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Privacy Policy

Last updated: June 2026

1. Who we are

TrailSOS is a service operated at trailsos.co.za. Questions about this policy may be directed to TrailSOS.support@gmail.com.

2. What personal information we collect

  • Full name
  • Email address and password (for account access)
  • Phone number (optional)
  • Date of birth
  • Profile photograph
  • Blood type, medical conditions, current medications, allergies
  • Emergency contact details (name, relationship, phone number)
  • Medical aid name and membership number
  • Emergency card access logs (timestamp and device type only, no personal data)

We deliberately do NOT collect:

  • South African ID number
  • Home address
  • Historical medical records
  • Payment card details (these are entered directly on PayFast's platform and never transmitted to or stored by TrailSOS)

3. Why we collect it

The sole purpose of collecting your personal information is to create an emergency medical profile that can be accessed by first responders when you are injured on a hiking trail. Your information is not used for marketing, profiling, or any secondary purpose.

4. Lawful basis for processing

We process your personal information on the basis of your explicit consent, as required by Section 11 of the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA). You consent to each category of data use individually at the time of account creation.

5. Who can access your information

Your emergency profile is intentionally accessible to any person who taps your TrailSOS NFC card. This is the core function of the product, and you explicitly consent to this when creating your account. No authentication is required to view your emergency profile. This is by design, so that first responders can access it instantly.

The platform administrator has access to all account data for operational and subscription management purposes. This is disclosed here and consented to at account creation. No personal data is sold, shared with, or disclosed to third parties except as required by South African law.

6. Data retention

See our Data Security and Retention Policy for full retention periods.

7. Your rights under POPIA

  • The right to access your personal information
  • The right to correct inaccurate information
  • The right to request deletion of your personal information
  • The right to withdraw consent at any time

To exercise any of these rights, contact our Information Officer via the Contact page.

8. Children

TrailSOS is not intended for use by persons under 18 years of age. By creating an account you confirm that you are 18 or older.

9. Third-party processors and cross-border data transfers

TrailSOS uses the following third-party service providers, which may process or store your data outside South Africa:

  • Supabase — database and file storage (United States / European Union)
  • Vercel — website hosting and delivery (United States)
  • Resend — transactional email delivery (United States)
  • PayFast — payment processing (South Africa)
  • Upstash — access rate limiting (United States / European Union)

We take steps to ensure equivalent data protection standards apply through contractual agreements with each provider. By using TrailSOS you consent to these transfers.

10. Rental wristband programme

TrailSOS offers rental NFC wristbands through authorised tour operators. Where a tour operator (an operator under POPIA) enrolls tour participants in the rental programme, the following applies:

  • The tour operator is responsible for obtaining express informed consent from each participant before entering their personal information into the TrailSOS platform.
  • Rental profiles contain the same categories of personal information as standard subscriber profiles (name, medical information, emergency contacts). No profile photograph is collected for rental participants.
  • Rental profiles are deleted within 24 hours of the wristband being physically returned to the tour operator.
  • Rental participants do not create a TrailSOS account. Their information is managed entirely by the tour operator through the TrailSOS rental portal, under a Data Processing Agreement between TrailSOS and the operator.
  • Tour operators who process rental participant data act as operators under POPIA and are bound by a signed Data Processing Agreement with TrailSOS.

Current authorised rental operators: Go Hiking SA. To exercise your rights as a rental participant (access, correction, deletion), contact your tour operator in the first instance, or contact TrailSOS at TrailSOS.support@gmail.com.

11. Information Officer

TrailSOS has a designated Information Officer as required by POPIA. Contact details are available on our Contact page. Disputes may also be referred to the Information Regulator of South Africa at inforegulator.org.za.