Privacy Policy

WHAT? (askwhat.co.za and the WHAT? phone app) lets you ask questions and debate with three AI models: ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini. It is for information and fun. This policy explains what we collect, why, and the choices you have. It applies to the website and the Android and iOS apps.

If you have any questions, email us at privacy@askwhat.co.za. We follow South Africa's Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA).

Account details: your name, email address and a securely hashed password. If you sign in with Google, we receive your name, email address and profile picture from Google.

Student and family logins: a teacher or parent can create logins for children. For these we store only a first name, a username and a hashed password. We do not ask children for an email address, phone number, location or photos.

Your questions and the AI answers, debates, saved words and quiz scores, so you can see your history. Shared answers are only visible to people you send the link to.

Subscription details: your plan, billing dates and payment records (amount, date and provider). We never see or store your full card number.

Voice recordings in Listen mode: when a child presses the microphone in Listen mode (and Pronunciation Stars), the app records a short clip of their voice. The clip is sent securely to OpenAI to turn it into text, and the text is checked to give word tips and stars. We do not keep the recording: it is deleted as soon as it has been turned into text, and it is never used to identify a child or to train AI. We keep only the words a child earned a star for, so the child can see their own star total in Listen mode. The microphone is only used while a recording is running, and only with permission given on the device.

Android testers: if you sign up at askwhat.co.za/testers, we store your name, Gmail address and optional Instagram handle only to add you to our Google Play test group. Ask us and we'll remove them.

Basic technical data needed to run the service securely, such as login sessions and failed login attempts.

We do not collect precise location, contacts, photos or device advertising IDs, and we show no ads.

To give you answers and debates, keep your chat history, run Kids Mode safety checks, read answers aloud, manage subscriptions, send password-reset emails and keep the service safe.

We do not sell your data, and we don't use it for advertising or profiling.

WHAT? can be used by children with a parent's or teacher's involvement. Kids Mode is turned on with a grown-up's PIN. Every question and answer is checked to be suitable for children under 9, and unsafe questions are blocked with a suggestion to ask a grown-up.

Listen mode needs microphone permission, which only a grown-up should allow. Voice clips are processed straight away and are not stored, shared or used for advertising.

Children's accounts are created and managed by their parent or teacher, who can view progress, reset passwords and remove the child's account at any time.

There are no ads, no in-app chat with strangers and no public profiles. In the phone app, children cannot make purchases from Kids Mode or student accounts.

AI providers: OpenAI (ChatGPT, and the read-aloud voice), Anthropic (Claude) and Google (Gemini). They receive the text of your question to produce an answer. OpenAI also receives Listen-mode voice clips to turn them into text; it doesn't keep them for training. We send them no names or emails.

Payment providers: PayFast and Paystack on the website, and Google Play or the Apple App Store in the phone app. They process your payment under their own privacy policies.

Email: our email provider (Resend) delivers password-reset messages.

Hosting: our servers and database are run by our cloud hosting provider.

We may also disclose data if the law requires it.

We keep your account data until you delete your account. When you delete it, we erase your profile, chats, debates, saved words, quiz scores, sessions and any student logins you created, usually straight away.

We keep basic payment records (amount, date, provider) with your name and email removed, because tax law requires it.

You can delete your account and its data at any time. Use "Delete account" in the app's menu, or go to askwhat.co.za/delete-account. If you subscribed through Google Play or the App Store, please also cancel the subscription in that store.

You can ask to see, correct or delete your personal information, or object to how we use it, by emailing privacy@askwhat.co.za. You may also complain to South Africa's Information Regulator (inforegulator.org.za).

Data is encrypted in transit (HTTPS) and passwords are hashed with bcrypt. Access to our systems is restricted.

If we change this policy, we'll update the date below and, for important changes, tell you in the app.