Who operates SA Connect
SA Connect is operated by Ryno van Eeden, a sole proprietor trading as CodeStudioWorks, based in Westland, Michigan, United States. Ryno is the privacy contact. Contact info@saconnect.online or use the support form for questions and rights requests.
Adults only
Membership is restricted to people aged 18 or older. We record your adult-eligibility declaration and the versions and dates of the policies you accept. This is a declaration, not identity or age verification. Do not create an account for a minor. If we learn that an account holder is under 18, we investigate and restrict membership access. If we have actual knowledge that a user is under 13, we stop collecting, using and disclosing that child’s personal information and delete it, except for limited information we must preserve for safety or legal obligations. Safety reports and requests to remove content are open to anyone, including nonmembers and people under 18; a parent or authorized representative may contact us for a child.
Information you provide
We process your email, a password hash, verification and session records, optional profile and journey details, city/state if provided, photos, posts, comments, reactions, questions, business listings, event activity, chats and direct messages. Support requests, reports, privacy requests and moderation actions also create records. Only provide information you are comfortable sharing and have permission to provide.
Optional Google, Apple and Facebook sign-in
When enabled, you can choose Google, Apple or Facebook to sign in or create an account. We receive a provider account identifier and the name and email the provider shares. Google and Facebook may also offer a profile photo; Apple may provide a private relay email and does not provide a photo. You can review and edit your details and choose whether to import a photo before creating your profile. Imported photos follow our normal photo moderation and deletion process. We do not import friends, contacts or social posts, and do not post to these services on your behalf. Existing members connect a provider from Settings after signing in; we do not merge accounts solely because email addresses match. We retain the connection identifier and, where needed for Apple account disconnection or deletion, an encrypted revocation credential. Other provider access tokens are discarded after sign-in. You can disconnect a provider in Settings while retaining another way to sign in. Provider policies also apply when you use their sign-in service.
Required and optional information
An email address, a password or supported provider sign-in, adult declaration and policy acceptance are required to create an account. Eligible members can participate before verifying email. Verify your email to initiate private message requests and share invitation links. Profile onboarding asks for a display name, current country and journey stage. U.S.-based members also provide their state and arrival month/year. Other profile answers, photos and notification permissions are optional. Content and contact details you supply for a feature are needed to operate that feature. If you decline required information, we cannot provide the corresponding account or feature; you can still read available public pages.
Technical information and storage
We process network and security logs, device notification tokens, notification preferences and activity needed for service operation and abuse prevention. The web app uses session storage for sign-in; the staff portal uses a session cookie and an authenticator for staff access. Staff authenticator secrets are encrypted at rest. Native apps use operating-system secure storage. Optional biometric sign-in uses your device; SA Connect does not collect face images, fingerprints or biometric templates.
Why we use information
We use data to provide accounts and community features, verify access, communicate about account and support requests, deliver notifications you choose, including community activity in your inbox and optional device push alerts for comments, replies and reactions, investigate abuse, protect the service and meet legal obligations. We do not sell personal information or use it for targeted advertising. Joining during the founding phase creates no automatic charge. Paid subscriptions are not yet available.
Member invitations
Members can choose to share a reusable invitation link or QR code through their own messaging apps. We do not access or upload address books, and we do not send invitations automatically. When you create an account through a member's invitation, we record which member invited you to measure community growth. The inviter sees signup and email-verification totals, not your name, email or account details. Authorized staff can view invitation growth reports. You may use the normal registration link instead to join without invitation attribution. Deleting an account removes its invitation link and associated referral relationships; these relationships are also included in account data exports.
Online tracking and browser signals
When enabled on our public website, optional Google Analytics uses cookies to help us understand website visits. It runs only if you accept, and you can change your choice using Analytics preferences in the footer. Browser Do Not Track and Global Privacy Control signals prevent this analytics from running; they do not change necessary service, fraud-prevention or security logging. Our hosting, media, email and notification providers may process technical information to provide their services; their own collection on their services is governed by their privacy practices.
What other people can see
Public posts, approved listings, events and other public content may be visible without signing in and may be indexed or copied by others. For new accounts, city and community profile details, journey and activity status, and profile and nearby discovery start enabled; you can change these in privacy settings. These settings control supported profile features, not copies of information you put in public posts. Community rooms are shared spaces. Direct messages are visible to participants and are not end-to-end encrypted. Authorized staff may access reported material and information necessary for support, safety or legal obligations. Anonymous questions hide your identity from ordinary members, not authorized staff.
My Journey journal
Journal entries start private. Only you can read private entries through the member app. You can choose to share individual entries on your profile with signed-in members, subject to your profile discovery and account settings. Journal entries are separate from ordinary community posts. You can explicitly share a memory to the national or state community feed; this also shares it on your profile with signed-in members. The feed card links to the original memory. Making the memory private or deleting it withdraws the linked feed card and photo access; removing only the feed card leaves your profile sharing in place. Members can react and comment on shared feed cards. You can change sharing, edit, delete and export your memories, including photos. Changing sharing cannot erase screenshots or copies someone already made. Journal photos are encrypted before media-provider storage and delivered through authenticated access; this is not end-to-end encryption. We process journal data to operate the feature and may access information where necessary for support, safety or legal obligations. Reported profile-shared entries may be retained for a limited safety or legal hold. Unsaved photo uploads lose access after 24 hours and are scheduled for removal by cleanup. Your personal journal remains accessible after community membership ends while your account remains available. An account-deletion request includes your journal, subject to the limited retention described below.
Providers and international processing
We use hosting and database services, ImageKit for uploaded images, Mux for video processing and delivery, Resend for transactional email, and Expo/Apple/Google notification delivery where enabled. Our hosting stack includes Vercel, Heroku and MongoDB. Providers receive information necessary to operate those services under their applicable arrangements. Paid subscriptions are not yet available and joining creates no automatic charge. Data may be processed in the United States and in other locations used by our providers, which may have different privacy protections. We may disclose necessary information for legal obligations, safety, service operation or a business transfer subject to appropriate safeguards.
Retention
Account and community data is kept while needed to provide the service. When a verified deletion request is fulfilled, we remove or anonymize the account and associated service data, subject to limited safety, fraud, dispute and legal retention. Retained records are restricted to authorized staff and reviewed for continued necessity. Existing financial records, if any, follow applicable accounting and dispute requirements. Backups expire under the configured provider retention schedule; they are not used as an active copy of deleted accounts, and deletion records must be reapplied after a restore.
Your choices and requests
Use Account & privacy to change supported profile/privacy settings, request an export or request account deletion. You can also contact info@saconnect.online to request access, correction, selected-data deletion or assistance. We verify requests proportionately and may limit disclosure to protect other people or meet legal requirements. We aim to resolve verified requests within 30 days, or explain any permitted extension. Export downloads require sign-in and expire seven days after preparation. You may contact an appropriate regulator where applicable rights provide that option.
Changes
This policy is version 2026-09-30, with the provider list updated October 11, 2026. Material changes will be communicated in the service or by email as appropriate. Read the account-deletion instructions, community guidelines and child-safety standards alongside this policy.
Anyone may submit a request to remove a nonconsensual intimate image at Image removal. Copyright complaints can be sent to info@saconnect.online; include the work, the specific SA Connect URL, your good-faith ownership statement, your signature and contact information.
Where South African privacy rights apply, you may contact the South African Information Regulator about a POPIA complaint. This does not limit other applicable rights or complaint routes.
Account and data deletion · Community guidelines · Child safety · Image removal