Privacy policy

1. What we collect

• Your name, email, phone number and password (stored only as a scrambled hash).
• Your area: the state, local government and neighbourhood you choose. If you use your current location, we use it once to find your area and do not save the exact position.
• Your profile photo, work photos, tool photos and papers or certificates you upload. Photos are saved again as fresh pictures, which removes hidden details such as where they were taken. Job post photos may be sent to an AI service, as a small copy, to check they are safe, and our team may look at them.
• Jobs, offers, chats, ratings and reports, so the marketplace works and disputes can be settled fairly. Job posts, the kinds of work people type and job post photos may be checked automatically and by our team.
• Bank account details for withdrawals, and a record of every money movement on your wallet.
• For jobs inside homes: the names and phone numbers of your guarantor and next of kin. If you add a trusted contact in the Safety centre, their phone number.
• From your ID check: whether it was your NIN or your BVN, the name on the record, the result and the date. You do the check once and it does not expire.
• Sign-in records: the devices you use and when, to keep your account safe.
• Visit counts: which pages are opened, the site a visit came from, the kind of device and how long each page stayed open. This is counted without cookies and without keeping your internet address, so it cannot be tied to you. You can switch it off under Privacy in Settings.

2. What we never store

Your NIN or BVN and your date of birth go straight to EscrowPay's checking service for the ID check and are not kept by Gikswork. The ID check takes no selfie.

3. Why we use it

• To run your account and the jobs you post or take (our agreement with you).
• To have money held in escrow by EscrowPay, and to keep the records the law requires (our agreement with you and legal duty).
• To check identities, prevent fraud and keep people safe (legitimate interest and legal duty).
• To send you important messages about your jobs and money. Marketing messages only if you agree, and you can turn them off.

4. Who sees what

Before an offer is accepted, people see only your first name and the first letter of your surname, your area, trade, rating and work photos. Full name, phone and exact address are shared only between the two people on an accepted job. Our staff open records only for a stated reason, and every opening is logged.

5. Services we share data with

• EscrowPay, and Rubies Microfinance Bank where EscrowPay holds the money, for holding wallet money in escrow, payouts, and the NIN or BVN check and bank details needed for them: your name, email, phone, NIN or BVN with date of birth, and bank account.
• Termii, to send sign-in codes by text.
• Resend, to send emails such as codes and alerts.
• OpenStreetMap, to find your area when you choose to use your current location.
• Google, if you choose to sign in with it.
• Supabase and Vultr, which host our database, files and servers (in London, United Kingdom).
• Anthropic (Claude), for the AI helper and the assistant on a job with a problem. For the helper, your question and our help articles are sent. For a problem, the job, the problem, the photo count and the last messages of the job chat are sent. Phone numbers, emails, links, account numbers, addresses and names are taken out first, and the two people are only called the employer and the worker. For the chat on Post a job, what you type there and what is on the form are sent, with the same details taken out. A job post photo is sent as a small copy, and a new kind of work someone typed is sent with the job's title and a short part of its description, with the same details taken out, to check they are safe. Your exact address is not sent.
• The police or a court, when the law requires it.

We do not sell your data. Where data goes outside Nigeria, we use services that protect it to the standard the Act requires.

6. How long we keep it

We keep your data while your account is open. When you ask to close it, we wait 30 days in case you change your mind, then remove your name, email, phone, profile photo, password and sign-ins. Messages you sent stay in the other person's chats, shown as from a deleted account. Job records, photos on jobs and money movements are kept for 7 years, because the law requires records of payments.

Some things are kept for a shorter time: page visit counts for 90 days; pictures sent in a help request are made very small a day after the request is closed; AI helper questions and answers, including the chat on Post a job, with personal details already taken out, for 30 days.

7. Your rights

You can see, correct, download or delete your data, object to how it is used, and withdraw consent you gave. Most of this is in Settings, Privacy and data. For anything else, write to business@gikswork.com. We reply within 30 days. If you are not happy with our answer, you can complain to the Nigeria Data Protection Commission.

8. Security

Connections are encrypted, passwords are hashed, staff accounts need a second step to sign in, and money records cannot be edited. If a breach puts your data at risk, we tell you and the Commission as the Act requires.

9. Changes

We will tell you in the app before an important change to this policy applies.