.
• If you delete your account (Settings → Account → Delete account), they're hidden straight away, and you can cancel by logging in within 7 days. After that, we delete your profile, posts, comments, listings, photos and videos, address and location history, groups you created alone, notifications, push registrations, support conversations, join requests, ad views and clicks, email delivery records, and your sign-in.
• Messages you sent stay in the other person's copy of the conversation, shown as from “Deleted User”. Reports and moderation decisions keep only your account ID, so the safety record stays accurate; nothing else about you remains.
• We may keep some records for longer where the law requires it, or to resolve disputes, prevent fraud and enforce our terms, and only for as long as needed.

Under the NDPA you have the right to:

• be told how your data is used (this policy);
• access the personal data we hold about you and get a copy of it;
• correct data that is wrong or incomplete (you can edit most of it yourself in Settings);
• delete your account and data (you can do this yourself in Settings → Account → Delete account), or just deactivate it for a while;
• object to, or ask us to restrict, how we use it;
• receive your data in a portable format;
• not be subject to decisions made only by automated means that significantly affect you;
• withdraw consent you have given, at any time, without penalty: turn off location, camera or notifications in your phone's settings, change your emails in Settings → Notifications, or email us;
• complain to the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) if you think we have mishandled your data (ndpc.gov.ng). We'd like the chance to put it right first, so please tell us too.

To use any of these rights, email privacy@myhoodora.com from the address on your account, or choose “Privacy & data request” on our contact page. We may ask you to confirm it's you, and we'll respond within the time the law requires. It's free.

We use only essential cookies and browser storage: to keep you signed in, protect your account, remember your settings, and keep the pages you've already loaded available when your connection drops. Because they're all strictly necessary we don't ask for consent for them, and there's no cookie banner. We don't use analytics, advertising or session-recording cookies or scripts. If we ever add any, we'll ask you first and you'll be able to say no. Cached posts are cleared from your device when you log out.

Data is encrypted in transit and our database is encrypted at rest. Access is limited to the people and services that need it. No system is perfectly secure, so please use a strong password and keep your login details to yourself. If a data breach is likely to put your rights at risk, we'll notify the NDPC within 72 hours of finding out, and tell you without delay if the risk to you is high.

myHoodora is for people aged 18 and over. Under the NDPA a child is anyone under 18, and we don't collect children's data. That's why everyone is asked their date of birth when they join, before they give us their name or address.

If someone says they're under 18, we close the account on the spot and delete it and everything in it straight away, without the usual 30 days. If you believe a child is using myHoodora, report their profile or email privacy@myhoodora.com and we'll do the same.

We'll update this policy as myHoodora grows. If we make important changes, we'll tell you in the app or by email before they take effect. The date at the top shows when it last changed.

Questions, requests or complaints about your data:

• Privacy and data requests: privacy@myhoodora.com
• Data Protection Officer: Peace Arakunle, dpo@myhoodora.com
• Online: the contact page, or Settings → Contact us in the app
• The regulator: Nigeria Data Protection Commission, ndpc.gov.ng