True Barber

Privacy Policy

True Barber (“the app”, “we”, “us”) is operated by MDAKA Advanced Technologies (Pty) Ltd (registration number 2026/160396/07), 286 Saron Street, Garsfontein, 0042, South Africa. This policy explains what personal information we collect, why, and your rights under the Protection of Personal Information Act, 2013 (POPIA).

1. Information we collect

• Account details: your name, email address and password (passwords are stored encrypted by our authentication provider; we can never see them).
• Sign in with Apple or Google: if you use either, Apple or Google confirms who you are and shares your name and email address with us. We never see your Apple or Google password. If you choose Apple’s “Hide My Email”, we receive a private relay address instead of your real email.
• Queue and booking activity: the shops you join, your ticket, chosen service, payment method (cash, VIP Pass or online), when you were called, checked in or finished, and whether a turn was missed or you were put back in the queue. We use finish times at each shop to estimate wait times; estimates are shown without anyone’s name.
• Your history and home shop: a history of your visits, bookings, VIP Passes and payments, shown only to you, and the shop you pin as your home shop (for example by scanning its QR code).
• VIP Passes and payments: which passes you hold, their dates, and the amount paid. We never receive or store your card details — card payments are entered directly on Yoco’s secure payment page.
• Reviews you choose to write, shown publicly with your name.
• Reports and blocks: if you report a review, we keep the reason and any note you add. If you block someone, we keep that so their reviews stay hidden for you. The person you report or block is not told it was you.
• Location: if you allow it, your device’s location is used on your phone to show nearby shops and distances. We do not store customers’ location on our servers. Shop owners choose to publish their shop’s location.
• Notifications: a device token so we can tell you when your barber calls you.
• Shop owners: shop name, area, phone number, photos, logo, banner, colours and welcome message, services, prices and how long they take, opening hours, staff first names, and an encrypted copy of your Yoco secret key used only to create payments to your own Yoco account.
• Technical data: basic logs (such as IP address) kept by our hosting providers, and crash reports (device model, Android/iOS version, app version, an anonymous user ID and what went wrong) so we can fix bugs.

2. Why we use it

• To run your account and the digital queue, and to notify you when it’s your turn.
• To process VIP Passes and once-off payments, and to show shops who has paid.
• To show shop listings, ratings, reviews and estimated wait times.
• To keep reviews honest and respectful: we look at every report within 24 hours and may remove a review or stop someone from posting reviews.
• To keep the service secure, prevent fraud, and meet legal obligations.

We process this information because it is necessary to provide the service you asked for, to comply with the law, for our legitimate interest in running a safe service, or with your consent (for example location and notifications, which you can switch off at any time in your phone’s settings).

3. Who we share it with

• The barber shop you join sees your name, ticket, chosen service and payment method.
• Yoco processes card payments on behalf of each shop.
• Apple and Google confirm your identity when you choose to sign in with them.
• Supabase hosts our database, accounts and server functions.
• Google Firebase delivers push notifications (through Apple’s notification service on iPhone), collects crash reports (Crashlytics) and hosts these pages.
• The True Barber team sees reported reviews, the reasons given and the reviewer’s name, only to decide what to do with them.
• OpenStreetMap provides map images (your device requests map tiles directly).

We do not sell your personal information or use it for advertising. Some of these providers store data outside South Africa; we only use providers that protect personal information to a standard comparable to POPIA.

4. How long we keep it

We keep your information while your account is active. When you delete your account we delete your profile, passes, payment records linked to you, reviews, reports you made, people you blocked and notification tokens. A shop’s queue history is kept with your name removed. Backups are overwritten within about 30 days. We may keep limited records longer where the law requires it.

5. Your rights

You may ask to see, correct or delete your personal information, object to its processing, or withdraw consent. You can delete your account in the app at any time (Account → Delete account) or request deletion here. Contact us at info@mdakatech.com.

If you’re unhappy with how we handle your information you may complain to the Information Regulator (South Africa) — inforegulator.org.za.

6. Security

Data is sent over encrypted connections, access to our database is restricted, and sensitive secrets (such as shops’ payment keys) are encrypted at rest. No system is perfectly secure, so please use a strong, unique password.

7. Children

True Barber is intended for people aged 18 and over. Anyone younger should use the app only with a parent’s or guardian’s permission.

8. Changes and contact

We’ll update this page if our practices change and show the new date above. Information Officer: Andziso Mdaka, MDAKA Advanced Technologies (Pty) Ltd — info@mdakatech.com.