Privacy policy

At Azawa, we believe your data should help you stay organised, manage your business and get booked more easily. This policy explains what information we collect, how we use it, and the choices you have.

Azawa is designed for creators, self-employed people, freelancers, businesses and professionals managing bookings, income, expenses and business activity. This policy applies to the Azawa app, website, booking and payment features, invoicing and expense tools, HMRC and MTD related services, receipt scanning features and any related services we provide.

By using Azawa, you agree to this Privacy Policy and our Terms of Service.

1. Who we are

Azawa is a platform that helps users get booked for work, manage bookings and invoices, track income and expenses, prepare for Making Tax Digital (MTD) and organise business records.

In some cases, users may upload or manage information relating to other people, businesses or clients through Azawa. In those cases, the user controlling that information is responsible for ensuring they have permission to use and share it.

If you have questions about privacy or your data, contact us at privacy@azawa.co.uk.

2. The information we collect

We only collect information needed to provide and improve our services. This may include account information such as your name, email address, phone number and login details.

We may also collect:

• Booking, invoicing and business information — including booking details, sequential invoice numbers, income, expenses, receipts, uploaded files or media, business categories, booking availability and calendar activity. This includes the full names, physical addresses and contact details of both you and your clients or recipients.
• Device, connection and audit information — to maintain platform security and meet mandatory regulatory reporting standards, we collect detailed connection and device data. This includes your public IP address, network port numbers, device type, operating system version, browser user-agent strings, screen dimensions, window sizes, browser plugins, timezones and local network identifiers along with associated timestamps.

Payments may be processed through trusted third-party providers such as Stripe. We do not store full card details on our own servers.

If enabled by you, location information may be used to help users find nearby professionals and support local bookings. Location access is optional and can be disabled in your device settings.

3. Receipt scanning and AI features

AI/ML is currently used to support receipt scanning features within the app. This may include extracting text from receipts, detecting merchant or payment information, helping pre-fill expense information and suggesting expense categories.

AI features are limited to receipt scanning and related data extraction. Records should always be reviewed before submitting information to HMRC or relying on them for financial or tax purposes. We do not provide legal, tax or accounting advice, and AI is not used to make automated legal, accounting or tax decisions.

4. How we use your information

We use information to provide services, process bookings and invoices, support MTD and tax-related features, monitor and improve platform performance and security, personalise user experience, provide customer support, detect fraud or misuse, comply with legal obligations and improve receipt scanning features.

We may also use anonymised or aggregated data to improve services, understand product usage and develop new features. This data does not personally identify users.

5. Legal basis for processing

We process personal information where necessary to provide services, communicate with users and fulfil our explicit statutory and legal obligations under UK tax law, including HMRC's Making Tax Digital (MTD) fraud prevention and digital record-keeping regulations.

6. Marketing and communications

Users may be contacted about important account updates, service notifications, new features, offers or promotions and educational content related to self-employment, tax or bookings. Marketing communications can be unsubscribed from at any time. Essential service-related communications may still be sent where necessary.

7. Sharing information

We do not sell personal data. Information may be shared with trusted third-party providers who help operate the platform, including payment providers, cloud hosting providers, analytics providers, customer support tools, AI and OCR providers, HMRC integrations and accounting or infrastructure partners. These providers are only given access to information needed to perform their services.

Information may also be shared where required by law, to prevent fraud or abuse, to protect users or the platform, or during a business restructure, merger or acquisition.

8. Data storage and security

We work hard to protect information responsibly using trusted infrastructure providers and security measures. This includes encrypted connections, secure authentication, access controls and monitoring for suspicious activity.

9. How long we keep data

Information is kept for as long as necessary to provide services, comply with legal obligations, support HMRC or tax record requirements, resolve disputes and prevent fraud. Under UK tax law, financial records, finalised invoices, allowable expenses and their accompanying digital audit trails must be retained for a minimum of 5 years from the statutory filing deadline.

10. Your rights

You have rights to access your data, correct inaccurate data, request deletion, withdraw consent, object to certain processing and request a copy of your information. Requests can be made by contacting privacy@azawa.co.uk. Certain records may still need to be retained where legally required.

11. Account deletion

Users can request deletion of their Azawa account through the app or by contacting us. Before deleting an account, users should ensure they have downloaded or exported any records they may need for tax or legal purposes.

Due to strict digital linkage rules, direct deletion of finalised tax-ready records is not permitted. If you request account deletion, any finalised invoices, expenses or API submission logs required by HMRC will be retained in an archived, read-only format for the duration of our statutory retention period before being permanently purged.

12. Cookies and analytics

Cookies and similar technologies may be used to keep users signed in, improve performance, understand app usage and measure feature effectiveness. Certain cookie preferences can be managed through browser or device settings.

13. Changes to this policy

This Privacy Policy may be updated from time to time. If significant changes are made, users may be notified through the app, website or email where appropriate.

14. UK controller

If you are in the United Kingdom, Azawa is the controller of your personal data.

15. Contact us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or your personal information, contact privacy@azawa.co.uk.