Methaq Takaful Insurance P.S.C. ("Methaq", "we", "us", "our") operates the Methaq mobile app for iOS and Android. This policy explains what personal information the app collects, why we collect it, who we share it with, how long we keep it, and the rights you have under United Arab Emirates law. It applies to the Methaq mobile app only — our website has its own separate policy.
If you have any question about this policy, or you want to exercise any of your rights, contact us on 600 565 695 or at compliance@methaq.ae.
You can use the app as a guest, with no account. From app version 1.2.0 you can also create an account, which is optional. An account lets you see your policies and documents, and renew or make a claim, from any phone. You never need an account to get a quote, buy, renew or claim.
As a guest, the app creates a random reference number on your device when you first open it (a "device identifier"). It is not your phone's serial number, advertising ID, or any identifier issued by Apple or Google.
We attach that identifier to the quotes, purchases and claims you send from the app, so you can follow them on this phone without signing in. Because those requests carry your name and contact details, we treat the identifier as personal information too. If you delete the app or move to a new phone, the new installation gets a new identifier and cannot show your earlier requests, unless you have an account and sign in to it (section 2 j). You can also call us and an advisor can help.
We collect personal information when you use a feature: getting a quote, buying a policy, renewing, making a claim, creating an account, chatting with us, or turning on notifications. We do not track you — not across other apps, not across websites, and never for advertising.
Some technical information is collected automatically. None of it contains your documents, your name or your contact details:
You choose your car and answer a few questions first. The app shows you real prices before it asks for any document or even your name.
| What we collect | How | Why we need it |
|---|---|---|
| Your car's details — make, model, trim and year, body type and engine size, the emirate where it is registered, its specification, its first registration and its value | You choose or type them | To price the insurance |
| Your driver details — date of birth, nationality, when you got your UAE driving licence, and how many years you have driven without a claim | You type or choose them | They affect the price |
| The plan you choose | You tap it | To prepare your quote |
| Your name, mobile number and email address, and your agreement that an advisor may contact you | You type them in and tick the box | So an advisor can contact you, and to prepare your policy. Your request is saved and passed to an advisor at this point, even if you stop before sending your documents |
| Photographs of your Emirates ID (front and back) | Your phone's camera, or a photo or PDF file you choose | To check the details you gave against the official document, as UAE insurance regulation requires, and to issue a policy |
| Photographs of your UAE driving licence (front and back) | Camera or file | To check your licence details, and the date you were first licensed, against what you told us |
| Photographs of your vehicle registration card / Mulkiya (front and back) | Camera or file | To confirm the car being insured: chassis number, plate, make, model and year |
| The information printed on those documents — for example your name, Emirates ID number, date of birth, nationality and gender, your licence details, and the vehicle's details | Read automatically from the photographs (section 3) | To check the details you gave, and to prepare a policy |
| Your signature on the No-Claims Discount Self-Declaration, where one applies (your typed name, the date and time, a fingerprint of the exact text you signed, and the app version, phone type and device reference) | You type your name and tap to sign | UAE insurance rules require a signed declaration before a no-claims discount can be approved. We must be able to show what was signed, when, and by whom |
You can send your documents later: if you stop at the document step, your request stays open and the Requests tab lets you send them when you are ready.
| What we collect | How | Why we need it |
|---|---|---|
| Your policy number, or your car's plate (emirate, code and number) | You type or choose it | To find the policy you want to renew |
| Photographs of your vehicle registration card / Mulkiya (front and back) | Camera or file | To confirm the car and the policy match (for example the chassis number, plate, insurance expiry date and owner's name printed on the card), and to prepare your renewal |
| Photographs of a renewed Emirates ID or driving licence (front and back), only if the one we hold has expired | Camera, or a photo you choose | Our server reads the new card to check it belongs to the same person, and takes its new expiry date. If the card matches, the photographs are kept with your renewal. If it does not match, nothing from it is kept |
When we find your policy, we use the details already on it (for example your name, nationality and no-claims record) to prepare your renewal. The app shows the Emirates ID, licence number and contact details we hold only in a masked form (part of each hidden), and you can choose to use the contact details we have on file.
| What we collect | How | Why we need it |
|---|---|---|
| A one-time code sent by text message (SMS) to your mobile number | You type the code we send | To confirm the mobile number belongs to you before you pay |
| Your payment | Card details are entered on Network International's secure card screen inside the app, or on its secure payment page, which the app opens | To take payment. Your card number and security code go directly to Network International — the app never sees, handles or stores them. To set up the payment, our server gives Network International your name, email address, emirate, the amount and an order reference. We receive back only the result: whether the payment succeeded, the amount, and a payment reference |
| Your policy details and documents — policy and certificate numbers, cover dates, your car, the premium, the policy documents and your car's traffic registration status | Created by Methaq when your policy is issued | So you can view your policy in the app and save a copy. We also email your policy documents to you |
An advisor may also send you a payment link. It opens in your phone's web browser, on the same provider's secure page.
| What we collect | How | Why we need it |
|---|---|---|
| Your policy number, your car's plate and chassis number, whether the car is private or company-owned, and the type of registration document | You type or choose them | To find your policy and the car the claim is about |
| The police report number, the date, time and emirate of the accident, and where it happened (typed in your own words — the app does not use your phone's location) | You type them | Needed to open a motor claim |
| What happened — the type of claim (for example your fault, not your fault, or flood), whether the car can be driven, and where you would like it repaired | You choose them | To handle and route your claim |
| Your name, mobile number and email address | You type them in | So the claims team can contact you about your claim |
| Documents — your Emirates ID, driving licence and vehicle registration (or ownership or clearance certificate), both sides; the police report; a trade licence for a company car; and, if you choose, photos of the damage | Camera, photo library or a file you choose | Required to assess and settle a motor claim |
| Any further document the claims team asks for after you file — for example a bank (IBAN) letter if your claim is paid to you by bank transfer | Camera, photo library or file | To complete your claim |
Before a claim photo leaves your phone, the app removes its hidden location and camera details (the "EXIF" data). Your photos may show other people or vehicles; by submitting you confirm you may share them with Methaq for the claim.
You follow your claim in the app: its status, any document still needed, and the garage or survey centre appointed. Methaq may also send you updates about your claim by email, text message (SMS) or WhatsApp.
The app has a live chat with an automated assistant and, during opening hours, a human advisor. It is run for us by VioneX Technologies (section 4). We collect the messages you send and a chat identity for your phone. If you are a guest, the app does not send your name or contact details to the chat. If you are signed in to an account, it sends your name, so the advisor knows who they are helping. Anything you type there — for example a phone number or a policy number the assistant asks for — is received and kept with the conversation. The app keeps your recent conversations on your phone (up to 30). Please do not send documents, card numbers or passwords in the chat.
If you allow notifications, the app sends our server a push notification token — a code issued by Apple or Google that lets us send a message to your phone — together with your phone's operating system (iOS or Android), the app's language, and your chat identity (so chat replies can reach you). We use it only to tell you about your own quotes, payments, policies, renewals, claims and chat replies. We do not send marketing or promotional notifications.
If you leave a quote unfinished, the app may also set one reminder on your phone for 24 hours later. That reminder is created on the phone itself; nothing is sent to us.
The Push notifications switch in the app's Profile tab stops the notifications we send from our servers. To stop all notifications, including that reminder, turn notifications off for Methaq in your phone's settings.
Deleting the app removes all of this from your phone. From app version 1.1.2, the app's data is not included in Android device backups.
We use two tools to see where the app fails, so we can fix problems before customers have to report them. Neither is an advertising tool, and neither receives your documents, your Emirates ID, your name, your phone number, your email or your chat messages.
Both see basic technical details: the phone model, the operating system and its version, the app version, the phone's language and time zone, and a random identifier used to count events, which is not linked to you. Like any internet service they see the connection's internet (IP) address, but they are set not to use it to record your location.
This is on unless you switch it off. Profile → Help improve the app turns both off straight away.
You can create an account after you buy a policy, or by finding a policy you already have with Methaq. You never have to.
| What we keep | How | Why we need it |
|---|---|---|
| Your mobile number and email address (the ones you confirm) | You type them and confirm each with a one-time code. If you have no email address you can skip it | To sign you in, to send you codes, and to send your policy documents |
| Your password | You choose it | To sign in. We store it only in a scrambled form that we cannot read |
| Your Emirates ID number, the name on your policy, and the list of your policies | Taken from your policy, or typed by you when you find a policy | To connect the account to the right policies. For our audit log we keep a scrambled (not readable) fingerprint of the Emirates ID number |
| The phones you have signed in from, and a record of account activity — sign-ins and sign-outs, password resets, codes asked for, and when a policy was linked to an account | Created automatically | To keep the account secure, and to show who linked which policy and when. The record does not contain your password or your codes. We keep it for about 13 months |
| Your acceptance of this policy — which version, the date and time, and the app version | When you tick the box to create the account | So that we can show that you have read this policy |
Codes. To create an account, sign in from a new phone, reset your password or delete your account, we send one-time codes by text message (through SMSGlobal) and, for some steps, by email (through Twilio SendGrid). The email may greet you by your name.
Finding a policy you already have. If you bought your policy through a broker, our website or another channel, you can find it in the app by typing your Emirates ID number and the traffic number printed on your vehicle registration card (Mulkiya). You may also add your date of birth and driving licence number to help us be sure it is you. We match what you type against our records. The app first tells you only how many policies match. We show the policy details after you have confirmed your own mobile number and your own email address with codes. Until you confirm your email address you see limited details and cannot download documents.
A notice to the previous contact. When a policy is linked to an account, or the contact details on an account are changed, we send an email to the contact details that were already on the policy record (these may belong to your broker or a family member) and to your other confirmed contact. It tells them that an account was opened or changed, and gives a link to report it if it was not you. The notice shows only the last characters of the vehicle's plate and the time. It does not contain your name, phone number, policy number, Emirates ID or any other policy details. If someone uses the link, the account is frozen until we have looked into it.
What we do not ask for. The app does not ask for, and does not collect: your salary, your bank details (except a bank letter for a claim payout, if the claims team asks for one), your card details, your health information, your phone's location (it never asks for location permission), your contacts, your calendar, your photo library (other than a file you specifically choose), or anything about how you use other apps or websites. Health insurance is not offered in this app.
To save you typing, the document photographs are read by an automated text-recognition service, which reads the printed details and returns them. That service, called VOCR, is operated by VioneX Technologies, which processes the images only on Methaq's instructions and only to read the printed text — for no other purpose.
The app compares what was read with what you told us. If a document cannot be read clearly, the app asks you to photograph it again. If the details do not match, the app tells you plainly and an advisor looks at your request.
Decisions made automatically. Some outcomes are decided by our systems: the price you are shown; whether you can buy straight away in the app or an advisor needs to review your request first; and, on a renewal, whether a renewed card matches the policy on file. If you disagree with an automatic outcome, you can ask for a person to review it — call 600 565 695 or use the chat.
We do not sell your personal information, and we do not share it for advertising. We share it only as follows. Our service providers use it only to provide their service to us — the one exception is the anonymous security information described for Talsec in section 2 i.
| Who | What they receive | Why | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| Methaq staff — the advisor or claims handler looking after you | Your request or claim, your documents and your contact details | To serve you | UAE |
| VioneX Technologies — VOCR text-recognition | Document photographs | To read the printed text (section 3) | Germany |
| VioneX Technologies — chat | Your chat messages and chat identity, and your name if you are signed in | To run the chat | UAE (Abu Dhabi) |
| AutoData — vehicle information | Your car's chassis number | To look up the car's make, model, specification and value | India |
| Network International (N-Genius) — card payments | Your card details, which you enter on its own secure screen or page; and from us, your name, email address, emirate, the amount and an order reference | To take payment. Methaq never receives your card number | UAE-based payment company |
| SMSGlobal — text messages | Your mobile number and the message, such as your one-time or sign-in code, or a claim update | To send you text messages | Australia-based company |
| Twilio SendGrid — email | Your email address, your name and the email, such as your policy documents, a code, an account notice, or a claim update | To send you emails | United States |
| PostHog — app analytics | App-health information (section 2 h) | To find and fix problems | European Union (Frankfurt) |
| Sentry — crash reports | Crash and error reports with personal information removed (section 2 h) | To find and fix crashes | European Union (Frankfurt) |
| Talsec — security check | Anonymous security information and the connection's IP address (section 2 i) | To detect tampering, fraud and abuse | European Union (Czech Republic) |
| Expo — app updates | The technical update request (section 2 i) | To deliver app updates | United States |
| Apple (APNs) / Google (Firebase Cloud Messaging) | Your push notification token and the notification itself | The only way to deliver a notification to your phone | Apple / Google |
| Meta (WhatsApp) | Your mobile number and the message | Only if we send you a claim update on WhatsApp | Meta |
| Garages, surveyors and loss adjusters appointed for your claim | The details of your claim and car that they need | To inspect and repair your car | UAE |
| Regulators, other insurers and authorities | What the law requires | To meet our obligations under UAE insurance, anti-fraud and anti-money-laundering law | UAE |
| System | Where it runs |
|---|---|
| Methaq's own servers — your quotes, documents, policies, payment records and claims | Oracle Cloud, Abu Dhabi — inside the UAE |
| Chat | Oracle Cloud, Abu Dhabi — inside the UAE |
| Document text-recognition (VOCR) | Germany — see section 3 |
| App analytics (PostHog) and crash reports (Sentry) | European Union (Frankfurt, Germany) |
| Security check (Talsec) | Outside the UAE — Talsec is based in the European Union |
| Emails (SendGrid) and app updates (Expo) | United States |
| Text messages (SMSGlobal) | Outside the UAE — SMSGlobal is based in Australia |
| Vehicle information look-up (AutoData) | India |
| Push notifications (Apple, Google) and WhatsApp messages (Meta) | Those companies' own services, outside the UAE |
Where information is processed outside the UAE, we do this because it is necessary to provide the service you asked for, and we choose providers that are bound to keep it secure and to use it only for the purpose we give them.
| What | How long |
|---|---|
| Photographs on your phone | Held only in the app's temporary (cache) storage, which your phone clears from time to time, and removed when you delete the app. They are never added to your photo library |
| Photographs, quote, policy and payment records on Methaq's systems | For as long as we are handling your request and, if you become a customer, for the life of your policy — and thereafter for the minimum periods UAE law requires us to keep insurance and financial records (at least 5 years under UAE anti-money-laundering law, and longer where insurance regulation requires) |
| Claims records and claim documents | For as long as your claim is being handled, and thereafter for the minimum periods UAE law requires us to keep insurance records |
| Signed No-Claims Declarations | Retained for the period required by UAE insurance law (10 years) |
| Your account, while it is open | Until you delete it or ask us to |
| After you delete your account | The sign-in, password, contact details and name saved in the account are deleted straight away. Policy, claim, payment and declaration records are kept for 10 years (see above). The record of account activity is kept for about 13 months |
| A renewed ID or licence that does not match the policy on file | Not kept |
| One-time codes | Valid only for a short time |
| Chat messages | For as long as needed to handle your enquiry and a reasonable period afterwards for quality and dispute-resolution purposes |
| Push notification token | Until you turn notifications off or uninstall the app |
| Analytics and crash reports | For a limited period, after which they are deleted automatically |
| Security-check information | Kept by Talsec under its own data policy |
| Information the app keeps on your phone | Until you delete the app. Policy documents you saved stay until you delete them |
No system is perfectly secure, but we take these measures seriously and review them regularly.
Under UAE Federal Decree-Law No. 45 of 2021 on the Protection of Personal Data, you have the right to: ask what personal data we hold about you; ask us to correct it; ask us to delete it; ask us to stop or restrict how we use it; object to our use of it, including to a decision made automatically (section 3); and withdraw any consent you have given.
Some of these you can do straight away in the app: Profile → Help improve the app stops analytics and crash reports, and Profile → Push notifications stops the notifications we send. You can also delete an account you created, in Profile → Delete my account (see below).
Delete your account in the app. Go to Profile → Delete my account. To make sure it is you, we ask for a code sent by text message and, if you have confirmed an email address, a code sent by email. Deleting your account deletes your sign-in and password, the mobile number, email address and name saved in the account, and the link between the account and your phones.
What we keep after you delete your account, and why. Deleting an account does not delete your insurance. UAE insurance law requires us to keep the records of your policies, claims, payments and signed declarations for 10 years. Those records contain your name and Emirates ID, because they are part of the insurance record. We also keep the scrambled fingerprint of your Emirates ID number and the record of account activity (about 13 months), so that we can show who linked which policy and when. We use what we keep only to meet these legal duties.
Without the app. You can ask us to delete your account at https://methaq.ae/app-delete, or by email to compliance@methaq.ae. We check that it is you first, and we respond within 30 days.
Why we may use your data. We create and run your account because you ask us to, so that we can provide the service. We keep the records described above because the law requires it. Where we rely on your consent, for example your agreement that an advisor may contact you, you can withdraw it at any time. This does not affect what we did before you withdrew it.
For everything else, email compliance@methaq.ae or call 600 565 695. We will respond within 30 days. Please note that some information — for example records we are legally required to keep (section 6) — may need to be retained even after a deletion request, to the extent the law requires.
You also have the right to complain to the UAE Data Office.
The app is intended for people aged 18 and over who hold a UAE driving licence. It is not intended for children, and we do not knowingly collect information from them.
To be explicit, because these are the things people most often ask about:
If we change this policy we will update the date at the top. For significant changes we will also tell you in the app or in the app's update notes ("What's New") in the App Store and Google Play.
Methaq Takaful Insurance P.S.C.
Hotline: 600 565 695
Data protection contact: compliance@methaq.ae
Website: https://methaq.ae