Privacy Policy

Effective date: 23 October 2026

Wire (“we”, “us”) provides a social payments and loyalty layer on top of a regulated banking and card provider. The provider owns KYC, accounts, ledger, and card issuing. This policy explains how Wire processes personal information in line with South Africa’s Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) and related rules.

1. Data we process

Depending on how you use Wire, we may process:

• Identity & contact - name, username, phone, email, profile photo, and account type.
• Your address book - names, phone numbers, and emails on your device, as described in Contacts below.
• Financial & payment context - transaction metadata needed to show history, match merchant purchases for loyalty, and operate payments (amounts, references, merchant identifiers). If you link a bank, the phone number for that link and, once you withdraw, the account number. Card PAN/CVV are not stored by Wire where the provider hosts card data. We do not show a linked account number back in full.
• Receipts - a photo you take or choose, and the merchant, lines, and totals read from it. A receipt can include other people’s names.
• Social & discovery - friendships, sharing choices, and discoverability settings.
• Device & security - app version, push tokens, and signals needed to secure your session.
• Loyalty & rewards - programme memberships, stamp/progress, and reward balances tied to merchants you pay.

2. Why we process it

• Provide social payments, wallet views, and card lifecycle UX with our provider.
• See which of your contacts already use Wire, and invite someone you choose.
• Split a receipt, including with someone who does not have an account yet.
• Read a receipt photo so the lines can be split.
• Match purchases to merchant programmes so loyalty can apply automatically.
• Honour your privacy, discoverability, and sharing preferences.
• Send notifications and login codes you have asked for.
• Meet legal, fraud-prevention, and account-lifecycle obligations.

3. Contacts

If you allow access, the app reads names, phone numbers, and emails in your address book. You can refuse. Find Friends still works without it.

Phone numbers and emails are sent to Wire to see who already has an account. That list is not stored. Names are not sent for this check. We do not use unmatched contacts for marketing or to suggest people who are not on Wire.

We store a name, and where we need it a phone number, only when:

• you invite that person onto a receipt, or add them as a guest;
• someone you have already paid or requested would otherwise show as a generic name, and we keep the address-book name so Recent can show the name you know.

An invite stays with that receipt until the receipt is deleted or the account that created it is deleted. A phone number kept only so we can send a join link may be cleared after seven days if that person has not joined. A Recent name is removed when your account is deleted.

Invite only someone you have a reason to contact. Wire may message that number by WhatsApp or SMS about the receipt. A person who is not a Wire user can email support@wire.app and ask us to delete that invite.

On the website, someone joining a receipt gives the name we should call them and verifies the phone number on the invite.

4. Receipts

If you photograph or upload a receipt, we store the photo with that receipt and send it to OpenAI to read the merchant, the lines, and the totals. The photo can include other people’s details. OpenAI processes it for us, outside South Africa. We keep the photo with the receipt until the receipt or your account is deleted, subject to records we must keep.

5. Private by default

Transactions are private by default. Sharing activity or amounts is opt-in or controlled by settings you choose. Friends do not receive balances, full payment history, or amounts unless you explicitly share. Sensitive merchant categories (such as medical, pharmacy, legal, or financial) are excluded from social prompts unless you override that preference.

6. Lock-screen and push amounts

Payment amounts are omitted from lock-screen and push notifications unless you enable showAmountsOnLockScreen (shown in the app as a lock-screen amounts preference). The default is off.

7. Discoverability

You control whether others can find you for payments by username, phone, or email. Changing these settings is reflected server-side; clients alone are not trusted for privacy enforcement.

8. Account deactivation and deletion

You may deactivate your account at any time (soft off; you can return later). You may also request deletion. Deletion starts a 30-day grace period during which you can cancel. After the grace period, Wire anonymises or deletes personal data it holds, subject to records we must keep for legal or regulatory reasons. In the app: Settings → Delete account. Or email support@wire.app from your verified address so we can confirm it is you. Step-by-step instructions: Delete account.

9. Your POPIA rights

Subject to law, you may request:

• Access to personal information we hold about you.
• Correction of inaccurate or incomplete information.
• Deletion (see account deletion above).
• Portability of information you provided, in a reasonable format where technically feasible.
• Objection to certain processing, including marketing (marketing requires your consent).

Contact support@wire.app to exercise these rights. You may also lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator (South Africa).

10. Sharing with others

We share personal information with:

• our regulated banking and card provider, to operate accounts, cards, and payments;
• WhatsApp (Meta), to deliver login codes, and WhatsApp or SMS to deliver an invite you send. Meta processes that phone number outside South Africa;
• OpenAI, to read a receipt photo, outside South Africa;
• other processors who help us run the service, under contract;
• a person you pay, request, invite, or add to a receipt, to the extent that action needs;
• authorities, when the law requires it.

We do not sell your personal information.

11. Retention & security

We keep information only as long as needed for the purposes above, the receipt or account it belongs to, and legal retention. Unmatched contact numbers are not kept. We use encryption in transit, access controls, and least-privilege practices. Never send card PIN, CVV, or full PAN to Wire support.

12. Children

Wire is not directed at children who cannot lawfully hold a payment account under applicable rules and our provider’s policies.

13. Changes

We may update this policy. The effective date at the top will change when we do. Material changes may also be surfaced in the app.

14. Contact

Privacy and deletion requests: support@wire.app.