Welcome to Safewoo (“we,” “our,” or “us”). We are committed to protecting your privacy and handling your data in an open and transparent manner. Our core mission is to provide a private and secure internet connection. This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect, how we use it, and your choices regarding your information.
Our guiding principle is to collect only the minimum data required to operate a reliable VPN service at scale. We designed our systems to not have sensitive data about our customers; even when compelled, we cannot provide data that we do not possess.
I. Minimal-Logs Policy
We keep as little as we can. When you use the Safewoo VPN, we DO NOT keep any lasting record of the following:
- Your browsing history or DNS queries.
- The websites you visit or the content of your traffic.
- A history of your VPN connections, including the original IP address each connection came from.
The only exception is a short technical log on each VPN server. To troubleshoot problems and protect the service, the server records for each connection the time, the IP address it came from, the address it went to and your account email address. This log stays on that server, is never collected centrally, and is deleted automatically within one hour. We never record the content of your traffic.
To run the service, we do keep the amount of data your account transfers through each of our servers and the server your app is connected to at the moment (Section II-D). This tells us how much data you used, never what it was or where it went.
II. Information We Do Collect
To provide our services, manage your account, and improve Safewoo, we collect a minimal amount of information:
A. Account Information
When you create an account, we collect the email address you provide and your password. The password is stored only as a hash, never in plain text. If you sign in with Google or GitHub, we receive your email address from them.
You can also try Safewoo without an email address. The app then creates a temporary (trial) account for your device. You can add an email address to it later; in the Safewoo app from the App Store, adding an email address is required before you buy.
For account security and to prevent abuse, we keep records of your account's use of our service: the IP address you registered from; sign-in records (IP address, app or browser details, device information); and app activity records (device ID, operating system, app version, IP address and time, at most one record every five minutes while the app is in use). We also use these records to limit the number of devices on one account.
B. Device Information and Free Trials
The app sends us information about your device: a device ID (on iOS, the identifier iOS gives our app on your device), the device model and manufacturer, the operating system and its version, the app version, the screen resolution, the processor model and number of cores, and the memory size. From the device ID, manufacturer, model and processor model we compute a device fingerprint. We use this information to give one free trial per device, to limit the number of devices on one account, and to prevent abuse. We also check new accounts against lists of disposable email providers and keep records of blocked attempts.
iOS free trial (Apple DeviceCheck): On iOS, the app asks Apple's DeviceCheck service for a one-time token and sends it to us. We send the token to Apple to read and set a mark that means “this device has used its free trial”. Apple keeps two such bits per device for us, and they remain when the app is deleted and installed again. We do not store the token, and Apple gives us no identifier for your device.
C. Payment Information
We keep a record of each order: the product, the amount, the currency, the time, the status and the payment provider's reference. We do not store your full credit card details on our servers.
- On the website, payments are processed by third-party payment providers, such as Stripe for cards and providers for WeChat Pay and Alipay.
- In the Safewoo app from the App Store, you pay through Apple's In-App Purchase. Apple handles the payment; we do not receive your payment details or your Apple ID. Apple sends us a signed record of the purchase, and we keep with your order: Apple's transaction ID, the product, the price and currency, the App Store country or region (storefront), and whether the purchase was real or a test (environment). Refunds for App Store purchases are handled by Apple, not by us (reportaproblem.apple.com). When Apple tells us about a refund, we mark the order as refunded.
D. Traffic Statistics
We count how much data your account uploads and downloads through each of our servers, and keep the totals per day and per billing period. We use them to apply your plan's data allowance and to show you your usage. We do not record the content of this data or where it went.
E. Connection Reports and Crash Reports
- Connection reports: When the app starts, it tests whether it can reach our servers and sends the result to us: which servers it tested, whether and how fast each test succeeded, the network type (for example Wi-Fi or mobile), whether IPv6 is available, your device ID and, when you are signed in, your account. From the IP address of the report we look up your network provider and your approximate location (city and province). We use these reports to find blocked or slow servers, and we delete them after 30 days.
- Diagnostic counts (Windows and macOS): Once a day, the desktop app sends counts of connection problems on your device, without addresses or server names. You can turn this off in the app's Advanced Settings.
- Crash reports: The app sends crash and error reports to Sentry, our crash-reporting service. A report contains technical details of the error, the app version, the operating system and the device model and, when you are signed in, your account email address, so that we can connect a report to your support request.
F. Email and Support Chat
- Email: We send email for verification codes, password resets, account changes and service-related announcements, through an email delivery service.
- Support chat: When you open the support chat, our chat service (Chatwoot) receives your account email address. The iOS app also tells the chat which build you use (App Store or TestFlight) and your App Store country or region, so that the answers fit your version. An automatic assistant answers first: your messages, together with your plan, your recent orders and your data usage, are sent to Google's Gemini API to write the answer. Our staff can read the conversation and reply.
G. Advertising Attribution
Some users come to our website from an advertisement. For these visits we record the ad network, the campaign, the ad network's click ID, the time, the IP address and the screen size, and our website uses Google Analytics. When a visit leads to a sign-up or a purchase, we report this to the ad network with its own click ID (and, for some networks, the amount the ad network is paid), and to Google Analytics. We do not give ad networks your email address or your device ID. On Windows, macOS and Android, the installer downloaded from that visit carries an install ID for this. In the iOS TestFlight build, the app at first start sends its IP address and screen size to us, so we can match the install to a visit from the last 24 hours.
The Safewoo app from the App Store does none of this. It does not match installs to advertisements, sends nothing to ad networks, and does not use Apple's advertising identifier.
III. How We Use Your Information
We use the limited information we have for the following purposes:
- To provide, operate, and maintain our VPN service.
- To process your payments and manage your subscription.
- To communicate with you, including sending service-related announcements and responding to your support requests.
- To enforce our Terms of Service and prevent fraud, including giving one free trial per device.
- To find and fix problems in our app and network.
- To measure which advertisements bring new users, as described in Section II-G.
IV. Data Sharing and Third Parties
We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information with any third parties. We share limited data with third-party service providers for specific purposes: payment processing (Section II-C), Apple DeviceCheck (Section II-B), crash reporting (Sentry), email delivery, support chat (Chatwoot and Google's Gemini API), and advertising attribution (Section II-G). These providers are contractually obligated to protect your data and are prohibited from using it for any other purpose.
Connection diagnosis: When you run the connection diagnosis in the app and it shows a short explanation under the result list, the result list is sent to Google's Gemini API to write that explanation. The list contains the names and outcomes of the checks, the diagnosis code, the app version, the operating system and the connection mode. It contains no device, network, adapter or application names, no addresses and no browsing data. Google processes it under its own terms. We keep the explanation for a short time so the same result does not have to be explained twice.
Legal Disclosure: We are a company registered and operating under the laws of Malaysia. We will only be required to disclose information in response to valid legal processes, such as a court order or subpoena, from a competent Malaysian authority. We will not comply with any legal requests from jurisdictions outside of Malaysia, including from the People's Republic of China. Because of the policy in Section I, any information we can disclose is limited to the account, device, payment and usage information described in Section II, and to a VPN server's connection log while it exists (less than one hour). We will never be able to provide the content of your traffic, as we do not record it.
V. Data Security
We implement robust technical and organizational measures to protect your data. All traffic through our VPN is encrypted using industry-standard protocols like AES-256. Access to user data is strictly limited to personnel who require it to perform their job functions.
VI. Your Rights
You have the right to access, update, or delete your personal information. You can manage your account information through the app or by contacting our support team.
Deleting your account. You can delete your account in the app: Account → Delete Account (a trial account: Settings → Delete Account). The account is closed at once and cannot be restored. Within 30 days we permanently delete your email address, password, registration IP addresses, and your login, online and activity records. The same email address cannot be used to register again.
We keep the following after deletion:
- Order and payment records, for accounting. They are no longer linked to your email address.
- A one-way keyed hash of your email address and a fingerprint of your device, to stop the same email address or device from taking free trials again. The hash cannot be turned back into your email address.
- Anti-abuse records, which can include your email address, and records of emails that could not be delivered.
- Data held by the services we use (support chat, email delivery, payment processors, crash reporting) under their own retention rules, and backups until they expire.
VII. Compliance with Apple’s Policies
This Privacy Policy is designed to comply with the Apple App Store Review Guidelines, including section 5.1. We are committed to transparency about the data we collect and how we use it to provide our VPN service.
VIII. Changes to This Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any significant changes by email or through an in-app notification. The latest version of the policy will always be available on this page.
IX. Contact Us
If you have any questions, please contact us at: privacy@safewoo.com.