Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how Ouda LLC ("Ouda", "we", "us") collects, uses, stores, shares and protects information when you use the Ouda mobile application, the Ouda website at ouda.ai, and our contact form (together, the "Platform").

By using the Platform you acknowledge the practices described here. Where your consent is required, we will ask for it separately, and you can withdraw it using the methods described below.

1.Information we collect

1.1 Contact form information

When you contact us through the website we collect your first name, last name, email address, country calling code, phone number and message. Contact form submissions are processed and forwarded to us by our form provider. We use them to respond to your questions, feedback and partnership enquiries.

1.2 Your account

When you create an account we collect your email address and the way you chose to sign in. If you sign in with an email address and password, your password is handled by our authentication provider and stored only in hashed form; Ouda never sees it. If you sign in with Google or Apple, we receive the name and email address that provider shares with us and, depending on the provider, a profile picture. Apple may give us a private relay address instead of your real email address. We also keep an internal account identifier, and a record of which version of these legal documents you accepted and when.

1.3 Your profile

Before you can create designs, we ask for your full name, your date of birth, and your telephone number with its country code.

• Date of birth is used to confirm that you meet the minimum age in section 14. It is not shown to our staff.
• Telephone number lets us reach you about your account and about feedback you give us, and by WhatsApp where your preferences allow it.
• Message preferences. We store whether you agree to receive promotional messages by push notification, email and WhatsApp, as described in section 11.

1.4 Trying Ouda without an account

You can create a first design before signing up. When you do, we create a temporary, anonymous session identified only by a random identifier. It has no name, email address or telephone number attached. We store the photograph you upload, the room and the design against that identifier. If you then create an account, they move to your account. If you do not, they are deleted as described in section 8.

1.5 Rooms, photographs and designs

When you use Ouda's design features we collect and store:

• the room photographs you take with your camera or choose from your photo library;
• the room's name and type, and the style and colour palette you choose;
• the products you choose to keep, replace or add, and the paint colours you select;
• the designs Ouda produces for you. Each design you receive carries an Ouda watermark. We also keep an unmarked original of each design on our servers, which we use only to produce later edits of that design, and which is never sent to your device;
• wall and ceiling measurements, whether estimated by our AI or corrected by you, used to estimate paint costs; and
• a record of how each design was produced, including the instructions sent to the AI service, the products used, the time it took and what it cost us.

A photograph of a room can incidentally show people, faces, family photographs, screens, documents, addresses, possessions or other personal information. The Platform does not automatically blur faces or other sensitive content. Please avoid photographing identification documents, financial or medical information or other confidential material, and only upload photographs of places you have the right to photograph.

1.6 AI room analysis

When you create a design, our AI service analyses your photograph to describe the room: its layout, the furniture and fixtures already in it, where the windows and doors are, and the approximate wall and ceiling area. We store that description with the design, because it decides which products are placed and how.

1.7 Ratings and feedback

After a design is produced, the app asks you to rate it from one to five and, if you like, to tell us what was wrong. You can decline. If you answer, we store your rating and your comment with your account and with the design. Authorised staff can see them alongside your name, email address and telephone number, so that they can understand the problem and reply to you. Please do not include sensitive information in a comment.

1.8 Free allowance, subscriptions and purchases

We keep a record of how many designs you have created and of your remaining free allowance. If you subscribe, the subscription is bought through the Apple App Store or Google Play, and we receive from them, through our subscription provider, the plan you bought, the store, purchase and renewal dates, the subscription's status and transaction identifiers. We never receive your card or wallet details. If our team gives you free designs or free access to subscription features, we record that, when, and who granted it.

1.9 How you use the app

We use a product analytics and error-monitoring provider, hosted in the European Union, to understand how the app is used and where it fails. It records the screens you visit and actions such as signing in, creating a design, a design failing, re-rendering or adding a piece, rating a design, saving or sharing a design, and reaching the subscription screen, together with details such as the room type and style chosen. It also records when the app is opened and closed, your device model, operating system and app version, and an approximate location (country and city) derived from your IP address. When something goes wrong it also records the error, including technical diagnostic messages. Once you sign in, these records are linked to your account identifier. We do not send your name or email address to this provider — the account identifier is meaningful only within Ouda's own systems.

1.10 Device, technical and server information

When the app or website talks to our servers, our servers and our hosting and network providers record technical information such as IP address, device and browser type, operating system, app version, the date and time of each request, your account identifier, the design or room concerned, and any error that occurred. We use this to operate, secure and fix the Platform.

1.11 Communications and support

We keep emails, WhatsApp messages and other communications you exchange with us, including requests for support, complaints and reported problems.

1.12 Retailer and vendor information

We collect business information about the retailers whose products appear on the Platform: trading name, contact details, product catalogues, product descriptions and photographs, prices and availability. Some of this is supplied by the retailers and some is collected from their public websites. Where a retailer's contact person is an individual, we hold their business contact details.

2.What we do not do

To be explicit about the things people most often ask:

• We do not sell personal information, and we do not share it with advertisers.
• We do not pass your name, telephone number or email address to retailers. When you want a product, you contact the retailer yourself (see section 6.3).
• We do not use advertising identifiers or track you across other companies' apps and websites.
• We do not access your precise location, microphone or contacts.
• We do not receive or store biometric information.
• We do not receive or store payment card details.
• Our website does not use analytics or advertising tools such as Google Analytics, Meta Pixel or Hotjar. The app uses the analytics described in section 1.9.

If any of this changes, we will update this Policy and, where required, ask for your consent first.

3.Device permissions

The app asks for permission only when you use the feature that needs it:

• Camera, to photograph the room you want redesigned.
• Photo library, to read, so you can choose an existing photograph of a room.
• Photo library, to add, so you can save a design to your photos.

The app does not ask for your microphone, contacts or location, and it does not currently send push notifications. You can change permissions in your device settings at any time; turning one off makes the related feature unavailable.

4.How we use information

We use information to:

• create and secure your account, and confirm that you meet the minimum age;
• store your rooms and photographs and produce designs, room analysis, product placements and paint estimates;
• show you the products in a design and the retailer and price of each;
• run your free allowance and your subscription, and apply free designs or access our team grants;
• review the quality of designs and understand what goes wrong, including through the ratings and comments you give;
• contact you about feedback you have given, or about your account;
• understand how the app is used, find and fix faults, and decide what to improve;
• respond to messages, feedback and partnership enquiries sent through our contact form;
• send service messages, and promotional messages in line with your preferences;
• prevent fraud, abuse, misuse of the free allowance and unauthorised access;
• keep business and accounting records, and comply with legal obligations; and
• establish, exercise or defend legal claims.

5.AI processing and review

5.1 Our AI provider

Designs and room analysis are produced by a third-party AI service. To produce a design, we send that provider your room photograph (or, for an edit, the unmarked original of the earlier design), reference photographs of the products being placed, and written instructions describing the room, the style and what to change. The provider returns the design, which we then watermark and store.

We use a commercial API service for this, under terms that govern how the provider may use the content we send. We do not intentionally send it your name, email address, telephone number or date of birth. We may change or add AI providers as the product develops; if a change materially affects how personal information is used or shared, we will update this Policy and give notice.

5.2 Quality review by our team

AI designs regularly get things wrong, and improving them is central to Ouda. Authorised members of our team therefore review designs, together with the original photograph, the AI's description of the room, the instructions it was given and any rating or comment you left. This is especially frequent during early access. Access is limited to staff who need it for this work. We do not use your photographs or designs for any purpose other than providing and improving the Platform, and see section 15 for how we treat marketing.

5.3 Limitations

AI designs, product placements, measurements, paint estimates and costs can be inaccurate, incomplete or unsuitable for your room. Verify anything important before you buy. AI features are not a substitute for advice from a qualified architect, engineer, electrician, plumber, contractor or interior designer. We do not use automated systems to make decisions that have legal or similarly significant effects on you.

6.Who we share information with

6.1 Service providers

We use providers in the following categories to operate the Platform. Each processes information only as needed to provide its service to us, and the specific providers may change over time.

• Authentication and database — sign-in, accounts and our database.
• Hosting and infrastructure — the servers that run the Ouda application, and hosting for our website.
• Storage, network and delivery — storage of your photographs and designs, network protection and delivery for our app and website, and delivery of website assets such as fonts and the phone-number picker. Providers that deliver assets to your browser receive your IP address when your browser requests them.
• AI processing — the AI service described in section 5.
• Analytics and error monitoring — the records described in section 1.9, processed in the European Union. These providers receive your Ouda account identifier and those usage and error records, not your name or email address.
• Subscription management — managing subscriptions. These providers receive your Ouda account identifier and your purchase records, not your name or email address.
• Contact form handling — receiving and forwarding contact form submissions to our email inbox.
• App stores — Apple and Google Play, for purchases and, if you use them, Sign in with Apple or Google Sign-In. These are named because you deal with them directly.
• Messaging and email — WhatsApp and email providers, when we message you or you message us.

6.2 Our staff

Authorised Ouda staff can see account information, usage, subscription status, designs and photographs, and ratings and comments, to the extent needed for their role. Access is role-based and limited to people who need it.

6.3 Retailers

We do not share your personal information with retailers. When you want to ask about a product, the app gives you the retailer's WhatsApp, telephone number or website, and you contact them directly. What you then share with the retailer is between you and them, and they handle it under their own privacy practices.

6.4 Professional advisers

We may share information with lawyers, accountants, auditors and security consultants where reasonably necessary, subject to confidentiality obligations.

6.5 Legal requirements

We may disclose information where reasonably necessary to comply with law, regulation, court order or valid legal process; respond to an authorised public authority; enforce our agreements; investigate suspected fraud, abuse or a security incident; protect users, retailers, Ouda or the public; or establish, exercise or defend legal claims.

6.6 Business transactions

If Ouda is involved in a merger, acquisition, financing, restructuring or sale of assets, information may be transferred as part of that transaction, subject to applicable law and appropriate safeguards.

7.International data transfers

Ouda LLC is registered in Delaware, United States, and its users and retail partners are in Lebanon. Our providers process information in several countries: our application servers and analytics are in the European Union, and our authentication, storage, AI, subscription and network providers operate in the United States and elsewhere. Privacy laws in those countries differ from those in Lebanon. We choose providers that offer contractual, organisational and technical safeguards for the information they process.

8.Data retention

• Contact form submissions and support communications. Kept for up to two years, unless a dispute or legal obligation requires longer.
• Account and profile information. Kept while your account is active. When you delete your account, it is deleted or anonymised at the end of the 30-day recovery period described in section 9.
• Photographs, designs, ratings and comments. Kept while they are part of your account. When you delete a room, its photograph is deleted from our storage, normally within a few days. When you delete your account, your photographs, designs, ratings and comments are deleted at the end of the 30-day recovery period.
• Sessions from trying Ouda without an account. If you do not create an account, the photograph, room and design are deleted 30 days after the session was last used.
• Usage analytics. Kept for up to 24 months, then deleted.
• Server and security logs. Ordinarily kept for up to 180 days, unless longer is needed to investigate an incident.
• Backups. Residual data may remain in protected backups for up to 90 days before being overwritten.
• Subscription and accounting records. Kept for up to seven years, or longer where tax, accounting or legal obligations require it. After account deletion these records are no longer linked to your name or email address.
• Records of access granted by our team. Kept with the account, and after deletion for up to seven years without your name or email address, as part of our business records.
• Retailer information. Kept while the retailer is listed and for up to five years afterwards where needed for compliance, fraud prevention or legal claims.

9.Deleting your account

You can delete your account at any time from inside the app, under Account. You will be asked to confirm, to prevent accidental deletion.

• A 30-day recovery period. Your account is signed out everywhere and scheduled for deletion. If you sign in again within 30 days, the deletion is cancelled and everything is as you left it.
• After 30 days, your sign-in identity is deleted, your profile is anonymised, and your photographs, designs, ratings and comments are deleted.
• What may remain. Subscription and accounting records, and records of access our team granted, kept without your name or email address as described in section 8; data in backups for up to 90 days; and anything we must keep for legal obligations, fraud prevention or legal claims.
• Subscriptions are not cancelled by deleting your account. A subscription is billed by Apple or Google, and only you can cancel it, in your App Store or Google Play account settings. Cancel it before deleting your account if you do not want to be charged again.

If you have contacted us through the website or cannot use the app, email hello@ouda.ai. We may ask you to confirm your identity first.

10.Your rights and choices

Subject to applicable law, you may ask us for access to the personal information we hold about you, correction of information that is inaccurate or incomplete, deletion of your information, a copy of certain information, withdrawal of a consent you gave, objection to or restriction of certain processing, or information about the providers involved.

You can correct your name, date of birth and telephone number, change your message preferences, and delete your account directly in the app. For anything else, email hello@ouda.ai. We aim to acknowledge requests within five business days and to answer them within 30 days, although complex requests or identity checks may take longer where the law allows. Nothing here limits rights that cannot lawfully be limited.

11.Messages we send

11.1 Service messages

We send messages needed to operate the Platform: email confirmation, sign-in and password reset emails, security notices, notices about account deletion, material changes to our terms, and replies to feedback or support requests you sent us. These continue even if you switch off promotional messages.

11.2 Promotional messages

We may send news about Ouda, new features, products and offers by email and WhatsApp, and by push notification if we introduce them. When you create an account, each of these channels is switched on. You can switch any of them off at any time in the app under Notifications, through the unsubscribe link in an email, by replying "stop" to a WhatsApp message, or by emailing hello@ouda.ai. Switching them off does not affect service messages.

If you contact us through the website, we may reply by email using the address you provide. We do not add contact-form correspondents to promotional messaging without any consent the law requires.

12.Cookies and device storage

Website. Our website does not set advertising or analytics cookies, and its own scripts do not write to cookies or browser storage. Our network provider may set strictly necessary cookies to protect the site against abuse.

App. The app stores a small amount of information on your device: your sign-in session, kept in your device's secure storage so you stay signed in; an identifier used by our analytics provider; and preferences such as which designs you have already rated or dismissed, and whether you have seen the introduction. Deleting the app removes them.

13.Security

We use reasonable technical and organisational safeguards, including encrypted transmission over HTTPS; private storage for photographs and designs, reached only through links that expire after a short time; passwords held only in hashed form by our authentication provider; unmarked originals of designs that never leave our servers; role-based staff access; and logging and monitoring. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure. Use a strong, unique password and protect access to your device. If we become aware of a security incident affecting personal information, we will investigate and give the notices the law requires.

14.Children and minimum age

The Platform is not directed at children. You must be at least 16 years old to create an account or use the Platform, and we ask for your date of birth to confirm it. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 16. If we learn that someone under 16 has provided personal information, we will take reasonable steps to delete it. A parent or guardian who believes a person under 16 has provided personal information can contact hello@ouda.ai.

15.Your images and how we use them

You may save the designs Ouda produces for you and share them outside the Platform. Other services you share them through have their own privacy practices.

Ouda will not use your room photographs or your designs in advertising, public social media posts, testimonials or marketing campaigns without your separate, specific permission. Any such permission is voluntary, will be recorded, and can be withdrawn for future uses.

16.Retailers and third parties

Product prices, availability, descriptions and retailer details come from retailers themselves or from their public websites, and may be out of date. When you contact a retailer, or use Apple, Google, WhatsApp or another third party, that party handles your information under its own privacy practices, and we are not responsible for those practices.

17.Future features

We may introduce features such as push notifications, accounts for retailers to manage their own listings, sharing designs with others, or in-app messaging. Nothing in this Policy says a feature is available today. Before launching a feature that materially changes how information is collected, used or shared, we will update this Policy and ask for permission where appropriate.

18.Changes to this Policy

We may update this Policy to reflect changes in features, technology, providers, legal obligations or our business. The "Last updated" date at the top identifies the current version, and the app records which version you accepted. If a change materially affects how personal information is used or shared, we will tell you in the app or by email, and where required we will ask you to accept the updated Policy before continuing.

19.Governing privacy framework

Ouda LLC is a limited liability company registered in Delaware, United States. Because our users and retail partners are in Lebanon, we handle personal information in accordance with Lebanese law, including Law No. 81 of 10 October 2018 on Electronic Transactions and Personal Data, as well as the United States laws that apply to us. Where you have additional rights under the law of the place where you live, those rights apply, and nothing in this Policy limits rights that cannot lawfully be limited.

20.Contact us

For privacy questions, requests about your information, complaints, or to stop marketing, contact: