myHOSTELS
myHostels is published by RedWaves Technology, Cape Coast, Ghana. The app helps tertiary students in Ghana find off-campus hostels and roommates. This policy explains exactly what we collect, why, who it goes to, how long we keep it, and how to get it deleted.
myHostels never handles rent or any payment. We do not process, hold, or transfer money. We will never ask you for a card number, bank PIN or mobile-money PIN. Your myHostels password is only ever typed on the app's own sign-in screen — no one from myHostels will ever ask you for it by phone, WhatsApp, SMS or email. Ignore anyone who asks for any of these in our name.
You can browse hostels without an account. When you choose to sign in, there are two ways to create a myHostels account.
With Google Sign-In we receive your name, email address, profile picture and Google account identifier. We never receive your Google password.
With an email address and password we receive the email address you enter. Your password is never stored in a readable form: our authentication provider keeps only a one-way cryptographic hash of it, which cannot be turned back into the password you chose. Nobody at myHostels can see or recover it, and we will never ask you for it.
Only what you type in: username, first name and last initial, institution, level, department, programme, gender, preferred community, budget range, lifestyle preferences, short bio, roommate count, rent-split preference, academic year and move-in timing. Optionally a phone number and WhatsApp number, which power the call and chat buttons. Hostel owners and advertisers may also add a business name, category, website, social handles and the university they serve.
Images you deliberately attach — evidence on a report, or exterior, room, kitchen and lavatory photos on a hostel contribution — are uploaded to our media storage. The app opens only the picker or camera; it does not scan or index your gallery.
When you file a report we store the hostel, the category, your description, the time, the GPS reading, any photos, and whichever contact details you choose to attach — your name, username, phone or WhatsApp — or none at all if you select anonymous. The report is rendered into a PDF on your device. Whether it goes to Ghana Rent Control, and by what channel, is your action, not ours.
Connection requests between accounts, meeting proposals and their outcomes, the one-time codes you scan to confirm a match in person, and any accounts you block.
A Firebase Cloud Messaging device token and your platform, so we can notify you about your submissions and connection requests. Removing the app invalidates the token.
Which advert or listing was shown or tapped and when, linked to your account identifier. This lets us report performance to advertisers and rank listings. We do not build advertising profiles and we do not use third-party tracking or attribution SDKs.
Favourites, ratings, recently viewed hostels, unfinished drafts and report cooldown state are stored on your phone and are not uploaded. Uninstalling the app erases them.
| Data | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Account and profile | Sign you in, show your profile to potential roommates, and let managers and moderators recognise verified contributors. |
| GPS and photos | Verify that a hostel really sits where a listing claims, and support corrections and reports with evidence. |
| Reports | Investigate complaints, correct or demote inaccurate listings, and produce the PDF you choose to send onward. |
| Roommate data | Suggest compatible roommates, carry connection requests, and confirm a match in person. |
| Device token | Send notifications tied to your own activity. |
| Usage events | Report advert performance and rank trustworthy listings. |
We do not sell your personal data, we do not share it with data brokers, and we do not use it for advertising targeting.
In the app — immediate. Open Profile → Delete account, then confirm. Deletion runs straight away and cannot be undone. You do not need to contact us and you do not need to give a reason.
By email — if you have already uninstalled. Write to redwaves.techgh@gmail.com from the address you signed in with, subject “Delete my myHostels account”. We complete it within 30 days and confirm when it is done.
Your sign-in record and profile; your roommate profile, connection requests, meetings, match codes and blocks; your saved device tokens; the reports, corrections and hostel submissions you filed, including the photos and contact details attached to them; and any listings or adverts you own. Anything held only on your phone goes when you uninstall.
Two things survive, and neither identifies you:
You can also ask for a copy of your data, or for a correction, at the same address. Turning off notification or location permission in Android Settings stops those collections immediately.
Step-by-step instructions, including how to have part of your data removed while keeping your account, are on the Delete your account page.
Traffic between the app and our servers is encrypted with TLS. Database access is governed by row-level security so that, as a rule, an account can read and write only its own records, with wider access limited to moderator accounts. No system is perfectly secure, but we do not store card details or bank details at all, which removes the most damaging category of breach. If you sign in with an email address and password, the password is stored only as a one-way cryptographic hash — never in a readable form, and not recoverable by us.
myHostels is built for tertiary students and is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect data from them. If you believe a child has created an account, write to us and we will remove it.
If we change this policy we will update the effective date above, and announce material changes in the app before they take effect.
RedWaves Technology · Cape Coast, Ghana
redwaves.techgh@gmail.com