Safety isn't a setting.
It's the architecture.
Most apps ask you to trust their promises. Aura is built so you don't have to. Your chats are encrypted on your phone, your twin negotiates from a short list of public facts and nothing more, and we tell you plainly what we don't do — we don't check licences, and the AI runs on our servers, not your handset. Here's exactly how — and where the honest limits are.
End-to-end encryption
Your chats are sealed on your phone
Every message between you and a neighbour is encrypted on your device before it ever leaves it, and only their device holds the key to open it. Our server is a blind router — it shuttles sealed envelopes between phones and can't read a single word inside.
Encrypted on-device
Messages are locked with AES-GCM keys generated and held in your phone's hardware keystore — not on a server.
The server is a blind router
Aura relays ciphertext only. There is no plaintext copy to subpoena, leak, sell, or read.
Not even Aura can read them
We deliberately built ourselves out of the loop. We can't recover your chats — and neither can anyone who breaks into our servers.
Where the AI runs
Your twin negotiates from a deliberately thin profile
The twin's thinking runs on Aura's servers, not on your phone — we'd rather say so than imply otherwise. What protects you isn't where the model sits; it's how little it's given. A negotiation gets a short, fixed list of public facts about you and nothing else, and the transcript is wiped afterwards.
A fixed allowlist, not your whole profile
A negotiation sees only: name, pronouns, general suburb, interests, skills, languages, bio and what you're available for. That list is hard-coded — there is no path for anything else to reach it.
Or cut us out entirely
Add your own AI provider key, or point the app at your own Ollama server, and prompts go straight from your phone to that provider. Aura never sees them. Running the model on the phone itself is on the roadmap, not built yet.
Transcripts don't linger
Twin-to-twin negotiation content is automatically redacted after the deal is done — we keep the outcome, not the back-and-forth.
Self-declared licences
A neighbour on your block — but still check their licence
Aura searches your suburb, not the whole country. Licences are self-declared: a tasker ticks what they hold, and nobody at Aura checks it. Four categories won't accept a bid without a declaration — plumbing, electrical, childcare and airport transfers — because unlicensed work there is illegal in Queensland.
Four categories are gated
Plumbing, electrical, childcare and airport transfers need a declared licence before a tasker can bid. That gate exists because Queensland law requires the licence — it is not us confirming they have one.
We don't collect the document
There's no upload and no file. A tasker ticks the credential and can type a licence number; both are shown to you exactly as they entered them.
Verify it yourself before you hire
Ask to see the physical licence, and check the number against the relevant Queensland register. A declaration on Aura is a starting point, not proof.
Image safety
Every photo is checked before it goes live
Profile photos, avatars, gig pictures — every image you upload is safety-scanned before anyone else can see it. It stays hidden until it clears. If the scan can't run, the image stays hidden rather than slipping through. Block-until-cleared, not clean-up-after.
Scanned before it's visible
Uploads are held back and checked for explicit or unsafe content before they appear anywhere in the app.
Fail-closed by design
If a scan errors out, the image stays hidden and gets re-checked — the safe default is 'don't show it'.
No public surprise
Nothing harmful goes live to the feed or a chat first and gets pulled later — it's blocked up front.
Your twin only does what you let it
Autonomy is a slider you control, not a default you discover later. Pick how much your twin handles — from a shortlist you approve to hands-off matching with an undo window. You can change it any time.
Recommends
Surfaces a ranked top-3 with one-line reasoning. You do the rest.
Full human approve
Drafts replies and bids for you to review before anything is sent.
Agent acts
Auto-assigns within your rules, with a 60-second undo window.
Even in the most hands-off mode, your twin stays inside the rules you set — and a human signs off before any work actually happens.
Your data
We don't sell your data — and we can't read your chats anyway
Aura doesn't sell or rent your personal information to advertisers or data brokers. That isn't just a policy line — it's baked into how the app is built. The most sensitive thing you do here, your private conversations, is encrypted in a way that leaves us nothing to sell in the first place.
- No selling or renting of your personal data to third parties.
- Your chats are end-to-end encrypted — there's no readable copy on our side.
- Precise location is blurred fast; old data is purged on a schedule, not kept forever.
- Delete your account and we wipe your data — including files in storage.
Payment safety
Nothing to skim, because the money never passes through us
The safest place for your money is your own account. Aura is the matching layer — it helps two people find each other and agree a price. The payment itself happens directly between you, off the platform. There's no Aura wallet holding your earnings, which means there's nothing for us to lose, freeze, or leak.
Aura is a matching layer, not a payment service. You pay — or get paid — directly (cash, PayID, bank transfer). Aura never touches gig money.
- You pay — or get paid — directly via cash, PayID or bank transfer.
- No escrow, no commission held back, no Aura balance to drain.
- AURA tokens cover platform fees only — they're never your wage.
Honest limits: these reduce risk — they don't erase it
Encryption and image scanning meaningfully lower the odds of something going wrong. They are not guarantees, and we won't pretend otherwise. A declared licence is a claim the tasker made about themselves — we never saw the document, so it proves nothing on its own. Meeting people from the internet, even a neighbour a few streets away, still calls for ordinary common sense. The tips below are the ones that actually matter.
Six habits that keep in-person gigs safe
The app does a lot. These small habits do the rest. None of them take more than a minute.
Meet in public first
For a first job, pick a busy, public spot or have someone home with you. Save the solo, quiet meetups for people you've already worked with.
Check the profile and reviews
Look at ratings and past gigs before you agree — those come from real completed jobs. Licences are only what the tasker told us, so ask to see the real one.
Keep it in the app at first
Agree the details over encrypted chat so there's a clear, private record of what was promised before anyone shows up.
Confirm pay before work starts
Settle the price, the scope and how you'll pay (cash, PayID, transfer) up front. If something feels off, you don't have to go ahead.
Tell someone your plan
Share where you're going and who you're meeting with a friend or family member. A quick heads-up costs nothing.
Trust your gut, then report
If a person or request feels wrong, walk away — and report it. Reports feed the moderation that keeps the community clean.
Local help, built to be trusted
Read the fine print, then decide for yourself. Our privacy policy and terms spell out exactly what we do and don't do with your information.
Questions about safety? Email info@auratwin.co