Privacy policy

Bonga Sauti is a voice studio for creating a voice profile from a recording you have permission to use, and for turning text into speech in English and Kiswahili. In this policy, “Bonga Sauti”, “we”, “us”, and “our services” mean the studio and the people who operate it.

Bonga Sauti is offered to people in Kenya. The Data Protection Act, 2019 applies to personal data we process about people in Kenya. Questions and requests go to support@bongasauti.co.ke.

We collect only what the product needs to run your account, create audio, and take payment.

Account. When you register with email, we keep your email address, an optional display name, and a protected form of your password. We cannot read your password back. If you sign in with Google, we receive the name and email address Google shares with us for that sign-in. We never receive your Google password.

Staying signed in. After you sign in, our services keep you signed in on that browser for up to seven days. Signing in with Google includes a short check so that sign-in cannot be copied or forged.

Onboarding answers. While you are setting up, this browser remembers your draft. That can include your name, preferred language, how you heard about us, what you plan to use the studio for, the features you select, and your confirmation that you are 18 or older. If you enter a name, we save it to your account. The rest of the draft stays on this browser unless you later send it to us.

Voice recordings. When you create an English voice profile you upload or record a short, clear sample. You must confirm that the voice is yours or that the speaker has agreed. Our services keep a private copy of that recording so later English speech can sound like it, and we keep a note of when you gave that confirmation. Kiswahili speech uses a built-in Kenyan voice and does not use your recording.

Scripts and generated audio. When you generate speech we keep the text you submit, the language you chose, how many characters it used, whether it succeeded, and the audio we create. That audio stays with your account and can be downloaded only while you are signed in.

Credits and payments. New accounts receive 100 speech credits. One credit is one character of text. If you buy a pack, payment is handled by Paystack in Kenyan shillings. We share with Paystack the email on your account, the pack you selected, and the amount. Paystack collects your card or mobile-money details. We keep the result of the payment: whether it succeeded, the amount, and a receipt we can match to your account. We do not keep your full card number or card security code. If you pay by M-Pesa through a checkout we operate, we also keep the mobile number used for that payment.

How the studio is used. Our services keep basic records of use, such as when you sign in and which parts of the studio you open. We use those records to keep Bonga Sauti reliable and to look into misuse. We do not use them for advertising.

We use personal information to:

• create and secure your account, and keep you signed in;
• build a voice profile from a sample you submitted with consent, and generate the speech you request;
• keep a history of generations so you can download them again;
• count credits, add the credits you buy, and return credits when a generation fails;
• detect abuse, including use of a voice without permission;
• answer support requests you send us;
• meet accounting, tax, and other legal duties.

We do not sell personal information. We do not use your recordings, scripts, or generated audio to train a general voice for other customers. Your recording is used only to create the speech you ask for with that profile.

Under the Data Protection Act, 2019, we rely on these grounds:

• Contract. Processing your account, scripts, audio, and credits is necessary to provide the studio you signed up for.
• Consent. Creating a voice profile requires your confirmation that you own the voice or have the speaker’s permission. You can delete that profile, and our services then remove the recording kept for it.
• Legal obligation. We keep payment records where tax or accounting law requires it.
• Legitimate interests. We keep sign-in and security records to protect accounts and the studio, balanced against your rights.

A voice recording that can identify a person is sensitive personal data. We process it only to provide the voice profile you asked for, and only after the consent step in the studio.

We share personal information with service providers that process it for us, and only for the purpose of running Bonga Sauti:

• Paystack processes credit-pack payments. Their handling of payment data is described in Paystack’s own privacy notice.
• Google processes the sign-in if you choose “Continue with Google”.
• Trusted hosting partners keep our services and your audio available. They handle that information only so Bonga Sauti can run.

The part of our services that keeps your recording and creates audio is private to Bonga Sauti. Other customers cannot browse your profiles or download your files.

We may disclose information if a Kenyan court, the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner, or another authority with lawful power requires it, or if disclosure is necessary to investigate misuse of a voice.

Paystack and Google may process data outside Kenya. Where that happens, we rely on the safeguards those providers offer and on the transfer rules in the Data Protection Act.

• Account data is kept while the account is open.
• Sign-in lasts up to seven days, or ends sooner when you sign out.
• Voice recordings kept for a profile are removed when you delete that profile. It disappears from your account. We still keep a note that you confirmed you had permission to use the voice.
• Scripts and audio files stay on your account so you can download them, until you ask us to delete them or we close the account.
• Payment records are kept for as long as Kenyan tax and accounting rules require, even after an account is closed.
• Onboarding drafts stay in this browser until you clear the site’s saved data. We do not keep a copy of a draft you have not sent us.

There is no self-serve button that deletes an entire account. Email support@bongasauti.co.ke from the address on the account and we will delete or anonymise the account, except for records we must keep by law. We aim to complete that request within 30 days.

Passwords are stored so that we cannot read them. Sign-in stays private to your browser. Voice recordings are kept inside our services and are not published on the website. Generated audio is available only to the signed-in owner. No method of sending or storing information is perfectly secure. If you believe someone else has used your account, write to us and change your password.

Subject to the Data Protection Act, you can ask us to:

• confirm whether we hold personal data about you, and for a copy of it;
• correct a display name or other detail that is wrong (you can also change your display name in Settings);
• delete a voice profile in My voices, or ask us to delete the account;
• object to processing based on legitimate interests, or ask us to restrict it;
• withdraw consent for a voice profile by deleting that profile. Withdrawal does not undo audio you already generated and downloaded.

Send requests to support@bongasauti.co.ke. We may ask you to confirm that you control the email on the account before we release or delete data. You can also complain to the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner at odpc.go.ke.

Bonga Sauti is for people who are at least 18 years old, or the age of legal majority where they live. We do not knowingly create accounts for children. If you believe a child has given us personal data, email us and we will delete the account.

Your browser remembers a few things so the studio can work:

• that you are signed in, for up to seven days;
• a short check while you finish signing in with Google, so that sign-in cannot be forged;
• your onboarding draft, until you clear this site’s saved data.

We do not use this to advertise to you. Clearing your browser’s saved data for Bonga Sauti signs you out and removes the onboarding draft on that device.

If we change this policy, we will update the date at the top of this page. If a change materially affects how we use voice recordings or scripts, we will also say so in the product or by email before it takes effect.

Privacy requests and questions: support@bongasauti.co.ke.

The rules for using the studio are in the Terms of service.