Privacy Policy

Utlwa (“Utlwa”, “we”, “us”) is an audiobook platform operated by Zero Bit Studio, providing services at utlwa.co.za, utlwa.africa, and through the Utlwa mobile app on Android and iOS. This policy explains what personal information we collect, why we collect it, and what rights you have over it under South Africa’s Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) and equivalent data protection laws.

Account information. When you register, we collect your email address and/or phone number, a password (stored securely as a one-way hash, never in plain text), and your name. If you complete your profile, we also collect your date of birth (for age-appropriate content), city, country, and language preference.

Google sign-in. If you sign in with Google, we receive your name, email address, profile picture, and a unique Google account identifier from Google. We use this solely to create and authenticate your Utlwa account — we never receive or store your Google password.

Listening & activity data. We record which audiobooks and chapters you listen to, your playback progress, listening session duration and timestamps, favorites, playlists, bookmarks, reviews you leave, and any chapters you download for offline listening.

Payment information. Subscription payments are processed by PayFast, a licensed third-party payment gateway. We do not collect or store your card number or banking details — PayFast handles that directly. We retain only the transaction reference, amount, subscription type, and payment status needed to manage your subscription.

Device & session data. To enforce single-device streaming (one active session per account) and to keep your account secure, we record a device identifier for your current session and your IP address for security and rate-limiting purposes.

• To create and maintain your account and authenticate you when you sign in.
• To play back audiobooks, sync your listening progress across devices, and power features like “Continue Listening”.
• To process and manage subscription payments and renewals.
• To send you account-related communication (verification codes, receipts, service notifications).
• To detect and prevent fraud, abuse, and unauthorised account sharing.
• To understand aggregate usage of the platform so we can improve it.

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not use it for third-party advertising.

We share the minimum information necessary with the service providers that run Utlwa on our behalf:

• Google — for Google Sign-In authentication.
• PayFast — for processing subscription payments.
• Amazon Web Services (AWS) — for hosting our servers, database, and audio/image storage.
• Resend — for delivering account emails (verification, receipts, notifications).
• Twilio — for delivering SMS verification codes.

Each of these providers is only permitted to use your information to deliver the specific service we’ve engaged them for. We may also disclose information if required by law, or to protect the rights, safety, or property of Utlwa, our users, or the public.

Your data is stored on Amazon Web Services infrastructure. Passwords are hashed and never stored in plain text. Access to personal information within Utlwa is restricted to staff who need it to operate the platform (e.g. customer support, content management), based on their role.

Under POPIA and equivalent laws, you have the right to:

• Access the personal information we hold about you.
• Request correction of inaccurate or outdated information.
• Request deletion of your account and associated personal information.
• Object to certain processing of your information.
• Withdraw consent where processing is based on consent (e.g. marketing communication).

To exercise any of these rights, contact us using the details below. Note that some information (e.g. payment records) may need to be retained for a period after account deletion to comply with financial record-keeping laws.

Utlwa is not directed at children under 18. We collect date of birth during profile completion specifically to verify a user meets our minimum age requirement and to ensure age-appropriate content. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children outside this process.

Our website uses a small number of essential cookies to keep you signed in and remember your role (listener or staff). We do not use third-party advertising or tracking cookies.

We may update this policy from time to time as our service evolves. We’ll update the “Last updated” date above when we do. Material changes will be communicated in-app or by email.

If you have questions about this policy or want to exercise your data rights, contact us at privacy@utlwa.co.za.