Privacy policy

Introduction

This Privacy Policy describes how Waingoo Tech Limited ("we," "us," or "our") collects, uses, and shares your personal information when you use our WhatsApp- and Telegram-based product discovery tool (the "Service"). By interacting with the Waingoo bot, you agree to the terms outlined below.

Waingoo Tech Limited is committed to protecting the privacy of our users in Kenya. Our goal is to help shoppers find what they want from Kenyan sellers without the endless scrolling. This policy is designed to comply with the Kenya Data Protection Act (2019).

Our Service operates through Meta's WhatsApp Business Platform and Telegram's Bot API. Your use of these platforms is also subject to their respective privacy policies.

Information we collect

We collect only the information necessary to facilitate your shopping experience:

• Messaging Identity: Your WhatsApp phone number or Telegram user ID, and your public profile name as provided by the messaging platform.
• Query Content: Information you provide in your chats (e.g., product names, descriptions, budget, location, or condition preferences) to help find relevant items.
• Behavioral Data: We may keep track of items you show interest in, search history, and interaction patterns to improve our recommendations.

We do not collect passwords, payment information, or any data beyond what you voluntarily share in the chat.

How we use your information

• Product Discovery: To process your requests and find matching listings from Instagram seller pages, Jiji and Kilimall.
• AI Processing: Your messages are processed by third-party AI model providers, accessed through OpenRouter, to understand your request, check listings against it and write replies. These providers process data under their own privacy policies.
• Your Searches: We keep your recent and saved searches so you can refine them or come back to them later.
• Service Improvement: We use aggregated, anonymized usage data to improve our search algorithms and overall user experience.

Data sharing

We do not sell your personal data to third parties. We share data only in the following limited ways:

• Third-Party Service Providers: We work with AI model providers (through OpenRouter), cloud hosting (Railway), data collection services for public listings (such as Apify), and the messaging platforms themselves (Meta for WhatsApp, Telegram) to run the Service.
• Legal Obligations: We may disclose information if required by Kenyan law or in response to valid requests by public authorities, including the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (ODPC).

Marketing and your choices

• Consent: We do not send you promotional messages unless you have opted in to them.
• Right to Opt-Out: You can stop any promotional messages at any time by emailing info@waingoo.com.

Data retention and security

• Retention: We keep your conversation and search history to provide and improve the Service. You can ask us to delete it at any time by emailing info@waingoo.com, and we will delete it.
• Security: We use encrypted connections and hosted cloud infrastructure, and limit access to your information to what is needed to run the Service.

Children's privacy

Our Service is not intended for use by individuals under the age of 18. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If we become aware that we have collected data from a minor, we will take steps to delete it promptly.

Your rights under the Kenya Data Protection Act

As a resident of Kenya, you have the following rights regarding your personal data:

• The right to be informed of how your data is collected and used.
• The right to access your personal data held by us.
• The right to object to the processing of your data, including profiling for marketing.
• The right to request the correction or deletion of your data.
• The right to data portability.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us using the details below.

Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any material changes by posting the updated policy on this page with a revised effective date. Your continued use of the Service after any changes constitutes your acceptance of the updated policy.

Contact us

For any questions regarding this policy or to exercise your data rights, please contact us: