Last updated: October 11, 2026
This Privacy Policy explains what information Madad ("Madad", "we", "us") collects when you use the Madad app and the website madad-app.com (together, the "Services"), why we collect it, who else receives it, and the choices you have.
1. Information you give us
- Account: your name and mobile number, and an email address if you add one. Your number is how you sign in: we send a one-time code to it on WhatsApp. Also the governorate you pick at first sign-in (or before your first transport or workshop request), so what is near you comes first.
- Requests to stores: when you send a contact or price request, the details you enter: your name and number, the site contact’s name and number, the delivery address and its place on the map, and the items and quantities.
- Transport and workshop requests: when you request a truck or a workshop, what you enter in the request: your governorate, the pickup and drop-off areas or the work area and its address if you type one, the vehicle and load type or the craft and date, your notes, and up to three photos of the job. The request reaches Madad, which shows it to transport offices or to workshops of that craft in your governorate without your name and number — you see who offers and call them yourself; when you confirm a transport offer, Madad gives that office your number and the pickup address to carry it out. The request stays in your account as long as the account does.
- Saved addresses: the addresses you save, with their place on the map if you set one.
- Projects: the projects you create, their items and notes, the photos you attach to notes, and any tool reading you choose to attach (a single number, such as an angle).
- Reviews and reports: the ratings and reviews you write, and the reason and details of any content you report.
- Favourites and follows: the products you save and the stores you follow.
- If you open a store: the store’s name, logo, cover and description, its phone and WhatsApp numbers, its branches with their addresses and places on the map, and the products, photos, documents, 3D models, works and services you add.
- People you invite or recommend: when you invite someone to a project, the number and role you add; when you recommend fellow tradespeople after opening your store, their name, number and trade. You can type a number or pick it with your phone’s own contact picker: the app cannot read your contact list, and only the contact you pick reaches us.
- Voice search: when you tap the microphone, the short recording is sent to our speech-to-text provider (OpenAI) to be turned into search text. We do not store the recording. OpenAI may keep it for up to 30 days to monitor abuse and does not use it to train its models. The resulting text is handled like a typed search.
- Photo search: when you search with a photo, our own servers compare it with the product photos on Madad, and a reduced copy is sent to OpenAI to recognise what it shows (tiles or a plumbing fitting, for example). We do not store the photo. OpenAI may keep it for up to 30 days to monitor abuse and does not use it to train its models.
- Adding a product from its photos (stores): when a store adds a product from its photos, reduced copies of those photos are sent to OpenAI to suggest the product’s section, name, a one-line description and its unit, and to read what is printed on the product (its weight or grade, for example). The store reviews every suggestion before saving. The photos become the product’s photos; photos of a product that is not saved are deleted from our servers within a day. A product’s saved name and description may also be sent to OpenAI to be translated into English. OpenAI may keep what it receives for up to 30 days to monitor abuse and does not use it to train its models.
- Work photos (stores): when a store adds photos to its works gallery, a reduced copy of each photo is sent to OpenAI to tell whether it shows executed work (a site, a room, an installation) or something else, such as a business card or a logo. The answer only decides whether the work appears in the works feed of its category and which of its photos leads it there; the work stays on the store’s page either way. OpenAI may keep what it receives for up to 30 days to monitor abuse and does not use it to train its models.
2. Information collected automatically
- Search and browsing: the words you search for; the products, stores and categories you view; the calls and WhatsApp chats you start from a store page; and the banners you open.
- Identifiers: a random identifier the app creates for your installation (it is not your phone’s advertising ID) and, if you allow notifications, the notification token Firebase gives your device.
- Technical data: your IP address, your device platform, and your language.
- Website: only the cookies the website needs to keep you signed in and remember your language. The website uses no advertising or analytics cookies.
We do not collect your phone’s advertising ID, crash reports, your contact list, your messages, or your location in the background.
3. Phone permissions and on-device tools
The app asks for a permission only when you use the feature that needs it, and you can withdraw any permission from your phone’s settings.
- Camera: to photograph the products, works and project notes you choose to upload. The colour picker, light meter, plumb, paint visualizer and augmented-reality tools also use the camera; their images stay on your phone and are not uploaded.
- Photos and files: through your phone’s own picker — only the images and documents you choose.
- Microphone: for voice search (section 1) and for the sound meter. The sound meter measures on your phone; it records nothing and sends nothing.
- Motion sensors: for the spirit level, plumb, protractor, compass and vibration tools. Their readings stay on your phone unless you attach one to a project note.
- Location: only when you tap “my location” while placing a store branch or a delivery address on the map. We keep the place you save, never a live location.
- Contacts: the app does not ask for access to your contacts; picking a number opens your phone’s own contact picker.
- Notifications: to tell you about your requests and your account. The notification token is kept for every installation, even without an account, so we can send it Madad’s general announcements only (a new version, a public offer); you can turn them off in your phone’s settings.
4. Augmented reality (ARCore)
This application runs on Google Play Services for AR (ARCore), which is provided by Google LLC and governed by the Google Privacy Policy. ARCore works with your camera on your phone to understand the space around you; what Google collects through ARCore is governed by Google’s policy, not by Madad’s.
5. How we use information
- Create and protect your account and confirm your number.
- Show the market, run search (including voice search), and order what you see: what is viewed on Madad, and what you have viewed on your device, brings related products forward.
- Pass each request to the store you send it to.
- Contact the people you invite or recommend (section 6).
- Send notifications about your requests and your account, and news about Madad. You can turn notifications off from your phone’s settings.
- Review reports, remove content that breaks our Terms of Service, and prevent fraud and abuse.
- Understand how the Services are used and improve them.
- Comply with the law.
6. Who can see your information, and who receives it
We do not sell your personal information, and we do not share it with advertisers.
- Stores you contact: a store receives the request you send it, with the details listed in section 1. A call or WhatsApp chat you start from a store page happens directly between you and the store, outside Madad.
- Everyone: store pages are public, in the app and on the website: the store’s name, logo, description, phone and WhatsApp numbers, branch addresses and places on the map, products, works and services. A published review shows your name.
- People you invite or recommend: a project invitation reaches the invited number once on WhatsApp. A tradesperson you recommend may receive a WhatsApp message from Madad about Madad. We do not tell them who recommended them unless you allowed it, and anyone who asks us to stop is not contacted again.
- Workshops you add to a project: when you add a workshop or store from Madad to your project, it receives your name and number, the project’s name and city, and the items you gave it — in the app and once on WhatsApp — so that it can confirm it works with you. Once it confirms, the rating you give it in that project counts in its public averages, and the store can see who rated it.
- Service providers that process information for us, only to run the Services:
- our hosting provider, whose servers store Madad’s data;
- Google Firebase Cloud Messaging, to deliver notifications;
- WaSenderAPI, to send Madad’s WhatsApp messages: sign-in codes, invitations and notices;
- OpenAI, to turn voice searches into text, to recognise what a search photo shows, to help stores describe and translate the products they add, and to check that work photos show executed work;
- Anthropic, to read and answer replies sent to Madad’s WhatsApp assistant, when it is on;
- OpenStreetMap, for the map shown when you place a location — it receives your IP address and the area of the map you view;
- Google Fonts, from which the app downloads its fonts;
- Google Play, for app updates.
- Legal requirements: when required by law, a court order or a competent Syrian authority, or to protect the rights and safety of Madad, its users or the public.
- Business transfers: in a merger, acquisition or sale of assets, under the same protections described here.
7. Businesses listed on Madad
Some store pages were prepared by Madad from information the business itself published, such as its catalogue or website, before its owner took the page over. These pages are marked as not managed by the store, and their prices and details may be out of date. Madad also keeps a directory of tradespeople and businesses — name, number and trade — gathered from public sources or recommended by users, and may contact them on WhatsApp to introduce Madad. A business owner can take over the page, correct it, or ask us to remove it or to stop contacting them, using the contact details in section 13.
8. How long we keep information
- Your account and what you add to it stay while your account exists.
- When you delete your account, your account and personal data are deleted as described on the Account & Data Deletion page. Your search and browsing history stays, detached from your name and number, and direct purchase orders stay as the store’s record of a sale.
- We do not keep voice recordings. Sign-in codes expire after five minutes.
9. Security
All traffic between the app or website and our servers is encrypted (HTTPS). A sign-in code expires after five minutes and stops working after five wrong attempts. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.
10. Children
Madad is not intended for anyone under 18, and we do not knowingly collect information from children. If you believe a child has given us personal information, contact us and we will delete it.
11. Where information is processed
Our servers and service providers may be outside Syria — OpenAI, Anthropic and Google, for example, process information in the United States. Using the Services means your information may be processed in countries whose data-protection rules differ from yours.
12. Your choices and rights
- Update your name and email in “My Account”.
- Delete items one by one: saved addresses, notifications, requests, projects, and a store’s products, works, services and branches.
- Delete your account from “My Account › Delete Account”, or by request as described on the Account & Data Deletion page.
- Turn off notifications or withdraw a permission from your phone’s settings.
- Ask us for a copy of your information, to correct it, or to stop contacting you on WhatsApp, using the details below.
13. Changes and contact
We may update this Policy. The date at the top shows the last change, and material changes are announced in the Services. For any question, request or complaint about your information:
- Email: support@madad-app.com
- Phone / WhatsApp: +963 95 585 0014
- Address: Damascus, Syria
