Privacy policy

1. Who we are

Pay Check is an Android app made by Sadam Solutions in Ethiopia. This policy explains what information the app uses, where it is kept and why. It covers the Pay Check app and this website.

We never sell your information and we do not show ads.

2. What stays on your phone

Most of Pay Check's work happens on your phone. These are not sent to our server:

• Bank and wallet SMS. Pay Check reads incoming payment SMS from supported banks and wallets on your phone to find the sender, amount, time and reference. Other SMS are ignored.
• Payment history. The payments Pay Check detects, their sending status and your reports are stored on your phone.
• App settings. Your banks, message format, SMS contacts and appearance choices.
• Telegram bot token and group ID. Stored encrypted on your phone.
• Receipt photos. When you scan a receipt in Check, the text is read on your phone. A photo is saved to your phone only when you tap download.

If you uninstall the app or clear its data, this information is removed from the phone. Backups you create are files you control; keep them private, because they contain payment history and Telegram settings.

3. What our server keeps

To run your account and subscription, our server keeps:

• Google account: your email address and Google account ID, from Google sign-in.
• Plan: your free trial or Premium status, start and end dates.
• Connected phones: the phone model name and a phone ID. The phone ID is a one-way code made on your phone; your phone's own Android ID never leaves the phone.
• Premium payments: the plan you chose, the price, the payment reference you enter, the bank or wallet you paid with, and the result of checking that payment with the bank.
• Security records: like most websites, our hosting provider sees your internet address when the app or this website connects, and we use it to stop abuse (for example, too many requests).

4. Telegram and SMS sending

When you turn on sending, Pay Check sends payment details from your phone to the places you choose:

• Telegram: sent from your phone through your own Telegram bot to your group. Telegram's own privacy policy applies to those messages.
• SMS: sent from your phone's SIM to the numbers you add. Your mobile operator's normal SMS charges apply.

You can choose a short message, hide the account balance, or ask Pay Check to wait for your approval before sending. Only send payment details to people you trust.

5. Checking receipts

When you check a receipt, your phone sends the reference number directly to the bank's or wallet's public receipt page (for example Telebirr, CBE or Dashen Bank) and shows you the answer. For CBE, the account number you save in the app is also used for that lookup. These checks do not go through our server.

6. App permissions

• SMS access (receive and read SMS): to detect payment messages from supported banks and wallets.
• Send SMS: only if you turn on SMS sending, to send alerts to the numbers you choose.
• Notifications: to show payment alerts and sending status.
• Camera and photos: only when you scan or pick a receipt in Check.
• Contacts picker: to choose one SMS contact; Pay Check does not read your full contact list.
• Fingerprint or face: optional app lock. Android checks it; Pay Check never receives your fingerprint.
• Battery and background: optional settings that help alerts arrive when your phone is idle.
• Storage (Android 8 and 9 only): to save reports and receipt images to Downloads when you tap save.
• Install updates: only when you tap Check for updates and choose Install.

You can turn permissions off at any time in Android settings or in Pay Check › Settings › App permissions. Some features stop working without them.

7. Services we use

• Google (Firebase): Google sign-in.
• Cloudflare: hosting for our server, this website and app updates.
• Telegram: our channel and support chat, and the alerts you choose to send.
• Banks and wallets: public receipt pages used by Check, and confirming Premium payments.

Some of these providers may store or process information on servers outside Ethiopia.

8. How long we keep data

We keep account and plan information while your account is in use. Premium payment records are kept as long as needed for accounting, to prevent the same payment being used twice, and to answer questions about a payment. Information on your phone stays until you delete it or uninstall the app.

9. Your choices and rights

You can ask us to show, correct or delete the account information our server keeps. To delete your account, message our support on Telegram from the Google account email you use in Pay Check. Payment records we must keep may be kept after the account is deleted.

You can also remove a phone from your account in Settings › Google account, sign out, or uninstall the app at any time.

10. Security

Connections to our server use HTTPS. Telegram settings are encrypted on your phone, and our server checks your Google sign-in before it shares any account information. No system is perfectly secure, so keep your phone locked and your Google account protected.

11. Children

Pay Check is made for businesses and adults. It is not meant for children under 18.

12. Changes and contact

If we change this policy, we will update the date at the top and tell users about important changes in the app or on our Telegram channel.

Questions? Contact us on Telegram: Pay Check support.