Privacy policy
In short
- Reporting needs no account, name, email or phone number.
- Your voice is turned into text by Google in Europe. The recording and your GPS trail are deleted once the report is placed, or after 7 days if it never is.
- The City sees the fault, not you, unless you choose to add your name.
- The map never shows who reported anything.
- No ads, no analytics, no tracking, and we never sell your information.
- "Delete my details" in Settings removes everything that identifies you.
1. Who we are
Road Badger is a mobile app for reporting road faults in Johannesburg (broken traffic lights, streetlights, potholes, signs, illegal dumping) to the municipal desk responsible for them. It is run by Lloyd Nicholson, [physical or postal address] ("Road Badger", "we"), the responsible party under the Protection of Personal Information Act, 2013 (POPIA).
Information officer: Lloyd Nicholson, support@roadbadger.co.za.
General contact: support@roadbadger.co.za.
Road Badger is independent and not affiliated with the City of Johannesburg or its entities.
2. What we collect, and why
| What | When | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Your voice recording | When you press Report and speak | To turn what you said into a written report. Deleted once the report is placed (section 5). |
| Your location and a short GPS trail | Only while you report, and while the app is open on screen. Location permission is "while using the app" only; Road Badger never tracks you otherwise. | To find the road and the exact spot you mean, and to show the map around you. The trail is deleted with the recording. |
| The report: the written words, the fault type, the road and spot, and the time | When you confirm a report | To send the fault to the right desk and follow it up. This becomes the fault's record (the "ticket"). |
| Photos you add | Only if you add them | To show the desk the fault. Hidden location and phone details (EXIF) are removed before upload. |
| A random account number | When you tap "Agree and start" | So your reports, votes and notifications belong to your phone, without a name or email. |
| Your consent, its date and wording version, and your language | When you agree, and when you change Settings | To record what you agreed to, and to speak to you in your language. |
| Your answers and votes | When you answer "Is it fixed?" or similar questions | So residents, not the City, confirm a fix. |
| A notification token | If you allow notifications | To tell you when a fault is logged, needs you, or is fixed. |
| Your name and email from Google | Only if you sign in with Google in Settings | To keep your reports when you change phones. Your name goes on reports only if you turn on "Sign emails to the City with my name"; your email is copied on the City's emails only if you turn on "Copy me on the emails to the City". |
| Technical logs (internet address, time, request) | When the app talks to our servers | To keep the service running and secure. Kept for a few days by our hosting provider. |
We rely on your consent (which you give on the first screen and can withdraw), on providing the service you asked for, and on our legitimate interest in keeping the service safe and working (POPIA section 11).
3. Who sees it
The municipal desk
The desk responsible for the fault (for example JRA, City Power or Joburg Connect) receives an email with the fault, the road and spot, a map link, the words of the report and any photos. It is signed "A Johannesburg resident" unless you turned on "Sign emails to the City with my name". Your email address is included only if you turned on "Copy me on the emails to the City", and then the desk can reply to you. Officials' replies come back to Road Badger and are added to the ticket.
Other residents
The map and fault pages show the fault, its history and how many residents reported it. They never show who reported it.
Service providers
These companies process information for us, only to run Road Badger:
| Provider | What it does | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Google Cloud (Speech-to-Text, Text-to-Speech) | Turns your recording into text; may speak the read-back to you | European Union |
| Supabase | Stores reports, photos and accounts; runs our servers and sign-in | Frankfurt, Germany |
| Anthropic | Reads the written report to work out the fault and the road, and reads officials' replies | United States |
| Postmark | Sends emails to the desks and receives their replies | United States |
| Expo, with Google Firebase and Apple | Delivers notifications to your phone | United States |
| Google (Sign in with Google) | Confirms who you are, only if you sign in | United States and elsewhere |
| OpenFreeMap | Serves the map; sees your phone's internet address, like any map service | European Union |
We do not sell personal information, show ads, or use analytics or tracking tools. We disclose information to authorities only when the law requires it.
4. Information sent outside South Africa
As the table shows, your information is processed in Europe and the United States. POPIA (section 72) allows this with your consent, which the first screen asks for in one plain sentence before anything leaves your phone. We use providers bound by privacy laws or contracts that protect it to a similar standard.
5. How long we keep it
- Voice recording and GPS trail: deleted from our servers as soon as you confirm the report. Your phone deletes its copy once the upload is confirmed.
- A report you never confirm: its recording, GPS trail and photos are deleted after 7 days.
- Fault records (the written report, the spot, photos, the history and officials' replies): kept as long as Road Badger runs, because they are the public record of the fault and of how each desk performs. They hold nothing about you once your details are deleted.
- Your name, email, consents and notification tokens: until you use "Delete my details" or ask us.
- Technical logs: a few days.
6. Your rights
Under POPIA you may ask what information we hold about you, ask us to correct or delete it, object to how we use it, and withdraw your consent at any time. Withdrawing consent does not undo what was lawfully done before.
- In the app: Settings turns your name on emails and email copies on or off. Delete my details removes your name, email, language, consents, notification tokens and Google sign-in, then starts a fresh anonymous account. Faults you reported stay on the map as anonymous fault records.
- By email: write to support@roadbadger.co.za or the information officer. We answer within 30 days.
- Complaints: you may complain to the Information Regulator of South Africa, inforegulator.org.za.
7. Security
Data travels encrypted (HTTPS). Each resident can reach only their own reports; the database enforces it. Photos are stored privately and shared only through short-lived links. No system is perfectly secure; if a breach affects your information, we will tell you and the Information Regulator as POPIA requires.
8. Children
Road Badger is meant for adults (18 and over). We do not knowingly collect information from children. If you think a child has used Road Badger, contact us and we will delete their details.
9. Marketing
Messages about your own reports (logged, needs you, fixed) are part of the service. We send marketing messages only if you separately opt in, and you can opt out at any time.
10. Municipal officials
To route reports, Road Badger keeps the work contact details that municipalities and their entities publish for fault desks, and records how each desk responds. We use these only to send reports and follow-ups, and to show a desk's track record. Officials can ask us to correct their details at support@roadbadger.co.za.
11. Changes
When this policy changes, we update the date above. If a change affects what you agreed to, the app asks you again before it applies.