Privacy Policy

Information we collect

• Google sign-in data: your Google account identifier, email address, name, and profile image, when available.
• Account and profile data: your display name, username, biography, avatar, country, preferred language, roles, and settings.
• Reading and community activity: saved stories, reading progress, bookmarks, follows, likes, ratings, reviews, comments, reports, purchases, and notification preferences.
• Creator data: author profile and application details, contact information, submitted stories and media, agreements, earnings, and payout information if you apply to publish on Zabongo.
• Payment data: the name, email address, and phone number you enter for a payment, together with order references, amounts, currency, status, and settlement records. Zabongo does not collect your mobile-money PIN.
• Device and service data: session cookies, local reading and notification preferences, request and error logs, timestamps, and security or fraud-prevention records produced when you use the service.

How we use Google user data

Zabongo uses Google OAuth only to let you create and access a Zabongo account. We use the basic account information Google returns to identify your account, show your profile information, secure your session, and sync your Zabongo activity across devices.

Zabongo does not request access to your Gmail, Google Drive files, contacts, calendars, or other Google product content. We do not sell Google user data, use it for advertising, or use it to train generalized artificial-intelligence models. We do not transfer it to third parties except to provide or secure Zabongo, comply with law, or act on your instructions. Zabongo's use and transfer of information received from Google APIs adheres to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including its Limited Use requirements.

How we use information

• Create and secure accounts, authenticate users, and provide reader, author, and staff features.
• Sync libraries, reading progress, purchases, author passes, profiles, and preferences.
• Process mobile-money payments and creator payouts, maintain transaction records, and resolve payment issues.
• Publish content and public author profiles you choose to submit, and operate comments, ratings, follows, and other community features.
• Send in-app or push notifications based on your choices, such as new-chapter, reply, payment, and pass-expiry updates.
• Moderate content, respond to reports, prevent abuse and fraud, enforce our terms, and protect users and the service.
• Measure service performance and aggregated usage so we can maintain and improve Zabongo.

When we share information

We disclose information only as needed for the purposes described in this policy:

• Supabase provides authentication, database, and file-storage infrastructure.
• Google provides the optional Google sign-in flow. Google does not receive your Zabongo reading history from us through this flow.
• Snippe receives the customer and transaction details required to process supported mobile-money payments or payouts.
• OneSignal may receive a Zabongo user identifier and notification content when push notifications are configured and enabled.
• Hosting and operational providers process technical data needed to serve, monitor, secure, and support the platform.
• Other users can see information you make public, such as an author profile, published work, display name, comments, ratings, and reviews.
• Authorities or affected parties may receive information when disclosure is reasonably necessary to comply with law, protect rights or safety, investigate fraud, or address a legal claim.

We do not sell or rent personal information.

Storage, retention, and security

Account and Google sign-in data are stored in Zabongo's Supabase environment. Other service providers keep the limited information they process under their own terms and retention practices. Providers may process data in countries other than the one where you live.

We retain account information while your account is active and for as long as needed to provide the service. After a deletion request, we remove or anonymize information that is no longer required. We may retain transaction, payout, moderation, security, audit, and legal records for longer where reasonably necessary to meet legal obligations, prevent fraud, resolve disputes, or enforce agreements. Public content may remain where continued publication is required by an author agreement or existing reader access, and will otherwise be removed or disconnected from the deleted account when appropriate.

We use access controls, encrypted network connections, restricted server credentials, and monitoring intended to protect personal information. No online service can guarantee absolute security, so please use a secure Google account and notify us if you believe your Zabongo account has been compromised.

Your choices and requests

• Update your reader profile, language, and notification preferences from your Zabongo account settings.
• Remove comments or other content where the relevant Zabongo feature provides that control.
• Revoke Zabongo's Google access from your Google Account connections. Revoking access stops future Google sign-in but does not automatically delete your Zabongo account.
• Request permanent account deletion from the account deletion page, or request access or correction by emailing [email protected]. We may need to verify your identity before completing a request.

Children's privacy

Zabongo is not directed to children who are too young to consent to an online service under applicable law. If you believe a child has provided personal information without the required permission, contact us so we can review and remove it where appropriate.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as Zabongo's features, providers, or legal obligations change. We will publish the revised policy here, update the date above, and provide additional notice when a change materially affects how we use personal information.

Contact

For privacy questions or requests, email [email protected]. For general support, email [email protected].

See also the Zabongo Terms of Service.