Privacypolicy

01In short

• You can ask questions and browse without an account. Your questions and the answers to them are saved to improve Hello Sindh, without anything that identifies you.
• We ask for personal details only when you create an account, apply for a service or file a complaint, and we use them only for that.
• Your details go only to the office that handles your case. We never sell them or use them for advertising.
• There are no advertising cookies. We count how often the website is opened, but not who opens it.

02Questions and voice

Questions you type or speak are answered on Hello Sindh's own server by an AI model that reads only official Government of Sindh sources. They are not sent to outside AI companies. We save each question and the answer it was given (their words, the language, the time and the kind of answer) to see what people need and improve the answers, but not who asked it: no name, account, internet address or device is saved with it, and CNIC numbers, mobile numbers and email addresses in a question or its answer are hidden before it is saved.

A voice question is turned into text on the same server; the text is saved like any question, but the recording is not kept.

When you ask a follow-up question, your last few questions and answers go with it so it can be understood. They are kept only in your browser, while the page is open.

If you rate an answer, we keep only whether it helped, the language, the kind of answer and the sources shown. Nothing that identifies you is kept with it.

Words typed into the search box on a department page travel in the web address, so they can appear in the server's short-lived technical logs (see Technical logs and security).

03Your account

To apply for a service or file a complaint, you create an account with your full name, CNIC number, mobile number, email and a password. We use these to know who is applying, to reach you about your cases, and to let you sign in with your email, mobile number or CNIC.

Your password is kept only in a scrambled form that can't be turned back into it; nobody at Hello Sindh can read it.

Your details are not checked with NADRA or by SMS at present.

You can see and correct your details at any time under “Your details”. Your CNIC number can be corrected until your first application or complaint, because cases are filed under it.

04Applications and complaints

When you apply or complain, we keep what you write, the documents you upload and the history of your case: each change of status and each message.

Your case is seen by the Hello Sindh team that handles it and by the department or office it concerns. A complaint against a federal or utility organisation, such as NHA, K-Electric, HESCO, SEPCO, SSGC or NADRA, is forwarded to that organisation.

If you ask for a complaint to be kept confidential, it is forwarded without your name and contact details, and department officers can't see who filed it.

Documents are stored privately. They open only for you, the team handling your case and that office, through links that stop working after two minutes.

Department officers see only their own department's cases. Staff sign in with a second step, a code from an authenticator app, and every administrative action is recorded.

05In the Hello Sindh app

The app uses the same account as the website and keeps the same information.

It uses the microphone only when you tap it to ask by voice, and the camera or your photos only when you add a document.

If you allow notifications, we keep a code for your phone, its type (Android or iPhone) and your language, so we can tell you when one of your cases has an update. A notification says only that a case has an update, never your personal details. Signing out removes your phone.

To protect the service, the app proves to our server that it is the genuine Hello Sindh app, using the security checks built into Android and iPhone. This checks the app and the phone, not you.

Your sign-in is kept in your phone's secure storage. Your password is never stored on the phone.

06Cookies and your browser

We use only what the site needs to work: a cookie that remembers your language, and cookies that keep you signed in. Staff also get one that remembers their second sign-in step for 12 hours.

When the assistant fills in a form for you, the details it picked out stay in that browser tab until you use them or close the tab.

There are no advertising, tracking or analytics cookies. The security network that protects the site may set cookies of its own for security.

If you let the map show where you are, your exact location is used only on your device to place the dot on the map and is never sent to us. Otherwise the map may show an approximate area worked out from your internet address, which isn't saved; a district you choose yourself is remembered only in your browser. So that it doesn't look again on every page, the map keeps the district it found in your browser tab for 30 minutes.

When you ask the assistant for the nearest government hospital or police station, only your district is sent with the question, never your exact location.

07Services we use

A security network carries all traffic to the site and protects it from attacks. Its check on the sign-in and sign-up forms confirms that a person, not a program, is using them; to do this, it sees your internet address and technical details of your browser.

A database service keeps accounts, applications, complaints, documents and saved questions, on secure servers in Singapore.

Emails we send you, such as news of your cases and password reset links, are delivered by an email service. It receives your email address and the email.

Answers to questions, voice questions and the form assistant are worked out on Hello Sindh's own server.

On the website, a service counts how many people open each page, which website sent them, and their device type, screen size, browser, language, country and city. It uses no cookies and doesn't keep your internet address. Your questions, tracking numbers and anything you type are never sent to it, and staff pages aren't counted.

In the app, the security checks of Android and iPhone confirm that it is the genuine app talking to our server, and their notification services will deliver the app's notifications.

08Technical logs and security

Like any website, our server keeps short-lived technical logs: which internet address opened which page, and when. They help keep the service working and secure, and are deleted automatically after about two weeks.

To stop misuse, the server counts recent attempts, such as sign-ins, by internet address and by account. The counts are held only in the server's memory, for up to an hour, and are never saved.

Every connection to Hello Sindh is encrypted.

09How long we keep information

• Questions and their answers: kept, without anything that identifies you. Voice recordings: not kept.
• Ratings of answers: kept, but they can't be linked to you.
• Your account, applications and complaints: kept while your account is open. Applications and complaints are official records, so they may be kept after an account is closed for as long as the rules for government records require.

10Your choices

You can see and correct your details under “Your details”, and follow each step of your cases under “My applications and complaints”.

To close your account, or to ask what information we hold about you, contact the Information Department (see below).

Accounts are for adults with a CNIC. A parent or guardian applies on behalf of a child.

11Contact and changes

Hello Sindh is operated by the Information Department, Government of Sindh. For questions about this policy or about your information, contact the Information Department; its contact details are on its department page.

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