FundaSnap is committed to protecting the privacy of all users, especially learners under the age of 18. This policy explains what information we collect, why we collect it, and how we protect it — in line with the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA), Act 4 of 2013.
Contents
1. Who We Are
FundaSnap is a South African AI-powered tutoring service delivered via WhatsApp. We are the Responsible Party as defined under POPIA.
Contact: hello@fundasnap.co.za · WhatsApp: +27 61 945 2070
2. What Information We Collect
We collect only the minimum information needed to provide the tutoring service:
- WhatsApp phone number — used to identify your account and deliver responses
- Grade level — to calibrate responses to your curriculum level
- Preferred language — to respond in your chosen language
- Study goal — set during onboarding to personalise your experience
- Messages and media sent to the bot — including text questions, photos of notes, PDF documents and voice notes, processed to generate tutoring responses
- Quiz scores and interaction counts — to generate progress reports and award badges
- Credit balance — to manage your account credits
- Referral code — to track and reward referrals
⚠️ We do not collect: full names, ID numbers, home addresses, school names, financial card details, or any biometric data. Payments are processed by Yoco and we do not see or store your card information.
3. Why We Collect Your Information
We process your personal information for the following lawful purposes:
- To provide the tutoring service — generating CAPS-aligned responses to your questions and media
- To personalise your experience — matching responses to your grade, language and subject
- To manage your account — tracking credits, streaks, quiz scores and progress
- To send you relevant messages — daily challenge questions, re-engagement nudges (only when you have an active account and have not opted out)
- To improve our service — understanding which subjects and grade levels are most used
- To comply with legal obligations — including POPIA requirements
4. How We Store and Protect Your Data
Your data is stored securely in Supabase (PostgreSQL database) hosted on servers within the European Economic Area with appropriate data transfer safeguards in place.
Security measures include:
- All data transmitted over HTTPS/TLS encryption
- Database access restricted to authenticated application code only
- Webhook signature verification to prevent unauthorised message injection
- No plain-text passwords or sensitive credentials stored in the database
- Regular security reviews of application code and dependencies
While we take every reasonable precaution, no system is 100% secure. We will notify affected users and the Information Regulator within the required timeframes in the event of a data breach.
6. Children and Minors
FundaSnap is designed for use by learners in Grades 3–12, which includes children under the age of 18. We take the privacy of minors seriously.
- We collect only the minimum data necessary to provide the educational service
- We do not display advertising to any users
- We do not build profiles for commercial purposes
- Parents or guardians may request to view, correct or delete their child's data at any time by contacting us
- Learners under 18 should use FundaSnap with the knowledge and consent of a parent or guardian
7. Your Rights Under POPIA
As a data subject under POPIA, you have the right to:
- Access — request a copy of the personal information we hold about you
- Correction — request that inaccurate or incomplete information be corrected
- Deletion — request that your personal information be deleted (subject to legal retention obligations)
- Objection — object to the processing of your personal information
- Withdrawal of consent — withdraw consent for processing at any time by unsubscribing
- Complaint — lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator of South Africa
To exercise any of these rights, contact us at hello@fundasnap.co.za or on WhatsApp.
Information Regulator of South Africa: inforeg.org.za · complaints.IR@justice.gov.za
8. Data Retention
We retain your personal information for as long as your account is active or as needed to provide the service. Specifically:
- Account data — retained for the duration of your account and for 3 years after your last interaction
- Message content and media — processed in real time and not permanently stored. Only a summary of recent context is retained to improve response quality.
- Quiz scores and progress data — retained for the duration of your account
- Payment records — retained for 5 years as required by South African financial regulations
When you unsubscribe by sending "stop" to the bot, your account is flagged as unsubscribed but data is retained as required by POPIA. You may request full deletion by contacting us directly.
9. Opting Out
You can opt out of receiving messages from FundaSnap at any time by sending the word "stop" to the WhatsApp bot. This will immediately unsubscribe you from all proactive messages including daily challenges and re-engagement messages.
To resubscribe, simply send "start" to the bot at any time.
To request full deletion of your account and data, contact us at hello@fundasnap.co.za.
10. Contact Us
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or how we handle your personal information, please contact us:
📧 Email: hello@fundasnap.co.za
📲 WhatsApp: +27 61 945 2070
🌐 Website: www.fundasnap.co.za
We aim to respond to all privacy-related queries within 5 business days.
Changes to this Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify active users of material changes via WhatsApp. Continued use of FundaSnap after changes constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.