Privacy policy
This policy explains what OkBell collects, why, how long we keep it and what you can do about it. It covers the website okbell.app, the OkBell apps for iPhone and Android, and both spaces in them: Business and Personal.
In short: we collect little, we keep it for a short time, we never sell it and we never show ads. In the Business space we work for the business. In the Personal space we are responsible for your data and for the data of the people you name.
Who we are
OkBell is run by two companies. Which one is responsible for your data depends on where you are.
| Where you are | Company | Details |
|---|---|---|
| India | Newtact Lab Private Limited (OPC), a One Person Company | Registered office: 12th Floor, Manjeera Trinity Corporate, Geek Space Business Centre, Near Lulu Mall, KPHB Phase 3, Hyderabad, Telangana 500072, India. CIN U72200TG2015OPC097632. GSTIN 36AAECN8657K1ZU |
| Everywhere else | Thaja FZE LLC | Business Center, Sharjah Publishing City Free Zone, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. Licence number 10019022008971 |
The OkBell apps are published by Newtact Lab Private Limited (OPC) in every country.
In this policy, "OkBell", "we" and "us" mean the company for your country.
How to reach us: hello@okbell.app. You can also write to privacy@okbell.app; it goes to the same inbox. Report a security problem to security@okbell.app.
The two spaces, and our role in each
OkBell has two spaces. Our role is different in each, and that changes who you should ask about your data.
| Data | Who decides how it is used | Our role |
|---|---|---|
| Payers, the children or members a fee is for, second contacts, dues, payments recorded, receipts and the reminders sent to payers | The business (a tuition class, gym, hostel, housing society or club) | We are the business's processor. We use this data only on the business's instructions |
| Business owners' and staff accounts, sign-in, devices, our own invoices to businesses, support conversations, website visitors | OkBell | We are the data fiduciary (India) or controller (elsewhere) |
| A personal user's own items, documents, family calendar, Family care settings, Just in case settings and saved places | OkBell | Data fiduciary or controller |
| People a personal user names: people they remind, family members in Family care, Just in case recipients and verifiers | OkBell | Data fiduciary or controller. We rely on each person's own consent, given on our invite page |
| Payment card, UPI and bank details | The payment provider that takes the payment | We never see them |
| Personal plans bought in the app | Apple or Google, who sell the plan | We receive the store's signed record of the purchase (product, dates, status), never card details |
If you are a payer (you pay fees to a business that uses OkBell): the business is responsible for your data. Ask the business first. Every pay page and every message has a link to stop reminders and a link to contact the business. If your request reaches us, we pass it to the business and track it until it is answered.
The two spaces never share data. A business can never see anyone's Personal space.
What we collect, and why
Business owners and staff
- Your account: name, email, phone number, role, which branches you can see, language and country. We use these to run your account, sign you in, run your team and bill your plan.
- Your business: legal name, address, tax numbers (such as GSTIN, TRN or VAT number), logo, time zone and currency. We use these for receipts, invoices and pay pages.
- Our billing: the payment provider's customer and subscription numbers, and our invoices to you. We receive these from Razorpay (India) or Stripe (elsewhere).
Payers and their contacts (we process this for the business)
- Payer (the adult who pays): name, phone number, email if given, language and preferred channel. Used for reminders, pay links and receipts.
- Dependant (for example a student): a first name or label, and a batch. No phone, email, date of birth or photo. We never send messages to a child.
- Second contact: name, phone number, relation, and their own opt-in record. Nothing reaches a second contact until they have agreed themselves.
- Dues, payments and receipts: what is owed, what was paid, how, and the receipt.
- Consent records: what the person agreed to or stopped, when, how and which wording they saw. This includes a separate yes for automated reminder calls, which only the person themselves can give, on their own pay page, when that feature is available.
Personal users
- Your account: name, email, phone number, language, country and time zone.
- Your items: what is due, the due date, how it repeats, a short note and which country rule it uses.
- Document details: document type, an optional number (encrypted) and the expiry date. An image only if you attach one (encrypted). When you scan a document, the expiry date is read on your phone.
- Family space: the family's name (encrypted), who is a member, their role and when they joined, which items are shared and who they are assigned to. Members see each other's names only, never email or phone.
- Purchases: which plan you have and the store's or payment provider's record of it.
People a personal user names
- People you remind: the name you gave, phone or email, relationship and language. They get nothing automatic from us until they say yes themselves.
- Their consent record: what they agreed to, through which channel, when, which wording they saw, and the proof (for example the id of their WhatsApp reply). If they stop, we record that too.
Family care (when available)
- The cared person's name, phone number, language and check-in times.
- Check-in history: checked in, missed, or someone said "I'm checking".
- Phone-health signals: battery low, app not opened.
- Pause and travel periods.
- The cared person's own consent, and each contact's own consent.
Just in case (when available)
- Your switch settings and its state, and your check-in history.
- Your recipients' and verifier's contact details, and their consent.
- Your messages (short text) and photos, and the optional shared phrase for a recipient, kept private on our servers. They need your Private code to open. A recipient reads only what you chose for them, after a release, with the reference, a code sent to their phone and the shared phrase if you set one. See "Private areas" below for who can open them.
- We also hold your recipients' and verifier's contact details, the timing of check-ins and reminders, the size of items, and the request details our hosting provider sees.
- A record of its steps. It holds only codes made from your account (not your name or contact details) and hashes. See "Just in case record" below.
Saved places (when available)
If you save a place for a place reminder, we keep its label, location, address, note, kind and radius, kept private. The phone keeps a copy so arrival alerts and "Nearby now" work without a connection and without your code; signing out removes it. On our servers they need your Private code to open. See "Private areas" below for who can open them. A point reaches us only when you save it as a place. Your live position never leaves your phone and we never store it.
Work and money (when available)
Your work days, pay records, money diary and payslip photos. The app works on your phone without a network. They are backed up to OkBell by default, so they survive a lost or changed phone, and we tell you this before anything is saved. You can turn the backup off in Settings or Profile. We then remove the server copy after a warning, and a lost phone means lost records. They need your Private code to open.
The copy on your phone is plain, so the app can work without a network. On an iPhone, it can go into your own iCloud or computer backup, if you use one. That backup is yours: OkBell does not control it, and your Private code does not protect what is in it. On Android, OkBell keeps it out of the phone's backup. Deleting the records here does not reach a backup you already made.
Private areas: who can open them
Just in case, Saved places and Work and money are private areas.
- You and the people you choose can open them.
- OkBell's senior admins can open them in rare cases: if the law requires it, for your own request, for safety, or to help you recover your data. Each time takes one person, one item, a stated reason and a record. We tell you unless a lawful order forbids it.
- Support staff cannot open them. They see only that something exists, with counts and dates.
- Do not keep passwords, PINs, card numbers, seed phrases, wills or legal papers in these private areas. They are not a safe, and they are not a legal transfer.
Devices, logs and the website
- Devices: a push token and the app version, to send notifications and to tell you when an update is needed. Removed when you sign out.
- Messages we send: which template, the details filled in, the channel, the provider's delivery status and the cost. We do not store the full message beyond the template and its details.
- Security and audit logs: who did what and when, to keep the service safe and to meet the law.
- Website: we use cookieless, aggregate analytics. No third-party trackers and no ad pixels.
What we do not collect
We do not collect card or bank numbers, UPI PINs, your contacts list (the app lets you pick one contact at a time), SMS or call logs, your live or past location, photos of people, health data, children's contact details or advertising IDs.
We refuse and warn if you try to store net-banking passwords, card or UPI PINs, CVVs, one-time-password secrets or crypto seed phrases anywhere in the Personal space, your Just in case messages included. A note on where to find something ("the papers are in the red diary") is fine.
Why we may use your data
| Reason | Examples |
|---|---|
| To give you the service you asked for | Your account, your reminders, your team, your plan |
| Your consent | Reminders to people you name, Family care calls and alerts, automated calls, saved places |
| A duty under law | Keeping tax invoices, keeping security logs, answering lawful requests |
| Keeping the service safe | Stopping abuse, spam and attacks |
| The business's instructions | Everything we do with payers' data |
You can withdraw a consent at any time. Withdrawing does not undo what was done before.
Messages, consent and STOP
- Nothing automatic reaches a person who has not agreed. In the Personal space, the first invite goes from the user's own WhatsApp or SMS, not from us. We send reminders only after the person says yes. If the user cannot share the invite, we may send one consent request by email only.
- A business's second contact is told who added them and why, and gets nothing more until they agree.
- Every message lets you stop. Reply STOP (or tap Stop) and we stop, across every channel for that sender. In the Personal space, every message also has "Stop from this person", "Stop all OkBell" and "Report".
- We never send promotion to people who do not use OkBell. No offers, no prices and no "install the app" in any message to a payer, a person you remind, a care contact or a Just in case recipient.
- No messages at night or on listed holidays, and strict limits on how many messages one person gets.
Who we share data with
We never sell personal data, and we do not use it for ads.
We share data only with:
- Our service providers (sub-processors), who host the service and deliver messages, notifications and calls. They act only on our instructions. The full list, with what each does and where, is on our sub-processors page.
- The business's own payment provider. When a payer pays a fee, they pay into the business's own account with its own provider. That provider works for the business, not for us.
- Apple and Google, when you buy a personal plan in the app. They sell the plan and handle the payment.
- The authorities, only when the law requires it.
We do not use payers' data for our own purposes: no marketing to payers, no profiles across businesses, no selling, no ads and no training of AI models. A payer who appears in two businesses is two separate records.
Partners. Some firms tell their own clients about Just in case and give them a code. A partner never sees any user's data. We note only which partner's code a person used, and we share counts with a partner, never who.
Offer and partner codes. When you type a code, we check it with Thaja Growth (thaja.org), the shared service our companies use for codes. It receives a keyed code made from your account and the code you typed, never your name, email or phone.
Where your data is stored
- Our hosting provider has storage regions for the EU and the US only. There is no storage region for India or the UAE, and neither country requires one for this data.
- Today, our main databases and file storage are in the Asia-Pacific region.
- Businesses in the EU, EEA and UK (when we serve them): their payers' records, dues, payments and receipts are stored in the EU. The business's region is fixed when it signs up and cannot be changed later. Requests may still be processed wherever our hosting provider runs, so we say "stored in the EU", not "processed only in the EU".
- Some data moves between countries, for example when our support team in India helps a business abroad. Where the law requires it, we protect these transfers with the right contract terms.
How long we keep it
| Data | How long |
|---|---|
| Business owner, staff and personal user accounts | While the account is open, then 30 days |
| Payers, dependants and second contacts | As the business sets; deleted with the business. A second contact who opts out is removed at once |
| Receipts | As the business sets (8 years unless the business chooses less) |
| Details filled into messages | 90 days |
| Message delivery status and cost | 13 months, then only totals |
| Our invoices to you | 8 years, as tax and company law require |
| Security and audit logs | 1 year |
| Website analytics | 13 months, totals only |
| Personal items and documents | While your account is open; you can delete any item at once |
| An invite to someone you want to remind | 30 days if not accepted |
| An active reminder for someone else | Until they or you stop it, then 30 days |
| Consent records of people you named | Kept 7 years as proof, with the person's identity replaced by a code |
| Business payers' consent records | While the payer record exists, then 1 year |
| Family care history and phone-health notes | 13 months; the phone's regular "still here" signals 30 days |
| Just in case messages after a release | Deleted 1 year after release, unless you chose otherwise |
| Saved places | Until you delete the place or your account |
| Work and money records and their backup | Until you turn backup off, delete them or delete your account |
Deleted means deleted, with one honest delay. Our backups keep deleted data for up to 30 days, then it is gone. This also applies to Just in case, Saved places and Work and money, and to a Work and money backup you turn off.
Just in case record
Just in case keeps a record of its steps, which we check before anything is sent. The record holds codes and hashes, never names, contact details or the contents of your messages. Once an hour, one hash of it is sent to public timestamp servers (OpenTimestamps); nothing personal goes there. When your account is erased, we delete the secret that links the record to you, so the entries can no longer be tied to you.
How we protect your data
- Phone numbers are stored in a standard format with a keyed code for look-ups. Our staff see them masked, and they are never written to logs.
- Payment provider tokens and keys are encrypted and never shown in full.
- Pay links use long random codes that expire.
- Just in case, Saved places and Work and money need your Private code to open, and only the people named under "Private areas" can open them.
- Backups are encrypted. Real data is never copied to test systems.
- Our staff see only what they need. To see a full phone number, a staff member must give a reason, it lasts an hour, and the business can see that it happened.
No system is perfectly safe. If a breach affects you, we will tell you and the authorities as the law requires.
Your rights
You can ask us to:
- show you the data we hold about you, and give you a copy;
- correct it;
- delete it;
- stop using it for something you agreed to (withdraw consent);
- name a nominee who can use these rights for you if you die or can no longer act;
- hear and fix your complaint.
How to ask:
- Business owners and staff: in the app or dashboard under Account → My data, or by email to hello@okbell.app.
- Personal users: in the app, or by email to hello@okbell.app.
- People who get reminders from a OkBell user: use the link in any message to stop, see what we hold or delete it.
- Payers: ask the business first. We help the business answer.
How fast we answer: we reply to every email within 72 hours. We aim to answer a data request in full within 30 days. The law allows up to 90 days in India and one month in the EU and UK; we aim to be well inside those limits. We may ask you to prove who you are first.
Deleting your account. You can delete your account in the app (Settings → Account → Delete account) or at okbell.app/delete-account. We wait 30 days, so you can change your mind, then erase your data. We keep only what tax law needs (such as invoices) and consent records as proof, with your identity replaced by a code. If you bought a plan in the app, cancel it with Apple or Google too; deleting your account does not cancel a store subscription.
If you own a business, you can choose to delete the business too. All reminders stop at once and you get an export of your records by email. After 30 days, the business's data is erased.
Children
Account holders must be 18 or older. There are no child accounts. A child can be a dependant on a business's record (a first name and batch only), and the payer is the parent or guardian. Where the law requires it, we ask the parent for consent through a link sent to the parent's phone. We never message a child. In the Personal space, only a parent or guardian can set a reminder for someone under 18. We do not track or profile children, and there are no arrival alerts for anyone under 18.
When a user dies
- Your nominee can ask to see, correct or delete your data after your death or if you can no longer act. We check the request against your nomination and an official document.
- A nominee cannot open your Just in case messages through OkBell. Only Just in case releases them, and only to the people you chose.
- When a death is confirmed, we freeze the account: no reminders, and no renewals charged where we control the billing. Data is deleted 1 year after a release or when the nominee asks, except consent and audit records (with identities replaced by codes) and invoices kept for tax law.
- OkBell is not a will and does not transfer ownership.
Complaints
If you are not happy with how we handled your data, write to our Grievance Officer first.
Grievance Officer (India): Naveen Kumar Davuluri, Director and Grievance Officer, Newtact Lab Private Limited (OPC), hello@okbell.app.
Outside India, write to hello@okbell.app (for Thaja FZE LLC).
If your complaint is not resolved, you may take it to the Data Protection Board of India (in India) or to the data protection authority where you live.
Changes to this policy
When we change this policy, we publish a new version on this page. Each version shows its number and the date it was published. If a change is important, we also tell you in the app or by email before it applies.