Privacy Policy

1. About this Policy

1.1 This Privacy Policy explains how Synkra Technologies ("Synkra", "we", "us") handles personal information in connection with:

(a) our website at synkra.co.za, including the contact form, the "Talk to us" call request form, the Synkra Flow waitlist and the free online tools; (b) our documentation site at docs.synkra.co.za; and (c) Synkra Chat, our customer conversation software, available at chat.synkra.co.za.

1.2 Synkra Technologies is a software company based in Johannesburg, South Africa, and serves clients in South Africa and other countries.

1.3 Synkra Chat is the only Synkra product currently available. Synkra Flow is in development and is not yet available. When Synkra Flow launches, this Policy will be updated to describe how it handles personal information.

1.4 This Policy should be read together with our Terms of Service and Refund Policy. Words such as "Account", "Administrator", "Agent", "Contact", "Conversation" and "Inbox" have the meanings given in the Terms of Service.

2. Whose information this Policy covers, and our role

2.1 Website visitors and enquirers. People who visit our websites, use our free tools, submit the contact form or a call request, join the Synkra Flow waitlist, or contact us by email, WhatsApp or the chat widget on synkra.co.za. Synkra decides how this information is used and is the *responsible party* under POPIA.

2.2 Synkra Chat account holders and users. The business or organisation that holds a Synkra Chat account, and the Administrators and Agents it adds to that account. Synkra is the responsible party for account, billing and usage information about them.

2.3 Our customers' end customers. People who contact a Synkra Chat customer through that customer's website widget, shareable link or QR code, or email channel, and whose details our customer stores as Contacts. For this information, our customer decides what is collected and why, and is the responsible party. Synkra processes it on our customer's behalf as an *operator* under POPIA (see section 10).

3. Information we collect

3.1 From website visitors and enquirers

3.2 From Synkra Chat account holders and users

3.3 Customer content processed in Synkra Chat (as operator)

When our customers use Synkra Chat, the following is stored in their account on their behalf:

(a) Contacts: name, email address, phone number, the customer's own identifier, custom attributes, labels, company grouping, marketing opt-in status, blocked status, and conversation history across channels. (b) Conversations and messages: messages exchanged through the website widget, shareable link or QR code, and email channel; private internal notes; conversation status, assignment, priority, labels and custom attributes; and satisfaction survey responses where enabled. (c) Pre-chat form data: name, email or custom fields the customer chooses to collect before a chat starts. (d) Attachments: photos and files sent in chat, and attachments on emails forwarded to Synkra, which are downloaded and stored with the message. (e) Email channel data: for emails forwarded to a Synkra inbound address, the sender's address, subject, body, attachments and threading headers (Message-ID, In-Reply-To, References). Synkra receives only the emails a customer chooses to forward. Synkra does not request mailbox passwords or access to Google or Microsoft accounts. (f) Identity validation: where a customer's website passes a logged-in visitor's details to the widget, those details are used to verify the visitor's identity. (g) Optional email verification by a widget visitor so they can continue a conversation on another device. (h) Imported data: contacts imported using Data Import, where enabled.

4. How we use personal information

4.1 We use personal information to:

5. AI features

5.1 Synkra Chat's AI actions are Suggest Reply, Summarize Conversation, Improve Reply, Change Tone, Fix Spelling & Grammar, Suggest Labels and Follow-up Suggestion. When a user triggers one, the relevant conversation content (and, for rewrite actions, the user's draft) is processed to produce the result. AI suggestions use the account's Business Brain and Knowledge Base.

5.3 Whether an end customer can tell an AI suggestion was used depends on how the customer configures the Business Brain; the widget does not label replies as AI or human by default.

5.4 Document checks for Student pricing are mostly automated; anything unclear is reviewed by a person, and no applicant is rejected automatically. Every Community Access application is reviewed by a person.

6. Who we share information with

6.2 We share personal information only as needed to run our services, including with:

8. How long we keep information

8.1 We keep personal information only for as long as needed for the purposes in this Policy or as required by law.

8.2 (a) Customer content stays in a Synkra Chat account until it is deleted by the customer or the account is closed. For example, when a customer stops email forwarding, existing conversations remain in Synkra. (b) Purchased add-on credits never expire.

9. Emails we send

9.1 Transactional emails are necessary to operate an account (for example, invitations, security notices such as new-login notifications, usage warnings and billing notices). They are sent regardless of marketing preferences.

9.2 Marketing emails from Synkra are sent only to users who opt in, and every marketing email includes a one-click unsubscribe. Users can change their preference under Profile Settings. Unsubscribing from marketing does not affect transactional emails, and vice versa.

9.3 Emails sent on a customer's behalf. Synkra Chat sends conversation transcripts to end customers when a conversation is resolved (customers can turn this off under Settings → Account) or when an Agent sends one manually, and delivers Agent replies on email conversations. Customers can also record a marketing opt-in for each Contact. The customer is responsible for obtaining consent and providing unsubscribe options for any marketing it sends to its own Contacts.

10. Our customers' end customers

10.1 If you contacted a business that uses Synkra Chat, that business controls your information. Please direct requests to access, correct or delete your information to that business first.

10.3 Each account's data is kept separate from other accounts.

10.4 Customers' Administrators can delete Contacts and messages, block Contacts, and merge duplicate conversations. Contact export is not currently a self-serve feature; customers can request it from Synkra support.

11. Security

11.1 Synkra Chat includes the following security features: account lockout after 5 failed logins; new-login email notifications; audit logs visible to Administrators; Administrator, Agent and custom roles; Inbox-level access, so not every user sees every Inbox; allowed-domain restrictions for the website widget; identity validation using a secret key, which can be made mandatory; personal API access tokens that inherit the user's permissions and can be reset; optional signing of webhook deliveries with an HMAC-SHA256 signature; and separation of each account's data.

11.4 No system is completely secure. Users are responsible for keeping passwords and API access tokens confidential.

12. Your rights

12.1 Under POPIA you may ask whether we hold personal information about you, request access to it, ask us to correct or delete it, object to certain processing (including direct marketing), and complain to the Information Regulator.

12.2 To make a request, email hello@synkra.co.za. We may need to verify your identity first.