SaronaDevs ("we", "us", "our") is a web, mobile app, and AI engineering studio based in Pretoria Central, South Africa, working remotely with clients worldwide. This policy explains what personal information we collect through this website, how we use it, and your rights over it under South Africa's Protection of Personal Information Act, 2013 (POPIA) and, where it applies to you, the EU/UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
Information Officer
Kabelo David Nkoane, Founder & Owner
Email: [email protected]
Phone: +27 71 334 0400
1. What information we collect
Contact form: your name, email address, subject, and message, when you submit an enquiry.
AI chat assistant: the messages you type into the "Ask SaronaDevs AI" widget, and your IP address (stored in truncated/anonymised form only), so we can generate a reply and keep a record of common questions for quality purposes. If you choose to send a quote request or conversation summary through the chat, we also collect whatever contact details you provide at that point.
Info & Guides views: when you play a video in our Info or Guides sections (business & entrepreneurship video content from YouTube, TikTok, and Facebook), we record an anonymous play count against that video. No personal or device-identifying information is collected or stored for this.
Free tools (QR code generator, CV builder, grocery planner, image compressor, PDF merge): these run entirely in your browser. We do not receive or store the content you enter into them.
Analytics (only if you agree): if you accept analytics cookies, Google Analytics 4 collects standard usage data — pages viewed, approximate location derived from your IP address, device and browser type, and how you arrived at the site. If you decline, Google Analytics is never loaded and none of this is collected. See Section 7.
2. How we use your information
To respond to enquiries submitted through the contact form.
To generate responses in the AI chat assistant and, where you've agreed, to follow up on a quote request or discussion summary.
To understand which Info/Guides content is useful to visitors (via anonymous view counts only).
To understand how the site is used overall, so we can improve it — only where you have accepted analytics cookies.
To maintain the security and proper functioning of this website.
We do not sell your personal information, and we do not use it for unsolicited marketing. We do not use your information for advertising, and we do not carry out automated decision-making or profiling that produces legal or similarly significant effects.
2a. Our legal basis (GDPR)
If you are in the EU or UK, we rely on the following lawful bases under the GDPR:
Consent — for analytics cookies. You give it via the cookie banner and can withdraw it at any time (see Section 7), as easily as you gave it.
Legitimate interests — for replying to enquiries you send us, keeping limited chat logs for quality and abuse prevention, and keeping the site secure and working. We balance these against your rights and use the minimum information needed.
Performance of a contract — where we are discussing or delivering project work for you.
3. Who we share it with
We use the following third-party service providers to operate this website. Each processes data on our behalf and is bound by its own privacy/security practices:
Google (Gmail) — to deliver contact form submissions to our inbox.
Google Analytics — to measure site usage. Only loaded if you accept analytics cookies.
Groq — to generate AI chat assistant replies (your chat messages are sent to Groq's API to produce a response).
Google (Gemini) — to generate CV Builder AI-assist content from the details you submit for that feature.
MongoDB Atlas — to store Info and Guides content and view counts.
Netlify — to host and serve this website.
Vercel — to host our backend functions, including operational logs.
3a. International transfers
We are based in South Africa and the providers above operate globally, so your information may be processed outside your own country — including in the United States and the European Union. Where information covered by the GDPR leaves the EU/UK, those transfers rely on the safeguards each provider has in place, such as the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses or an applicable adequacy decision. Where POPIA applies, transfers are made on the basis permitted by section 72 of that Act.
4. How long we keep it
Contact form enquiries are kept for as long as reasonably needed to handle your request and for our business records. Chat logs are retained for a limited period for quality and security purposes, with personal details such as emails and phone numbers redacted where practical. You can ask us to delete your information at any time (see Section 6).
5. Security
This site is served entirely over HTTPS. Administrative access to Info and Guides content is protected by a password and a time-limited session token. We do not store payment information anywhere on this site.
6. Your rights
Under POPIA, and under the GDPR where it applies to you, you have the right to:
Ask us what personal information we hold about you, and get a copy of it;
Request correction of inaccurate information;
Request deletion of your information, where we're not legally required to keep it;
Object to how we process your information, including processing based on legitimate interests;
Ask us to restrict how we use your information while a query is resolved;
Withdraw consent at any time, where we rely on it (such as analytics cookies) — withdrawing does not affect processing already carried out;
Receive the information you gave us in a portable, machine-readable format (GDPR only);
Lodge a complaint with your data protection authority.
To exercise any of these rights, email us at [email protected]. We respond within 30 days.
If you are in the EU or UK, you may instead complain to your national supervisory authority — for the UK, the Information Commissioner's Office (ico.org.uk).
7. Cookies & local storage
We do not use advertising cookies, and we never sell or share your data with advertisers.
Analytics cookies (optional). With your consent, we use Google Analytics 4 to understand how visitors use the site. These cookies are only set after you press "Accept" on the cookie banner — until then, Google Analytics is not loaded at all and no data is sent to Google. Declining changes nothing about how the site works.
Essential local storage (no consent needed). Your browser's local storage is used to remember your cookie choice, an admin's login session, and the light/dark theme preference on the admin panel. This is not used to track visitors.
You can change your mind at any time:
You can also clear cookies through your browser settings at any time.
8. Children's privacy
This website is not directed at children, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18.
9. Changes to this policy
We may update this policy from time to time. The "Last updated" date at the top will reflect the latest revision.
10. Contact us
Questions about this policy or your information? Email [email protected] or call +27 71 334 0400.
