Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains what information Shugo (“Shugo”, “we”, “us”) collects, how we use it, and the choices you have. By using Shugo, you agree to this policy.

Information we collect

• Account information. When you sign up, we receive your email address (for example, through Google sign-in) so we can create and secure your account.
• WhatsApp connection. You add Shugo to your group as an admin. You do not link your own WhatsApp number, and we do not receive or store your WhatsApp login. Shugo connects to your group through its own dedicated WhatsApp account.
• Group and message data.To moderate a connected group, Shugo checks incoming messages against the rules you set. Shugo doesn’t process or store messages from your direct chats, or from groups you haven’t chosen to moderate. We keep a log of the moderation actions Shugo takes (for example, a message that was removed or a member that was kicked) so you can review them. We do not sell your messages and do not use them for advertising.
• Community insights.For groups you moderate, Shugo keeps a short-lived copy of recent group messages for up to 7 days, after which they are deleted automatically, together with activity counts, reactions, and member joins and leaves. We use this only to show you insights about your own group, such as the most active members, popular messages, and a weekly summary, and to email that summary to you (you can turn the email off in your account settings). Summaries may be generated with the help of an AI provider that processes message text for that purpose. Message content is never used for advertising, never sold, and never shared between different customers’ groups, and messages Shugo removes as spam are not included in insights.
• Member exports.On the Pro plan, an admin of a connected group can download that group’s member list as a spreadsheet, including phone numbers, display names, and activity counts. This is the same information WhatsApp already shows the group’s admins. Once you download the file it lives outside Shugo, so storing and handling it responsibly, and meeting any privacy obligations you have to your own members, is up to you.
• Community threat network. When Shugo removes someone from a group for spam or abuse, we record a one-way cryptographic hash of that WhatsApp number, never the number itself, in a shared database used across all Shugo accounts. This lets Shugo recognize numbers that have already been proven abusive elsewhere, similar to how spam-filtering and fraud-prevention services share threat signals across their customer base. We never share your keywords, message content, or group names this way. We only record that a hash was involved in a removal.
• Payment information. Payments are processed by Polar. We do not receive or store your full card details; Polar handles that as merchant of record.
• Technical data. Basic logs and diagnostics that help us keep the service running and secure.

How we use your information

• To provide and operate the moderation service you signed up for;
• To maintain your account, plan, and settings;
• To process payments and manage your subscription;
• To provide support and to keep the service secure and reliable;
• To recognize numbers already known to be abusive across the Shugo community, as described above.

Who we share it with

We share data only with the service providers needed to run Shugo, and only as needed:

• Supabase: database, authentication, and secure storage of your account and settings;
• Polar: payment processing and billing as merchant of record;
• Google: sign-in, if you choose to sign in with Google;
• Our hosting provider, which runs the servers Shugo operates on.

We do not sell your personal information. We may disclose information if required by law or to protect the rights and safety of our users and the service.

Data retention

We keep your information for as long as your account is active. If you close your account or ask us to delete your data, we will remove it, except where we need to keep certain records to comply with legal or accounting obligations.

Security

We take reasonable measures to protect your data, including encrypting stored WhatsApp credentials and restricting access to your account’s data. No system is perfectly secure, but we work to keep your information safe.

Your rights

You can request access to, correction of, or deletion of your personal information by contacting us. Depending on where you live, you may have additional rights under local law.

Not affiliated with WhatsApp or Meta

Shugo is an independent product and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by WhatsApp LLC or Meta Platforms, Inc.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. When we do, we will update the date above. Continued use of Shugo means you accept the updated policy.

Contact

Questions or requests about your data? Email us at support@getshugo.com.