Who we are
Pinky Promise is a private, members-only community for women, operated by Rytrix (Nairobi, Kenya). Rytrix is the data controller for the personal data described here — we decide how and why it is used and we are responsible for protecting it.
For anything about your data — questions, requests or concerns — email us at hello@rytrix.co.ke. Please write from the email address on your account so we can confirm it's you.
What we collect
We only collect what we need to run a safe, private community:
- Account data — your email address, your password (stored only as a secure hash, never in plain text) and sign-in records.
- Profile data — your username, display name, and anything optional you add: a bio, your city or area, a profile photo and your message settings.
- Verification data — either your invite (who invited you, plus the name and relationship your inviter entered), or your verification selfie together with the random gesture and one-time code we asked for. We also keep a record of the outcome and when it happened — never the photo itself.
- Consent records — when you confirmed you are 18 or older, accepted our Terms and gave the consents described in this policy.
- Content you share — posts, comments, photos, polls and votes, reactions, saved posts, circles you join, events you host and RSVPs.
- Messages — your direct messages and message requests.
- Safety records — reports you make or that are made about content, blocks, and the actions our moderators take.
- Technical data — your IP address, browser and device type, and server logs created when you use Pinky Promise. We use these for security and to fix problems — not for advertising.
We don't ask for your ID number, phone number, exact location or payment details. Photos you upload are re-encoded on your device before upload, which strips hidden location (GPS) and camera data.
Why we use it and our lawful basis
The Data Protection Act only allows us to use personal data when we have a lawful basis. Here is ours for each kind of data:
| Data | What we use it for | Lawful basis |
|---|---|---|
| Account | Creating your account, signing you in, keeping it secure | Performance of our contract with you (our Terms) |
| Profile | Showing other members who you are inside Pinky Promise | Contract; your consent for optional fields |
| Verification | Confirming you're a real woman, 18+, before you can see anything — keeping Pinky Promise women-only and safe | Your explicit consent; our legitimate interest in member safety |
| Consent records | Proving what you agreed to, and when | Legal obligation |
| Content & messages | Running the community: showing your posts to members, delivering messages, notifications | Contract; your explicit consent where you share sensitive data |
| Safety records | Handling reports, enforcing the community guidelines, preventing abuse | Legitimate interests (a safe community); legal obligation where it applies |
| Technical data | Security, preventing fraud and spam, fixing bugs | Legitimate interests |
We never use your data for advertising, never build marketing profiles and never sell or rent it to anyone. We may email you about your account, your verification or important changes; we won't send marketing emails without asking first.
Sensitive personal data
Under the Act, some data is sensitive personal data and needs extra protection. On Pinky Promise that includes:
- Your sex — Pinky Promise is for women, so membership itself says something about you.
- Health information — for example, what you share in the Health & Body or Mums circles.
- Family and relationship details — marital status, partners, children, as discussed in the Love or Mums circles.
We process this data only with your explicit consent, which we ask for separately during onboarding, and only to run the community you joined. You decide what you share — nothing beyond your account requires you to post about your health or relationships. Love & Relationships, Health & Body and Mums & Mums-to-be are marked as sensitive circles: content there carries a watermark with each viewer's username to discourage leaks, and you can post there anonymously once your account is established.
Your verification selfie
If you verify with a selfie rather than an invite, here is exactly what happens to it:
- You take it inside the app, copying a random hand gesture we show you. It's uploaded to a private storage bucket.
- Only our moderators can view it, and only to confirm you're a real person. It never appears on your profile and no other member can ever see it.
- No biometric processing. We do not run AI, face recognition or face matching on it, and we never create a face template. A person looks at it — that's all.
- It's deleted right after review — whether you're approved or asked to retake it — and in every case within 72 hours of upload, even if no one has reviewed it yet.
- We keep only a record that verification happened, the outcome and the date the photo was deleted.
We never judge anyone by how she looks. Verification only confirms you're a real person who shares our values.
Anonymous posts
Established members can post anonymously. When you do, other members can't see who you are — not on the post, not in replies, not in links, not in notifications. Anonymous photos are stored separately from your named content.
Your identity is still linked to the post in a protected record that only you and our moderators can see. This is for safety: anonymity is there to protect you, not to let anyone harm others. Moderators look only when it's needed to handle a report or a safety concern. If you delete your account, your anonymous posts are deleted too.
Who can see your information
- The public and search engines: nothing. Only our landing and legal pages are public.
- People who haven't been verified yet: nothing beyond their own account.
- Approved members: your profile and the content you post in circles. Exact event addresses are shared only with the host and established members who RSVP, from 24 hours before the event. Your messages are seen only by the people in that conversation.
- Members you block (or who block you) can't see your profile, posts or comments, and can't message you.
- Moderators and admins (trained Pinky Promise team members) can see what's needed to keep the community safe: verification submissions, reports, and the owner of an anonymous post when handling a report.
We share data outside Pinky Promise only with the service providers below, or if we are legally required to — for example, a valid court order. Where the law allows, we'll tell you before we do.
Service providers and where data lives
We use two carefully chosen providers (“data processors”) who handle data only on our instructions:
| Provider | What they do for us | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Supabase | Database, sign-in (including sign-in and password emails), private file storage and real-time messaging | European Union — Ireland |
| Vercel | Hosting the Pinky Promise website and running its server code | European Union — Dublin, Ireland, with a global edge network that delivers public files (like this page) from servers near you |
Both are bound by data processing agreements that require them to keep your data confidential and secure. We don't use advertising networks, analytics trackers or social media pixels. Our fonts are served from our own site, so loading Pinky Promise doesn't send your details to anyone else.
Transfers outside Kenya
Because our providers store data in the EU, using Pinky Promise means your personal data — including sensitive personal data — is transferred outside Kenya. Part VI of the Data Protection Act allows this where appropriate safeguards are in place, and, for sensitive data, with your consent.
- Your consent: we ask for it explicitly during onboarding, before you share anything.
- Strong legal protection: data stored in the EU is protected by the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), one of the strictest data protection laws in the world.
- Contracts: our providers are bound by data processing agreements, including the EU Standard Contractual Clauses where data may be accessed from outside the EU.
- Security: the technical safeguards described below apply wherever your data is.
How long we keep it
We keep data only as long as we need it:
| Data | How long we keep it |
|---|---|
| Verification selfie | Deleted right after review — never longer than 72 hours after upload |
| Verification record (outcome and dates, no photo) | Until you delete your account |
| Account and profile | Until you delete your account |
| Posts, comments, photos and messages | Until you delete them, or your account |
| Invite records | Kept with the inviting member's account as part of the vouch record, until she deletes her account |
| Deleted accounts | Removed from Pinky Promise immediately; any remaining copies, including photo files, are erased within 30 days. Backups roll over automatically and are kept for no more than 7 days |
| Reports and moderation log | 12 months, then deleted or anonymised — unless we must keep a specific record longer for a legal claim or investigation |
| Server and security logs | A short period — no longer than 30 days |
How we protect it
- Encryption in transit (HTTPS/TLS everywhere) and at rest on our providers' servers.
- Row-level security in the database: every request is checked against who you are, so members can only ever read what they're allowed to see. Nothing is readable until you're approved.
- Private storage for every photo. Images are shown through short-lived signed links, never public URLs.
- Watermarking with the viewer's username on content in sensitive circles, to discourage screenshots and trace leaks.
- Location stripping — photos are re-encoded on your device before upload, removing EXIF data such as GPS location.
- Least access — only a small, trained moderation team can see verification submissions and reports, and their actions are logged.
- Rate limits and safety rules — for example, message requests can't include links or phone numbers, which protects against scams.
No system is perfectly secure, but we design Pinky Promise so that even if something did go wrong, as little as possible could be exposed.
Your rights
Under section 26 of the Data Protection Act and related provisions, you have the right to:
- Be informed about how your data is used — that's this policy.
- Access and export your data. Download a copy of everything linked to your account from Settings, in a portable format (JSON) you can keep or take elsewhere.
- Correct inaccurate data. Edit your profile anytime, or ask us to fix anything you can't change yourself.
- Delete your data. Delete your account from Settings — it takes effect immediately and can't be undone.
- Object to processing based on our legitimate interests, or restrict how we use your data while a concern is looked into.
- Withdraw consent at any time. Because Pinky Promise can't work without the consents you gave at onboarding, withdrawing them means closing your account — but it won't affect anything done lawfully before.
- Data portability — receive your data in a structured, machine-readable format (the export above).
For anything you can't do in the app, email hello@rytrix.co.ke. We may ask you to confirm your identity, and we aim to respond within 7 days. Exercising your rights is free.
No automated decision-making
Every decision about your membership — approval, suspension or removal — is made by a person. We don't use automated decision-making or profiling that has legal or similarly significant effects on you, and there is no algorithm ranking your posts: circles are chronological.
18+ only
Pinky Promise is only for women aged 18 and over. We ask you to confirm your age during onboarding, and moderators decline any request where there's reason to believe she is under 18. If we learn that a member is under 18, we close the account and delete her data. If you believe a child is using Pinky Promise, please tell us at hello@rytrix.co.ke.
If something goes wrong
If we discover a personal data breach that poses a real risk of harm, we will notify the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (ODPC) within 72 hours of becoming aware of it, as section 43 of the Act requires. We will also tell affected members as soon as practicable — in plain language, with what happened, what it means for you and what you can do — unless the law or an investigation requires us to wait.
Complaints
If you're unhappy with how we handle your data, please talk to us first at hello@rytrix.co.ke — we'll try to make it right. You also have the right to complain to the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner at odpc.go.ke.
Changes to this policy
If we change this policy, we'll update the date at the top. For important changes — for example, a new provider or a new use of your data — we'll tell you in the app before they take effect, and ask for your consent again where the law requires it. Read the Terms and Community guidelines too.