Privacy Policy
This policy covers the Berulo App mobile application and the Berulo platform at berulo.org, operated by Berulo Foundation in Rwanda. It explains what we collect, why we collect it, who can see it, and how you get it removed.
In short
- We do not sell your data, and we do not share it for advertising.
- The app carries no advertising and no third-party analytics or tracking software.
- Your face photograph never leaves your phone — only a set of numbers derived from it.
- Location is read at the moment you mark attendance, never in the background.
- You can ask us to delete your account and data at any time.
What we collect
Your account
Your name, username, email address, phone number, role, and the school, sector or district you are assigned to. Most accounts are created for you by your head teacher or the officer above you; some details you add yourself in Settings.
Face verification data
If your role uses face-verified self-attendance, the camera runs entirely on your phone. The app turns your face into a descriptor — a list of 128 numbers — and only that list is sent to our server, where it is compared against the one you registered. Your photograph is never uploaded and never stored. The numbers cannot be turned back into a picture of you.
Location
When you mark your own attendance, the app reads your GPS position once and sends the coordinates so the check-in can be confirmed against your school's registered location. Location is read only at that moment. The app never tracks you in the background.
Your work in the app
Attendance you mark, reports and inspections you file, remedial and deliberation records, ratings, and approvals — together with who made each entry and when. These records belong to the institution you work for and are visible to the officers above you, exactly as they are on the web.
Community activity
Posts, comments, chat messages, campaign reports, quiz answers and Brain Battle results, along with the scores and rankings they produce.
Children's information
Teachers, head teachers, officers and parents see learner records — attendance, marks, discipline, remedial progress and visit requests. A parent sees only their own children. Children do not hold accounts of their own; this data is entered and read by the adults responsible for them.
Technical data
A session token held in your phone's secure storage so you stay signed in, plus ordinary server logs — request times, error records and the device type — kept for security and troubleshooting.
Why we collect it
Berulo exists to make school attendance and education accountability accurate and verifiable. Each piece of data has one job: your account identifies you and decides which screens you may open; face and location confirm that a self-attendance record was made by you, at your school; the records themselves are the work product your institution needs. Community and quiz activity powers the feed, the rankings and the battles. We do not use any of it to profile you or to target advertising.
Who can see it
Access follows your position. A teacher sees their own classes; a head teacher sees their school; sector, district and province officers see the schools beneath them; a parent sees only their own children. Berulo Foundation staff access data only to run and support the service. We share data with government education authorities where the law or your institution's own mandate requires it, and with no one else. We do not sell personal data under any circumstances.
Storage, security and retention
Data is held on our servers and transmitted over encrypted HTTPS connections. Your sign-in token is kept in your device's secure storage. Passwords are stored hashed, never in plain text. Records are retained for as long as your institution needs them for reporting and accountability, or until you ask us to delete your account — whichever comes first. Face descriptors are removed as soon as you ask, without affecting the rest of your account.
Your rights
- See the personal data we hold about you.
- Correct anything that is wrong — directly in the app where the screen allows it, or by asking us.
- Withdraw camera or location permission at any time in your phone's settings. Face-verified attendance stops working; the rest of the app continues.
- Remove your registered face descriptor without closing your account.
- Ask us to delete your account and personal data.
Children
The app is used by adults — teachers, head teachers, officers and parents — on behalf of the learners in their care. Learner records are entered by school staff under the school's own authority. A parent account reaches only that parent's own children. If you believe a child's information is held in error, write to us and we will correct or remove it.
Changes to this policy
If this policy changes, the new version appears on this page with a new date at the top. Material changes will also be announced in the app.
Contact us
Questions about this policy, or about the data we hold on you: