Xiaozao - Privacy Policy
Effective date: 2 September 2026 Who runs this app: Nelson Liew, Singapore Contact: support@xiaozaosg.com
This policy explains what Xiaozao collects, why, who can see it, and how to get rid of it. It is written to match what the app actually does. If you find something here that does not match how the app behaves, tell us - that is a bug in one of the two.
The six commitments below are the ones that change how the app behaves. Everything after this section says the same things precisely.
Your unit number is not stored
A maker gives their block. Distance is rounded to 100 m and never reported below 500 m, so nobody can find a flat by walking around and watching a number.
We never see your card
You pay the maker in their hand, at handover. No deposits, no escrow, no card on file. There is nothing for us to lose.
One point, not a trail
We store a single location for you, from your postal code or from your device if you tap the button. We do not track where you go.
Seven days to change your mind
Deletion is scheduled, not instant. Cancel any time in those seven days. Afterwards your number is free to use again.
No email, no NRIC
We do not collect your email address, date of birth, NRIC, race or religion. We never asked for them.
1. What we collect, and why
When you create an account
| What | Why we need it |
|---|---|
| Your mobile number | It is how you sign in, and it is how we enforce one account per person. Stored in full, and also as a one-way hash (see Section 5). |
| Your display name | Shown to people you chat with and next to any review or post you write. |
| A face you pick | One of twelve drawn avatars. It is stored as a code such as face-07, not as an image. We do not accept photo uploads of you. |
| Your town | Used to place you on the map and to show you what is nearby. |
| Your postal code | Used to work out how far you are from each maker. |
| Your approximate location | A single point derived from your postal code, or from your device if you tap the location button. See Section 2 - this is the most sensitive thing we hold. |
| Your language | So the app speaks to you in English, 中文, Bahasa Melayu or தமிழ். |
We do not collect your email address, your date of birth, your NRIC, your race, your religion, or your payment card details.
If you make and sell
| What | Why |
|---|---|
| Your kitchen name and description | Shown publicly on every listing. |
| Your block number | Shown to buyers so they can find the handover point. We never store or show your unit number. |
| Your five home-kitchen declarations | Timestamped, because they are the record that you accepted the SFA home-based food business conditions. |
| Your food-safety or halal certificate, if you send one | Held so customer service can verify it. Only you and customer service can see the file. |
| Your listings | Title, description, price, portions, collection window, handover method, and the dietary declarations you made about the food. |
As you use the app
| What | Why |
|---|---|
| Your messages | Chats are stored so both sides can read the conversation. Messages cannot be edited or deleted once sent - see Section 4. |
| Which listings you opened | Counted so a maker can see how many people opened their listing. See Section 3 for who can see this. |
| Your orders and reviews | So a maker's rating reflects real collections. |
| Kitchens you saved | So your saved list works. |
| Posts and replies on the community board | Public to anyone signed in. |
| Reports you make | Sent to customer service. The person you report is never told who reported them. |
If you pay for a Spotlight
Payment is handled by our payment provider. We never see or store your card number. We keep a record that a payment was made, its amount, and a reference from the provider.
2. Your location - the part worth reading carefully
This app exists to show you food that is physically near you, so location is not optional to how it works. Here is exactly what happens:
- We store one point for you, from your postal code or from your device if you tap the location button. We do not track you, we do not record where you go, and we do not keep a history of where you have been.
- A maker's location never leaves our servers. Distance is calculated on the server and only the resulting number is sent to your phone.
- Buyers see a maker's town and block, never their unit.
- You can turn the location button off and use the app by town alone.
3. Who can see what
Public to anyone signed in: your display name, your face, your town, your kitchen name and description, your listings, your reviews, your posts and replies on the community board.
Only you: your mobile number, your postal code, your stored location point, your saved kitchens, your language, and which listings you have opened.
Only you and the person you are talking to: your chats.
Only you and customer service: any certificate you sent us.
Nobody, ever: a maker cannot see the identity of people who opened their listing - only the count. No one can see who reported them. No one can see who liked a post.
Customer service can read reports, moderate posts and listings, and verify certificates. Chats are read only when a report requires it.
4. Two things we cannot undo for you
Both of these are deliberate, and you should know before you use the app.
Messages are permanent. Once sent, a message cannot be edited or deleted by either person. This is so a chat log means something if a handover goes wrong or a scam is reported.
Reviews survive you leaving. If you delete your account, reviews you wrote about other makers stay, with your name removed. If departing users could erase their reviews, anyone could quietly rewrite a maker's rating on the way out.
5. Deleting your account
You can delete your account from the You tab.
- Deletion is scheduled for 7 days' time. Your listings come down straight away and your kitchen is paused.
- You can cancel at any point in those 7 days.
- After 7 days your profile, kitchen, listings, chats, orders and saved kitchens are deleted permanently. Reviews you wrote are anonymised, as above.
- Your mobile number is freed - you can sign up again with it.
The exception is a ban. If your account is closed for breaking the rules, a one-way hash of your number is kept indefinitely so the number cannot be used to open a new account. That hash cannot be turned back into your number, and it is all that remains.
6. How long we keep things
- While your account is open: as long as you keep it.
- After deletion: 7 days, then removed, except as described in Section 4 and Section 5.
- Banned numbers: the hash is kept indefinitely.
- Payment records: kept as long as Singapore tax and accounting rules require.
7. Who we share with
We do not sell your data. We do not run advertising. Nobody pays us to reach you with anything except a Spotlight, which only moves a listing in the feed and never involves your personal details.
We share data with:
- Our hosting and database provider, who stores it on our behalf.
- Our payment provider, if you buy a Spotlight.
- The authorities, if we are legally required to.
8. Your rights under the PDPA
Under Singapore's Personal Data Protection Act you can ask us:
- What we hold about you - we will tell you.
- To correct it - most of it you can edit yourself in the app.
- To delete it - see Section 5.
- To withdraw consent - that means closing your account, because the app cannot match you to nearby food without a location.
Write to support@xiaozaosg.com and we will reply within 30 days.
9. Children
Xiaozao is not for under-18s. We do not knowingly hold data about children. If you believe a child has an account, write to us and we will remove it.
10. Security, honestly stated
Every table in our database enforces its own access rules, so a mistake in the app cannot expose data the rules forbid. Certificates and chats are readable only by the people listed in Section 3. We test this by attacking our own system as a signed-in user, not as an administrator.
No system is perfect. If we ever have a breach affecting you, we will tell you and notify the PDPC as the law requires.
11. Changes
If we change this policy we will post the new version here and, for anything significant, tell you in the app. The date at the top is the version you are reading.
12. Contact
Nelson Liew support@xiaozaosg.com Singapore