Privacy Policy

Last updated 23 October 2026. These pages apply to e-SOS at https://www.e-sos.icu, the app at https://app.e-sos.icu and the API behind them.

In short. e-SOS exists to tell the people you chose where you are when you need help — and to do nothing with your data beyond that. No background tracking, no advertising, no selling of personal information. Locations purge after 24 hours, evidence purges after 24 hours on the free plan and 90 days on Family, and deleting your household removes everything (the audit trail excepted, as our legal record).

1. Who we are

We operate e-SOS, the family SOS app at https://app.e-sos.icu and https://www.e-sos.icu. For any privacy question or request, write to support@e-sos.icu or use the contact form at https://www.e-sos.icu#contact. We process personal information under South Africa's POPIA and, where it applies to you, the GDPR.

2. What we collect

• Account: your first name, household name, e-mail address and language choice. There are no passwords — sign-in rides one-time e-mail links.
• Circle: for each contact you add, a label and their WhatsApp number or e-mail address. Nothing is ever sent to them until they accept on their own consent page.
• Alerts: when you press, the time, the alert type, your location at that moment, the photo and audio you captured (each stream can be switched off), your home address and any saved place you set, and the medical-card details you choose to store.
• Follow windows: trail points uploaded while a window you started is open — never longer than 60 minutes, and only from the page you have open.
• Welfare: the check-in times you arm and the check-ins you make.
• Devices and agents: device labels, web-push subscriptions, and the agent keys you mint or revoke.
• Support: your messages to Jax in the app or on WhatsApp, and contact-form submissions from the website (name, WhatsApp number, what you asked). Jax never reads your photos or recordings.
• Technical: server logs (IP address, timestamps) for security and abuse prevention, and your billing status from Whop. We never receive your card details.

3. What we never do

We do not track your location in the background. We do not run advertising and do not sell or rent personal information. Your evidence is not viewed by our support team.

4. How we use information

To deliver your alerts and follow windows; to run welfare timers; to provide, support and secure the service (rate caps, abuse prevention); to administer plans and billing status; and to comply with the law. We may disclose information where the law requires it, or where it is genuinely necessary to protect someone's life or safety.

5. Who sees your information

• Your circle and your linked control room — when you press or start a window, the recipients you chose (and the security company you linked, on paid plans) receive the alert.
• Processors: WhatsApp/Meta and our e-mail relay deliver messages; OpenStreetMap, Esri and CARTO serve map tiles when you view a map; Whop handles payment; our hosting provider runs the servers. Each processes only what its job needs.
• Authorities — only where the law requires it.

6. Your contacts' choices

A contact receives nothing until they accept on their own page. Every message they ever receive carries a one-tap leave link; leaving stops all future alerts to them. When your household is deleted, contacts who never accepted are removed with it.

7. How long we keep things

• Locations: follow-window points purge 24 hours after the window ends.
• Evidence: photo and audio purge 24 hours after the press on the free plan, 90 days on Family.
• Unactivated sign-ups: pending households that never verify are purged after 7 days.
• Deletion: deleting your household (Settings → Delete) removes your records immediately; media files are deleted by the purge worker within 24 hours. The audit trail — who did what, not message content — is kept as our safety and legal record.
• Support: Jax threads and contact-form messages are kept while you are a customer and as long as needed afterwards to resolve your questions.

8. How we protect information

All traffic rides TLS. Sign-in uses single-use, short-lived e-mail links instead of passwords. API keys are shown once and can be revoked instantly, like a lost phone. Evidence is stored encrypted, and the same retention law applies to backups.

9. Your rights

You can access and correct your details in the app, export your data in a machine-readable form (the API offers a per-membership export; ask us and we will help), and delete your household at any time. You can withdraw consent by leaving a circle — contacts can do this themselves from any message. You may also object to or restrict processing where the law allows, and lodge a complaint with your regulator. To exercise any right, write to support@e-sos.icu.

10. Children

e-SOS is not intended for children. Households are created by adults, and you must not add a minor's contact details without their guardian's permission.

11. Where information lives

Our servers and processors may be located in other countries. Where personal information crosses a border, we handle it under the safeguards POPIA and the GDPR require.

12. Changes to this policy

We post any change on this page and update the date above. Material changes are announced in the app or on the website.

13. Contact

Privacy questions and requests: support@e-sos.icu, the contact form at https://www.e-sos.icu#contact, or Jax on WhatsApp or in the app.