Privacy policy

Last updated: October 25, 2026

Alertak lets a restaurant or café alert you on your phone when your order is ready. We built it to need as little data as possible: no account, no name and no phone number. This page explains exactly what we handle and why.

What we collect

An anonymous session. When your phone joins an order, we create a random key that links this phone to that order. Our servers keep only a scrambled, one-way (hashed) copy of it.
Your order. The order number from your receipt, the venue, the order's status (preparing, ready, collected) and the time of each change.
Your phone type. Whether it is an iPhone, an Android phone or another phone; whether you use our App Clip, our app or the web page; whether the page opened inside another app's browser (such as Instagram or WhatsApp); and your language (Arabic or English).
Alert addresses. If you get alerts: the push token that Apple gives our App Clip or app (including the token for the lock-screen Live Activity), or the web push subscription your browser creates. They let us send an alert to this phone only.
A random device code. Our App Clip, app or page creates a random code on your phone and sends it when you join an order, only to limit abuse such as repeated attempts. We don't store it with your session.
On your phone. The page or app keeps the session key so it can reopen your order, and the iPhone app keeps your recent orders on the phone for 7 days. If you change the language, one cookie remembers your choice. We use no other cookies.

Why we use it

To link your phone to your order and show its status.
To alert you when your order is ready, and again if the staff send the alert again.
To show the venue's staff whether a phone is linked to the order and whether its alerts are on, so they know when to call your number out loud.
To count totals that contain nothing about you, such as how many orders had a phone linked and how fast alerts arrived. Venues and we use them to improve the service.
To protect the service from abuse, for example by limiting repeated attempts.

What we don't collect

We don't ask for or store your name, phone number, email address or location. We don't access your contacts or photos. The iPhone app uses the camera only to read QR codes, and the images never leave your phone.

There are no ads, no tracking across other apps or websites, and no analytics or advertising tools. We never sell data.

How long we keep it

Your session, with its push tokens and web push subscriptions, is deleted 24 to 72 hours after your order closes (collected, cancelled or expired). An open order closes by itself, by default after 4 hours.

After that, only the order record (number, status and times) and anonymous totals remain, with nothing that links them to your phone.

Where it is stored

Our servers are in the European Union. Connections to them are encrypted (HTTPS).

The venue's staff see your order's number and status, and how many phones are linked to it and how (App Clip, app or web page; alerts on or off). They never see who you are.
Our small team can see the data above to run the service and fix problems.
Alert delivery services: Apple's push service for iPhones, and your browser's push service on Android (for example Google for Chrome). They receive the alert (your order number and the venue's name) and the alert address.
Our operators: our hosting provider (servers in the EU) and Cloudflare, whose network carries the connections. They handle the data only to run the service.

Your choices

You can turn off alerts at any time in your phone's settings. Without alerts, the page still shows your order while it stays open.

Because we don't know who you are, we can only find your data if you tell us the venue and the order number. Everything linked to your phone is deleted automatically within 72 hours after the order closes. For questions, or to ask us to delete it sooner, email support@alertak.com.

For venue accounts

For venue staff accounts we store the login name, the password in hashed form (never the password itself), the last sign-in time, and which account changed each order. We use this to run the order board and keep it secure.

Changes

If we change this policy, we will update this page and the date at the top.

Contact

Questions about privacy: support@alertak.com