Privacy Policy

Last updated: 7 October 2026

In short

We collect only what is needed to take orders, keep bills and send notifications.
We do not sell your data, show ads, or use advertising or analytics trackers.
Your store sees your name, phone (if you add it), office and orders. Other customers never do.
Billing records are kept so the store's accounts stay correct. You can ask us to delete your account.

1. Who we are

Chai Book ("Chai Book", "we", "us") is a mobile app and service operated by ENCODEWORK SYSTEMS LLP. It lets tea and coffee stores ("Stores") receive orders from offices they serve ("Customers"), keep a monthly ledger and record payments. This policy explains what personal information we handle when you use the Chai Book apps for Android and iOS, this website and our servers (together, the "Service").

For the information a Store records about its own customers (orders, bills, payments), the Store decides how it is used in its business. We process that information on the Store's behalf to provide the Service.

2. Information we collect

Information you give us

Account: when you sign in with Google or Apple we receive your name, email address and, for Google, your profile photo. If you use Apple's "Hide My Email", we receive a private relay address instead of your real email. We never see your Google or Apple password.
Store details: store name, owner name, mobile number, address (optional) and store photo (optional), plus the products, prices and buildings you set up.
Customer details: the store and building you connect to, your office number, and optionally your name and phone number.
Photos you upload: store and product images you choose to add.
Language preference: English, Hindi or Gujarati.

Information created when you use the Service

Requests and orders: the products requested, times, status, queue position, and bills created by the Store, including prices and totals.
Payments and receipts: amounts, payment method (cash, UPI, bank or other), date and any note the Store adds, along with the balances before and after. Chai Book records payments; it does not process or hold money, and we never receive your bank, card or UPI credentials.
Notifications: the in-app notifications sent to you, and the push notification token for your device.
Technical data: our servers receive your IP address and basic request information when the app talks to them. We use this to run and protect the Service. We do not use advertising IDs.

3. How we use information

To create and secure your account and keep you signed in.
To connect Customers with their Store, deliver requests, show the queue and create bills.
To keep each office's ledger: monthly bills, balances carried forward, payments and receipts.
To send notifications, such as "your order is complete", new requests for the Store, and monthly bill reminders.
To email the Store owner a nightly backup sheet of pending payments, so the Store keeps an independent record of money it is owed.
To provide support, prevent misuse, fix problems and keep the Service running.
To comply with the law.

We do not sell personal information, rent it, or use it for advertising or profiling.

Who	What they can see
Your Store (owner and staff)	Customers connected to the Store: name and phone (if given), building, office number, requests, bills, payments and receipts.
The Store owner's email inbox	The nightly pending-payment sheet: building, office, contact name and phone, connected customers, last order and payment dates, and amounts due.
Other customers in your building	Only queue numbers and statuses. Never your name, office or what you ordered.
Customers of a Store	The Store's name, address, phone number, products and prices.
A person the Store shows its one-time QR code to	The Store's name, photo, address and the buildings it serves, so they can connect. Each code works for one customer only.

We may also disclose information if required by law or a valid legal request, to protect the rights, safety or property of our users or the public, or as part of a merger or sale of the business (in which case this policy will continue to apply).

5. Service providers

We use a small number of trusted providers to run the Service. They process data only for that purpose:

MongoDB Atlas: database hosting where account, order and billing data is stored.
Google and Apple: sign-in. Google Play services also provides the QR code scanner on Android, which runs on your device.
Apple Push Notification service: delivering notifications to iPhones.
Our email provider: sending the nightly pending-payment email to Store owners.
Our hosting provider: running our servers.

Some providers may store data outside India. Where they do, we rely on their contractual and security commitments to protect it.

6. Device permissions

Camera: only to scan a Store's QR code. The camera image is processed on your device and is not uploaded.
Photos: to pick a store or product photo you choose to upload.
Notifications: to tell you about new requests, completed orders and bills. You can turn these off in your phone's settings.
Local network (iOS): only used in test setups that connect to a server on the same Wi-Fi.

We do not access your contacts, location or microphone.

7. How long we keep information

Account and profile data are kept while your account is active and deleted or anonymised after you ask us to delete your account.
Billing records (orders, bills, payments and receipts) belong to the Store's accounts and are never silently deleted, so balances stay correct. Cancelled bills are marked as cancelled rather than removed. We keep these records for as long as the Store uses Chai Book and as required for accounting and legal purposes. If you delete your account, these records may remain with the Store, linked only to the office rather than to you.
Server logs are kept for a limited period for security and troubleshooting.

8. Security

We use encrypted connections (HTTPS) in production, signed session tokens, access controls that limit every Store to its own data and every Customer to their own office, and database transactions for financial records. No system is perfectly secure, so please keep your phone and your Google or Apple account protected.

9. Your rights and choices

Subject to applicable law, including India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, you can:

access the personal information we hold about you;
correct it. You can edit your name, store details and language in the app;
ask us to delete your account and personal information;
withdraw consent, for example by turning off notifications or disconnecting from a Store;
raise a grievance with us, and if unresolved, with the Data Protection Board of India.

To make a request, email info@encodework.com from the email address linked to your account. We will respond within 30 days. If you are a Customer and your request is about a Store's records of your orders or payments, we may need to involve that Store.

10. Children

Chai Book is a business tool for stores and office workers. It is not intended for anyone under 18, and we do not knowingly collect information from children. If you believe a child has given us information, contact us and we will delete it.

11. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as the Service changes. We will post the new version on this page with a new "Last updated" date, and tell you in the app if the changes are significant.

12. Contact us

Questions, requests or complaints about privacy (Grievance Officer):
ENCODEWORK SYSTEMS LLP
Email: info@encodework.com