Privacy Policy

Effective date: April 1, 2026  ·  Last updated: September 1, 2026

ShieldDesk ("we", "our", or "us") is an AI-powered customer support tool for Shopify merchants, operated by Approid Technologies. This Privacy Policy explains what data we collect, why we collect it, how we store and share it, and the rights available to you — whether you are a merchant (store owner) or an end customer (someone who submitted a contact form).

1. Roles: Data Controller vs. Data Processor

Under data protection laws such as the GDPR, it is important to distinguish between two roles:

• Data Controller — the party that determines the purpose and means of processing personal data. In respect of your customers' data, the Shopify merchant is the data controller.
• Data Processor — the party that processes data on behalf of the controller. Approid Technologies acts as a data processor when handling customer messages on behalf of the merchant.

In respect of merchant account data (shop domain, access tokens, billing information), Approid Technologies is the data controller.

Merchants are responsible for ensuring they have a lawful basis to share their customers' personal data with us, and for notifying their customers that their support messages may be processed by an AI tool.

2. Data We Collect

Merchant account data (collected when a merchant installs the App):

• Shop domain — the merchant's .myshopify.com address, used to identify the account.
• Shopify OAuth access token — issued by Shopify, used to register webhooks and read order data on the merchant's behalf. Stored securely and never exposed to end users.
• Subscription plan and billing status — current plan tier, message usage count, and trial end date, managed through Shopify's billing system.

Customer message data (collected when a customer submits a contact form on a merchant's Shopify store):

• Customer name and email address — as submitted in the contact form.
• Message content — the full body of the contact form submission.
• Order context — if the customer's email matches an order, we retrieve order number, status, fulfilment status, line items, and tracking details from the Shopify API to improve the AI reply.
• AI classification labels — a category assigned to the message (e.g. SHIPPING_ISSUE, REFUND_REQUEST, SPAM) and a spam confidence score.
• Draft reply — an AI-generated suggested reply created for the merchant's review. This is never sent to the customer by us.
• Resolution status — whether the message is PENDING, RESOLVED, SPAM, or AUTO_RESOLVED.
• Auto-resolved flag — whether the message was identified as a routine order status query and handled with a pre-generated tracking reply suggestion.

We do not collect payment card details, passwords, or any data beyond what is listed above.

3. Legal Basis for Processing (GDPR)

For merchants and customers in the European Economic Area (EEA) or United Kingdom, we rely on the following legal bases:

4. Why We Collect It

All data collected is used exclusively to provide the ShieldDesk service:

• Classifying incoming customer messages by type and spam likelihood.
• Generating AI draft replies for merchants to review and send.
• Auto-suggesting replies to routine order status queries using live Shopify order data.
• Displaying message history, classification, and resolution status in the merchant dashboard.
• Enforcing plan message limits and resetting monthly usage counters.

We do not use this data for advertising, analytics sold to third parties, or AI model training on our end.

5. How We Store It

All data is stored in Supabase, a managed cloud database platform. Data is encrypted at rest (AES-256) and in transit (TLS 1.2+). Supabase infrastructure is hosted on AWS and holds SOC 2 Type II certification.

Our application backend is hosted on Render, a cloud application platform based in the United States. Render processes data in transit but does not persist application data independently.

Merchant account data (shop domain, access tokens) is stored in a dedicated table with row-level access restricted to the ShieldDesk backend. Customer messages are stored in a separate table, always scoped to the specific shop domain to ensure strict data isolation between merchants.

5b. Features that process additional data

These capabilities are off unless a merchant turns them on, and each is limited to what the feature needs:

• WhatsApp support — when a merchant connects their own WhatsApp Business (Meta) account, we process the customer's WhatsApp number, profile name and message content in order to show the message in the merchant's inbox and send the merchant's reply. Replies are only sent inside Meta's 24-hour service window. We never send marketing messages.
• Questions from the customer account page — a customer may ask about their own order from their Shopify account. We store the question text, the customer's email and the order it refers to. The request is bound to that order by its confirmation number, so it cannot be used to read another customer's messages.
• Order actions — with the merchant's explicit approval in the app, ShieldDesk can cancel an order, issue a full refund, or update a shipping address through the Shopify Admin API. This requires the optional write_orders permission, which a merchant grants in-app and can decline. Every attempt, successful or not, is recorded in an audit log visible to the merchant.
• Proactive delivery updates — if enabled, we read the merchant's shipped orders once a day to find shipments with no recent carrier scan, and draft an update for the merchant to approve. Nothing is sent to a customer without merchant approval.
• Orders older than 60 days — with Shopify's approval, ShieldDesk uses the read_all_orders permission so that a customer asking about an older order receives a real answer rather than a manual follow-up.

Customer phone numbers and shipping addresses are read only for the enquiry being handled, are shown only to the merchant's staff inside the app, and are deleted under the same retention and redaction rules as all other data.

Where messages are shown inside Shopify — ShieldDesk also surfaces messages the merchant already holds, without collecting anything further: a block on the Shopify order page listing that customer's messages, answers to questions the merchant asks Shopify's Sidekick assistant (for example "anything urgent from customers?"), triggers and actions for Shopify Flow so the merchant can build their own automations, and an optional daily digest emailed to the merchant. These read data already described above and send nothing to the end customer.

6. Sub-processors and Third-Party Sharing

We share data with the following sub-processors to deliver the service:

Anthropic does not use API inputs to train their models by default. Their data handling is governed by Anthropic's Privacy Policy.

We do not share data with any other third party, and we do not sell data under any circumstances.

7. International Data Transfers

ShieldDesk is operated from India. Our sub-processors (Anthropic, Supabase, Render, Mailgun) are based in the United States; Meta processes WhatsApp data under its own policy when a merchant enables that channel. If you are located in the EEA, UK, or another jurisdiction with data transfer restrictions, please be aware that your data will be transferred to and processed in countries that may not have the same data protection standards as your country.

We rely on the following safeguards for international transfers: standard contractual clauses (where applicable) and processing only through sub-processors who maintain appropriate certifications (SOC 2, ISO 27001). By using the App, you consent to these international transfers as described in this Policy.

8. Data Retention

Customer messages (name, email, message body, AI classification, draft reply) are retained for as long as the merchant's account is active. Merchants may request deletion of specific customer records at any time by contacting us. We aim to fulfil deletion requests within 30 days.

Merchant account data is retained for as long as the App is installed. When a merchant uninstalls the App, we revoke their access token and retain a minimal record (shop domain, uninstall date) for up to 90 days to support reinstallation. Merchants may request full deletion of all records at any time.

When a Shopify GDPR shop/redact webhook is received (typically 48 hours after uninstallation), we permanently delete all data associated with that shop, including all customer messages and the merchant account record.

9. Merchant Rights

As a merchant using ShieldDesk, you have the right to:

• Access — request a copy of all data we hold associated with your shop.
• Deletion — request permanent deletion of all your shop's data, including all customer messages and your account record.
• Correction — request correction of any inaccurate data we hold about your account.
• Portability — request an export of your message data in a machine-readable format (JSON or CSV).
• Objection — object to processing of your data at any time; this will result in termination of the service.

To exercise any of these rights, email us at support@approidtech.com. We will respond within 30 days.

10. End Customer Rights — GDPR & CCPA

If you are an end customer (a person who submitted a contact form on a Shopify store that uses ShieldDesk), your message was processed on behalf of that merchant. The merchant is the primary data controller for your data. Please contact the merchant's store directly for most data requests.

However, you may contact us directly at support@approidtech.com to exercise the following rights:

• Right to access — request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
• Right to erasure — request deletion of your name, email address, and message content from our systems.
• Right to rectification — request correction of inaccurate personal data.
• Right to restrict processing — request that we limit how we process your data.
• Right to data portability — receive your data in a structured, machine-readable format.
• Right to object — object to processing of your personal data at any time.
• CCPA (California) — Do Not Sell — we do not sell personal data. No opt-out is required, but you may contact us to confirm this.

Please include your email address and the Shopify store domain where you submitted your message. We will respond within 30 days (10 business days for CCPA requests).

If you are in the EEA/UK and believe your rights have not been addressed, you have the right to lodge a complaint with your local supervisory authority (e.g. the ICO in the UK, or your national data protection authority in the EU).

11. Security

We implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data against unauthorised access, alteration, disclosure, or destruction. These include:

• Encryption of data at rest (AES-256) and in transit (TLS 1.2+).
• Shopify OAuth tokens stored server-side only and never exposed to the browser.
• Row-level data isolation: each merchant can only access their own shop's data.
• Session token authentication (HMAC-SHA256 JWT) for all API requests from the merchant dashboard.
• HMAC verification on all Shopify webhook payloads to prevent spoofing.

No system is perfectly secure. If you discover a potential security issue, please report it to support@approidtech.com promptly.

12. Cookies and Tracking

ShieldDesk does not use cookies, tracking pixels, or any third-party analytics. The merchant dashboard uses browser sessionStorage solely to remember whether the onboarding wizard has been shown in the current browser session. This data is never transmitted to our servers and is cleared when the browser tab is closed.

13. Children's Data

The App is not intended for use by or in connection with individuals under 16 years of age. Merchants must not use the App to process messages from individuals they know to be under 16 without appropriate verified parental consent.

14. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. For material changes, we will provide at least 14 days' advance notice via the App or by email to the address associated with your Shopify account. Continued use of the App after the notice period constitutes your acceptance of the updated Policy.

15. Contact

For privacy-related questions, data requests, or deletion requests, contact us at:

Approid Technologies
Email: support@approidtech.com

We will acknowledge your request within 5 business days and resolve it within 30 days.