Privacy policy
Last updated 29 October 2026
Glim works without an account. This page explains, in plain words, what Glim keeps, where, and why.
Who we are
Glim is made by Allison Labs Pty Ltd, a company registered in South Africa (“we”, “us”). We decide how the information described here is used. You can reach us at hello@getglim.app.
The short version
- You don’t give us your name, phone number, email or location to use Glim.
- Your reports say which suburb they’re for, under a random ID that isn’t linked to who you are.
- Your places, settings and report history stay on your phone.
- We don’t sell your information.
What stays on your phone
Your chosen suburb and places, your notification settings, and a list of your recent reports are stored only on your phone. They’re removed when you use Clear my data in the app or uninstall it.
What we collect, and why
A random ID
When you first open Glim, it signs in anonymously and gets a random ID. It isn’t linked to your name, number or account. We use it to count each person’s report once, to stop abuse, and to let you take back your own reports.
Your reports
When you report, we store what you reported (for example “power off” or “water back”, or that you agreed with others), which suburb it’s for, when, and your random ID. We use reports to:
- show the current status of each suburb to everyone using Glim;
- count how many people report in each suburb;
- keep an anonymous history of outages, to understand and predict them.
A suburb’s status, its report counts and its outage history are public in the app. They never show who reported.
Alerts
If you allow notifications, we store your phone’s notification address (a push token), your places and which alerts you want, so we can tell you when something changes. We delete these when you turn alerts off or clear your data.
Suggestions and feedback
If you suggest a suburb or send feedback in the app, we keep what you write, with your random ID and the time, to improve Glim. Please don’t include personal details in these messages.
What we don’t collect
Glim doesn’t access your GPS location, contacts, photos or files, and doesn’t use advertising IDs. Like any internet service, the providers below may briefly log technical details such as your IP address to run and secure their services.
Joining the beta
If you sign up on this website to test Glim before launch, we keep your email address and when you signed up. We use it only to invite you to test the app and to send you updates about the beta. To invite you, we add your email to Glim’s tester list on Google Play (or Apple’s TestFlight on iPhone). We delete beta sign-ups once the beta ends, or sooner if you ask.
Who helps us run Glim
- Google Firebase (Google Cloud) stores reports, alert settings and feedback. The database is in Johannesburg, South Africa; the jobs that send alerts run in Belgium.
- Expo (650 Industries, United States) and Firebase Cloud Messaging (or Apple’s push service on iPhone) deliver notifications to your phone.
- Cloudflare hosts this website and stores beta sign-ups.
Some of these providers process information outside Zimbabwe and South Africa. We only use providers that protect it with appropriate safeguards, as the law requires.
How long we keep things
- Reports count towards a suburb’s live status for a few hours, then become part of the anonymous outage history, which we keep to study and predict outages.
- Alert settings are kept until you turn alerts off or clear your data.
- Feedback is kept for as long as it helps us improve Glim.
Your choices and rights
Clear my data, on the You screen in the app, forgets everything on your phone, stops alerts and removes your alert settings from our servers, and gives you a new random ID. Reports you already sent stay in the anonymous history, but are no longer connected to your phone.
Under South Africa’s Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) and Zimbabwe’s Cyber and Data Protection Act, you can ask to see, correct or delete personal information we hold about you, and object to how we use it. Email hello@getglim.app. Because Glim doesn’t know who you are, we may ask for details from the app, such as your Glimmer name, to find your information.
If you’re unhappy with how we handle your information, you can complain to the Information Regulator in South Africa, or to POTRAZ, Zimbabwe’s data protection authority.
Children
Glim is for a general audience and isn’t aimed at children. Because it doesn’t ask who you are, we don’t knowingly collect personal information about children.
Security
Information travels encrypted, and our database only lets each phone change its own reports and settings. No system is perfectly secure, so we collect as little as we can.
Changes to this policy
If we change this policy, we’ll update the date at the top. For important changes, we’ll also let you know in the app.