Privacy policy

Who we are

Ankhor is a free app that helps people in Nigeria get through hard moments. It keeps what steadies you close, and puts the people you trust one tap away.

Ankhor is run by [legal name and address to be added].

Questions about your privacy? Write to us at privacy@ankhor.ng.

What we keep on our server

We keep only what Ankhor needs to send your alert when your phone is off, locked or offline.

Your account: your nickname, and a scrambled copy of your password and your recovery code. They are scrambled in a way that can’t be reversed, so nobody at Ankhor can read them. We also note when you agreed to this policy, and which version you agreed to.

The name your people know you by, if you add one. It’s optional. If you leave it empty, your texts use your nickname. It may be your real name, and it goes into every alert text.

Your trusted people: each person’s name and phone number, the order you put them in, whether you picked them from your phone book or typed them in, and whether they have accepted, said no, or not answered yet.

Your alerts: when you pressed SOS, who was texted, and what happened (for example, delivered, “I’m on it” or “Can’t reach them”). Each alert keeps its own copy of your people’s names and numbers, so changing your list never disturbs an alert that is running.

A record of each text we send: which kind it was and whether it arrived. We never keep the words of the text.

When an alert ends, we delete it, with its text records, 30 days later.

What stays only on your phone

Your anchors (including your songs), your message to yourself, your check-ins, your week, your safety plan and your reminders stay on your phone. They are never sent to Ankhor.

They are locked with a key that only your phone holds. They aren’t backed up. If you delete the app or lose your phone, they are gone, and we can’t bring them back.

Your phone also keeps a copy of your trusted people, so SOS can still open your own text and call apps when there is no internet. Those texts and calls go through your phone and your network, not through Ankhor.

If you choose “Share my week”, you see exactly what will be sent first. It goes through your own text, WhatsApp or share options, never through Ankhor.

What we never do

We never ask for your email, your real name or your phone number.

We never show ads, and we never sell or rent your data to anyone.

We don’t track you. The app and this website have no advertising or tracking tools.

We never put your location in a text. The app doesn’t collect your location at all.

Our own staff can’t see your nickname, your people, your alerts or anything you write. They only see total numbers, such as how many accounts exist.

Services we use

A few trusted companies help us run Ankhor. They only handle data to do their job for us.

Render runs our server, in Frankfurt, Germany.

Supabase holds our database, in Frankfurt, Germany (in the EU).

Vercel hosts this website and our staff tools.

Termii will send our text messages once texts are switched on. To send a text, Termii receives the phone number and the words, including the name your people know you by.

Apple’s music search: when you search for a song, only the words you type go to Apple. Song pictures in the results also load from Apple. If you open a song, it opens in the music app you chose, and that app’s own privacy rules apply.

Crash reports: if we use a crash reporting service, your personal details are removed from every report before it leaves your phone or our server.

Your trusted people

Your trusted people don’t need the app or an account. When you add someone, you send them an invite link. The link explains what being a trusted person means, and lets them say yes or no.

If they say no, they are never texted. Until they answer, they can still get your alerts.

When you press SOS, each person gets a text from “Ankhor” saying you pressed SOS and asking them to call or text you. A second text has a link to a short guide on how to help, with buttons to say “I’m on it” or “Can’t reach them”. That link stops working after 48 hours. When you mark yourself safe, the people who were texted get a short “marked themselves safe” text.

Anyone can ask never to be texted by Ankhor again, even if they were never invited. Write to privacy@ankhor.ng with the number. We keep only a scrambled form of it, check it before every text we send, and no one can add that number again.

Deleting your account

You can delete your account any time, in the app’s Settings. It closes straight away: you are logged out, every invite and alert link stops working, and any alert that is running stops. Nobody is texted after that.

Everything on your phone (anchors, message to yourself, check-ins, safety plan) is erased at once.

Everything on our server is erased for good within 30 days. Until then your nickname stays taken. Deleting can’t be undone.

Our database backups may still hold a copy for up to [number] more days, until those backups are replaced. We never restore your data from them.

Ankhor is for adults

Ankhor is for people 18 and over. If you are under 18, you can still see the helplines in the app any time, from “Need help now?”.

Your rights

Nigeria’s Data Protection Act 2023 gives you rights over your data. You can:

See it: ask what we hold about you. You can see your people, their status and your alert name in the app.

Correct it: change your nickname, password, alert name and trusted people in the app at any time.

Delete it: one option in Settings deletes your account and your data.

Object or change your mind: you can stop us using your data at any time by deleting your account.

To use any right, write to privacy@ankhor.ng. Because we don’t know who you are, we may ask you to show us something from inside the app, so we know the account is yours.

If you’re not happy with our answer, you can complain to the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) at ndpc.gov.ng.

Where your data is kept and how we protect it

Our server and database are in Frankfurt, Germany, in the European Union. That means your data is stored outside Nigeria.

Everything between the app and our server travels encrypted, and so does everything between our server and our database.

Passwords and recovery codes are scrambled so they can’t be read. Invite and alert links are signed so nobody can fake one. Our staff log in with a password and a code from a second device.

On your phone, private things are locked with a strong key only your phone holds. You can also add an app lock (a PIN, fingerprint or face). SOS and helplines always work without unlocking.

We keep personal details out of our logs.

Changes to this policy

If we change this policy, we will update the effective date at the top. If a change affects what we keep or how we use it, we will tell you in the app and ask you to agree again before it applies.