Privacy Policy
This policy explains how Appxcel collects, uses, stores, and protects your personal information for Monthlys, in compliance with the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (POPIA).
Who We Are
Appxcel is a software product studio operated by Sivario Buchanan, trading as Appxcel, a sole proprietorship based in South Africa, engineered in partnership with BuildsByBuchanan. Appxcel publishes and operates Monthlys.
For the purposes of POPIA, Appxcel is the Responsible Party — we determine the purpose and means of processing your personal information.
Information We Collect
- Account information: name, email address, and password (stored as a hash, never in plain text).
- Billing information: transaction records from Paystack — we do not store full card or banking details, these are held by Paystack.
- Product data: content you create inside Monthlys (e.g. cycle-tracking entries).
- Technical information: IP address, device/browser type, and basic usage analytics.
- Support communications: emails or messages you send to our support address.
Monthlys handles physiological cycle-tracking data, which may be considered special personal information under POPIA. This data is treated with the highest level of protection, used solely to power the tracking features you interact with, and never sold or shared for advertising purposes.
Why We Use It
- To create and maintain your account and provide the Product you subscribe to
- To process payments and maintain financial records as required by law
- To respond to support requests
- To send essential service communications (billing, security, changes to these policies)
- To improve our Products using aggregated, anonymised analytics
Legal Basis for Processing
- Contractual necessity: to provide the Product and process your subscription
- Legitimate interest: to maintain security, prevent abuse, and improve our Products
- Legal obligation: to comply with South African tax and financial record-keeping law
- Consent: for optional analytics or marketing communications, which you may withdraw at any time
How Long We Keep It
- Account and product data: retained while your account is active, and deleted within 30 days of account deletion, except where retention is required by law
- Payment records: retained for 5 years as required by South African tax law
- Support communications: retained for up to 3 years
Who We Share It With
- Paystack: to process payments — subject to Paystack's own privacy policy
- Infrastructure providers: hosting and database providers used to run our Products, bound by their own security and privacy commitments
- Legal requirements: where required by law, court order, or a competent regulatory authority
Third-Party Services
- Paystack — payment processing (paystack.com/privacy)
- Vercel — application hosting and deployment (vercel.com/legal/privacy-policy)
Appxcel is not responsible for the privacy practices of these third-party services. We encourage you to review their policies where relevant.
Cookies & Tracking
Our website and Products use essential cookies required for login sessions and security, which are always active. Optional analytics cookies are only activated with your consent and can be withdrawn at any time by contacting us.
Security
We apply industry-standard technical and organisational measures to protect your data, including encryption in transit (HTTPS), password hashing, and restricted access to production systems. No method of transmission or storage is 100% secure; in the event of a breach likely to affect your rights, we will notify you and the Information Regulator as required by POPIA.
Your Rights
- Right of access to the personal information we hold about you
- Right to correction of inaccurate or incomplete information
- Right to deletion, subject to our legal retention obligations
- Right to object to processing for direct marketing at any time
- Right to withdraw consent where processing is based on consent
- Right to complain to the Information Regulator of South Africa
To exercise any of these rights, contact us at support@appxcel.co.za. We respond within 30 days as required by POPIA.
Children's Privacy
Our Products are directed at users 18 and older. We do not knowingly collect personal information from individuals under 18 without the consent of a parent or legal guardian. If we become aware that we have done so, we will delete that information promptly.
Changes to This Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. The current version is always published at this URL. Continued use of a Product after changes are published constitutes acceptance of the updated Policy.