Privacy Policy

Introduction & Philosophy

At Napesa, we believe that your financial data belongs to you. Our privacy-first approach means that we've designed our app to give you complete control over what is shared while helping us innovate and improve faster.

This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, and protect your information when you use the Napesa app. We've written this policy to be clear and straightforward, avoiding complex legal jargon wherever possible.

What Data We Collect

Napesa is designed to help you track your finances by analyzing your financial SMS messages. Here's what we collect:

SMS Sender IDs

We process SMS messages from financial institutions, including but not limited to:

  • M-PESA
  • KCB
  • Equity Bank
  • Co-operative Bank
  • NCBA
  • Absa
  • Standard Chartered
  • Other financial service providers

Usage Analytics

We collect anonymous usage data to help us improve the app, including:

  • App feature usage statistics
  • App performance metrics
  • Crash reports
  • Device information (model, OS version)

This data is anonymized and cannot be linked back to your identity.

Optional Metadata

With your explicit permission, we may collect:

  • Transaction merchant categories
  • Transaction amounts (without identifying details)
  • Transaction categories

This metadata helps us improve our categorization algorithms and provide better insights for all users.

How Data Is Used

Data Retention Policy

Raw SMSs are transmitted to our servers for processing. This is to help us innovate and improve faster. Our data retention policy differs based on whether you are using a production version or participating as a beta/alpha tester:

  • For Production Users: Raw SMSs are deleted immediately after processing. Once the processing is complete, the raw SMS data is immediately deleted from our systems.
  • For Beta and Alpha Testers: Raw SMS data will be retained for debugging purposes, model training, and service improvement. This helps us identify issues, improve our algorithms, and enhance the overall user experience before wider release.

You will be clearly informed whether you are using a production version or participating as a beta/alpha tester when you install or update the app.

Meta Data for Insights & App Improvement

If you opt-in to share anonymized metadata, we use it to:

  • Improve our transaction categorization accuracy
  • Develop new features based on user needs
  • Enhance the AI capabilities of the app

Never Sold or Shared to 3rd Parties

We do not sell, rent, or share your personal data with third parties for marketing purposes. Your data is never used to show you advertisements within the app or elsewhere.

Permissions Required

SMS (Optional)

We request permission to read your SMS messages to automatically extract financial information. This permission is:

  • Completely optional - you can use the app without granting this permission
  • Limited to specific sender IDs that you approve
  • Used to transmit raw SMS data to our servers for processing, as processing does not happen on the device

Camera (Optional)

We request camera permission for the receipt scanning feature. This permission is:

  • Only used when you actively choose to scan a receipt
  • Not used for any other purpose
  • Processed locally on your device

Your Control

Opt-in/out Per Sender ID

You have granular control over which SMS senders Napesa can process. You can:

  • Choose which financial institutions' messages to include
  • Revoke access to specific senders at any time
  • Temporarily pause SMS processing

Delete Account & Data at Any Time

Users can delete all their data if they wish. You can delete your account and all associated data at any time through the app settings. When you delete your account:

  • All data stored on our servers is permanently deleted
  • Local data on your device can be cleared through the app
  • Anonymized statistical data that cannot be linked back to you may be retained

Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any changes by:

  • Posting the new Privacy Policy on this page
  • Updating the "Last Updated" date at the bottom of this page
  • Sending an in-app notification about the changes

We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically to stay informed about how we are protecting your information.

Contact Us

If you have any questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy or our data practices, please contact us at:

team@napesa.africa

Last Updated: July 25, 2025