Privacy policy

Last updated 18 October 2026

Phone a Tradie App Pty Ltd (ABN 53 703 285 376) ("we", "us") runs the Phone a Tradie app and website. This policy explains what personal information we collect, why, who we share it with, and your choices. We handle personal information in line with the Australian Privacy Principles in the Privacy Act 1988.

1. What we collect

Everyone who signs in

• Your email address.
• Notification settings for your devices, if you turn notifications on.
• Your IP address, used to limit repeated attempts and stop spam sign-ups.

Customers

• Your name, state and postcode, and what you tell us about the job.
• Photos you add, and messages you send in the chat during a call.
• Transcripts of your video calls.
• The tradie's notes and any price guide, your ratings, reviews and reports.
• Your mobile number, if you ask for local tradies to call you or ask us to text you when a tradie is free.
• Your membership and payment history. Your card details are held by Stripe, our payment processor; we only see the card type and last 4 digits.

Phone tradies and local tradies

• Your name, the name you show customers, business name, email and mobile.
• Licence details and photos, ABN, GST status and business structure.
• Photos of your ID (phone tradies), and insurance details and certificate of currency (local tradies).
• Your references' names and phone numbers, which you give us with their permission (phone tradies).
• Bank details (BSB and account number) and super fund details (phone tradies), or a saved card for job fees (local tradies).
• Your profile photo and bio, when you're online, your calls, ratings, complaints and warnings.
• Postcodes and trades you cover (local tradies).

We don't collect your precise location. We only use the postcode you give us.

2. Why we use it

• To run calls and send you notes, price guides and updates.
• To check tradies are licensed and who they say they are.
• To process payments, refunds, pay runs and invoices.
• To send local tradies the jobs you ask for, and tell you when they've accepted.
• To send notifications, texts and emails about your calls, jobs and account.
• To check quality, handle complaints and keep the service safe.
• To improve the service, using information that doesn't identify you where we can.
• To meet our legal obligations, such as tax record keeping.

We don't sell your personal information, and we don't use it for third-party advertising.

3. Call transcripts

Customer video calls are transcribed: what's said on the call is turned into written text. You're told this before you pay, and tradies agree to it when they join.

• The transcript is used to draft the tradie's notes, which the tradie checks before sending, and to look into complaints.
• Only the tradie on the call and our team can see the transcript.
• We delete transcripts after 12 months.
• Interview calls with tradie applicants aren't transcribed.

4. Automated tools and AI

We use automated tools, including AI provided by Anthropic, to:

• draft call notes and price guides from what the tradie and customer say, which the tradie checks and edits;
• read licence, ID and insurance documents and compare them with the details given, which our team reviews before anyone is approved;
• look at your job description and photos before a call, to suggest what to show the tradie and what to ask.

A person makes every approval decision about tradies. Information sent to our AI provider isn't used to train its models.

5. Who we share it with

• Approved phone tradies in the trade you choose can see your waiting call (the name you give, your state and postcode, the job description and your photos) so one of them can take it.
• Local tradies who cover your area see your first name, state and postcode, job description, photos, the call notes and any price guide. Only the local tradies who accept your job see your full name and mobile.
• Customers and other app users can see a phone tradie's name, the name they show customers, photo, bio, trades, licence numbers, years of experience, availability, whether they're online, and rating, and a local tradie's business name, contact name, phone and licence number.
• Service providers who help us run Phone a Tradie:
  • Cloudflare: hosting, our database, video calls, transcription and email (servers in Australia and other countries, including the United States).
  • Stripe: payments (Australia and the United States).
  • Anthropic: AI drafting and document checks (United States).
  • ClickSend: text messages (Australia).
• Government registers: we check ABNs with the Australian Business Register and licences on state registers.
• Others where the law requires or allows it, for example to respond to a court order or to prevent serious harm.

Some providers store or process information overseas, mainly in the United States. We choose providers with strong security and privacy commitments.

6. How long we keep it

• Call transcripts: 12 months.
• Tradie identity, licence and insurance documents: while your application is open or you're on Phone a Tradie, then deleted within 90 days after your application is declined, or straight away when you delete your account. Applications that stall waiting for documents are deleted after 14 days.
• Payment, tax and pay records: at least 5 years, as tax law requires.
• Everything else: while your account is open. When you delete your account, we delete or de-identify your personal information, except records we must keep by law.

7. Security

Information is encrypted in transit and stored with our hosting provider. Access is limited to people who need it. Card details never reach our servers. If a data breach is likely to cause you serious harm, we'll tell you and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.

8. Your choices

• See or correct your information: most of it is in the app. For anything else, email us.
• Delete your account: in the app, any time. It's on the start page, under your email.
• Notifications and texts: turn notifications off in the app or your phone settings. We only text you about your calls, jobs and account, never marketing.
• Saved cards: remove them in the app.

9. Cookies

The app uses one cookie to keep you signed in. It also saves a few settings in your browser, such as where you were up to, so it works smoothly; these stay on your device. We don't use advertising or tracking cookies.

10. Children

Phone a Tradie is for people 18 and over.

11. Questions and complaints

Email our privacy officer at hello@phoneatradie.com.au. We'll reply within 30 days. If you're not happy with our response, you can complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner at oaic.gov.au or on 1300 363 992.

12. Changes

We'll update this policy when how we handle information changes, and show the date at the top. We'll tell you in the app about significant changes.