Privacy notice
Who runs Otoku
Otoku is run by Rian Chaudhry, an individual in the United Kingdom. Rian is the controller of your personal data. To ask a question or use your rights, write to [email protected].
What we store, and why
You can use Otoku without an account. Without one, your basket, Saved items and History stay on your phone and we do not receive them.
If you create an account, we store:
- your email address;
- your name and profile picture, if you sign in with Google;
- your basket, Saved items and History, so they sync between your devices (History keeps your latest 500 items);
- a record of each time you agreed to, or withdrew from, marketing emails, with the wording you saw.
We use this to run your account and keep your data in step across devices. We do not use it for anything else.
Our lawful basis
- Contract. We need your email, basket, Saved items and History to provide the account features you asked for.
- Consent. We send you marketing emails only if you tick the box to agree. You can withdraw at any time in Settings.
- Legitimate interests. We measure how the app is used and collect error reports, so we can fix faults. See "Usage and error reports" below.
Who else handles your data
These companies process personal data for us, under their data processing terms.
- Clerk handles sign-in: your email, Google name and picture, and sign-in sessions. Clerk stores this data in the United States.
- Convex is our database. It stores your basket, Saved items, History and consent records in the United States.
- PostHog receives usage events and error reports (see below). It stores them in the European Union.
Because Clerk and Convex store data in the United States, we rely on a transfer safeguard for each: standard contractual clauses with the UK International Data Transfer Addendum. The European Union is covered by the UK's adequacy regulations, so PostHog's EU storage needs no extra safeguard.
Usage and error reports
The app sends PostHog a fixed set of events, such as that a scan succeeded or failed, with the shopping and home country, and error reports when something breaks. It does not use cookies or local storage for this, and each launch of the app gets a new random identifier. Web addresses are cut before the question mark, so anything you type into search is not sent. If you are signed in, events also carry a one-way hash of your account identifier, which lets us link your launches. We never send your email address or name. IP addresses are anonymised. The landing page and this page load no analytics.
Our own server also logs each request (the route and the outcome, not the search text) and sends these logs to PostHog to help us spot faults.
Cookies and storage on your phone
The app loads Clerk's sign-in service, which sets cookies on this site and on our sign-in address (clerk.otoku.app) to know whether you are signed in and to keep you signed in. They are strictly necessary for sign-in to work, so we do not ask for consent to them, and they are not used for tracking or advertising. Signing out ends the session.
The app keeps your basket, Saved items, History and settings in your phone's local storage so it works with no signal. Signing out deletes the basket, Saved items and History from the phone.
How long we keep it
- Account data stays until you delete your account. Deleting it from Settings removes your rows and your Clerk user.
- When you remove an item, we keep a marker that it was removed for 30 days, so your other devices learn about it. Then it is purged.
- Usage events and error reports are kept only as long as we need them to find and fix faults.
Your rights
You can ask us for a copy of your data (access), ask us to correct it (rectification), delete it (erasure), or object to how we use it. You can delete your account and withdraw marketing consent yourself in Settings. For anything else, email [email protected].
If you are unhappy with how we handle your data, you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint. We would like the chance to put things right first.
What we do not do
We do not sell your data. We do not show third-party advertising and we do not share your data with advertisers.