Privacy Policy — Houss
Effective date: 25 August 2026
Last updated: 16 October 2026
Product: Houss — Everything home. One app.
Website: https://www.houss.co.in (also https://houss.co.in)
Company / operator: Gyan Prakash and Sons
Contact: info@houss.co.in
1. Introduction
Gyan Prakash and Sons ("we", "us", "our") provides the Houss mobile application for household coordination in India. This Privacy Policy explains what personal data we collect, how we use it, who can see it, and your choices.
By using Houss, you agree to this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree, please do not use the app.
2. Who this applies to
This policy applies to:
- Household owners and family members who use Houss
- Domestic staff (cooks, drivers, guards, and other helps) invited to a household
- Child accounts added by a household owner
- Visitors to our website at www.houss.co.in
Houss is intended for users 18 years and older. Child accounts are created and controlled by the household owner (master admin), not by children signing up independently.
3. Information we collect
3.1 Account and profile
| Data | Why we collect it |
|---|---|
| Mobile phone number | Login (OTP), account identity |
| Name | Display in the household |
| Date of birth (optional) | Profile, birthdays on family calendar |
| Preferred language | App display (where available) |
| Account deletion status | Process delete requests |
3.2 Household and property data
| Data | Why we collect it |
|---|---|
| Household name | Identify your home in the app |
| Property names and addresses | Meals, driver, shopping, and other features scoped per property |
| Role (owner, family, staff, child) | Show the right screens and permissions |
| Permission settings | Control what each person can see and do |
| Subscription / promo status | Enforce plan limits |
3.3 App activity and content you create
Depending on how you use Houss, we may process:
- Meal plans for the day (planned dishes per meal) and meal requests / kitchen updates
- Driver trip bookings, pickup/drop details, and map locations you pin (coordinates may be stored so the trip can open in Maps; the app shows a place name or “Pinned location”, not raw GPS numbers on screen)
- Shopping list items (including optional reference photos)
- Attendance check-in and check-out. In self mode the phone’s location is compared with the home pin (about 50 metres). We store whether that check passed. We do not keep a trail of where the phone moved.
- Leave requests and approvals
- Family calendar events (including optional venue map pins) and staff task reminders
- Gate intake photos and notes (courier, parcel, letter, etc.)
- Task status photos and notes on meals, trips, and shopping
- Staff duty checklists and completion ticks
- Voice commands (see §3.4)
- Payroll-related amounts entered by the household (salary, advances, deductions)
- Vehicles and appliances, including papers you attach (a photo, PDF, or Word file), and expenses
- Staff identity and compliance files (a photo, PDF, or Word file)
- Owner-locked copies of staff documents — if a household owner locks a shared ID/compliance file, the home keeps a copy even if the staff member later deletes or replaces theirs (see Data Retention Policy)
- Activity timeline and in-app notifications
3.4 Voice commands
When you use Voice, you may speak or type a command. On many phones, speech is converted to text on the device (built-in Hindi/English recognition). If a server transcription path is configured, spoken audio may be sent to our servers (and optionally to an AI provider such as OpenAI). We do not keep the audio file after it is transcribed. The text is used to draft tasks; after you review and submit, confirmed tasks become normal meal, driver, shopping, or staff duty records. Voice does not create vehicle or appliance records.
3.5 Photos and files
If you or your staff use photo or file features, we store what you upload (gate intake, shopping references, meal/driver references, task completion, receipts, vehicle and appliance papers, and staff identity or compliance files). You can take a photo or choose a JPEG, PNG, WEBP, HEIC, PDF, or Word file, up to 15 MB. Everyday photos are linked to your household and are not public. They are removed when the job is finished, or after 24 hours, unless you choose Keep this photo. Receipts, staff identity files, and vehicle or appliance papers stay until you delete them. For a vehicle or appliance paper that is a digital PDF or Word file, our server may read the text already in that file to suggest a date or shop details for you to check before saving. A photo of a vehicle or appliance paper is read on the phone, and that photo is not sent away for this reading. A scanned PDF is not read on the phone. A photo or a scanned PDF is not sent to an outside reader unless that reading service is switched on for the service. Staff identity files are stored for the household and are not sent to that reader. Owner-locked staff document copies remain with the household until the owner unlocks or deletes them. On the live service, these files are stored in India (Supabase Storage, ap-south-1).
3.6 What the phone asks permission for
| Phone permission | Why Houss asks |
|---|---|
| Location, while the app is open | Staff self check-in near the home pin (about 50 metres), and map pins for driver trips and calendar venues |
| Camera | Photograph a gate item, a receipt, a reference, or a paper |
| Photos | Choose an existing picture for those same uses |
| Files | Choose a PDF or Word file for a vehicle, appliance, or staff paper |
| Microphone and speech recognition | Speak a voice command for a meal, a driver trip, a shopping item, or a duty |
| Notifications | Alerts about household activity |
Houss does not ask to follow location in the background, and it does not use the home Wi‑Fi name to mark attendance.
3.7 Device and technical data
| Data | Why we collect it |
|---|---|
| Push notification token | Send alerts about household activity |
| Device platform (iOS / Android) | Deliver notifications correctly |
| App version and basic logs | Security, debugging, and service reliability |
We do not sell your personal data to advertisers or data brokers.
3.8 Payments (when enabled)
Razorpay is not live yet. During closed beta, plan upgrades may use promo codes without charging real money. When paid plans are offered, payment processing may be handled by Razorpay or app store billing. We receive subscription status and billing references — not your full card or UPI credentials.
4. How we use your information
We use personal data to:
- Provide and operate Houss features
- Authenticate you and keep your account secure
- Send push notifications and in-app alerts you expect
- Enforce household permissions and subscription plan limits
- Process account deletion
- Improve reliability and fix problems
- Respond to support requests
- Comply with applicable law
5. Who can see your information
Within your household: Data is visible according to role and permissions set by the master admin.
Staff working in multiple homes: Data is kept strictly separate between households.
Service providers: We may share limited data with trusted processors who help us run Houss, such as:
- Cloud hosting (Supabase database in India ap-south-1; API on Render)
- SMS/OTP delivery providers (real SMS planned; closed beta may use a shared test code)
- Push notification services (e.g. Apple / Google / Expo)
- Speech-to-text / language understanding for Voice (when configured)
- Payment processors (when subscriptions are live)
- Analytics providers (only if and when we enable analytics)
Legal requirements: We may disclose information if required by law, court order, or to protect rights, safety, and security.
6. Where data is stored
Production data is hosted in India (Supabase PostgreSQL ap-south-1; API on Render at https://houss-api.onrender.com). Data is transmitted over HTTPS.
7. How long we keep data
We keep personal data while your account is active and as needed to provide the service. Voice audio is not retained after transcription. A detailed schedule is in our Data Retention Policy (repo / on request at info@houss.co.in).
When you delete your account, we delete or anonymise personal data within 60 days, except where we must keep certain records for legal, tax, or dispute reasons.
8. Your rights and choices
Subject to applicable Indian law, including the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, you may have the right to access, correct, withdraw consent where applicable, request deletion, and raise a grievance.
Account deletion
In the app: Profile → Account & privacy → Delete my account (three confirmations). You are logged out immediately; we complete deletion within 60 days.
By email: info@houss.co.in with subject "Delete my Houss account" and your registered mobile number.
Main household owners must transfer ownership or remove the household first.
Notifications
You can disable push notifications in your phone's system settings. Some in-app alerts may still appear while you use Houss.
9. Security
We use technical and organisational measures to protect data, including access controls, household isolation on the server, and encrypted connections in production. No method of transmission or storage is 100% secure; please use a phone you control and do not share OTP codes.
10. Children
Houss is not directed at children under 18 to sign up on their own. A household owner may add a child account with controlled permissions.
11. Third-party links
Our website or app may link to third-party services (for example opening a location in Google Maps). Their privacy practices are governed by their own policies.
12. Changes to this policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will post the new version at www.houss.co.in and update the effective date. For material changes, we may also notify you in the app or by email.
13. Contact and grievance
Gyan Prakash and Sons
Email: info@houss.co.in
Website: https://www.houss.co.in
City: Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, India
For privacy questions, access requests, or complaints, contact us at the email above. We will respond within a reasonable time.
This document is provided for transparency about Houss data practices. Independent legal review is required before relying on it as final legal advice.