Privacy Policy

Last updated: 3 September 2026 · Version 2

The short version

Tabbook keeps your business data on your phone. By default we run no servers that receive your clients, invoices, photos or messages. This policy explains, in the language of the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (POPIA), what we process and why.

Delete your account and data

This section is about the Tabbook app for Android, published on Google Play under the app name Tabbook (package za.co.tabbook). It covers the account and the cloud data held by Tabbook’s developer, and how you can have all of it deleted.

Steps to request account deletion

1. Go to the account deletion form at the bottom of this page.
2. Sign in with the email address and password you use in the Tabbook app (Tabbook accounts are email-and-password accounts — your email address is your username).
3. Read the summary of what will be deleted, tick the confirmation box and choose “Delete my account and all my data”. Your request is recorded immediately and you will see the exact date the deletion will run.
4. Prefer a person? Email support@tabbook.co.za from your account’s address with the subject “Delete my account” and we will process the same deletion for you.

What happens after you request deletion

Nothing is deleted on the day you ask — we keep your data for 30 days. During those 30 days everything stays exactly as it is, and you can cancel at any time and for any reason: sign in on the form below and choose “Keep my account”, sign in to the app as normal, or email us. Once the 30 days are up, the deletion runs automatically and cannot be undone.

What is deleted

Deleted permanently when the 30-day window closes:

• Your sign-in account — your email address and password.
• Your profile — display name and plan record.
• If you own a Pro workspace, the entire workspace: clients and leads, invoices and line items, payments, bookings, client notes, products and stock levels, cash book entries, pay links, and the workspace audit log. Your team members lose access, so tell them before you confirm — this is not reversible after the 30 days.
• Your memberships in other people’s workspaces, and any pending invitations you created.
• Every reference to you in records that must survive for other people (see “What is kept”) is blanked out, so nothing points back to your name or email.

What is kept

• Data that only lives on your phone (Free and Premium accounts, and the on-device copy in every account): never reaches our servers, so it cannot be deleted from here. Uninstalling the app erases it.
• Shared workspaces you don’t own: the business data belongs to the workspace owner and stays theirs. Only your profile, name and membership are removed; past audit-log rows the owner is entitled to keep remain, with your identity removed.
• Billing: your Google Play subscription and payment history are held by Google, not by Tabbook. Manage or cancel them in Google Play → Payments & subscriptions. Tabbook never sees your card details.
• Residual backup copies: our encrypted database backups roll off automatically, so any copy of your data left in a backup is gone within 30 days of the purge at the latest. We keep no separate copies.

Retention at a glance

• 30 days — the grace period after a deletion request: everything is retained and you may cancel.
• After 30 days — permanent, automatic deletion of everything listed above.
• 90 days — rows you deleted yourself inside a workspace (appointments, notes, products, cash book) are purged.
• 24 months — audit-log entries are purged.

Go to the deletion form ↓

What we process and where it lives

The information you type into Tabbook — your business profile, clients, leads, invoices, payments, bookings, notes and the messages you queue — is stored locally on your device in the app’s encrypted database. We do not receive copies, and we cannot read it.

Optional features you switch on yourself involve other companies, each processing data under its own privacy policy:

• Google Play billing confirms your subscription with Google.
• The Android calendar intent pre-fills your device’s calendar app.
• WhatsApp messages are handed to the WhatsApp app you already use.
• Payment links are created against your own Ozow, Yoco, SnapScan or Payfast account.

Teams, cloud backup and the audit log (Pro only)

If you subscribe to Pro and switch on a workspace, your business data (clients, invoices, payments, bookings, notes, cash book, products and pay links) is copied to our cloud database, hosted by Supabase (supabase.com), so your team can share it and it can be restored. Staff members you invite can see and change that shared business data, and every change is attributed to the account and device that made it in an audit log.

The audit log and the synced copy are visible to the workspace owner; old audit entries are purged after about 24 months and soft-deleted records after about 90 days. Cloud data is stored in the region shown in the app (we default to the European Union, as no South African region is offered); section 72 of POPIA allows transborder flows with adequate protection.

If you stay on Free or Premium, none of this happens: nothing leaves your device.

What we do not do

• We do not collect your client lists to sell, share or advertise against.
• We do not use third-party analytics or advertising SDKs in the app.

You carry the POPIA duties towards your clients when you message them. Tabbook gives you a “No broadcasts” opt-out exactly for that purpose — please use it when someone asks to be left alone.

Backups

By default your data never leaves the device. If you use the manual backup feature, you choose where the backup file goes (Drive or SD card, via the Android share sheet) and you are the transmitter. Keep those files safe: they contain your book. Cloud backup (Pro) is described above.

Your POPIA rights

You may ask what personal information Tabbook stores (it is all in the app), correct it there, or delete it by uninstalling the app and wiping your backups. If you have a Tabbook account, you can request deletion of the account and its cloud data yourself with the deletion form at the bottom of this page — your data is kept for 30 days so you can cancel, then erased. You can also ask the workspace owner to remove your account, or email us and we will do it for you.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator of South Africa if you believe your information has not been handled lawfully.

Children

Tabbook is a business tool and is not directed at children under 13. If a minor uses it, it should be with a guardian’s knowledge and supervision.

Changes to this policy

We will update the version at the top of this page and re-ask for consent in the app when anything material changes.

Contact us

Questions about anything on this page: support@tabbook.co.za or via our contact page.

Account deletion form

Sign in with the email address and password you use in the Tabbook app. Signing in deletes nothing — you will see exactly what will happen first, and a deletion request is only recorded after you tick the confirmation box.

Email address (your Tabbook username) *

Password *

Sign in

Your password is sent directly to Tabbook’s database provider over an encrypted connection and is never emailed or stored on this website. Prefer a person? Email support@tabbook.co.za from your account’s address and we’ll process the deletion for you.