Applies to: the Innova app (Android and iOS), the Innova Drivers app, the Innova web app, www.innovaplatforms.com, and the services offered through them.
1. Who we are
The data controller is Innova Platforms, Kigali, Rwanda ("Innova", "we"). Contact for privacy matters: info@innovaplatforms.com, telephone 0788 350 000.
Innova processes personal data under Law N° 058/2021 of 13/10/2021 relating to the protection of personal data and privacy. The supervisory authority is the National Cyber Security Authority (NCSA).
2. What we collect, and why
| What | When | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Phone number | When you sign in, order, pay or send a parcel | To create your account, send sign-in and release codes by SMS, contact you about orders, and match your mobile-money payments |
| Name, email address, password (the password is stored only in scrambled, hashed form) | When you create an account or add them | To identify you and let you sign in |
| Recipient's name and phone number | When you send a parcel (typed, or picked from your contacts) | So the rider can reach them and the release code goes to the right person. We read only the one contact you pick; your address book is never uploaded. |
| Delivery addresses and places | When you save an address or pick a place on the map | To deliver and to price the delivery |
| Location of your phone (customers) | Only while you use the app and only after you allow it | To work out delivery fees, to record where a house, plot, car or item you list is, and to set a shared trip's pickup point |
| Location of riders' phones (Innova Drivers) | While the rider is on shift, including when the app is in the background or the screen is off. Tracking stops when the rider goes off shift. | To offer jobs to the nearest rider, show customers where their parcel is, confirm where a delivery happened, and settle disputes |
| Photos and videos (listing videos include sound) | When you photograph a parcel, search with a picture, post a listing or an Urgent deal, or when a rider photographs a delivery or their vehicle at the start of a shift | To size parcels and pick a vehicle, find the product you want, show your listing to others, prove a delivery, and read a vehicle's fuel or battery level |
| Orders, payments and wallet | When you buy, send, pay or are refunded | To deliver what you paid for, keep accounts, handle refunds and meet tax and accounting duties |
| Mobile-money payment messages | When you pay Innova's MTN MoMo number | Innova's office phone reads MTN's payment confirmation to match your payment to your order. |
| Messages | When you chat with the office, with a seller or buyer in Urgent deals, or about a listing | To answer you and arrange sales. Phone numbers and other contact details typed into Urgent-deals chats are masked. |
| Product links and searches | When you send us a link or search | To find and price what you asked for |
| Device information and push-notification token | When you allow notifications | To send notifications to your phone, and to know which app version you run |
| Children's school-bus information | Only for schools that use Innova's school service, and only to that child's parents or guardians | To show where the bus is and who is collecting the child. The school is responsible for this information; Innova processes it for the school. |
We do not sell your personal data, and we do not use it for advertising.
3. Automated processing and artificial intelligence
Some features send the photo or text you provide to an AI service to identify an item, estimate its size, weight, value or suitable vehicle, find matching products, or answer a question in "Ask Innova". Our AI provider is Anthropic, PBC (United States), which acts on our instructions as a processor.
AI estimates are suggestions. Prices you are charged, and decisions about your account, are checked or set by Innova staff and rules, not by AI alone. You may ask for a human review of any decision that affects you.
4. Who receives your data
- Other users, only as needed: the rider carrying your parcel sees the pickup and drop-off places, names and phone numbers. A recipient sees the rider's name and position. Buyers see what you put in a listing, and the place (exact or only the area, as you choose). A lister's contact is released only to a person who has made an inquiry. Members of a shared trip see each other's pickup points and first names.
- Suppliers and carriers: to buy and ship your goods, we pass them the order details they need. We buy through Innova's own accounts, not yours.
- Service providers that process data for us:
- Railway (application hosting)
- Neon (database)
- Cloudflare (photo and video storage)
- Mista (SMS delivery in Rwanda)
- Resend (email)
- Google (Firebase push notifications, Maps)
- Expo (app updates and push delivery)
- OpenStreetMap-based map services (place look-ups)
- Meta (WhatsApp messages you send to our number)
- Anthropic (AI, see section 3)
- MTN Rwanda (you pay through MTN MoMo, under MTN's own terms)
- Authorities, when the law requires it, for example the Rwanda Revenue Authority for customs and tax, or the police with a lawful request.
5. Transfers outside Rwanda
Several providers above store or process data outside Rwanda (for example in the European Union or the United States). Under Law 058/2021, Innova transfers or stores personal data outside Rwanda only with the safeguards the law requires. You can ask us for details of these safeguards.
6. How long we keep it
| Data | Kept for |
|---|---|
| Account details | While your account is open, then deleted or anonymised after a deletion request, except as below |
| Orders, payments, invoices | As long as tax and accounting law requires |
| Riders' on-shift location history | As long as it is needed to run and check deliveries, and longer only where it is part of a delivery record or a dispute |
| Listings and their photos | While live. Photos are deleted when a listing is closed or removed; contact and address are erased on request. |
| Chats | As long as they are needed to answer you, and longer only where they are needed for a dispute |
| AI requests | Not kept by Innova beyond the result, except cached product searches (no personal data) |
7. Your rights
Under Law 058/2021 you have the right to be informed; to access your data; to have it corrected; to have it deleted; to object to or restrict its processing; not to be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing; to data portability; and to be represented. Where we rely on your consent (for example location, camera or notifications), you can withdraw it at any time in your phone's settings.
Deleting your account: write to info@innovaplatforms.com from your account's phone number or email, or call 0788 350 000. We reply to confirm when it is done. Records the law requires us to keep (see section 6) are kept only for that purpose.
To use any right, contact info@innovaplatforms.com or 0788 350 000. If you are not satisfied, you can complain to the National Cyber Security Authority (NCSA).
8. Children
Innova's apps are not intended for children under 16, and we do not knowingly create accounts for them. School-bus information about pupils is processed only for the school and shown only to their parents or guardians.
9. Security
Data travels only over encrypted connections (HTTPS). Passwords and payment PINs are stored hashed. No system is perfectly secure. If a breach puts your rights at risk, we will notify the NCSA and, where required, you, within the time the law sets.
10. Changes
We will announce significant changes in the app before they take effect. The date at the top shows the current version.
11. Contact
Innova Platforms, Kigali, Rwanda. Email: info@innovaplatforms.com. Telephone: 0788 350 000. Web: www.innovaplatforms.com