Tene — Privacy Policy

Last updated: 12 July 2026

1. Who we are

Tene ("Tene", "we", "our", or "the app") is operated by Abdulrahman Ababtain. This Privacy Policy explains what information the Tene mobile app collects, how we use it, and the choices you have. By using Tene you agree to this policy.

This policy is written to comply with the Saudi Personal Data Protection Law (PDPL), issued by Royal Decree No. M/19 dated 09/02/1443H, and its implementing regulations.

2. What Tene is

Tene lets you tell your private "circles" what you're doing right now, so the people you choose can show up. There are no group chats and no public broadcast. You share only with circles you create.

3. Information we collect

Information you give us

• Phone number — to create your account and verify it by one-time code (OTP). Your phone number is never shown to other users.
• A one-way hashed form of your phone number — an irreversible code derived from your number, used only so that friends who already have your number in their phone can find you on Tene. The hash cannot be turned back into your number.
• Display name, and an optional profile photo.
• Your activity posts — the description, the location you pin, the time/duration, and who you shared the post with: the circles you chose, and any individual people you chose. You can only choose people you already share a circle with, and only from circles whose owner allows members to see each other.
• RSVPs — when you respond to a post (Coming / Maybe / Can't).
• Circles — the circle names you create and the people you add to them.
• Pending invites (temporary, hashed). If you invite someone who isn't on Tene yet, we store the one-way hash of their number against that circle — never their number, and never their name — so that if they join within 30 days they land in the circle you invited them to. The record is deleted as soon as it is used, if you cancel it, or after 30 days, whichever comes first.
• Reports and blocks — if you report a post or user, or block someone, we store that so we can act on it and so blocked users stay hidden from you.

Information collected automatically

• Approximate location — only your city, and only if you turn it on. Tene can use your device's approximate location ("While Using the App" only) to work out which city you are in, so that notifications about spontaneous plans only reach you when you are in the same city. This is off by default and is only enabled if you turn on "City-based notifications" in Settings.
  
  What this means precisely:
  • Your coordinates are converted to a city name on your own device. Tene's servers never receive, and never store, your coordinates — at any level of precision.
  • Only the city name (for example "Riyadh") and the time it was recorded are stored, and a reading older than 48 hours is discarded and ignored.
  • Tene requests approximate location, not precise location, and never uses background or always-on location.
  • It affects notifications only. It never changes what you can see in the app, and never changes what other people can see about you.
  • You can turn it off at any time in Settings, or in your device's location settings. Turning it off clears the stored city.
• The location on a post is the pin you place — not a sensor reading. When you create a post, the location it carries is the point you chose on the map. Tene does not read your device location to create a post.
• Anonymized usage analytics (PostHog). We record which actions happen in the app — for example "a post was created" or "an RSVP was sent" — to understand and improve the product. These events are tied to a random, hashed identifier, not to your name, phone number, or location coordinates. We do not build advertising profiles.
• Crash and error diagnostics (Sentry). When something fails, we collect technical error information (such as the type of error and where it happened) so we can fix bugs. This does not include the content of your posts or messages.
• Basic device and app information (device type, operating system, app version) needed to run and support the app.

4. Your contacts

If you choose "Add from contacts" to add someone to a circle, Tene opens your phone's native contact picker and reads only the single contact you select. The app creates a one-way hash of that person's number to check whether they already use Tene.

Tene never reads, uploads, stores, or syncs your address book. We do not scan your contacts in the background and we do not build a "friends on the app" directory. A picked number is only kept if that person is already a Tene user and you add them to a circle.

5. How we use your information

• To create and secure your account and sign you in.
• To show your posts to the circles you choose, and to power RSVPs.
• To let people who already have your number find you on Tene (via the hashed number).
• To send you notifications about activity in your circles (if you enable notifications).
• To keep Tene safe — handling reports, blocks, and spam prevention.
• To improve the app through anonymized analytics and to fix crashes.

6. Invitations

When you invite people to a post or circle, Tene uses your phone's own share sheet (for example WhatsApp). Tene does not send messages on your behalf and does not collect or store the people you share with. What you share, and with whom, stays between you and your messaging app.

7. We do not sell your data

We do not sell your personal data. We do not share it with advertisers, and we do not use it for advertising. Ever.

We use trusted service providers to operate the app — for example Supabase (database, authentication, and hosting), our hosting provider for the backend, PostHog (anonymized analytics), and Sentry (crash diagnostics). They process data only to provide these services to us, under their own security and privacy obligations.

8. Account deletion

You can permanently delete your account at any time from Settings → Delete my account. This is immediate and irreversible: it removes your account and your associated personal data — your profile, the circles you own, your posts, and your RSVPs. Anonymized analytics events that contain no personal data may be retained.

If you prefer, you can also email us at aababtain@gmail.com to request deletion.

9. Data retention

• Account and profile: kept while your account is active.
• Posts: kept until they expire or you delete them; expired posts are removed from view and purged within 30 days.
• Deleted accounts: personal data is removed immediately on deletion (any residual copies are purged within 30 days).
• Anonymized analytics: may be retained indefinitely, as it contains no personal data.

10. Data security

We use industry-standard encryption for data in transit (TLS) and for data at rest. Access to production data is restricted to authorized administration through secured server credentials. We review our security practices regularly. No system is perfectly secure, but we work to protect your information.

11. Your rights under PDPL

As a user in Saudi Arabia you have the right to:

• Access the personal data we hold about you;
• Correct inaccurate data;
• Request deletion of your data;
• Withdraw your consent to processing;
• File a complaint with the competent authority (the Saudi Data & AI Authority / National Data Management Office).

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at aababtain@gmail.com.

12. Children's privacy

Tene is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal data from them. If you believe a child has provided us with personal data, contact us and we will delete it.

13. Changes to this policy

If we make material changes to this policy, we will update this page and, where appropriate, notify you in the app before the change takes effect.

14. Contact

For any privacy question or data request:
Email: aababtain@gmail.com
Operated by: Abdulrahman Ababtain, Saudi Arabia