Privacy policy
Wenfi is a directory of businesses and services in Lebanon. It is run by gedev, an independent developer based in Lebanon ("we", "us"). This page explains what information the Wenfi app collects, why, who can see it, how long we keep it, and what you can do about it. If anything is unclear, write to privacy@gedevstudio.com.
In short. You need an account to use the app. We keep your name, email, mobile number, gender and month and year of birth. Other people only ever see your first name next to a review you write. We do not sell your information and we do not show third-party ads. You can delete your account at any time, inside the app or from this page.
1. What we collect and why
Your account
When you create an account you give us your name, email address, mobile number, gender, and month and year of birth, and you choose a password.
- Email: to confirm that the address is yours (we send a 6-digit code), to let you reset your password, and to contact you about your account.
- Mobile number: kept on your account so we can contact you about your account or your businesses. We do not check it yet. In the future we may check it by WhatsApp message for people who add or claim a business.
- Gender and month and year of birth: used to make sure you are at least 13 and to produce totals about who uses the app (for example, how many of the people who looked at a business are women aged 25 to 34). Totals never show your name.
- Name: shown as a first name next to the reviews you write.
- Account type: at sign-up you choose a personal account (to find businesses and write reviews) or a business account (to also add businesses). Only we can see which one you have. If you have a personal account and later ask for a business account, we store your request, the short note you write with it, our decision, and our reason if we say no. Your account type is not shown to other people.
- Password: stored in scrambled form by our sign-in provider. We cannot read it.
Reviews and reports
If you write a review we store your star rating, your text, the date, and a random code made by the app on your phone, which helps us spot fake or repeated reviews. Everyone using the app can see the rating, the text, the date and your first name. If you report a review or a business, we store your report, the reason you pick and anything you add, and our team reads it. The business owner is not told who reported. A report does not hide anything by itself; we look at it and decide.
If you own a business you can reply to its reviews. Your reply is shown to everyone under the review.
Businesses you add
If you add a business we store what you enter: its name, categories, city, description, area, map position, phone numbers, WhatsApp number, email, website, social media links, year of establishment, opening hours (if you add them) and logo. All of this is shown to everyone using the app, so only enter details that the business wants to be public.
When you change a business that is already visible in the app, the change is sent to our team first. We keep the change you asked for, what the business looked like before, our decision, and our reason if we say no.
If you ask to take over a business that is already listed (a "claim"), we store your request, the short note you write with it, and our decision.
Saved businesses
If you save a business, we keep your list of saved businesses on your account so that it follows you to a new phone. Only you can see it.
Your location
After you sign in, the app asks once whether it may use your phone's location, and explains why. You can say no. The app uses your position only when you tap Nearest or My location, and never in the background. The position is sent to our server for that request so it can put the nearest businesses first. We do not store it. If you say no, or turn the permission off in your phone's settings, the rest of the app still works.
Notifications
After you sign in, the app asks once whether it may send you notifications. If you allow them, we store a notification code for your phone, your notification choices, and the categories you choose to follow. We use them to tell you about your businesses and reviews (for example, that a business you added was approved, that the owner replied to your review, or that we approved or declined your request for a business account), about Featured plans, about new businesses in the categories you follow, and, occasionally, to send an announcement to everyone. You can switch each kind on or off in the Account tab, or turn notifications off in your phone's settings. The messages we send you, including announcements and news about the categories you follow, are also kept in the Inbox inside the app, which shows the 10 most recent from the past month. We delete them after about a month.
How the app is used
- When you open a business or tap call, WhatsApp or directions, we record which business, what you did, when, your age group and gender, and a scrambled daily code. The code is worked out from your account and the date, is different every day, and exists only so that one person is counted once a day for each action. The record does not contain your name, email or number, and we do not use the code to find out who did what.
- When you search, we store the words you typed, how many results there were, the language, and the same kind of scrambled daily code, so that the same search by the same person is counted once a day.
- Opening your own business is not counted.
We keep these detailed records for up to 90 days and keep only daily totals after that. Business owners do not see who looked at or contacted their business. If we share numbers with a business, they are totals only.
Error reports
If the app runs into an error, it sends us a short technical report: the error message, the screen it happened on, the app version, your phone's model and Android version, and whether someone was signed in (not who). It does not contain your name, email, number or account, and before a report leaves your phone the app removes anything in it that looks like an id, an email address or a phone number. We use these reports to fix problems and delete them after 30 days.
Featured listings and payments
If you pay to feature a business, we store the amount, the payment method, the reference or note you give us, and the dates of the plan. We keep these records as long as we need them for our accounts.
Technical information
Like any online service, our hosting providers process your IP address and basic device information when your phone connects to our servers. We use this to run and protect the service.
2. Who can see your information
- Other people using the app see your first name, rating, review text and date on reviews you write, the replies you write as a business owner, and the public details of businesses you add. They never see your email, mobile number, gender or date of birth.
- Businesses do not receive your details. If we share numbers with a business, they are totals only.
- Our team. A very small team looks after the app. The administrator can see your email, mobile number, month and year of birth, and gender. Moderators see only a partly hidden email and mobile number, and no age or gender. Everyone else on the team sees only totals. Team members sign in with a second verification step.
- We do not sell or rent your information and we do not share it with advertisers. The app shows no third-party ads.
3. Services we use
We use these providers to run the app. They handle information only to provide their service to us.
- Supabase: our database, sign-in system and file storage (where your account and everything above is kept).
- Resend: sends the verification and password-reset emails.
- Expo and Google (Firebase Cloud Messaging): deliver notifications to your phone.
- Google Maps: shows the map. Google may process your device information and IP address under Google's privacy policy.
- Cloudflare: runs our domain name and forwards emails sent to our contact address.
Some of these providers may process information outside Lebanon.
4. How long we keep it
- Your account information: until you delete your account.
- Detailed usage records and search words: up to 90 days.
- Messages in your Inbox: about one month.
- Error reports: 30 days.
- Payment records: as long as needed for our accounts and the law. After you delete your account they are kept without any link to you.
- Deleted information can remain for a short time in our provider's backups before they are overwritten.
5. Your choices and rights
- See and correct: your name, gender, and month and year of birth can be changed in the Account tab. Write to us to ask what we hold about you or to correct something else, such as your mobile number.
- Delete your account: in the app, open Account and tap Delete my account. If you cannot use the app, follow the steps on our delete-your-account page. Deleting your account removes your profile, email, mobile number, answers, notification codes, saved businesses and the businesses you added. Reviews you wrote on other businesses stay, shown as written by a "Former user", with your name removed.
- Location and notifications: control them in your phone's settings, and notifications also in the Account tab.
- Password: change it in the Account tab, or use "Forgot your password?" on the sign-in screen.
6. Children
Wenfi is not meant for children under 13, and the app does not let anyone under 13 create an account. If you believe a child has created one, write to us and we will delete it.
7. Security
Information travels between the app and our servers over encrypted connections. Access to account details is limited to our small team and protected by a second verification step. No online service can promise perfect security, so please choose a password that you do not use anywhere else.
8. Changes to this policy
If we change this policy in a way that matters, we will update the date at the top and, for important changes, tell you in the app.
9. Contact
gedev, Lebanon
Email: privacy@gedevstudio.com