Privacy policy

Last updated 17 October 2026

ikhaya is made by Bobby Band in South Africa. This page says what ikhaya keeps, why, and how to delete it. It follows South Africa's Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA).

What we keep

For grown-ups: a sign-in number from Sign in with Apple, any email Apple shares (ikhaya doesn't ask for one) and the name the kids call you. For kids: a first name, a colour and an age group, added by a parent or guardian, who agrees to it when adding them. For the family: jobs, coins, players and what's been bought in the shop, the shopping list with who added each thing, what's in the cupboard, and screen time settings.

We never ask for birthdays, kids' emails or phone numbers, and ikhaya never tracks where anyone is. If you want the weather on the kitchen screen, we keep the town you type and ask Open-Meteo (open-meteo.com) for that town's weather. Nothing about your family is sent with it. There are no adverts, no tracking across other apps and nothing is sold.

Family chat, check-ins and calls

Messages in the family chat, check-ins (when someone taps a button like “I’m at school”) and Call the Family calls stay inside your family. Grown-ups can see all of the family’s messages. Kids see messages sent to everyone and to them. A check-in is only the button someone tapped: ikhaya doesn’t use the phone’s location. Messages are deleted after 90 days.

Paying

Subscriptions are bought and handled by Apple. We never see card or bank details. Apple sends us a signed receipt that says which plan your family has and until when, and we keep that so everyone in the family can use ikhaya.

Where it's kept

On our own server in South Africa, hosted by Xneelo. Data travels over encrypted connections.

Till slip photos

Only if a grown-up switches it on. The photo is sent to Groq (groq.com, United States), which reads the words and sends them back. We don’t keep the photo. Groq’s own privacy terms are at groq.com. You can switch this off any time in More.

Screen time

Screen time limits are set on the child's iPhone through Apple's Screen Time tools. Apple doesn't let us see which apps a child uses, and we don't try to. Only two things reach our server: whether screen time is switched on, and that the day's limit was reached, so a grown-up gets a ping.

Alerts

Apple delivers ikhaya's alerts. Apple gives us a device address for that, which we delete when you leave.

How long we keep it

For as long as your family uses ikhaya, except chat messages, which go after 90 days. Deleting removes it straight away from the live server, and from backups within 30 days.

Deleting

In ikhaya tap More. "Leave and delete my account" deletes you. "Delete all our family's data" deletes every person, job, list and setting for good. A parent can delete one child and their history from that child's card.

Your rights

You can ask to see, correct or delete your family's data by writing to help@myikhaya.co.za. If you're unhappy with how we handle it, you can complain to the Information Regulator (inforegulator.org.za).