Privacy Policy

FillMeIn.co.za is built with privacy at its core. Your personal information stays on your device — always.

How Your Data is Handled

FillMeIn is a client-side application. The information you enter into a form is never sent to our servers or any external service — we do not collect, transmit, or process your form answers on any server. Application preferences (such as your theme choice) are stored locally in your browser.

This means your form data never leaves your device. There is no server-side database, no cloud storage, and no remote backup of what you type into a form. The data you enter exists only in your browser tab, plus a short-lived draft saved locally in case you're interrupted (see below) — it is never sent anywhere else. (Two separate, entirely optional features — the Contact page and the post-download feedback prompt — do send a small amount of different information to us; see "Contact Form" and "Optional Feedback" below for exactly what and why.)

What Data is Stored on Your Device

FillMeIn stores very little locally. At this stage we only persist the minimum needed for the app to work:

  • Form data (during your session): The information you enter into a form sits in your browser tab while you fill it in. A short-lived draft is also saved locally (IndexedDB) so you can resume if you're interrupted — it stays in place even after you download your PDF, in case you need to come back and fix a mistake, but it's discarded automatically after 24 hours, or immediately if you tap "Clear saved data".
  • Profile information: Not yet implemented. A future update will let you optionally save details like your name and ID number locally so they can be reused across forms. We will update this page when the feature ships.
  • Application preferences: Settings such as your preferred theme (light or dark mode) are stored locally.

No Server-Side Data Collection

FillMeIn does not operate a server that collects or stores what you type into a form. Specifically:

  • The information you enter into a form — names, ID numbers, addresses, form answers — is never uploaded to any server
  • No user accounts or login credentials are required
  • No cookie is used for tracking, advertising, or analytics purposes
  • Your form answers are never shared with, sold to, or disclosed to any third-party service, advertiser, or data broker
  • Anonymous, cookie-free usage analytics help us understand which forms are most used (see below)

The only information that does reach a server is what you choose to type into the separate Contact page or the optional post-download feedback prompt — never your form data. Both are covered in full below.

Anonymous Usage Analytics

We use self-hosted, cookie-free analytics (Umami on umami.lefty23.co.za) to understand which forms are most used and how visitors find our site. This is not Google Analytics or any third-party service — we run it ourselves.

What is collected: Page view counts, referrer (where you came from), browser type, and country-level location.

What is NOT collected: Personal data, form data, IP addresses, or cookies. Umami does not use cookies and respects your browser's "Do Not Track" setting.

Contact Form

Our Contact page is entirely separate from the forms you fill in — using it is optional and only happens if you choose to send us a message.

What is sent: The name, email address, and message you type into the Contact page are sent to our contact-handling service so we can read and reply to you.

What we ask: Please don't include your ID number or other sensitive personal details in a message — we don't need them to answer a general question, and the form itself carries this same reminder.

Optional Feedback

After downloading a completed form, you may be asked to rate your experience. This is entirely optional — you can dismiss it without providing any feedback.

What is sent if you choose to rate: A star rating (1–5), the form name, an optional issue category, and the date/time are always sent to our self-hosted automation server (auto.lefty23.co.za) and stored in a private Google Sheet. If you also write an optional comment, that text is sent too.

What we don't ask for: The rating prompt never asks for your name, ID number, address, or anything else from the form itself — please don't include personal details in the optional comment box either, since it's meant for feedback about the tool (e.g. a confusing field or a broken PDF layout), not for anything you typed into the form.

POPIA Compliance

The Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA), Act 4 of 2013, governs how personal information is collected, processed, and stored in South Africa. FillMeIn is designed with POPIA principles in mind, minimising data collection to the greatest extent possible.

Because FillMeIn does not collect, process, or store your personal information on any server, the traditional data processing requirements under POPIA do not apply in the same way. Your data remains under your control at all times — stored only on your device, accessible only to you, and deletable at any time.

Under POPIA, you have the right to know what data is being processed about you. With FillMeIn, the answer is straightforward: no personal data is processed by us. All processing happens locally in your browser, and we have no access to your information.

Some forms (for example a police clearance application, a notice of death, or a government job application) ask for information POPIA classes as "special personal information" — things like criminal behaviour, health information, or race. This is handled exactly the same way as every other field: it stays in your browser tab, is only ever saved to a short-lived local draft on your own device (see "What Data is Stored" above), and is never uploaded anywhere.

If you're not satisfied with how we've handled a privacy concern, you have the right to lodge a complaint with South Africa's Information Regulator at inforegulator.org.za.

Your Rights and Control Over Your Data

You have full control over the data stored on your device:

  • Delete your data: Tap "Clear saved data" on any form page to immediately wipe its saved draft, or clear your browser's site data for FillMeIn.co.za to remove everything at once.
  • No account required: You are never required to create an account or provide identifying information to use FillMeIn.

PDF Generation

When you generate a filled PDF form, the entire process happens in your browser. The PDF template is downloaded to your device, your form data is merged into it locally, and the completed PDF is saved directly to your device. At no point is your form data sent to a server for processing.

Changes to This Policy

If we make changes to this privacy policy, we will update this page. Because FillMeIn is a client-side application with no user accounts, we cannot notify you directly of policy changes — we encourage you to review this page periodically.

Contact Us

If you have any questions or concerns about this privacy policy or how FillMeIn handles data, please contact us at [email protected].