Privacy Policy

This explains what Obied Ullah, who operates FlagHour (“FlagHour”, “we”), collects, why, who else handles it, where it’s stored, how long we keep it, and how to see, fix or delete it. It covers mechanics who use FlagHour and the customers they deal with through it.

Person in charge of protecting personal information: Obied Ullah, reachable at help@flaghour.com. Write to this address for any question, request or complaint about your personal information.

Two roles

• Mechanics’ accounts: we decide how this information is used, and this policy applies directly.
• Mechanics’ customers: the mechanic you dealt with is responsible for your information; we store and process it on their behalf and only to run FlagHour for them.

What we collect

About mechanics (our users): email address and password (the password only as a secure hash, held by our login provider), business name, business phone, logo, time zone, country and currency, prices and hold settings, subscription and usage (texts sent, AI drafts), the ID of your Stripe account, your home address and trips if you use the mileage log, alert settings, and, if you cancel, your answers to the short exit survey.

About mechanics’ customers (entered by the mechanic): name, mobile number, optional email, address and notes, language for texts, vehicles (year, make, model, plate, VIN, mileage), job addresses and times, job photos, estimates, invoices, service history, the texts and emails sent to them, their replies (including photos they text), and whether they asked to stop receiving texts or review requests.

About payments: amounts, dates, status, the card brand and last 4 digits, and Stripe’s reference IDs. We never see or store full card numbers, expiry dates or security codes — customers type those into Stripe’s secure form, which sends them straight to Stripe.

Technical data: sign-in session cookies (needed to keep you signed in), push-notification addresses for devices you turn alerts on for, error reports (account IDs, not names or phone numbers), and anonymous page-view counts for our public pages (no tracking cookies, no IP addresses, nothing that identifies you). We don’t use advertising cookies or trackers. If you arrive through one of our marketing links (for example from Reddit), we note that source with your sign-up, to learn which channels work.

The camera for VIN scanning and the “Pay now” QR code work on your phone; the camera image isn’t sent to us. Voice recordings made with “Describe the work” are sent for transcription and not kept.

Why we use it

To run the service: schedule and protect jobs, send the texts and emails the mechanic triggers or sets up, take and record payments, keep records and the mileage log, draft invoices with AI when asked, bill subscriptions, keep the service secure, prevent fraud and abuse, fix problems and meet legal obligations. We don’t sell personal information, share it for advertising, or use customers’ details for anything but the mechanic’s business with them. We don’t make automated decisions about people.

Who else handles it

These providers process information for us, each only what it needs:

• Stripe — card holds, payments, payouts and our subscription billing (Stripe’s own privacy policy applies to card data).
• Twilio — sends and receives text messages (the customer’s number, the message and any photo), and checks whether a new customer’s number is a mobile that can get texts.
• Supabase — database, login and file storage (United States).
• Google Cloud — runs the app (United States).
• Cloudflare — our domain and network security.
• Resend — sends email.
• OpenAI — turns spoken or typed descriptions of work into draft invoices. Under OpenAI’s API terms, this data isn’t used to train their models.
• Photon (komoot, Germany) — address suggestions while the mechanic types an address. Only the typed address text is sent, through our server.
• OpenStreetMap (Nominatim) — turns visit addresses into map points for the optional mileage log. Only the address is sent, never a name or phone number.
• Sentry — error reports (IDs only).
• GitHub — keeps our private nightly database backups for 30 days.

We may also disclose information when the law requires it, to protect people’s safety or our rights, or to whoever takes over FlagHour (who must then follow this policy).

Where it’s stored

Information is stored and processed in the United States, and may be handled by our providers in other countries. It is then subject to those countries’ laws, and authorities there may be able to access it. Before sending information outside Quebec we assess the risks, and our providers are bound by contract to protect it.

Text messages (SMS)

Customers of mechanics who use FlagHour receive text messages about their own appointment and payment: booking confirmations and card-hold links, appointment reminders, “on my way” and “arrived” updates, receipts and payment links, payment reminders, and an occasional review request or service-due reminder. A customer agrees to these when they give their mobile number to the mechanic for their appointment, and every first message names the business and says how to opt out. Message frequency varies, typically 3–8 messages per appointment. Message and data rates may apply. Reply STOP to stop receiving texts, or HELP for help; you can also contact us at help@flaghour.com.

We do not sell or share your SMS opt-in data or personal information with third parties for marketing purposes. No mobile information will be shared with third parties or affiliates for marketing or promotional purposes. Text messaging originator opt-in data and consent are not shared with any third parties. Phone numbers are passed only to Twilio, which delivers the messages.

On your phone

To survive a lost signal, FlagHour keeps unsaved forms and the last copy of your Today screen on your own phone. They’re deleted when the form is saved or when you sign out.

How long we keep it

• While your account is open: everything, so your records and history are complete.
• After you cancel your subscription: view-only for 90 days, then locked. The data is kept so you can come back, until you ask us to delete it.
• After “Delete my account”: locked immediately, then permanently deleted 90 days later — every job, invoice, customer, vehicle, photo, message record, payment record, your logo and your login. Copies in backups disappear within 30 days after that.
• Stripe and Twilio keep their own records of payments and messages under their own policies and legal obligations, and we keep what tax or accounting law requires us to keep.

Your rights

• See and get a copy: Settings → Export your data (CSV files that open in Excel or Google Sheets), or ask us.
• Correct: edit anything in the app, or ask us.
• Delete: Settings → Delete my account, or email help@flaghour.com.
• Withdraw consent: reply STOP to any text; turn alerts off in Settings.
• Customers of a mechanic: your information belongs to the business you dealt with — ask them first to see, change or delete it. You can also email us and we’ll pass your request to the business and help. See Holds, refunds & disputes.

We answer requests within 30 days, free of charge, after confirming who you are. Depending on where you live (for example Quebec, the rest of Canada, or California) you may have more rights, such as data portability or knowing how your information was used; we honour them. If you’re not satisfied with our answer, you can complain to your privacy authority (in Quebec, the Commission d’accès à l’information; elsewhere in Canada, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada).

Security

Everything travels over encrypted connections and is encrypted where it’s stored. Each mechanic’s data is walled off from every other account at the database level. Access by our team is limited to fixing problems you report or that our monitoring finds. If a security incident puts personal information at risk of serious harm, we’ll notify the people affected and the authorities as the law requires.

Children

FlagHour is for businesses and isn’t meant for children. We don’t knowingly collect information from children under 14 except as a mechanic’s customer record entered by the mechanic.

Changes

If we change this policy in a way that matters, we’ll email mechanics before it takes effect and update the date at the top.