Who is responsible
When you contact a business through its Ziqanova receptionist, that business is responsible for your personal data (the data controller). Ziqanova processes the data on the business's behalf (a processor) to receive and organise your enquiry.
Ziqanova is operated by [DENOMINAÇÃO SOCIAL], [NIF / KVK], [MORADA COMPLETA], contact [EMAIL DE CONTACTO]. For privacy questions you can also write to privacy@ziqanova.com.
What we process
The messages you type and the details you choose to share, such as your name, phone number, postcode, a description of the job and a preferred contact time.
A shortened, irreversible code derived from your IP address, used only to prevent abuse. We do not store the address itself.
Photos you choose to send in the chat, at most 3 per conversation. Your browser makes each photo smaller before sending it, which also removes the location and camera details phones keep inside photos. The AI assistant never sees the photos; only the business does.
Why
To pass your enquiry to the business so it can contact you and handle your request, and to protect the service against misuse.
AI assistant
Replies are generated by an AI model provided by OpenAI or by Anthropic (Claude), which processes your messages to produce a reply. Ziqanova disables optional response storage at OpenAI. The assistant does not give prices, diagnoses or binding appointments; the business decides how to respond.
If you talk to the assistant on WhatsApp, your messages travel through Meta's WhatsApp Business Platform, which delivers them to Ziqanova. Ziqanova receives your WhatsApp number and the text of your messages and shares them with the business you are talking to, to handle your request. Meta processes your data under its own privacy policy.
To prevent abuse we use a shortened, irreversible code derived from your number instead of your IP address. The WhatsApp conversation is deleted from Ziqanova's systems 24 hours after your last message, and technical message identifiers after 7 days. The request that results from it is kept like any other request. Ziqanova does not control the messages that remain on your phone and in your WhatsApp account.
How your enquiry reaches the business
The business sees your enquiry in its Ziqanova dashboard and receives it by e-mail (your name, phone number, postcode, the description of the job and your preferred contact time). If the business has switched on WhatsApp alerts, it also receives a WhatsApp message with your name, phone number, a short description of the request and its urgency. If it subscribes to its Ziqanova calendar, a visit scheduled with you appears in its calendar app with your name, postcode, phone number and the description of the request.
Photos are not attached to e-mails, WhatsApp messages or calendar entries. The business opens them in its dashboard, after signing in.
If someone on the business's team has switched on notifications on their phone or computer, that device shows that a new request arrived, with the service and the area (for a postcode, only its first four digits). The notification never shows your name, phone number or message.
Where data is stored
Enquiries are stored in a database hosted in the European Union (Ireland). The application runs on Vercel in the European Union. Some providers may process data outside the EU under the European Commission's standard contractual clauses.
Ziqanova uses these providers (sub-processors) to run the service:
Supabase: database, sign-in and file storage. Data is kept in the European Union (Ireland). United States company; standard contractual clauses.
Vercel: hosting. The application runs in the European Union (Dublin). United States company; standard contractual clauses and the EU-US Data Privacy Framework.
OpenAI: generates the assistant's replies (for the businesses whose chat Ziqanova has switched to Claude, only those Claude could not give). Your messages are sent only to produce a reply: OpenAI does not use them for training and does not keep them as a conversation history (storage is switched off), but may keep them for up to 30 days in its abuse-monitoring logs, or longer where the law requires it. United States; standard contractual clauses and the EU-US Data Privacy Framework.
Anthropic (Claude): generates the assistant's replies instead of OpenAI, for the businesses whose chat Ziqanova has switched to Claude, and, for the other businesses, the replies OpenAI could not give. Your messages are sent only to produce a reply: Anthropic does not use them for training and deletes them within 30 days, unless they are flagged as breaking its usage policy (then kept for up to 2 years) or the law requires keeping them longer. United States; standard contractual clauses.
Resend: delivers the e-mails to the business, the account e-mails and the one e-mail of “Let me know”. United States company; standard contractual clauses and the EU-US Data Privacy Framework.
Meta (WhatsApp Business Platform): only when the business uses WhatsApp alerts or the WhatsApp assistant; carries the WhatsApp messages. Ireland, with processing in the United States under Meta's terms.
Push notification services (Google Firebase Cloud Messaging, Apple Push Notification service, Microsoft Windows Push Notification Services, Mozilla): only when someone on the business's team has switched on notifications on a device; they carry the notification to that device, encrypted so that the service cannot read it. United States; standard contractual clauses and, where the company takes part, the EU-US Data Privacy Framework.
Cloudflare (Turnstile): only while the anti-robot check is switched on, on the contact, early-access and sign-up forms, on “Let me know” and on the first message of each chat conversation; it receives your IP address and technical details of your browser to tell people from automated programs, and tells Ziqanova only whether the check passed. United States company; standard contractual clauses and the EU-US Data Privacy Framework.
Ziqanova's own mailbox (Google Workspace): support and privacy requests, holding only what you or the business send us by e-mail. European Union and United States; standard contractual clauses.
How long
Conversation context used during a chat expires after 24 hours. The abuse-prevention code is deleted after 2 days. Your enquiry is kept by the business for as long as needed to handle it and meet its legal obligations.
An enquiry that did not lead to a job is deleted automatically after 24 months without activity. The business can delete your data earlier, at any time, and will do so if you ask and it has no legal reason to keep it.
Photos are kept in a private storage area that only the business can open. Photos of a conversation that never became an enquiry are deleted after 2 days. The other photos are deleted together with the enquiry: after 24 months without activity, or earlier when the business deletes it or you ask for deletion.
Cookies
We use a small cookie, ziqa_lang, only when you choose a language on our pages. It stores that choice (for example "nl") so the next pages open in the same language. It contains no personal data, is not used for tracking or advertising and expires after 12 months. You can delete it at any time in your browser settings.
When you choose the colours of the pages (Blue, Light or Automatic), a second small cookie, ziqa_theme, stores that choice ("light" or "auto") on your device in the same way, for 12 months. Choosing Blue again deletes it.
The chat on a business's page keeps the conversation in your browser tab (session storage), so that reloading the page continues it. It is not a cookie and is not used for tracking: it disappears when you close the tab, and the "Start new conversation" button removes it at once.
Writing to Ziqanova
If you write to us through the Contact page, Ziqanova itself is responsible for your data. We use your name, email address and message only to answer you. They are kept for at most 12 months, and removed sooner if you ask.
If you request early access for your business, Ziqanova is also responsible for that data. We use the details you enter only to assess the request and to invite you. The personal data in a request is erased 12 months after the request was handled, and 6 months after a request we declined.
If you search on the “Find a professional” page, Ziqanova does not keep the postcode you type: it is used only to find the companies that work there, and a search that finds nobody is counted only by trade and region. To limit how often anyone can search or ask for alerts, we use a shortened, irreversible code derived from your IP address, kept for at most two days. If you ask to be told when a professional starts working in your area (“Let me know”), Ziqanova keeps your e-mail address, the trade and the locality (its name, its regions and the middle of its area on the map, never the postcode) only to send you that one e-mail, and deletes them as soon as it is sent, or after 12 months at most.
For businesses using Ziqanova
If you use the Ziqanova dashboard for your business, Ziqanova is responsible (the data controller) for your account data: your name and e-mail address; the business data you enter (business name, phone number, address, services, opening hours, notification e-mail and WhatsApp number); the sign-in records our authentication provider keeps, such as the time of a sign-in; and, if you add one, the link with your authenticator app. We never see your password.
We use this data to provide the service, to sign you in securely, to send you the e-mails about your enquiries that you asked for, and to meet our legal obligations. We keep it for as long as your account exists and delete it when you ask us to close the account, except for what the law requires us to keep.
If you switch on notifications in Settings, we also keep, for each device, the address its push service gave it, its encryption keys and a name such as "Android · Chrome", to send it the notifications of new requests. They are deleted when you switch notifications off or remove the device, when you leave the team, when the push service says the device can no longer be reached, or with the account.
Your rights
You can ask for access to, correction or deletion of your data, object to or restrict its use, and ask for a copy. Contact the business you messaged, or Ziqanova at privacy@ziqanova.com, and we will pass your request on. You can also complain to your data protection authority.