Privacy Policy

What Bocas Pulse is

Bocas Pulse is a WhatsApp-first local information service for Bocas del Toro. It answers practical questions and lets people contribute community reports. Power status is the first live information service.

Information we receive

When you communicate with Pulse through WhatsApp, we may receive and keep:

• WhatsApp identifiers linked to your account and phone number, your messaging address, and profile details such as your display name when Meta provides them.
• The content of messages you send and the replies Pulse sends, including any information you voluntarily include.
• Zone or location information you mention, community reports you contribute, and whether you describe information as firsthand.
• Your preferences for power-zone subscriptions and alerts, including subscription and unsubscribe activity.
• Technical messaging information needed to operate the service, such as message identifiers, message type, timestamps, delivery status, processing status, and provider error categories.
• The relevant WhatsApp webhook data supplied by Meta for inbound messages and delivery updates.

Please do not send sensitive personal information that Pulse does not need to answer your question or process your report.

How we use information

Pulse uses this information to:

• identify the WhatsApp conversation and provide a relevant response;
• interpret and process community reports;
• operate requested subscriptions and power alerts;
• maintain short-lived conversation context when a question needs clarification;
• prevent duplicate message processing, track delivery, diagnose failures, and maintain service reliability; and
• protect the quality of community information and address misuse.

Community information

Information you submit may contribute to a community status shown to other users. Pulse is designed to present the useful result of recent reports rather than expose a contributor’s phone number or WhatsApp profile. Community information is not official utility confirmation and may be incomplete or delayed.

WhatsApp and Meta

Pulse receives and sends messages through the WhatsApp platform and Meta’s WhatsApp Cloud API. Meta and WhatsApp process information under their own terms and privacy practices. Data handled independently by Meta or WhatsApp is outside Bocas Pulse’s direct control.

Retention

Pulse keeps messaging, identity, report, subscription, and operational records as needed to provide and maintain the service. The current service does not define one general automatic deletion period for these records. Expiration of short-lived conversation state does not automatically delete the underlying message records.

Security

Pulse uses technical and operational safeguards intended to protect service data and restrict operational access. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, so absolute security cannot be guaranteed.

Your access and deletion requests

You may ask about personal information associated with your use of Pulse or request its deletion. Pulse does not currently offer an automated self-service deletion flow. See the data deletion instructions for the manual request process.