EasyWave.
LEGAL

Privacy Policy

Last updated: 20 September 2026

EasyWave respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal information.

This Privacy Policy explains how EasyWave collects, uses, stores and protects information when you use the EasyWave mobile application, the easywave.co.za website, and related EasyWave services.

EasyWave is currently available on Android. An iOS version is planned for the future.

By using EasyWave, you acknowledge the practices described in this Privacy Policy.

1. About EasyWave

EasyWave is a location-based community and local-business discovery platform.

EasyWave uses your location, with your permission, to help you discover groups, communities, businesses and other relevant local content within approximately 10 kilometres of your current location.

For purposes of applicable data-protection legislation, EasyWave is responsible for determining how personal information collected through the EasyWave platform is processed.

2. Information We Collect

The information EasyWave collects depends on how you use the platform.

We may collect the following categories of information.

2.1 Account Information

When you create an EasyWave account, we may collect information such as:

  • Your name
  • Email address
  • Username
  • Profile image
  • User identifier
  • Authentication information
  • Account creation date
  • Account preferences

Authentication may be provided through services such as Firebase Authentication.

EasyWave does not need to know or store your readable password when authentication is handled securely through an authentication provider.

3. Location Information

Location is an important part of how EasyWave works.

When you give the EasyWave app permission to access your device’s location, EasyWave may process your device’s precise or approximate geographic location.

We use this information primarily to determine what content is near you.

For example, your location may be used to show:

  • Community groups near you
  • Businesses near you
  • Events near you
  • Local posts
  • Local announcements
  • Other location-relevant content

EasyWave generally focuses discovery within approximately a 10 km radius.

Your location is used to determine what is nearby rather than requiring you to manually select a town or suburb every time you use the app.

Your exact location is not intended to be publicly displayed

EasyWave does not automatically display your exact GPS coordinates to other users simply because you use the app.

Other users may be able to see location information that you intentionally publish, such as a business address, event location or location included in a post.

You control whether EasyWave may access your device location through Android’s permission settings.

If location permission is disabled, some of EasyWave’s core local-discovery features may not function correctly.

4. Profile Information

Information you choose to add to your profile may include:

  • Display name
  • Profile photograph
  • Biography or description
  • Area or community information
  • Other information you voluntarily provide

Some profile information may be visible to other EasyWave users depending on the feature and your account settings.

You should avoid publishing information that you do not want other users to see.

5. Community and User-Generated Content

When you participate in EasyWave communities, we may process information that you submit to the platform.

This may include:

  • Posts
  • Comments
  • Replies
  • Images
  • Videos
  • Documents
  • Reactions
  • Group activity
  • Recommendations
  • Reports
  • Other content you choose to submit

Content posted in a community may be visible to other members of that community or, depending on how the group is configured, to other EasyWave users.

Please remember that information you voluntarily publish to a community may be seen, copied or shared by other users.

6. Group Information

When you interact with EasyWave Groups, we may process information such as:

  • Groups you join
  • Groups you manage
  • Posts you create
  • Comments and interactions
  • Group membership
  • Join requests
  • Administrative actions
  • Reports made within a group

This information is used to provide community functionality and manage participation.

7. Business Information

If you create, manage or interact with a business profile, EasyWave may process information such as:

  • Business name
  • Business description
  • Business category
  • Address
  • Geographic coordinates
  • Telephone number
  • Email address
  • Website
  • WhatsApp details
  • Opening hours
  • Images and videos
  • Products
  • Services
  • Promotions
  • Events
  • Other business information

Information published on a business profile is generally intended to be publicly discoverable.

A business’s location may also be used to determine whether that business should appear to EasyWave users nearby.

8. Device and Technical Information

EasyWave and the technology services we use may automatically process certain technical information.

This may include:

  • Device type
  • Android version
  • App version
  • Device identifiers
  • IP address
  • Language
  • Network information
  • Authentication information
  • Crash information
  • Diagnostic information
  • Security information
  • Date and time of requests

This information may be used to:

  • Operate EasyWave
  • Diagnose technical problems
  • Prevent abuse
  • Improve performance
  • Maintain security
  • Understand how the platform is functioning

9. Notifications

EasyWave may use push notifications to notify you about relevant activity.

Notifications may include:

  • Community activity
  • Group updates
  • Comments or replies
  • Business updates
  • Local announcements
  • Events
  • Account information
  • Important service messages

You can control notification permissions through your device settings.

Some notification preferences may also be available within EasyWave.

10. How We Use Your Information

EasyWave may use personal information to:

  • Create and maintain your account
  • Authenticate users
  • Provide the EasyWave service
  • Determine what communities and businesses are near you
  • Calculate distance between you and local content
  • Display relevant content within your surrounding area
  • Allow participation in groups and communities
  • Display business profiles
  • Allow users to publish content
  • Provide notifications
  • Respond to support requests
  • Investigate reports
  • Moderate content
  • Detect fraud, spam or abuse
  • Maintain security
  • Diagnose problems
  • Improve EasyWave
  • Comply with applicable laws
  • Protect EasyWave, our users and the public

We aim to collect and process only information that is reasonably necessary for these purposes.

11. How Location Is Used

EasyWave’s location processing deserves particular explanation.

When location permission is granted, EasyWave may obtain geographic coordinates from your device.

Those coordinates can be used to calculate which content falls within the relevant discovery radius.

For example:

If a business is located 3 km away, EasyWave may show that business.

If a community group relates to the surrounding area, EasyWave may make that group available for discovery.

If content falls outside the applicable discovery area, it may not appear in the same local results.

EasyWave is not intended to operate as a live person-tracking service.

We do not intend to provide other ordinary EasyWave users with a live map showing your exact physical location.

12. Firebase and Google Services

EasyWave uses or may use services provided by Google Firebase to operate parts of the platform.

These may include services such as:

  • Firebase Authentication
  • Cloud Firestore
  • Cloud Storage for Firebase
  • Firebase Cloud Messaging
  • Cloud Functions
  • Firebase Hosting
  • Firebase App Check
  • Other Firebase infrastructure used by EasyWave

Depending on the service being used, Google may process technical and personal information on EasyWave’s behalf.

Firebase Authentication, for example, may process information such as email addresses, passwords, IP addresses and user-agent information to provide authentication and security functionality. Firebase services may process information using infrastructure located outside South Africa.

Google generally acts as a data processor or service provider in relation to customer data supplied through Firebase, while the application developer remains responsible for how end-user information is used.

For more information about Firebase privacy and security practices, users may consult Google’s Firebase privacy documentation.

13. Sharing of Information

EasyWave does not sell your personal information.

We may share or make information available in the following circumstances.

Other EasyWave Users

Information may be visible to other users when necessary for EasyWave’s social and community features.

Examples include:

  • Profile information
  • Posts
  • Comments
  • Business profiles
  • Group membership where applicable
  • Content you intentionally publish

Service Providers

We may use trusted third-party providers to operate EasyWave.

These providers may process information only as required to provide their services.

Examples may include:

  • Cloud infrastructure
  • Authentication providers
  • Database services
  • File storage
  • Push notification providers
  • Security services
  • Hosting providers

Information may be disclosed when reasonably necessary to:

  • Comply with applicable law
  • Respond to lawful legal requests
  • Protect EasyWave’s rights
  • Protect users
  • Investigate fraud or abuse
  • Protect public safety

14. Public Information

Certain information on EasyWave is intentionally public.

This may include:

  • Business profiles
  • Public community posts
  • Group information
  • Events
  • Promotions
  • Billboards
  • Public comments
  • Other information intentionally published publicly

You should consider carefully what information you publish.

EasyWave cannot fully control how another person uses information after that information has legitimately been made public through the platform.

15. Data Retention

EasyWave retains personal information only for as long as it is reasonably necessary for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy, unless a longer period is required or permitted by law.

The period may depend on:

  • The type of information
  • Whether your account remains active
  • The feature for which the information was collected
  • Security requirements
  • Legal obligations
  • Fraud prevention
  • Dispute resolution

When information is no longer reasonably required, we may delete, anonymise or securely dispose of it.

Some information may remain temporarily in backups or system logs before being automatically removed.

16. Account Deletion

Users may request deletion of their EasyWave account and associated personal information.

Where available, account deletion may be performed directly from within the EasyWave application.

You may also contact EasyWave to request deletion.

When an account is deleted, EasyWave will take reasonable steps to remove personal information associated with the account, subject to:

  • Legal retention requirements
  • Security requirements
  • Fraud prevention
  • Information necessary to resolve disputes
  • Content that has been anonymised
  • Information that must reasonably remain as part of another user’s conversation or community record

Firebase provides mechanisms developers can use to remove end-user information from services such as Firestore and Cloud Storage when implementing account deletion.

17. Your Privacy Rights

Where applicable, including under South Africa’s Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (POPIA), you may have rights relating to your personal information.

These may include the right to:

  • Ask whether EasyWave holds personal information about you
  • Request access to your personal information
  • Request correction of inaccurate or incomplete information
  • Request deletion or destruction of information where legally applicable
  • Object to certain processing
  • Withdraw consent where processing is based on consent
  • Lodge a complaint concerning the processing of your information

POPIA provides rights and remedies regarding the processing of personal information and establishes requirements including accountability, processing limitation, purpose specification, security safeguards and data-subject participation.

Requests may be submitted using the contact information contained at the end of this policy.

We may need to verify your identity before fulfilling a privacy request.

18. Location Permissions

EasyWave only receives device location through the permissions and mechanisms provided by your operating system.

On Android, you can review or change EasyWave’s location permissions through your device settings.

For example, Android may allow options such as:

  • Precise location
  • Approximate location
  • Allow while using the app
  • Do not allow

The available options depend on your Android version.

If you revoke location access, EasyWave may no longer be able to automatically show content based on your current location.

19. Security

EasyWave takes reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect personal information against:

  • Unauthorised access
  • Loss
  • Misuse
  • Alteration
  • Disclosure
  • Destruction

Measures may include:

  • Authentication controls
  • Firebase Security Rules
  • Access controls
  • Encrypted network connections
  • Restricted administrative access
  • Secure cloud infrastructure
  • Application security controls

Firebase states that its services use HTTPS for information in transit, and several Firebase products—including Firestore, Authentication, Cloud Storage and Cloud Messaging—also encrypt data at rest.

No internet-based service can guarantee absolute security, however, and users should also protect their account credentials and devices.

20. International Processing

Some EasyWave service providers operate infrastructure outside South Africa.

As a result, personal information may be processed or stored in other countries.

For example, Firebase states that many Firebase services operate on global Google infrastructure, while Firebase Authentication is processed in United States data centres.

Where personal information is transferred internationally, EasyWave will take reasonable steps required by applicable data-protection law to ensure appropriate protection of that information.

21. Children

EasyWave is not intended to knowingly collect personal information from children in a manner that would violate applicable law.

If EasyWave is made available to children, any collection and processing of children’s personal information will be handled in accordance with applicable legal requirements.

Parents or guardians who believe that a child has provided personal information improperly may contact EasyWave so that the matter can be reviewed.

22. Advertising

EasyWave may introduce advertising or sponsored content as the platform develops.

If EasyWave introduces third-party advertising technologies that collect or process additional personal information, this Privacy Policy will be updated as appropriate and any required consent mechanisms will be implemented.

Sponsored or promoted content may also be clearly identified within EasyWave.

23. Analytics

EasyWave may use aggregated or privacy-conscious analytics to understand how the application and website are used.

Analytics may help us understand matters such as:

  • App stability
  • Feature usage
  • Page visits
  • Technical errors
  • Device types
  • General engagement

Where analytics services process personal information or device identifiers, EasyWave will handle that processing in accordance with applicable privacy requirements.

EasyWave may contain links to external websites, businesses or services.

For example, a business profile may link to:

  • A business website
  • WhatsApp
  • Social media
  • Booking services
  • External payment or ordering platforms

EasyWave does not control the privacy practices of external services.

When you leave EasyWave, the privacy policy of the external service applies.

25. Website Information

When you visit easywave.co.za, our hosting infrastructure may automatically process limited technical information necessary to deliver the website.

This can include:

  • IP address
  • Browser information
  • Device information
  • Date and time of requests
  • Requested pages
  • Security and diagnostic information

The website does not need to obtain your precise location simply to explain how EasyWave works.

If a website feature later requires location access, permission will be requested through the browser before location information is accessed.

26. Cookies

The EasyWave website may use essential technologies required for website functionality.

If non-essential cookies, advertising cookies or analytics technologies are introduced, EasyWave will provide appropriate information and consent controls where required by applicable law.

27. Changes to This Privacy Policy

EasyWave may update this Privacy Policy from time to time as:

  • The application develops
  • New features are introduced
  • Service providers change
  • Legal requirements change
  • Privacy practices evolve

When changes are made, the Last updated date at the top of this policy will be changed.

If a change materially affects how personal information is processed, EasyWave may provide additional notice through the application, website or another appropriate method.

28. South African Privacy Law

EasyWave is intended initially for users and communities in South Africa.

Accordingly, the processing of personal information may be subject to the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (POPIA).

POPIA establishes minimum requirements for lawful processing and gives individuals rights in relation to their personal information.

Users may also contact the Information Regulator of South Africa regarding concerns about the processing of personal information.

Current information about the Information Regulator and its complaint processes is available from the Information Regulator’s official website.

29. Contact EasyWave

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy, want to exercise a privacy right, or have concerns about how EasyWave processes your information, contact:

EasyWave

Website: easywave.co.za

Email: privacy@easywave.co.za

Support: support@easywave.co.za

Physical address: 52 Austin Road, Midrand

South Africa

30. Contact the Information Regulator

If you believe that your personal information has been processed in a manner that does not comply with applicable South African privacy law, you may have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator.

Information Regulator (South Africa)

Website: inforegulator.org.za

Email: enquiries@inforegulator.org.za

Telephone: 010 023 5200

The Information Regulator is the independent authority established under POPIA for the protection of personal information in South Africa.