This is a draft. It has not been reviewed by a lawyer and has not been checked for full compliance with South Africa's Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA). Treat it as an accurate description of what data Ryda collects and why, not as a final legal document.
1. What we collect
- Phone number: required, used to log in and shared with an owner when you send them a lead (riders) or shown on your storefront (owners, so riders and buyers can reach you).
- Password: stored as a one-way hash. We never store or can see your actual password.
- Name: shown on your listings, reviews, or leads, depending on your role.
- Email: optional, used only to recover your account if you forget your password.
- South African ID number: required at signup to reduce fraud and duplicate accounts. Encrypted at rest; we don't display it to anyone, including other users.
- Profile photo & listing photos: optional, shown publicly as part of your profile or listing.
- Suburb (riders, optional): used only to show you nearby listings first.
- Listings, leads, reviews: the actual content you create using Ryda.
- IP address: used briefly to prevent abuse (e.g. limiting how many accounts or messages can be created from one source), not stored long-term or linked to your profile.
2. Who sees what
Owners are a public storefront: your name, photo, listings, verification status, and reviews are visible to anyone browsing Ryda, the same way a shop window is public. This is core to how riders find you.
Riders are private by default: your profile is only ever visible to yourself, or to an owner you've actually sent an enquiry to (and only that owner, not every owner on the platform). Your phone number and message are shared with the specific owner you contact, and with no one else.
3. Where it's stored
Data is stored in a PostgreSQL database. Photos are currently stored on the hosting server's disk as an interim measure while Ryda moves to dedicated file storage. This section will be updated once that migration happens. Your ID number is encrypted before storage; a separate one-way lookup value (not your actual ID number) is used only to detect duplicate accounts.
4. What we don't do
- We don't sell your data to third parties.
- We don't show your ID number to anyone, including the person you're dealing with.
- We don't currently send marketing emails or push notifications. We don't have that infrastructure yet, so there's nothing to opt out of.
- We never touch, set, or take a cut of the rental price you and the other party agree on. Optional paid Ryda features (for either owners or renters) are billed separately through a third-party payment provider.
5. Your rights
You can review and update most of your own information, and exercise the rights below, directly from Settings. These already work, not just described here:
- Download your data: a copy of your profile, listings, leads, and reviews as a file.
- Change your password or email: anytime, no need to contact anyone.
- Delete your account: permanently removes your account and listings. This can't be undone.
6. Changes
As Ryda adds real KYC verification, file storage, and owner billing (all currently in progress), this policy will be updated to reflect exactly what changes for your data.
7. Contact
Questions about your data can be sent to the contact details listed on Ryda's homepage once published.