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AroosaHub Privacy Notice

Last updated: 17 October 2026

AroosaHub is a new planning guide and vendor directory for Somali weddings in the UK. This notice explains what information we collect while we research and prepare to launch, why we collect it, and your rights over it. We've tried to keep it short and plain.

Who we are

AroosaHub is run by Ilhan Farah, a sole trader based in the UK. Ilhan Farah is the data controller, which means the person responsible for your information.
Contact: [email protected]

What this notice covers

  • Our community survey about planning Somali weddings in the UK
  • Research interviews with couples, families and wedding vendors
  • Our waitlist and interview sign-up form
  • Our vendor interest form
  • Our private beta website, a short test of the AroosaHub site with a small group of invited testers
  • Accounts, sign-in and purchases for the AroosaHub planner and the Setting Up Your New Home guide, once they go on sale

You must be 18 or over to take part in any of these.

What we collect and why

  • Community survey. What we collect: Your answers about your wedding, planning, budget ranges, vendors, faith and legal steps, and broad details such as age range and UK region. We don't ask for your name or email. Why: To understand what couples and families need, and to shape the AroosaHub guide and directory. Lawful basis: Your consent, given at the start of the survey.
  • Research interviews. What we collect: Your name and contact details to arrange the interview; what you tell us; an audio recording if you agree Why: Same as above, in more depth. Lawful basis: Your consent, given before the interview starts.
  • Quoting or featuring your story. What we collect: Words you've said, named or anonymous as you choose Why: To include real experiences in the guide or on social media. Lawful basis: Your separate consent, asked for specifically.
  • Waitlist and interview sign-up. What we collect: First name, email, and which updates you want Why: To tell you when AroosaHub launches, and to invite you to an interview if you asked. Lawful basis: Your consent, which you can withdraw at any time.
  • Vendor interest form. What we collect: Business name, contact name, email, social media handle, category and area Why: To contact you about listing in the directory when it opens. Lawful basis: Your consent.
  • Private beta website. What we collect: Which pages you open, which buttons you click and how far you get; the tester code in your invitation link; any feedback you choose to give. No name or email is asked for on the site. Why: To learn which version of the site and which guides work best before launch. Lawful basis: Your consent for the tester code and feedback; our legitimate interest in understanding anonymous usage.
  • Accounts, sign-in and purchases (when paid products launch). What we collect: Email address; what you bought, sale reference, licence key and refund status; a record of your devices; your saved progress; sign-in emails sent Why: To let you sign in, give you what you bought, apply the device limit, keep your progress, and handle refunds and disputes. Lawful basis: Contract; legal obligation (tax records); legitimate interest (security and preventing misuse).
  • Website waitlist and vendor sign-up. What we collect: Email, the cities you choose (including any city you type in), and for vendors: business name, category, city, WhatsApp, public email, halal status and a note Why: To tell you when the vendor directory opens in your city, and to contact vendors about listing. Cities outside the UK are used only to decide where to open next. Lawful basis: Your consent, recorded when you confirm the sign-up.

We won't use your information for anything else without telling you first. We never sell it.

Sensitive information

Some survey and interview questions touch on religious practice (such as the Nikah) and Somali heritage. UK data protection law treats this as special category information. We only collect it with your explicit consent, all faith and legal questions are optional, and we report answers in combined form only, never individually.
We deliberately don't ask about clan (qabiil), health, or immigration status. If you mention these in an interview, we won't record them in our notes.

Our private beta website

Before launch we ran a short private beta of the AroosaHub website with a small group of invited testers. During the beta the guides were free to use. This applies to anyone who took part:

  • Usage statistics. We use PostHog, set up to store data in the EU, to see which pages are opened, which buttons are clicked and how far people get. It is set up to run without cookies. We don't record your screen or what you type, and we don't use advertising trackers.
  • Your tester code. Your invitation link contains a short code (for example R01) so we can match your feedback to how the site was used. We know which invitation went to whom, so this is linked to you. We keep that list separately from the usage data and never publish it.
  • Saved in your browser only. Ticks, guest lists and budget entries you enter are saved in your own browser on your own device. We can't see them, and they won't move to another device.
  • Feedback. The feedback form is optional and is run on Tally. It asks for your views on the site, planner and guides, and for your tester code, which is filled in for you from your invitation link. It doesn't ask for your name or email. Because your answers carry your tester code, you can ask us to delete them at any time.

The beta site was not search-engine listed and was only meant for people we invited.

Our website

The AroosaHub website is hosted by Cloudflare, which also manages our domain name. Cloudflare handles visitors' IP addresses to deliver the pages. The site does not use advertising trackers, and its fonts load from our own server, not from Google.
If you arrive through a link that ends in a short source tag (for example ?t=instagram), that tag is passed to the sign-up form so we can count which channel people joined from. It contains no personal information. The waitlist and vendor sign-up are described in the list above.

Your account, devices and purchases

When AroosaHub's paid products (the planner and the Setting Up Your New Home guide) go on sale, you will sign in to use them. Until then you do not need an account. Here is what that involves:

  • Sign-in. You enter your email address and we send you a one-time link or code. There is no password. We use your email address to recognise you and to check what you have bought. Sign-in emails are service messages, not marketing.
  • Your purchases. You pay on Gumroad, which handles the payment, VAT and receipt. Gumroad tells us your email address, what you bought, the sale reference and licence key, and whether the sale is later refunded or disputed. We do not see or store your card details.
  • Your devices. Access is for your own use on a limited number of devices (we plan up to 3). To apply that limit we keep a record of each browser or phone you sign in on: a random ID, a label such as "iPhone Safari", and when it was last used. You can see and remove your devices on your account page.
  • Your saved progress. Your ticks, dates, budget lines, guest lists and notes can be saved to your account so they follow you between devices. They are kept apart for the planner and the guide. They may include other people's names (for example on a guest list), so please add only what you need. Your entries can reveal religious practice, such as Nikah plans; we use them only to give you your own planner back and never to profile you.
  • Usage statistics. If we measure how the signed-in products are used, this is described in the usage statistics point above, and we will update this notice before any change.

We use this information to give you what you bought, to keep your account secure, to apply the device limit and to deal with refunds and disputes. Our lawful bases are performing our contract with you, our legal duty to keep tax records, and our legitimate interest in preventing misuse of paid products. You can close your account and ask us to delete your saved progress at any time by emailing us; we will still keep the purchase record we are legally required to keep.

Who we share it with

We never sell your information or share it with anyone for their own purposes. These services handle it for us, only to run AroosaHub:

  • Google (Forms, Drive and Sheets) to run the survey, waitlist and vendor forms and store responses
  • Tally to run the beta feedback form and the website waitlist and vendor sign-up forms, and store those responses
  • WhatsApp or email, if you choose to contact us or arrange an interview that way
  • PostHog (EU-hosted) to measure how the beta website is used
  • Gumroad to take payment, handle VAT and issue receipts and licence keys for paid products, once they go on sale
  • Cloudflare (D1 database and website hosting) to store accounts, purchases, devices and saved progress
  • Resend to send sign-in emails

If we ever had to by law, we would share information with authorities.

Storage outside the UK

Google may store data on servers outside the UK, including in the United States. Where this happens, it relies on safeguards recognised under UK law, such as the UK-US data bridge or approved contract terms. Tally and PostHog store data in the EU, which UK law recognises as providing adequate protection. Accounts, purchases and devices are stored with Cloudflare in its EU jurisdiction, and Resend sends sign-in emails from its Ireland (EU) region. Cloudflare and Resend are US companies and may process some data in the United States under the safeguards they publish. Gumroad is a US company and may process data in the United States under the safeguards it publishes.

How long we keep it

  • Survey responses: Up to 24 months after the survey closes, then deleted
  • Interview audio recordings: Deleted within 14 days of writing up notes
  • Interview notes (stored under a code, not your name): Up to 24 months
  • Your name and contact details for interviews: Deleted 3 months after the interview, unless you join the waitlist
  • Waitlist details: Until you unsubscribe, or 12 months after launch if you haven't opened anything we've sent
  • Vendor interest details: Until the directory opens plus 12 months, or sooner if you ask
  • Beta usage statistics and tester codes: Up to 6 months after the beta ends, then deleted
  • Beta feedback answers: Up to 24 months after the beta ends, then deleted
  • Purchase records (email, sale reference, date, amount): 6 years, because tax records must be kept
  • Account, devices and saved progress: While your account is open. Removed devices and their records are deleted within 30 days. If you ask us to close your account, saved progress is deleted within 30 days

Your rights

You have the right to:

  • ask for a copy of the information we hold about you
  • ask us to correct it
  • ask us to delete it
  • ask us to stop or limit using it
  • withdraw your consent at any time, for example by unsubscribing from the waitlist. This doesn't affect anything we did before you withdrew.

To use any of these rights, email [email protected]. We'll reply within one month.
Because the survey is anonymous, we can't find or delete your individual answers once you've submitted them.

How to complain

Please contact us first so we can try to put things right. You can also complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK's data protection regulator, at ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint.

Changes to this notice

We'll update this notice as AroosaHub grows, for example when our website and guide launch. The date at the top shows when it last changed.