Privacy policy

Last updated 31 October 2026

This policy explains how LaBuddy handles personal data when you use the LaBuddy app or labuddy.app: what we collect, why, who sees it, how long we keep it and your rights under the Philippine Data Privacy Act of 2012 (Republic Act No. 10173) and its rules.

Who we are

LaBuddy is an app based in Baguio City, Philippines, that connects customers with independent laundromats that pick up, wash and deliver laundry, or that customers drop laundry off at. LaBuddy decides how the personal data in the app is used (the "personal information controller"). Each laundromat also handles your data for the orders you book with it. You can reach us, and our data protection officer, at support@labuddy.app, or in the app under Account, Help center.

What we collect

• Account data: your name, email address, mobile number, password (kept only in scrambled form), whether your email is verified, and whether you are a customer, laundromat owner or LaBuddy staff.
• Guest bookings: if you book as a guest, without an account, we keep only your name, mobile number and pickup address with your orders, plus a random guest ID on your phone so you can follow them. You can turn a guest into a full account at any time, and your orders come with you.
• Order data: the laundromat, services and amounts you book, pickup or drop-off day and time, pickup address and landmark, notes for the laundromat, the real weight or count with the photo of the scale, prices, discounts, the payment method and whether it is paid, your claim code and the order's progress.
• Location data, only if you choose: the exact pickup spot you save with the location button. We do not follow your location in the background, and we never ask for it on its own.
• Rider location, during a trip: when a laundromat's rider starts a trip to pick up or deliver your laundry, their phone shares its location while LaBuddy is open, so you can follow them on a map. Only that order's customer and laundromat see it, and it is deleted when the laundry is picked up or delivered.
• Payment data: screenshots of GCash receipts you upload and their reference numbers. We do not receive or store card or GCash login details.
• Customer care data: your messages with LaBuddy and the orders they are about.
• Reviews: your star rating and comment; only your first name is shown with them.
• Rewards data: your invite code, who invited you, the vouchers you have and use, and your LaBuddy Plus membership and payments.
• Device data: a notification token for your phone, and the app version.
• Laundromat owners also give: business and owner details, the business structure, TIN and tax type, and documents for verification (business permit, BIR Form 2303, DTI/SEC/CDA registration, a valid ID and a photo of the shop), plus the shop's prices, limits, deals, sales and fees.

What we use it for, and why we may

The Data Privacy Act lets us process personal data only for a lawful reason. For each use below we say which one applies: to provide the service you asked for (our contract with you), to meet a legal duty, our legitimate interests (which never override your rights), or your consent.

• Creating and running your account, including verifying your email and resetting your password with an emailed code. Provide the service.
• Booking, picking up, washing, weighing, pricing and returning your laundry, and letting you follow it, pay, switch payment method and get a receipt. Provide the service.
• Order notifications on your phone (accepted, picked up, weighed, ready, delivered). Provide the service. You can turn them off in your phone's settings.
• Customer care: answering your messages and sorting out problems with the laundromat. Provide the service; legitimate interests.
• Reviews shown on laundromats' pages, to help others choose. Legitimate interests.
• Discounts, invite rewards and LaBuddy Plus, including checking who can use them. Provide the service.
• News and offers by notification or email, only if you agree. Consent, which you can withdraw at any time. We do not send them yet; we will ask you first.
• Verifying laundromats before they can take bookings, and keeping their fees and payments. Provide the service; legitimate interests; legal duty.
• Security and preventing fraud, such as fake accounts made to reuse welcome or invite vouchers, and stopping abuse of the app. Legitimate interests.
• Improving LaBuddy with overall numbers (for example, orders per day or per area), not individual tracking. Legitimate interests.
• Keeping business and tax records, and answering lawful requests from courts and authorities. Legal duty.

We do not sell personal data, and we do not let other companies use it for their own advertising.

Who receives your data

• The laundromat you book with sees your name, mobile number, pickup address and landmark, saved pickup spot, order details and notes, so it can serve you and contact you about the order. It cannot see your email address or your other orders.
• Other customers see only your first name next to your reviews.
• Service providers that run LaBuddy for us, under agreements that oblige them to protect the data and use it only for us: Supabase (database, accounts and file storage), Expo and Google Firebase (app updates and notifications), Resend (emails), Cloudflare (website and email forwarding), Google Fonts (the website's typefaces) and OpenFreeMap (the map images on the rider tracking screen, built from OpenStreetMap).
• Authorities, courts and law enforcement, when the law requires it or to protect people's safety, rights or property.
• A buyer or partner, if LaBuddy is sold, merged or reorganised, who must keep protecting the data under this policy.

Data stored outside the Philippines

Some of our service providers keep data on servers in other countries, such as Japan, Singapore or the United States. We use providers with recognised security safeguards and agreements that protect your data at the level the Data Privacy Act requires.

How long we keep it

• Account data: while your account is open. When you delete it, your login and contact details are deleted at once.
• Orders, receipts, reviews and payment records: kept for up to 10 years for tax and accounting rules, without your name, number or address once your account is deleted, then deleted.
• Photos of the scale and GCash receipts: kept with the order they belong to.
• Messages with LaBuddy: until you delete your account.
• Laundromats' verification documents: while the shop is on LaBuddy and for as long as the law requires after it closes.
• Notification tokens: removed when you log out or delete your account.

See how to delete your account.

How we protect it

All data travels over encrypted connections. Each person can see only their own records; laundromats see only their own orders. Photos and documents are stored privately and shown only through links that expire after a few minutes. Passwords are never stored in readable form. Only a few LaBuddy staff can see more, and only to run the service.

Cookies and the website

The app and labuddy.app do not use advertising or tracking cookies. The app keeps your login on your phone so you stay signed in, and remembers small choices such as which tours you have seen. The website loads its typefaces from Google Fonts, which receives your device's internet address to send them.

Automatic decisions

Some things happen automatically, by fixed rules: whether a discount or voucher applies to an order, your place in a laundromat's queue, and pausing a laundromat that has not paid its LaBuddy fees on time. If you think an automatic result is wrong, tell us and a person will check it.

Your rights

Under the Data Privacy Act you have the right to:

• be informed about how your data is used, as in this policy;
• access your data and get a copy;
• correct it if it is wrong (you can edit your name and number in the app);
• object to uses based on our legitimate interests, and to marketing;
• erasure or blocking, including deleting your account in the app;
• data portability, a copy in a common electronic format;
• withdraw consent where a use is based on it;
• damages if you are harmed by wrong or unlawful use; and
• file a complaint with the National Privacy Commission (privacy.gov.ph).

Email support@labuddy.app from your account's email address to use them. We may ask you to confirm it is you, and we reply within 15 working days.

Children

LaBuddy is for people 18 years old and above. We do not knowingly collect data from children. If you believe a child has made an account, tell us and we will delete it.

Changes to this policy

When we change this policy we update the date at the top, and we tell you in the app before important changes take effect.