Privacy Policy

Last updated: 10 July 2026 · Applies to the HRintel mobile app, staff app and web app (together, the "Service"), operated for Indian small businesses.

1. Overview

HRintel is a staff attendance, payroll and payments app used by a business owner ("Owner") and their staff. This policy explains what personal data the Service collects, why, how long we keep it, and the rights you have over it — for both Owners and staff members using the Service.

We collect the minimum data needed to mark attendance, calculate payroll and process payments. We do not sell personal data, and we never hold your data hostage — you can export it at any time, on every plan, including after cancellation.

2. Data we collect

• Account & identity: name, phone number (used for OTP login), role (owner or staff), business name.
• Employment & salary data: wage type and rate, department, shift timing, attendance marks, overtime/hours/units worked, incentives, bonuses, deductions, loans/advances, UPI ID for payouts, payslip history.
• Location data: precise GPS coordinates at the moment of check-in/check-out, and — where an Owner has enabled it for field staff — location pings while a shift is active. See Section 3 for details on background location.
• Photos: a live selfie captured at self check-in, and optionally a reference face photo used for face-kiosk matching. See Section 4.
• Device & usage data: app version, device type, crash logs, and basic usage analytics to keep the Service reliable.

3. Location data, including background location

Location is central to how HRintel verifies attendance honestly. We collect it in two ways:

a) Foreground location (every user)

When a staff member marks their own attendance ("self check-in"), the app captures a one-time precise GPS reading to confirm they are within the geofence radius the Owner has set for the workplace. This happens only at the moment of check-in or check-out.

b) Background location (optional, field-staff only)

If an Owner turns on live location sharing for field or delivery staff, the app may continue to record location periodically while a shift is marked active — including when the app is in the background or the screen is off. This is used only to show the Owner a movement trail during work hours (for example, test drives, deliveries or service visits) and stops the moment the shift ends.

Before this permission is requested, the app shows an in-app disclosure screen — separate from the Android/iOS system permission prompt — explaining exactly what will be collected and why, and asks for your affirmative "I agree" before requesting the system permission. You can withdraw this consent at any time from Settings, which disables background location for your account going forward.

4. Photos & selfies

Self check-in captures a live selfie so an Owner can visually confirm who marked attendance. Face-kiosk mode (used at a shop counter) additionally stores a reference face photo to match staff faces during kiosk check-in. Photos are stored securely and are visible only to the Owner of the business a staff member works for — never to other businesses, even where a staff member works multiple jobs on HRintel.

5. How we use your data

• Provide the Service: mark attendance, compute payroll, generate payslips, process payment records.
• Verify attendance integrity: geofencing, selfie confirmation, and (on face-kiosk) face matching, to reduce buddy-punching and disputed hours.
• Support & reliability: troubleshoot issues, prevent abuse, keep the Service secure.
• AI assistant & insights: if an Owner uses the in-app AI assistant, relevant payroll/attendance summaries for their own business are sent to our AI provider to generate an answer or insight. No data from other businesses is included, and photos are never sent to the AI provider.

6. Sharing with third parties

We do not sell personal data. We share data only with:

• SMS/OTP gateway providers — to deliver login OTPs to your phone number.
• Payment/payout processors — to facilitate UPI salary payouts an Owner initiates.
• Cloud hosting & storage providers — to store app data securely, under contractual confidentiality terms.
• AI service providers — limited, business-scoped text summaries only, when the Owner actively uses the AI assistant/insights feature.
• Law enforcement or regulators — only where legally required.

7. Retention & deletion

Attendance and payroll records are retained for as long as the business account is active, and for a reasonable period afterward to satisfy accounting and labour-law recordkeeping expectations. Location pings are retained for a shorter rolling window and are not kept indefinitely. You can request deletion of your account and associated data at any time — see our Delete Account page for the exact steps.

8. Your rights under the DPDP Act, 2023

As a data principal under India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, you have the right to:

• Access a summary of the personal data we hold about you.
• Correct or update inaccurate or incomplete data.
• Erase your personal data once it's no longer needed for the purpose it was collected, subject to legal recordkeeping requirements.
• Withdraw consent for optional data uses (like background location) at any time, as easily as you gave it.
• Nominate another individual to exercise these rights on your behalf in case of death or incapacity.
• Grievance redressal — raise a complaint with our Grievance Officer (Section 12) and, if unresolved, with the Data Protection Board of India.

We aim to respond to access, correction and erasure requests within 7 working days. Attendance and payroll data processed for running your employment relationship rests on the "legitimate use" ground under Section 7(i) of the DPDP Act; location and selfie/photo data are collected only with your explicit, informed and withdrawable consent — not bundled into a blanket employment agreement.

9. Consent & withdrawal

Where consent is the basis for collection — location tracking and selfie/photo capture — we ask for it separately from any other terms, in clear language, before the relevant system permission prompt appears. You may withdraw consent at any time from the app's Settings screen; withdrawing consent will disable the corresponding feature (for example, self check-in) but will not affect data already lawfully processed before withdrawal.

10. Security

Data is encrypted in transit (HTTPS/TLS). Access to business data is scoped per business — Owners see only their own staff, and staff see only their own records, even across multiple employers on HRintel. We apply reasonable technical and organisational safeguards appropriate to the sensitivity of the data, including location and photo data.

11. Children's data

HRintel is a workplace tool intended for users above the legal working age in India. We do not knowingly collect data from children as defined under the DPDP Act. If you believe a child's data has been collected, contact us using the details in Section 12 and we will act promptly.

12. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as the Service evolves or as law requires. Material changes — especially to location or photo data practices — will be notified in-app before they take effect. The "Last updated" date at the top of this page always reflects the current version.

13. Contact & Grievance Officer

For privacy questions, data access/correction/erasure requests, or DPDP Act grievances, contact our Grievance Officer: