Privacy Policy

1. Controller and contact

The controller is I HAND SERVICES BROKER, an Abu Dhabi Trader establishment licensed under licence CN-6423794, trading as iHand. Contact info@ihand.ae or +971 50 122 7200.

2. Personal data we collect

3. Why we use data and our legal basis

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We do not use a bundled privacy-policy checkbox as consent for optional location or marketing. Withdrawing consent stops future consent-based processing and does not affect earlier lawful processing.

Where UAE law permits processing without consent—for example to perform a contract, comply with law, protect the public interest, pursue legal claims or protect a person's interests—we may continue the necessary processing despite withdrawal or account deletion. We do not rely on “legitimate interests” as a substitute where UAE law requires consent or another specific basis.

4. Recipient data supplied by a customer

If you give us another person's name, number or address, you confirm that you are authorised to do so and must tell them that iHand will use it for the delivery. You are responsible for any unlawful or inaccurate recipient data you submit. Where practicable, we send the recipient a link to this policy. A recipient may exercise the rights below.

5. Location and tracking

Customers: your device location is used only when you choose it to help select an address. Confirm the final pin before booking.

Captains: live location is collected only after you switch it on for that route. You may switch it off. The customer and intended recipient may see it during the active delivery. Switching off withdraws consent for further collection.

Tracking links: a tracking link is a confidential bearer link intended only for the customer and recipient. Anyone who receives it may be able to see the delivery information displayed there. Do not publish, forward or reuse it. Tell us immediately if it is shared accidentally so we can take available protective steps.

iHand minimises the information displayed and does not intentionally display captain identity documents, bank details, chat or full payment-card data. We may expire or revoke a link and restrict access where available and appropriate to the delivery risk.

6. Who receives data

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We do not sell personal data or share it for another business's advertising.

Advertising measurement (iOS): if you choose to allow app tracking on iOS, iHand uses TikTok's Business SDK to measure whether its advertising leads to app installations, customer registrations and confirmed bookings. TikTok receives app, device and event information under its applicable privacy terms. iHand does not attach customer names, telephone numbers, email addresses, pickup or drop-off locations or package instructions to these campaign events. You can change your tracking choice at any time in iOS Settings. Declining does not prevent you from using the delivery service.

Usage analytics (first-party): to understand where customers stop before ordering, iHand records which screens and order steps were used, the price quoted, how long each step took and any technical errors, against a random identifier stored on your device (in the app's storage or the browser's local storage) and linked to your account once you sign in. This data stays inside iHand's own Firebase project, is not shared with any advertising or analytics vendor, contains no addresses or message content, and sets no cookies. The telephone number you type at sign-in is kept in a separate record, visible only to iHand staff, for the same 120 days. Detailed records are deleted after 120 days; only aggregate counts are kept.

7. International transfers

The providers above may process data outside the UAE in the locations described in their current service and privacy documentation. Before transferring personal data outside the UAE, we use a basis permitted by Articles 22 or 23 of the UAE PDPL, such as recognised adequate protection, binding contractual safeguards or a specific statutory exception. We assess the destination and provider and limit the data transferred.

You may request the current provider, country, controller/processor role and applicable safeguard information from info@ihand.ae.

8. Photographs, documents and security

Package, proof, chat, licence, mulkiya and bank-related files are not intended for the public. We use reasonable technical and organisational measures appropriate to the risk, including access restrictions for captain documents and bank records, restricted administration and protected transmission.

No internet service is risk-free. You must protect your device, OTP and tracking link, use only official iHand channels and tell us promptly about suspected unauthorised access. This does not reduce iHand's security duties under the PDPL.

Do not photograph faces, identity documents, payment cards or unrelated private information for pickup/delivery proof. If such material is submitted accidentally, contact us.

9. Chat, reports and human decisions

Translation. A delivery can put two people in a chat who do not share a language. Where the customer and the captain have chosen different app languages, the text of a message is sent to Google Cloud Translation and translated into the other person's language. The translation is stored beside the original message, never in place of it, and the two are kept and deleted together under the chat retention period. Photographs and automatic delivery-status messages are not sent. Where both of you use the same app language, nothing is sent at all. The same service translates Captain Community: when iHand publishes an announcement or a poll, its text (for a poll, the question and each option) is sent to Google Cloud Translation to produce the Arabic, English and Urdu versions captains read. The translations are stored beside the original and kept and deleted with it. Nothing about the captains who read or answer is sent.

Captain Community. Captain Community is where iHand publishes announcements and polls to approved captains, and can ring captains with a short message. Your answer to a poll is recorded against your captain account, and the app tells you so before you answer. iHand administrators can see which captain chose which option and when, and may use it to contact the captain about work, for example to offer extra orders. Other captains see only the totals, and only after the poll closes. An answer is final. When an announcement, poll or ring reaches you, we record whether and when you opened it, and for a ring whether you acknowledged it. iHand administrators can see which captains a post was sent to and whether and when each of them opened it. Community notifications that appear in your in-app inbox follow the same retention as your other notifications and are deleted with your account.

Delivery participants can report and block each other. Authorised staff may preserve and review reported messages, voice notes and photographs where needed for safety, fraud, disputes, debt collection, legal claims or enforcement. Relevant material may be given to advisers, payment providers, insurers or authorities as described above.

A person reviews captain applications and material deactivation decisions. A rating alone does not automatically approve, reject or deactivate a captain.

10. Retention

• Profile and authentication: while active, then normally deleted within 30 days of a verified deletion request, subject to open services, security and the exceptions below.
• Saved addresses: until removed or the account is deleted. Delivery addresses follow the transaction-record rules below.
• Live route location: during the active route and no more than 24 hours afterwards for operational recovery; no movement history after that.
• Chat and voice notes: 90 days after delivery unless a report, dispute or law requires longer.
• Pickup/delivery proof: 180 days after delivery unless a report, dispute or law requires longer.
• Captain documents and compliance evidence: while approved and normally for 30 days afterwards unless law, fraud prevention, a complaint, an investigation or a claim requires longer.
• Captain bank details: while approved or a payout remains due, then deleted within 30 days.
• Crash reports: 90 days.
• Captain Community posts, polls, poll answers, read records and ring acknowledgements: 1 year after they are created. Your own poll answers, read records, ring acknowledgements and Community read marker are also deleted when your account is deleted; a closed poll keeps only its totals.
• Usage analytics (detailed records): 120 days; aggregate counts without personal data are kept.
• Payment, invoice, cash, payout, chargeback and tax records: the longest period required by applicable law, generally seven years for relevant corporate-tax records, and longer during an audit, dispute, investigation or legal hold.
• Backups: overwritten in the ordinary backup cycle within 30 days unless isolated for security or legal reasons.

Fraud, abuse, safety, complaint and legal-claim evidence is kept only for as long as reasonably needed for the relevant limitation, investigation or enforcement period. We may preserve selected data after a deletion request where needed to prevent repeated fraud, recover debt, comply with law or establish, exercise or defend a legal claim.

We call data anonymous only where the process is irreversible and it cannot be re-linked. Replacing a user ID while retaining a re-linking key is de-identification, not anonymisation.

11. Your rights

Subject to lawful exceptions, you may ask us to:

• explain processing and provide a copy of your data;
• transfer data you provided in a technically feasible format;
• correct incomplete or inaccurate data;
• erase data;
• restrict or stop processing;
• stop direct marketing;
• withdraw consent; or
• obtain human review of a decision based solely on automated processing.

Use the app or email info@ihand.ae. We may verify identity, ask you to clarify the request and refuse or limit it where UAE law permits, including where it would affect another person's rights, legal privilege, an investigation or a legal retention duty. We respond within the period required by applicable law and explain a lawful refusal. You may complain to the UAE Data Office or another competent authority.

12. Account deletion

Use Settings → Account → Delete account or follow ihand.ae/delete-account. An active delivery, return, refund, payout, negative captain balance, chargeback, fraud review, disputed transaction or legally required record may need to be resolved or retained as explained there. Deletion does not cancel a debt, claim or evidence-preservation duty.

13. OTP, operational messages and marketing

OTPs, payment confirmations and delivery updates are transactional messages needed for the service. We do not put advertising in an OTP.

SMS, email or WhatsApp marketing requires separate opt-in consent. We retain evidence, offer a free opt-out and stop after withdrawal. Promotional SMS is sent only during permitted UAE times through an authorised sender route.

14. Children

Accounts are for people aged 18 or over. We do not knowingly create a child's account. A customer must name an authorised adult to receive a package intended for a child.

15. Incidents and changes

We investigate personal-data incidents and notify the UAE Data Office and affected people where the PDPL requires.

We will notify you of a material policy change through the app or registered contact details. The latest version is available here. A policy notice is not used to obtain consent where separate consent is required.

16. Contact

For privacy questions or rights requests, email info@ihand.ae or call +971 50 122 7200.