Privacy Notice
How GETROWND LIMITED uses your personal data on getrownd.com, on the waitlist and in the Rownd app.
This notice explains how GETROWND LIMITED uses your personal data when you:
- visit getrownd.com or join the Rownd waitlist (Part A); and
- use the Rownd app (Part B).
Parts C to E apply to both.
1. Who we are, and where this notice applies
GETROWND LIMITED ("Rownd", "we", "us") is the controller of your personal data.
- Company number 17246753, registered in England and Wales
- Registered office: 66 Paul Street, London EC2A 4NA, United Kingdom
- Contact: support@getrownd.com
This notice covers Rownd in the United Kingdom. When Rownd opens in other countries, starting with Nigeria, people there will get a notice for their country, explaining the local law and any local providers. Until then, if you join the waitlist from outside the UK, Part A applies to you.
2. The short version
- We use your data to run the waitlist, your account and your circles, to check who you are, to move money in and out, to check a circle is affordable for you, to prevent fraud, and to keep to the law.
- We don't sell your data, and we don't share it with anyone for their own marketing. There's no advertising and no advertising or cross-site tracking code, on the website or in the app.
- People in your circle can see how the circle is going, including who has paid and who hasn't, by name. They never see why, or how much anyone owes. We show you this before you join.
- You're in control. You can see, correct or delete your data, turn off analytics in the app, and ask a person to review an automatic decision.
Part A: the website and the waitlist
A1. What we collect, why, and our lawful basis
| What | Why | Lawful basis |
|---|---|---|
| Your email address, and your first name if you give it | To tell you when Rownd launches, with occasional updates before then | Your consent. You can withdraw it at any time. |
| The cartoon face you picked, the story you chose and the country you're waiting for | To show your face on our waitlist wall, and to tell you when Rownd opens where you are | Your consent |
| When you joined, and the wording you agreed to | To keep a record of your consent | Legal obligation, and legitimate interests |
| Your invite code, and the code you joined with (if any) | To give you a link to share, and to understand how people hear about Rownd | Legitimate interests in running the waitlist |
| Your IP address, when you use the waitlist form | To limit how often the form can be used, so it can't be abused | Legitimate interests in keeping the site secure |
| Simple visit statistics from Cloudflare Web Analytics: the page visited, where you came from (the referring site), your browser and device type, your approximate country (worked out from your IP address) and how fast the page loaded | To count visits and see which pages work and load slowly, so we can improve the site. We only look at totals, not at individual visitors. It sets no cookies and stores nothing on your device (see E5). | Legitimate interests in understanding and improving the website |
| Standard server logs (IP address, browser, pages, time) | To run the site, fix faults and keep it secure | Legitimate interests |
The waitlist wall. If you join, a cartoon face you picked may appear on our public waitlist wall, without your name or email. The wall also shows how many people have joined.
Before you join, anything you type or choose in the story, such as your first name or the story you pick, stays in your browser on your device. It isn't sent to us unless you join (see E5).
Joining the waitlist doesn't create a Rownd account. If you later download the app, you'll sign up separately, and Part B will apply.
Part B: the Rownd app
B1. Where your data comes from
- You: when you sign up, verify your identity, start or join a circle, pay in, contact us or add a profile photo.
- Your phone: the app's install ID, your device type, operating system and app version, and your IP address.
- Onfido: the results of your document and face checks.
- TrueLayer (open banking): with your permission, given in your bank's app, details of the bank account you connect and of the payments you make. If you choose to use your bank data for an affordability check, also your recent income and spending.
- Ideal Postcodes: your address, when you look it up by postcode.
- The App Store, Google Play and RevenueCat: confirmation of your Premium purchases. We never see your card details.
- Other members: for example, when someone invites you to a circle.
B2. What we use it for, and our lawful basis
| # | What we do | Data | Lawful basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Run your account: sign-in with email and phone codes, your Rownd PIN, settings | Name, email, phone number, date of birth, address, PIN (stored only as a secure hash) | Contract |
| 2 | Check your identity with Onfido | Photo ID document, a short selfie video, the details read from your document, the check results | Legitimate interests in preventing fraud and money laundering, and legal obligation where the law requires it. The selfie is used to match your face to your ID, which is biometric data. For that we rely on your explicit consent, which you give in the app before the face check. Without it, we can't verify you. |
| 3 | Run your circles: turns, contributions, pay-outs, your Rownd balance, withdrawals, statements | Circle and payment records, your place in the order, bank account name, sort code and account number | Contract |
| 4 | Open banking and payments with TrueLayer, and pay-outs with Griffin | Bank name, account holder name, sort code and account number, payment status | Contract. TrueLayer and Griffin are also controllers for the services they provide to you, under their own privacy notices. |
| 5 | Show your circle how it's going (see B3) | Your name, your photo if you add one, your place in the order, how you joined and who invited you, and whether you've paid, are late, are on a payment plan or have defaulted | Contract, under the circle rules you accept when you join, and legitimate interests: your circle members need to know who has paid into money they're relying on |
| 6 | Affordability checks before you start or join a circle | Either the income and spending you tell us, or, if you choose, your recent bank income and spending, grouped into categories. Also your other circles and your payment record with us | Legitimate interests in making sure circles stay affordable, so neither you nor the other members are harmed by missed payments |
| 7 | Trust and fraud prevention: sign-in and new-device checks, unusual activity, your trust score | Install ID (stored as a secure code, never raw), device type, IP address and the country it comes from, sign-in history, payment record, identity check results | Legitimate interests in keeping accounts and money secure, and legal obligation |
| 8 | Missed payments, payment plans, hardship and recovering money owed to your circle | Payment record, what you owe, plans you agree to, and anything you tell us about your circumstances | Contract, and legitimate interests in recovering money owed to other members. If you tell us about your health or a similar circumstance, we use it only to support you, with your explicit consent. |
| 9 | Profile photo (optional) | Your photo. We check it automatically with Amazon Rekognition for unsuitable content; this isn't face recognition. | Consent. Remove it at any time. |
| 10 | Notifications and messages: payment reminders, circle updates, security codes | Push token, phone number, email, notification history | Contract for service messages. Any marketing needs your consent, and you can turn it off. |
| 11 | Premium subscriptions | Plan, purchase and renewal dates, store receipts, your Rownd user ID (shared with RevenueCat) | Contract |
| 12 | Referrals | Your referral code; your friend's first name; secure codes made from device and identity details, compared only to stop referral fraud | Legitimate interests in running the scheme fairly |
| 13 | Help and complaints | What you tell us | Contract and legitimate interests |
| 14 | Crash reports (Sentry) | Technical details of the crash, your device and app version, your Rownd user ID. Never your name, email or financial details | Legitimate interests in keeping the app working |
| 15 | App analytics: how people move through key steps, such as finishing sign-up | Install ID, which screens and steps were used, the app version. Sent only to our own servers | Legitimate interests in improving the app. You can turn this off in Settings. |
| 16 | Records the law requires: accounting, audit trails, anti-money-laundering | Transaction and audit records | Legal obligation |
Things the app does on your phone only. These never reach us:
- If you pick a contact to invite, we read only that one contact, and only on your phone. The invite is sent from your own messaging app.
- Face ID or fingerprint unlock is handled by your phone. We never receive it.
- Motion and battery level are used only for on-screen effects.
There's no in-app chat today.
B3. What other members of your circle see
When you join a circle, we show you this before you take your seat:
- Members see: your name; your profile photo, if you've added one; your place in the order of turns; how you joined, and who invited you; and, each round, whether your payment is in, late or on a payment plan, or whether your place has defaulted.
- Members never see: why a payment is late, how much you owe, your affordability figures, your ID documents, or anything about your other circles.
- This is shared only within the circle you're both in.
- In your home feed, a member who leaves a circle you share is shown by initials only.
B4. Automatic decisions and profiling
Some decisions are made automatically:
- Identity checks: Onfido's automatic checks can pass, refer or fail your verification.
- Affordability: the check can stop you starting or joining a circle that isn't affordable for you.
- Fraud and security checks: these can ask you to sign in again, hold a payment or withdrawal, or send your account for review. They never close an account without a person reviewing it.
- Trust score: we work out a trust score from your payment record, identity checks and security signals. It can affect your place in a circle that uses a trust-based order, and whether you can join some public circles.
If an automatic decision affects you, you can ask a person to review it, tell us your view and challenge it. Use Help in the app or email support@getrownd.com.
B5. Features that aren't live yet
We're building some Premium features that would use credit reference agencies: reporting your circle payments to them, and letting you see your own credit file. They aren't live, and we don't share anything with credit reference agencies today. Before any of them starts, we'll update this notice, explain which agencies are involved and how they use data, and ask you to choose whether to turn them on.
Part C: sharing, transfers and storage
C1. Who we share data with
Providers who work on our instructions under contract (processors):
- Amazon Web Services: hosting, storage and sign-in codes, in the UK (London);
- Onfido: identity checks;
- Ideal Postcodes: address lookup;
- Resend: email;
- Vonage: text messages;
- Expo: delivers push notifications through Apple and Google;
- RevenueCat: manages Premium purchases;
- Sentry: crash reports;
- Cloudflare: simple website visit statistics (see A1 and E5);
- Google Workspace: our email inbox.
Providers who are controllers in their own right:
- TrueLayer: open-banking payments and bank connection;
- Griffin: pay-outs and withdrawals;
- Apple and Google: app downloads, push delivery and store payments.
Other members of your circle: as described in B3.
Law enforcement, regulators and fraud prevention agencies: where the law requires it, or to prevent or detect fraud or other crime.
A buyer: if Rownd is ever sold or merged. The buyer would have to keep to this notice.
C2. International transfers
We store your data in the UK. Some providers process data outside the UK:
- in the EU, which the UK recognises as giving adequate protection (Onfido, Sentry);
- in the United States (for example Cloudflare, Resend, Vonage, RevenueCat, Expo, Apple and Google).
When data goes to a country the UK hasn't recognised as adequate, we use a safeguard recognised under UK law, such as the UK–US Data Bridge, the ICO's International Data Transfer Agreement or the UK Addendum to the EU standard clauses.
C3. Keeping your data secure
- Your data is encrypted in transit and at rest. Sensitive details are encrypted with keys we manage.
- Your PIN is stored only as a secure hash.
- Only staff who need your data can see it, and their access is logged.
Part D: how long we keep it
| Data | How long |
|---|---|
| Waitlist details | Until you unsubscribe or ask us to delete them, or 12 months after Rownd launches in the country you chose, whichever is first. If we decide not to launch there, we delete them within 3 months. Never more than 3 years from when you joined. |
| Waitlist consent record | As long as we keep your waitlist details, then up to 2 years |
| Website server logs, and rate-limit IPs | Up to 90 days, and rate-limit IPs no more than 24 hours |
| Account, circle, payment and pay-out records, and bank account details | While your account is open, then 6 years after it closes |
| Identity check results | 5 years after you stop using Rownd |
| ID document images and selfie videos | No longer than we need for the check and any review of it, and never more than 5 years after you stop using Rownd |
| Audit records | 7 years |
| Affordability assessments | 6 years after the assessment |
| Missed payments, payment plans, hardship notes | While the matter is open, then 6 years |
| Trust and fraud signals, sign-in history | 2 years, or longer if there's a fraud investigation |
| Referral records | 2 years after the referral ends, or longer if there's a fraud investigation |
| Profile photo | Until you remove it or close your account |
| Push tokens | Until you sign out, uninstall the app or turn notifications off |
| Website visit statistics | Cloudflare keeps the detailed figures for about a week and the summaries for up to 6 months |
| Crash reports | Up to 90 days |
| App analytics events | Up to 2 years |
| Help and complaint records | 3 years after the matter is closed |
| Consent records | As long as we rely on the consent, then 6 years |
When you close your account, we delete or anonymise your personal data. We keep only what the law requires, and the money records needed to settle a circle you were part of.
Part E: your rights, children, complaints and changes
E1. Your rights
You have the right to:
- get a copy of your data;
- have it corrected;
- have it deleted, subject to what we must keep;
- ask us to limit how we use it;
- object to uses based on legitimate interests, including profiling;
- take it with you to another service;
- withdraw your consent at any time, without affecting what we did before;
- ask a person to review an automatic decision (B4).
Every email has an unsubscribe link, and you can turn off app analytics in Settings. For anything else, use Help in the app or email support@getrownd.com. We'll reply within one month, and it's free.
E2. Children
Rownd is for people aged 18 or over, on the website and in the app. We don't knowingly collect data from anyone under 18. If we find we have, we delete it.
E3. Complaints
Please tell us first, at support@getrownd.com. You can also complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO): Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF · 0303 123 1113 · ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint.
E4. Changes to this notice
If we change this notice, we'll update the date at the top. If a change affects your data in a way you wouldn't expect, we'll tell you first, by email or in the app.
E5. Cookies and storage on your device
On the website:
- The site sets no cookies.
- It saves the first name you type into the story and the story you pick in your browser's own storage, only so the page can show them back to you. That's something you've asked the site to do, so it doesn't need your consent. Nothing is sent to us unless you join. To clear it, clear this site's data in your browser.
- We use Cloudflare Web Analytics to count visits and measure how fast our pages load. It sets no cookies, stores nothing on your device and doesn't follow you from one website to another. To do this, Cloudflare's script reads basic details from your browser, such as the page you're on and how long it took to load, and Cloudflare uses your IP address to work out your approximate country. Cloudflare does this on our behalf, and we only see totals. UK law lets us do this without asking first, because it's only used to produce statistics that help us improve the website. That's why we don't show a cookie banner. You can object at any time, for free: use the "Don't count my visits" switch below, or turn on Global Privacy Control in your browser, and the script won't load. We save your choice in your browser only so that we can respect it.
- There are no advertising or social media trackers, and no third-party fonts.
In the app: the app stores on your phone:
- what it needs to work, such as keeping you signed in, held securely in your phone's keychain or keystore;
- your app settings;
- an install ID used for security checks and for app analytics.
You can turn off app analytics at any time in Settings.
If we ever add anything that needs your consent, we'll ask you first and update this section.