Welcome to Ask The Engineer ("we," "our," or "us"). We are committed to protecting your personal data and your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your information when you use our mobile application and related service-booking platform (collectively, the "Service").
Please read this Privacy Policy carefully. By accessing or using the Service, you agree to the collection and use of information in accordance with this policy.
To provide a seamless service-booking experience connecting clients with engineering professionals, we collect several types of information:
Account Information: Name, email address, phone number, password, and profile picture.
Professional Profiles (For Engineers): Qualifications, certifications, areas of expertise, company name, and work history.
Booking & Service Details: Descriptions of the engineering issues or projects you submit, photos/files uploaded to explain a job, and preferred service dates/times.
Payment Information: Billing details, mobile money numbers, or credit card information processed securely through our third-party payment gateways (we do not store raw card numbers on our servers).
Device Data: Your device’s IP address, operating system, unique device identifiers, browser type, and app usage statistics.
Location Data: With your explicit permission, we collect precise or approximate geolocation data to match clients with nearby engineers and track service delivery.
We use the collected data for specific, lawful purposes necessary to run a reliable service marketplace:
To Facilitate Bookings: Matching clients with the right engineers and managing appointments.
Communication: Sending booking confirmations, job updates, security alerts, and administrative messages.
Payment Processing: Enabling secure transactions between clients and service providers.
App Optimization: Analyzing usage trends to troubleshoot bugs, improve user interface design, and enhance app performance.
Safety and Security: Verifying user identities, preventing fraudulent bookings, and maintaining a secure platform.
We do not sell your personal data. We only share your information in the following specific scenarios:
Between Users (Clients & Engineers): Once a booking is initiated, we share relevant contact details, location, and job descriptions between the client and the assigned engineer to facilitate the service.
Third-Party Service Providers: We share data with trusted vendors who perform services on our behalf, including payment processors (e.g., mobile money aggregators/gateways), cloud hosting providers, and analytics services.
Legal Requirements: We may disclose your information if required to do so by law, court order, or government regulation to protect safety, rights, or property.
We implement industry-standard technical and organizational security measures to protect your data against unauthorized access, loss, alteration, or disclosure. This includes:
Encryption of data in transit using HTTPS/TLS.
Secure hashing protocols for user passwords.
Restricted access to personal data within our company environment.
However, please remember that no method of transmission over the internet or electronic storage is 100% secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.
We retain your personal information only as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined in this policy or to comply with legal, tax, or regulatory obligations.
Account Deletion: You can request the deletion of your account and associated personal data at any time directly through the app settings or by contacting our support team. Upon verification, your data will be permanently deleted or anonymized, except where legal retention is mandatory.
Depending on your jurisdiction, you have specific rights regarding your personal data, which include:
The Right to Access: Request copies of the personal data we hold about you.
The Right to Rectification: Request that we correct any inaccurate or incomplete information.
The Right to Erasure: Request the deletion of your data under certain conditions.
The Right to Object/Restrict: Object to or restrict the processing of your data for specific purposes (such as marketing).
We may update our Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or regulatory requirements. We will notify you of any significant changes by posting the new policy in the app and updating the "Last Updated" date at the top. Your continued use of the app after updates constitute acceptance of the changes.
