Our commitment to your privacy
At Golden Handshake, your privacy matters. This policy explains what information we collect and how we use it — covering both people who use the Golden Handshake app to find discounts, and businesses that manage listings through the Business Portal.
In both cases, we do not sell, share, or disclose personal information to third parties for marketing or advertising purposes.
App users
No account required
The Golden Handshake app does not require you to create an account. You can browse and search the full directory without providing any personal information such as your name, email address, or phone number.
Anonymous device identifier
When you first open the app, a random identifier is generated on your device. This identifier is immediately scrambled using a one-way cryptographic hash (SHA-256) before it ever leaves your device. The result is an anonymous code that cannot be reversed to identify you, your device, or anything about you personally.
This anonymous identifier is used solely to:
- Record basic usage events such as which listings you viewed or shared, so we can understand how the app is used
- Count how many times a listing has been viewed (shown as an aggregate total to businesses — never as individual activity)
We do not use this identifier for advertising, profiling, or tracking you across other apps or websites.
Location is optional and never stored
If you choose to enable location services, your device’s GPS is used only in the moment to find nearby businesses. We do not retain, log, or store location data on our servers. You can use the full app without granting location permissions by searching by suburb or postcode instead.
Your preferences stay on your device
Your saved favourites, recently viewed businesses, selected Seniors Cards, and location settings are stored locally on your device only and are never transmitted to our servers.
Deleting your data
You can permanently delete all anonymous usage data associated with your device at any time directly within the app — go to Account → Your Data → Delete All My Data. This removes your usage history from our servers and clears all local preferences from your device.
Business Portal users
Information we collect
Businesses that register on the Golden Handshake Business Portal must create an account. We collect:
- Your name and email address, used for authentication and account communications
- A phone number, used to verify your connection to a listed business
- Business contact information you add to your listing
- Photos and promotional content you upload for your listing
How we use your information
- To create and manage your Business Portal account
- To verify your connection to a listed business
- To send account-related emails such as verification and password reset
- To display your business listing to app users
Data from government sources
Business listing data is sourced from State Government Seniors Card programs (currently the Queensland Government Open Data Portal, licensed under CC BY 4.0). This is publicly available information about businesses participating in the Seniors Card program.
Security
We use industry-standard security practices, including encrypted connections (HTTPS) and secure authentication. Passwords are never stored in plain text.
Your rights
App users can delete all anonymous usage data directly within the app via Account → Your Data → Delete All My Data, at any time without contacting us.
Business Portal users may request access to, correction of, or deletion of their account data at any time by contacting us.
Changes to this policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Significant changes will be communicated to registered Business Portal users via email. Continued use of the app after changes take effect constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.
Contact us
Questions about this policy or your data? Contact us