Privacy Policy
What we collect, why we collect it, and what you can make us do about it.
Last updated 6 September 2026
1. Who this is about
Pata is operated by Vilcom Networks Ltd. Two kinds of people use it, and the policy differs for each:
- Shoppers - people browsing shops, saving items, following traders and reserving goods.
- Traders - people running a shop through Pata: the till, stock, customer book, tax and credit record.
A trader also holds information about their own customers. For that information the trader is the data controller and Pata is the processor - we store and secure it on the trader's behalf, and the trader decides what goes in it. See section 7.
2. What we collect from shoppers
| What | Why | Kept for |
|---|---|---|
| Phone number, name, email | Signing you in, and letting a shop reach you about a reservation | While the account exists |
| Password | Stored only as a bcrypt hash - we cannot read it | While the account exists |
| Saved items, followed shops, stated interests | The feed you asked for, rather than a generic one | Until you remove them |
| Shops you opened, and when | Your own history, and the "recently visited" list | 12 months |
| A location pin you set yourself | Sorting shops by distance from you | Until you clear it |
| Ratings, comments and reports you file | Shown publicly with your first name; reports go to moderators | Until you delete them |
| Reservations you place | The shop needs to know what to set aside and who for | 24 months |
| Loyalty points at each shop | Redeeming them at that shop | While the account exists |
| Sign-in times, device and IP address | Showing you your own sessions, and spotting break-in attempts | 12 months |
Your location is never taken automatically. Pata does not read your device's GPS unless you press the button that asks for it, and the pin you set is stored only until you clear it.
3. What we collect from traders
| What | Why | Kept for |
|---|---|---|
| Shop name, description, category, photos | Your public storefront | While the shop exists |
| Shop address and map pin | Being found in "near me" searches and delivery quotes | While the shop exists |
| Phone, WhatsApp, email | Customers contacting you; us reaching you about your account | While the shop exists |
| KRA PIN | Only if you switch eTIMS on - filing your receipts with KRA | While eTIMS is on, then per KRA rules |
| Till, Paybill, Pochi, Airtel or bank details | Shown on your storefront so customers can pay you directly | While you keep the channel |
| Sales, stock, expenses, licences | Your books: the ledger, the P&L, stock levels and renewal reminders | 7 years (tax record-keeping) |
| Your customer book and loyalty balances | Your CRM. You control it; see section 7 | While the shop exists |
| Credit score inputs and history | The score and statement you can share with a lender | While the shop exists |
| Warnings issued to your shop | A record both sides can rely on if a complaint escalates | 3 years |
Pata does not touch your money. Customers pay your Till, Paybill, Pochi or Airtel number directly. We store those numbers so they can be displayed; we do not hold funds, and we take no commission from a payment.
4. Why we are allowed to hold it
Under the Data Protection Act 2019, each thing above rests on one of:
- Performing a contract with you - an account, a storefront, a reservation. Most of it is this.
- Your consent - SMS marketing from a shop you follow, and the location pin. Both can be withdrawn without losing the rest of the service.
- Legal obligation - tax records where eTIMS is switched on, and records we must keep for KRA.
- Legitimate interest - security logs and fraud detection, kept narrow and not used to profile you.
5. Who else sees it
Pata does not sell personal data. It is shared only with:
- The shop you interacted with - your name, phone number and what you reserved. A shop cannot see your activity at any other shop.
- Africa's Talking, to deliver an SMS you triggered.
- Meta (WhatsApp Business), when a message is sent over WhatsApp.
- KRA, for eTIMS receipts - only for shops that switched eTIMS on.
- OpenStreetMap, when a map is displayed; the coordinates you look up reach them.
- A lender you choose, if you share your own credit statement. Pata does not send it anywhere on your behalf.
- A court, regulator or the police where the law requires it.
6. What you can make us do
Under sections 26 and 40 of the Data Protection Act you may ask us to:
- Tell you what we hold about you, and give you a copy.
- Correct anything wrong - you can edit most of it yourself in your profile.
- Delete your account and its personal data.
- Stop using it for marketing, which you can also do from your preferences.
- Hand your data to you in a portable form.
We answer within 30 days. Two limits worth stating plainly: a trader's sales records are kept for 7 years for tax purposes even after an account closes, and a reservation or rating you left with a shop is part of that shop's record too - we remove your identity from it rather than rewriting the shop's history.
If we handle a request badly you can complain to the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner.
7. A trader's own customer records
When a trader records a sale, adds a customer or awards loyalty points, that customer's details belong to the trader's book. Pata holds it for them. The trader decides what is collected and must have a lawful basis for it - including for any SMS marketing they send through Pata.
Pata will not create a contact record for a walk-in customer who did not give a phone number, and will not invent one. If a customer asks a trader to remove them, the trader can do that from their customer list.
8. Keeping it safe
- Passwords are stored as bcrypt hashes and are never recoverable, by us or anyone else.
- Sessions are JWTs that expire, and every session is revoked when a password is reset.
- One-time codes are stored hashed, expire in 10 minutes, allow three attempts and are good for a single use.
- Sign-ins, password changes and moderation decisions are written to an audit log.
- Traffic is served over HTTPS.
No system is perfectly safe. If a breach puts you at real risk we will tell you and the Data Protection Commissioner, without waiting to be asked.
9. Children
Pata is for people aged 18 and over. We do not knowingly hold data about children, and will delete it if we find we have.
10. Changes and contact
If we change this policy in a way that affects you, we will say so in the app rather than quietly updating the date at the top.
Vilcom Networks Ltd, Nairobi, Kenya. Contact details for privacy requests are published on the Help Centre; the desk number and data-protection address must be filled in before launch.
See also the Terms of Service and the Merchant Agreement.