Legal & Policies

Privacy Policy

Effective Date: May 16, 2025  |  Funafuna by Chipale

At Funafuna, your privacy is important to us. This policy explains what personal data we collect, how we use it, and your rights as a user of our platform.

1. Information We Collect

• Personal details: Name, phone number, and email (when provided via chat, forms, or bookings).
• Usage data: How you interact with the platform (pages visited, services viewed, searches made).
• Device data: Browser type, operating system, screen size, and general location data to show nearby results.
• WhatsApp data: Messages sent to our WhatsApp number for service discovery and booking purposes.

2. How We Use Your Information

• Connect you with nearby service providers and businesses.
• Improve search results, recommendations, and overall user experience.
• Respond to support requests, inquiries, and feedback.
• Send booking confirmations, reminders, or relevant updates.
• Analyze usage patterns to improve our PWA and WhatsApp services.

3. Data Sharing

We do not sell your personal data. We may share limited information with:

• Service providers — local businesses you choose to contact or book through our platform.
• Vetted third-party tools — for analytics, error monitoring, and infrastructure (all GDPR-compliant).
• Legal authorities — only if required by applicable law or to protect our rights.

4. Data Security

We use industry-standard security practices to protect your data, including HTTPS encryption, access controls, secure cloud servers, and regular security audits. Your WhatsApp conversations are protected by WhatsApp's end-to-end encryption.

5. Your Rights

You have the right to:

• Access the personal data we hold about you.
• Correct inaccurate or incomplete information.
• Delete your data (see our Data Deletion section).
• Opt out of marketing or promotional messages at any time.
• Withdraw consent for data processing where applicable.

Terms of Use

Effective Date: May 16, 2025  |  Funafuna by Chipale

By using Funafuna, you agree to the following terms. These help keep our platform safe, fair, and useful for everyone in our community.

1. Acceptable Use

• You agree not to impersonate someone else or misrepresent your identity or business.
• You will not upload false, misleading, fraudulent, or inappropriate content.
• No spamming, harassment, or abuse of the platform, businesses, or other users is allowed.
• You will not attempt to disrupt, hack, or interfere with the platform's operations.

2. User Content

You are responsible for any information, reviews, or content you submit or share on Funafuna. We reserve the right to remove content that violates our policies, is misleading, or harms the community. By submitting content, you grant us a license to display it as part of our service.

3. Service Availability

Funafuna is provided as-is. We may update, modify, or discontinue features at any time to improve the platform. We are not liable for downtime, bugs, or temporary service interruptions, though we work hard to minimize them.

4. Limitation of Liability

Funafuna is a discovery and connection platform. We are not responsible for the quality, safety, or delivery of services provided by third-party businesses listed or recommended on our platform. All transactions, agreements, and disputes between users and businesses are solely between those parties.

5. Business Listings

• Businesses must provide accurate, up-to-date information about their services, hours, and contact details.
• We reserve the right to verify, edit, or remove listings that violate our guidelines.
• Sponsored listings are clearly marked and do not affect the integrity of organic search results.

6. Modifications

We may update these Terms and our Privacy Policy occasionally. Continued use of the platform after changes means you accept the updated terms. We will notify users of significant changes via the PWA or WhatsApp.

Data Deletion

Last Updated: May 16, 2025  |  Funafuna by Chipale

Your data belongs to you. If you would like Funafuna to delete your personal data, you may request deletion at any time — no questions asked.

How to Request Deletion

1. Email us at info@chipale.com or message us on WhatsApp at +260 96 4225283.
2. Include the phone number, email address, or Facebook account associated with your Funafuna activity so we can identify your records.
3. We will confirm receipt of your request within 48 hours and process verified deletion requests within 7 business days in accordance with applicable privacy laws.
4. Once deleted, your data is permanently removed from our active systems. Some anonymized analytics data may be retained for platform improvement purposes.

What Gets Deleted

• Personal profile information (name, phone, email).
• Search history and browsing activity on our PWA.
• WhatsApp conversation history with our service number.
• Booking history and saved preferences.
• Business listing data (if you are a listed business owner).

What We Retain

We may retain certain anonymized, aggregated data that cannot be linked back to you individually — such as total search counts by city or category. This helps us improve the platform for the broader community.