Ayoba has reiterated its focus on protecting their users’ privacy and security. The company has reassured its users that it’s not possible for messages in the app to be read by anyone, or shared to any third parties. The issues were cleared after its users took to social media to express their opinions.
Like most IM platforms like WhatsApp, Telegram, WeChat, among others, Ayoba said it has a peer-to-peer private messaging feature which are end-to-end encrypted where only the communicating users can read the messages. In principle, it prevents potential eavesdroppers – including telecom providers, ISPs, and even Ayoba – from being able to access the cryptographic keys needed to decrypt the conversation.
The company has also asked its users to feel confident that their private data will remain private, and is treated with the utmost care and respect by their Privacy Policy.
Interim CEO Mr. Richard Cimardi while talking about the privacy and security issues, he also said the company has made the app 100% family friendly and safe for its young users.
“With our unique feature, Family Friendly, all the content on Ayoba is curated. We have a team of editors who check every post on our content channels before it goes live. This includes our music and entertainment channels. So it’s 100% family friendly and safe for our younger users,” says Cimardi.
Ayoba also recently launched an in-app assistant, Aya, to guide new users on how to use an instant messaging app. Aya appears automatically in everyone’s chats and can run a variety of interactive tutorials for key features within ayoba.
Ayoba is a Pan African messaging platform, built by Africans for Africans. It speaks to the diversity of Africa as it’s built with some features not available on other IM platform. The app supports 22 languages: English, isiXhosa, isiZulu, French, Arabic, Dari, Pashtu, Hausa, Afrikaans, Igbo, Jula, Kinyarwanda, Luganda, Pidin [Cameroon], Pidgin [Nigeria], Portguese, Sesotho, Setswana, Swahili, Twi, and Yoruba. Content channels are predominantly English and French, but the app offers content across all the languages as well, in Dari, Pashto, isiZulu, isiXhosa and more.
In partnership with MTN, MTN customers automatically have free data to use ayoba features. Allowances range from 50MB daily to unlimited usage, depending on the country. MTN users can also use the app for in-app person-to-person mobile money transactions.
Ayoba was awarded the Africa Digital Award for Best Mobile Application in November 2020, in a voting process involving both industry judges and the public. Ayoba offers Group Chat, Status updates, MicroApps and over 100 content channels bringing news, fashion, beauty, sports, education and music listening to the users. Ayoba has also an extensive game selection of more than 120 games currently available.
Ayoba is looking forward to a busy 2021, upgrading the already extensive list of features – including exciting new content in Channels and local MicroApps from across Africa, and also introducing new functionality, including in-app VoIP voice and video calls.
