Northy Privacy Policy

Last updated: October 3, 2026

This version of the Privacy Policy took effect on the date shown above, the day it was published.

P1. Who is responsible and which laws apply

Northy is operated by DNI Systems, a sole proprietorship registered in British Columbia, Canada. Our privacy officer is responsible for this policy.

Privacy requests and complaints: support@northyapp.ca. Put "Privacy request" in the subject. Business, mailing and notice address: 5307 Victoria Drive #595, Vancouver, BC V5P 3V6, Canada. Telephone: +1 672-380-9060 (text messages only).

This policy covers the app, website and marketplace information Northy handles. Applicable rules include Canada's Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), British Columbia's Personal Information Protection Act and Alberta's Personal Information Protection Act. Which law applies depends on the activity and its connections. Information crossing provincial or national borders may engage PIPEDA. Our server functions run in Montréal; that does not mean every service processes information only in Québec.

Jobs in Québec are not available at launch, but Québec residents may hold accounts and use Northy for jobs outside Québec. Where Québec's private-sector privacy law, as amended by Law 25, applies to Northy's handling of their information, it imposes governance, consent, privacy-assessment, incident and individual-rights requirements. Excluding Québec job addresses does not itself remove those privacy obligations. Access, portability and review rights under that law remain available where they apply.

P2. Information collected and why

• Name, email, phone, account role and sign-in identifiers: to create and manage an account, authenticate access, contact you and connect the correct parties. From Google we receive your name and email address. From Apple, on the iPhone app, we receive your name and email address.
• Date of birth: to check that you are at least 19. We keep your full date of birth in your private account record until the account is deleted.
• Phone confirmation and sign-in records: to send SMS codes, confirm access to the number and refuse a number already confirmed on another account. Firebase Authentication handles phone confirmation. A confirmed number is not a check of trade qualifications.
• Job description, photos, address and map pin: to describe and locate the work, match it with pros and administer the job.
• Pro coverage centre, radius, services and business profile: to identify suitable areas and services and display the pro's offering. Public and private fields are listed in P3.
• Quotes, scheduling, chat messages and files, work summaries and reviews: to arrange and document the work, communicate, resolve problems and publish feedback. We keep a quote's price, message, start date and how long it stays open; chat text, photos and PDF files; work summaries; and a review's stars, comment, tags and photos.
• Signed job terms: to keep evidence of what the parties accepted. For each job we record who signed and in which role, the job and the quote, a fingerprint of the quote, the versions of the job terms, the Terms of Use and this policy, the language, the client's drawn signature or typed name (the pro accepts with a tap), the server's time, the app version and platform, and the details filled into the terms. At sign-up we record the versions of the Terms of Use and this policy you accepted and when.
• Payments, refunds and transfers: to process and reconcile payments and resolve payment problems. We keep Stripe's identifiers for the payment, charge, receipt, transfer and refund, and the amounts. We do not store card numbers, card brand or the last four digits, or bank details. Stripe collects payment and pro-verification information for its services.
• Technical and anti-abuse data: to operate the service, send the alerts you ask for and detect faults or abuse. We keep your device's notification token; the app version and platform on each signed job record; the device, operating system and app version on a problem report; and the IP address from which an email or phone number was checked at sign-up. Neither app contains an analytics, crash-reporting or advertising tool. The services built into the apps (Google's Firebase, sign-in and anti-abuse checks, Stripe, and maps and address search) exchange technical data with their providers to work.
• Language: to show the app, notifications and job terms in your language. We keep your notification language, the language of each signed job record and the language of each photo analysis.
• Support, reports and disputes: to answer requests, investigate reports, protect users and keep necessary evidence. We keep problem reports with their attachments and device details, reports about other users, support messages, a log of contact details removed from chats, and a dispute's reason and time.

We use personal information only for identified purposes and as permitted by law. We do not use account registration or phone confirmation as permission for marketing. Northy sends no marketing and has no optional analytics.

P3. What other people can see

The audiences and protections below apply to marketplace users. Authorized internal staff and service providers may need access for the purposes in this policy.

• Guests: sample jobs and categories built into the app. Guests see no real pro, review or job.
• Signed-in users, before booking: open requests, with the title, the description, the category, the city and province, an approximate pin within about one kilometre, the dates, and the client's name and photo; the request's photos are shown to pros; and the public profiles of pros.
• The client and the hired pro, after payment: the hired pro sees the exact job address and receives it by email; the two can chat and share photos and a PDF file. Neither sees the other's email address or phone number.
• Readers of reviews: reviews are visible to anyone signed in, with the author's name and photo, the stars, comment, tags and photos, and the reply.

The exact street address is hidden from other marketplace users before payment and disclosed to the hired pro afterwards. Your email address, phone number and date of birth are visible only to you. Northy's own alert emails to our support address can include names and email addresses. Information included in your photos, files or text may reveal an address or other private details. Do not put unrelated private information into a public field.

We may restrict or remove private details detected in public content. Automated filtering is not perfect. Account deletion and reviews are described in P7 and on the Delete-account page. Removing a display name does not make all remaining information anonymous.

P4. Location, device permissions and guests

Northy uses the job's address and map pin for work location, matching and the launch-area restriction. Pros use a coverage centre and radius. When you allow it, device location fills in your area on Home, a job address or a pro's coverage centre, and checks that you are in Canada. When you use your device location on Home, the city it finds is saved to your profile. You can instead type an address, and a pro can place the coverage centre on a map. We do not collect background device location.

The app asks for camera, location or microphone access through your device's permission prompt when a feature needs it. On the Android app, the location prompt appears when you open the client Home while location is not allowed (a pro's Home does not ask), and an explanation follows only if you decline. On the iPhone app, the location prompt appears only when you tap to use your current location, and an explanation follows only if you decline. Choosing photos from your library needs no permission. Allowing an operating-system permission does not consent to every later use or to AI processing. You can change device permissions in your device settings. Required job-location information is still needed to arrange work at an address.

Guests can browse the available guest areas without an account. They cannot post, quote or pay. Guest screens read no account or marketplace data from Northy's servers. The services built into the app start when it opens and exchange technical data with their providers.

P5. AI photo analysis and other AI features

Northy uses AI in four places: to suggest a category, title and description from job photos; to write or tidy a job description from what you type or dictate; to answer a pro's questions about an open request, using its description and up to three of its photos; and to tidy a pro's work summary.

The app does not name the AI provider, the processing countries or the retention before sending. There is no separate consent control and no recorded choice: tapping Analyze sends the photos, and on the Android app adding a photo while posting a job also sends it for analysis. The provider is Anthropic, PBC, a United States company. Where Anthropic processes the information is set out in Anthropic's own published terms.

For the photo analysis we send the photo, reduced to at most 1,024 pixels on its longest side, or up to the first three photos you added on Home, with any category hint and the app's language. The text features send the text you typed or dictated, a request's title and description, and a pro's work notes. No account ID, email address, street address or coordinates are sent. The app re-encodes each photo before upload, which drops its location and other metadata; our server sends the uploaded image unchanged. The output is a suggested category, title and description for you to review, and we keep the saved analysis. You can write the details yourself without the analysis. A pro who asks the AI about an open request can send that request's photos, whatever the client chose. Ordinary job photo storage and sharing are separate from AI processing.

Home photos can contain information about people and private property. Select only what is needed and review the suggestion. We remain responsible for protecting information processed on our behalf.

P6. Service providers, countries and other sharing

• Google Firebase and Google Cloud: our server functions run in Montréal, Canada. Our database, Cloud Firestore, is located in Montréal, Canada. We use Firebase Authentication (email, Google and SMS), Cloud Firestore, Cloud Storage, Cloud Functions, Cloud Messaging and Hosting, and no Firebase analytics or crash reporting.
• Google Places and maps: address search and suggestions. We send the text you type, a session token and a filter for Canada, and receive the chosen place's address and coordinates. Android also uses Google Maps and the device's own geocoder; the iPhone app uses Apple Maps and Apple's geocoder.
• Stripe: card processing, connected-account verification, refunds, transfers and payouts. Northy creates the payment, the pro's Express account in Canada and its onboarding links, the transfer to the pro, and refunds and reversals through Stripe. Stripe's Canadian privacy notice says Canadian information is transferred to data centres in the United States; other service providers may process it outside Canada. Some processing is for Stripe's own legal and business obligations.
• Anthropic, PBC: photos and text for the AI features in P5. Where Anthropic processes them is set out in Anthropic's own published terms.
• Resend, operated by Plus Five Five, Inc.: email delivery from noreply@northyapp.ca. Emails can carry your first name, job titles, amounts, names, links and codes. The pro's copy of the signed job terms includes the client's street address and postal code. Our alert emails to our support address carry both parties' names and email addresses. Every Northy email loads a font from Google, so your email program contacts Google when it shows one. Resend's published policy identifies United States processing.
• Google and Apple sign-in: sign-in, and the fields listed in P2.
• Other providers: none beyond Google, Anthropic, Stripe, Resend and, on the iPhone app, Apple.

Authorized administrators may access data from outside Canada. Storage in Canada is different from access from another country. Foreign law may allow authorities in that country to access information.

We use agreements and safeguards appropriate to information processed on our behalf and assess relevant cross-border transfers. Where Alberta law applies, you may contact our privacy officer for our foreign-service-provider policies, countries and purposes. Where Québec law applies, any required assessment and written agreement must be completed before information is sent or entrusted outside Québec.

We do not sell personal information. Disclosure to authorities is limited to requests or circumstances required or permitted by applicable law, after an appropriate assessment. Necessary sharing between client and pro is described in P3. We do not publish raw pro identity or insurance documents as profile information.

P7. Retention and deletion

We keep information for the purposes in this policy, for as long as the account exists and as the law requires. The only periods we promise are these three: a photo uploaded for an analysis that was never used is deleted after 7 days, a deleted account after 30 days, and each daily backup of our database after 7 days. Closure does not restart the retention clock for every record.

Once you confirm a deletion request, the account is deactivated at once. There is a 30-day recovery period. Cancelling deletion requires an explicit reactivation choice. Simply signing in to check status does not reverse it. After that period, the account and the information listed below as deleted are deleted; the records listed as kept remain.

• Deleted 30 days after a confirmed deletion request: your profile, contact details, date of birth and sign-in; your notifications and your own payment receipts; your profile photos and portfolio; and the messages in your chats. Requests and quotes that were open when you asked are closed at once and then kept, with the request's address. When you confirm, we end your account's signed-in sessions. Your date of birth is removed at the end of the 30 days, not before. Northy's server does not stop notifications during the 30 days; the apps remove this device's notification token when you delete.
• Payment records: Stripe keeps its own records of each charge, transfer and refund. The other party's receipt for a job stays with them. Your own receipts are deleted with your account.
• Signed job records: kept, including after an account is deleted; no deletion period is set.
• Job photos, work photos and chats: job photos and work photos are kept, including after an account is deleted. A chat's messages are deleted with the account; each chat's inbox entry (the job title, both names and the last message) and the photos and files sent in a chat are kept. Deletion goes by category, as listed here.
• AI data: a photo uploaded for an analysis that was never used is deleted after 7 days. The photo analyses linked to your account are deleted 30 days after a confirmed deletion request; a record of each analysis's result (the suggested category, title and description, without the photo) is kept, including after an account is deleted.
• Dispute reports and support messages: kept, including after an account is deleted.
• Information used in a decision about you: where BC PIPA applies, kept at least one year after the decision; we delete none of it on a schedule.
• Records of a privacy breach: where PIPEDA applies, kept at least 24 months after the breach is determined, and where Québec's incident-register rule applies, at least five years after we become aware of it.
• Anti-abuse records: the IP address from which an email or phone number was checked, shortened one-way hashes of checked phone numbers and email addresses, and counters of recent posts and quotes. Kept, including after an account is deleted. A hashed identifier can remain personal information.
• Reviews and replies: stay published, including after an account is deleted, and are not edited.
• Backups: we keep a daily backup of our database for 7 days so we can recover from errors; each backup is deleted automatically after 7 days. Data you have deleted can persist in a backup until that backup expires, and we do not restore a backup in order to bring back data somebody asked us to delete. Each provider keeps its own copies under its own terms; nothing is deleted at Stripe when you delete your account.

A retained record that identifies a person remains personal information. Removing a display name or replacing it with an account ID is not necessarily anonymization. We restrict retained records to their stated purposes and authorized access. Contact our privacy officer to ask what remains and why.

P8. Security and confidentiality incidents

We use Firebase's security rules, which refuse access unless a rule allows it, keep server-only records out of the apps' reach, and keep our keys in a secret store. Access is limited to the people and systems those rules allow. No system can guarantee absolute security.

We report to regulators and notify affected people when required by the applicable law. PIPEDA uses a real risk of significant harm test. Alberta has its own reporting and notification process. Québec uses a risk of serious injury test and an incident register. BC PIPA does not currently impose the same general private-sector mandatory breach-reporting scheme. Other applicable duties may still require notice. There is no universal Canadian 72-hour notification period.

P9. Your rights and choices

You may request access to your personal information and an explanation of its use and disclosures. You may request correction of inaccurate information, withdraw consent for optional processing and request deletion subject to lawful retention. Where applicable, you may request qualifying computerized information in a structured, commonly used format and information or human review concerning an exclusively automated decision. These rights depend on the applicable law and its lawful exceptions.

Email support@northyapp.ca, addressed to our privacy officer, with the request and enough information to locate the account or record. You do not have to keep an account open to make a request. We check identity proportionately and explain any refusal, permitted fee or extension and the available review route. Profile editing and account deletion are not substitutes for a complete access response.

Access-response periods are normally 30 days under PIPEDA, BC PIPA and Québec's private-sector law, and 45 days under Alberta PIPA, subject to lawful extensions and specific procedures. We follow the period that applies to the request. You can complain to the relevant regulator without giving up that right by contacting us:

• Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada: priv.gc.ca
• Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia: oipc.bc.ca
• Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Alberta: oipc.ab.ca
• Commission d'accès à l'information du Québec: cai.gouv.qc.ca

Northy records no optional AI or marketing consent, so there is none to withdraw; you can simply not use the AI features. If information is necessary for a requested service, we explain the consequence of not providing it. Withdrawal cannot require deletion of records that must lawfully be kept.

P10. Adult eligibility and information about children

You must be at least 19 years old to have a Northy account, wherever you live; the app checks your date of birth. If we discover an ineligible account, we restrict it and remove information that is not needed for a lawful purpose. Adults should avoid including children or unrelated people in job photos. Information about a child included by another person still requires appropriate protection.

P11. Policy changes and languages

This page shows the date this version took effect. When a change needs your agreement, the app asks you to accept the new version the next time you open it. You cannot continue to use the app until you accept it. A policy update or continued use is not a substitute for consent.

English and French versions are provided. Neither has blanket priority. Any language right under applicable law, including a right to rely on a more favourable version, governs.

P12. Contact

Privacy officer: reachable at the email and address below.

Legal operator: DNI Systems, a sole proprietorship registered in British Columbia, Canada.

Email: support@northyapp.ca. Subject: Privacy request.

Business, mailing and notice address: 5307 Victoria Drive #595, Vancouver, BC V5P 3V6, Canada. Telephone: +1 672-380-9060 (text messages only).