Privacy Notice

1. Who we are

AFRICHAN (Pty) Ltd (registration 2024/147644/07), trading as Forge Digital Photography ("FORGE", "we", "us"), is the data controller for personal data processed through the FORGE platform. You can reach us at info@forgedigitalstudio.dev.

2. What we collect and why

• Account data (name, email, login credentials) — to create and secure your account. Legal basis: contract performance.
• Studio and branding data (business name, logo, watermark, banking details you configure) — to provide white-labelled galleries and let your customers pay you. Legal basis: contract performance.
• Content (photographs, videos and edits you upload) — to host, process and deliver your galleries. Legal basis: contract performance.
• Support messages — to respond to your requests. Legal basis: legitimate interests.
• Usage and device data (IP address, device identifiers, telemetry) — for security, fraud prevention and product improvement. Legal basis: legitimate interests.

Payment card details for your subscription are collected and processed directly by Paddle as Merchant of Record; we never see or store your card numbers.

3. Who we share data with

• Service providers / subprocessors that host and operate the platform (cloud hosting, storage, analytics, support tooling);
• Paddle, our Merchant of Record, for the sale of subscriptions, payment processing, tax compliance and invoicing;
• Professional advisers (legal, accounting) where needed;
• Authorities where required by law.

4. Retention

We keep personal data only as long as needed for the purposes above or as required by law, after which it is deleted or anonymised. Gallery content is retained according to the gallery's configured expiry and is then permanently removed.

5. Your rights

Under South Africa's Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA), and other applicable law, you may request access to, correction of, or deletion of your personal data, object to certain processing, and withdraw consent where processing is based on consent. Contact us at info@forgedigitalstudio.dev to exercise these rights. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator (South Africa).

6. Security

We apply appropriate technical and organisational measures, including encryption in transit, access controls and row-level data isolation between studios.

7. Cookies

We use essential cookies and storage required for sign-in and security. We do not use third-party marketing cookies. You can manage cookies through your browser settings; disabling essential cookies may prevent sign-in.

8. Changes

We may update this notice from time to time. Material changes will be signposted in the app or by email.