Privacy Policy
Last updated: 4 October 2026
Who we are
Hala Guangzhou is an Arabic guide for Arab visitors to Guangzhou, China. You can contact us by email at info@halagz.com or via WeChat: halaguangzhou.
Information we may collect
When you use the contact form or the add-a-place form, you may provide information such as your name, email address, and details of the suggested place.
The site may automatically collect standard technical information when you visit, such as your IP address, browser or device type, the time of the request, and the pages requested, in server logs and for the purposes of operation, security, and service improvement.
The Hala Guangzhou website may use measurement and analytics tools such as Google Analytics to understand how the site is used and to improve content and performance. We do not use this data for targeted advertising or to sell user data.
The HalaGZ app does not contain an advertising, tracking, or analytics SDK, and it does not send the user’s location to our servers.
How we use information
We use the information you send only to respond to your inquiries or to review the suggested places you send. We do not share this information with third parties for commercial or marketing purposes.
Contact and add-a-place forms
The contact form asks you to provide your name, your email address, and the text of your message. This information is sent directly to the Hala Guangzhou team and is not stored in the database.
When the add-a-place form is used, a request awaiting review is created containing the details of the suggested place, the name and email address (both optional) of the person making the suggestion, their IP address, and the time of submission, and a notification is sent to the Hala Guangzhou team’s mailbox. When the request is accepted or rejected, the name, email address, and IP address of the person making the suggestion are deleted from it; the place details and the submission time remain. No place is published before it has been verified.
Cookies and spam protection
The site uses the cookies necessary for WordPress to work normally, such as the security verification of forms. Measurement and analytics services on the site may use cookies or similar technologies to measure usage and improve performance. We do not use cookies for targeted advertising.
The contact and add-a-place forms may use the Cloudflare Turnstile service for spam protection. This service is subject to Cloudflare’s own separate privacy policy.
External services and links
The site relies on a number of external services to provide its content:
- Prayer times: requested from the Aladhan API by sending the geographic coordinates of Guangzhou.
- Currency exchange rates: fetched from the open.er-api.com service and updated daily.
- Interactive maps: based on the Leaflet library with OpenStreetMap maps.
- Directions links: point to Google Maps or Amap, depending on what is available for each place.
The site contains external links to other websites such as Booking, Google Maps, and social media platforms. These websites operate independently and are subject to their own privacy policies; we are not responsible for their privacy practices.
The HalaGZ app
The HalaGZ app operates independently of the analytics tools used on the website and does not include an advertising, tracking, or analytics SDK.
When the sort-by-proximity feature is used, the app requests location permission in the foreground only. If the user is inside Guangzhou, the location is used locally to show the places nearest to them. If the user is outside the city, the location is used only to determine that they are out of range, and places are then sorted by distance from Huacheng Square. The user’s location is not sent to our servers and is not stored as a record of their movements.
The server infrastructure may log standard technical information, such as the IP address and request data, when the app connects to halagz.com services, for the purposes of service operation and security.
Information retention period
We may keep the information you send for as long as necessary to process your request or review the suggested place. Message data received through the contact form is not stored in the database.
User rights and contact
You can contact us if you would like to ask about the information you have sent or request its deletion. Contact us by email: info@halagz.com or via WeChat: halaguangzhou.
Privacy policy updates
We may update this policy when the site’s services or practices change. The date shown at the top of the page indicates the last update.