WorkUte Privacy Policy

Last updated: 21 August 2026 (v2026-08-21.1)

WorkUte ("the app") is a job-site record and communication tool for tradespeople, operated by WorkUte (contact below). This policy explains what information the app handles and why.

What we collect

• Account details — your name and email address from Google Sign-In, used to identify your account.
• Job content you create — photos, videos, voice recordings, notes, task descriptions, material lists, hours, and documents you add to your jobs.
• In-app messages and completion notes — messages kept with a job, and the notes people add when they complete tasks you send them, are stored so the job's conversation and sign-off stay with its record. When you send a task by SMS or WhatsApp, the message is composed and sent by your own device through its own messaging app — the text and the recipient's number never pass through WorkUte's servers.
• Location — used, with your permission, to match a capture to the right job and to show local weather. When you allow it, your device's precise GPS coordinates are read once (foreground only, never in the background) and sent directly from your device to two outside services: Open-Meteo for the local forecast, and OpenStreetMap (Nominatim) to turn the coordinates into a street address for the job. Precise coordinates are also stored on the job record so the capture lands at the right site. The app works without location permission — you can type addresses in by hand instead.
• Camera and microphone — used, with your permission, to capture the photos, videos and voice notes you choose to record.
• Calendar — read, with your permission, to show your appointments alongside your work on the day and week view and to build your daily plan. Your calendar events are read on your device when needed; WorkUte keeps no copy of your calendar in its systems. When you tap "Add to calendar" on a scheduled item, WorkUte adds that single event to your device calendar (and updates or removes it if you later change or delete the item) — which your phone syncs to Google Calendar if a Google account is connected. WorkUte only ever changes events you created this way; it never alters your other appointments. To add a short practical note to a day's plan, an event's title and the job it matches may be sent to our AI provider (Anthropic) — no other calendar data leaves your device.

How your content is used

• Your job content is stored securely in Google Firebase (Cloud Firestore and Cloud Storage) so it is available on your devices.
• Some content is processed by third-party services to power app features: Anthropic (photo descriptions, note structuring, question answering — receives photos and job text), Groq (voice transcription — receives your audio), and Google Vertex AI (text-embedding-005, which turns the text of your notes, conversations, task descriptions and documents into a private search index; that text is processed in Google's United States region and the resulting index is stored back in Australia). Content is sent for processing only — these providers are not permitted to train on it. Separately, your location is sent to Open-Meteo (weather) and OpenStreetMap (address lookup) as described above.
• When you share a link (tasks, lists, walkthroughs), anyone holding that link can view the shared content and add completions or messages. Only share links with people you intend to see them.

Shared trade vocabulary (optional, off by default)

If you switch on "Improve trade vocabulary" in Settings, WorkUte adds a small, de-identified record to a shared vocabulary when you complete a task: the trade term involved (for example "nogging" or "sarking"), its trade category, and the outcome (confirmed, corrected or rejected). This shared vocabulary is used to improve term recognition and suggestions for all WorkUte users.

• It never includes your photos, videos, notes, documents, client names, addresses, or anything that identifies you or your jobs.
• Records carry a one-way hashed identifier used solely for abuse and quality monitoring — it is never joined back to your job content or shown to anyone.
• This is off until you turn it on, and you can turn it off at any time in Settings.
• If you delete your account, your contributed records are anonymised: the hashed identifier linking them to you is destroyed, and only nameless term counts remain in the shared vocabulary. Nothing retained can identify you or your jobs.

Vocabulary policy version 2026-07-12.2.

What we don't do

• We don't sell your data.
• We don't show advertising.
• We don't track you across other apps or websites.

Retention and deletion

Your content is kept while your account is active. You can delete photos, videos and jobs in the app at any time. To delete your account and all associated data immediately, use Settings → Delete account in the app, or see the account deletion page. You can also contact us at the address below and we will action deletion within 30 days.

Your rights

We handle personal information in line with the Australian Privacy Principles. You may request access to, correction of, or deletion of your personal information at any time.

Contact

WorkUte — tradie@workute.com