KaznaBirr Privacy Policy
Last updated: 13 October 2026
KaznaBirr ("the app", "we") helps businesses in Ethiopia record, verify and reconcile the payments they receive. This policy explains what the app and our server collect, why, and your choices. KaznaBirr is not a bank and never holds, moves or transfers money.
What we collect
| Data | Why | Where it is kept |
|---|---|---|
| Name, phone number, business name | Create and secure your account; show who recorded a payment | Your phone; our server |
| Security PIN | Unlock the app | Your phone only, as a hash (never the digits) |
| A sign-in token for your phone | Lets your phone sync with our server after you verified your number by SMS | Your phone (Android keystore); our server keeps only a hash |
| Payments you record (amount, payer name, bank, reference, date, tip, receiver, receipt photo) | The app's core purpose: recording and checking collections | Your phone; the linked Owner's phone (collectors); our server when your phone syncs online |
| Bank SMS (only after an Owner turns on Bank SMS) | List money in and out and check receipts against real payments | The Owner's phone; our server when it syncs online |
| Cash book entries and settlement (receiving) accounts | Profit and loss; checking a receipt was paid into your own account | Your phone; our server when it syncs online |
| Shop location (Owners only, optional) | Show the shop on the Owner's web dashboard; area statistics (see below) | Your phone; our server |
| Profile photo | Shown in the app menu | Your phone only |
| Subscription payment references | Confirm and restore your plan | Your phone and our server |
| A random device ID | Tell apart records made on different phones | Your phone; attached to records you sync |
| Web dashboard password (Owners who create a web account) | Sign in to the web dashboard | Our server, as a hash |
| Google account email, name and account ID (only if you use "Continue with Google") | Sign in to the web dashboard with Google | Our server |
Apart from the shop location an Owner chooses to set, we do not collect location: the app never tracks you or your collectors. We do not collect contacts, call logs or personal messages, and we do not use advertising or analytics SDKs.
Shop location and area statistics
An Owner can save where their shop is, once, after an explanation screen and Android's location prompt (when they first open the app, at their 3rd saved receipt, or in Settings → Shop location). It is read once, in the foreground; the app never reads location in the background. The location is shown on the Owner's web dashboard. To name the area (region, city, sub-city), our server sends the coordinates to OpenStreetMap's Nominatim service.
KaznaBirr staff use shop areas and payment totals to understand how businesses are paid in different areas. If, and only if, an Owner turns on "Count my business in anonymous statistics for banks", the business may be counted in area statistics that we provide to banks and other financial institutions, which may include paid reports: for example which banks and payment methods customers use in an area, typical amounts and busy hours. These statistics never include a business's name, its location or its own figures, or any payer's details, and an area appears only when at least 5 businesses there are counted; smaller areas are grouped into larger ones. The Owner can turn this off at any time (Settings → Shop location, or Accounts on the web); the business is then left out of future statistics.
SMS
Bank SMS reading is off until an Owner turns it on in the app, after an explanation screen and Android's permission prompt. Only messages from supported banks and wallets (currently CBE, Bank of Abyssinia, Dashen Bank and telebirr) are saved. One-time ATM withdrawal codes in telebirr messages are masked before saving. To show who a payment went to and to recognise transfers between your own accounts, the receipt link in CBE, Bank of Abyssinia and Dashen Bank debit messages is looked up on that bank's own website. The app also fills in its own verification codes ("Your KaznaBirr verification code is …"). Personal messages are ignored and never saved or uploaded. KaznaBirr never sends SMS from your phone. You can turn SMS access off at any time in your phone's settings.
Online sync
The app works without internet. When your phone is online and you sync, the records above are uploaded to our server so the business can see them on another phone or on the web dashboard, and so they are backed up. Collectors upload only their own collections and cash entries, and only while the Owner has them on the business; an Owner can remove a collector at any time.
Camera and photos
The camera and photo picker are used only when you scan a receipt, a QR code or a customer's bank SMS. Text is read on your phone (Google ML Kit on-device text recognition); images are not sent to Google. A small copy of the receipt photo is uploaded with the payment when you sync.
Network
Before checking a receipt, the app looks at whether the phone is online and which mobile operator the data SIM uses (Ethio telecom or Safaricom), to explain why a telebirr receipt can't be reached. This stays on your phone.
Who we share data with
- Your business: records a Collector makes are sent to the Owner they linked to.
- Banks: to verify a receipt, its reference (and, for Bank of Abyssinia, the last 5 digits of the payer's account) is checked on the bank's own website, and so are the receipt links in your bank's debit SMS. Only the bank sees this lookup. The free receipt check on our website works the same way for anyone, without an account: the reference or link you enter goes to that bank, and we keep neither it nor the answer.
- SMS gateway: to send your verification code, our server passes your phone number and the code to our SMS delivery provider.
- Hosting: our server and database run on infrastructure we rent; the provider stores the data for us and may not use it for anything else.
- OpenStreetMap (Nominatim): a shop's coordinates, to look up the area name.
- Google: only if you choose "Continue with Google". Google tells us your email, name and Google account ID; we send Google nothing about your business.
- Banks and financial institutions: only the anonymous area statistics described above, only from businesses whose Owner agreed.
We do not sell your personal data or any data that identifies you or your business, and we do not share data for advertising.
Security
Your PIN never leaves your phone. Bank SMS opens only after your PIN or fingerprint, and amounts stay hidden until you show them. The app talks to our server and to banks over HTTPS. Collector-to-Owner sync over Wi-Fi or hotspot stays on your local network and only works for phones that scanned the Owner's link QR code. Our database is not reachable from the internet; only our server can read it.
Keeping and deleting data
We keep your data while your account exists. You can delete your account at any time:
- in the app: Settings → Delete Account (needs internet if your account has synced online);
- or on the web: kaznabirr delete-account page, with an SMS code to your phone.
Deleting an Owner account deletes the whole business from our server: collections, bank SMS, cash book, settlement accounts, collectors, profile and web login. Deleting a Collector account deletes their account and sign-ins; the collections they recorded stay with the business they worked for, because they are that business's records. Subscription payment references are kept as financial records for as long as the law requires. Deletion from our server is immediate; backups are overwritten within 30 days.
Children
KaznaBirr is for businesses and is not directed at children under 18.
Changes
We will update this page when the app or server changes, and show the new date above.
Contact
KaznaBirr Support — Phone: +251 913 827 238 · Email: kazna@awd.et