Privacy Policy
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.
- Financial & payment context — transaction metadata needed to show history, match merchant purchases for loyalty, and operate payments (amounts, references, merchant identifiers). Card PAN/CVV are not stored by Wire where the provider hosts card data.
- Social & discovery — friendships, sharing choices, and discoverability settings (e.g. by username, phone, or email).
- 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.
- Match purchases to merchant programmes so loyalty can apply automatically.
- Honour your privacy, discoverability, and sharing preferences.
- Send notifications you have opted into (see lock-screen amounts below).
- Meet legal, fraud-prevention, and account-lifecycle obligations.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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. Deletion can be started in the app or by emailing support@wire.app from your verified address so we can confirm it is you.
7. 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).
8. Sharing with others
We share data with our regulated banking/card provider as needed to operate accounts, cards, and payments; with processors who help us run the service under contract; and when required by law. We do not sell your personal information.
9. Retention & security
We keep information only as long as needed for the purposes above, account lifecycle, and legal retention. We use encryption in transit, access controls, and least-privilege practices. Never send card PIN, CVV, or full PAN to Wire support.
10. Children
Wire is not directed at children who cannot lawfully hold a payment account under applicable rules and our provider’s policies.
11. 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.
12. Contact
Privacy and deletion requests: support@wire.app.