About Sibona
Who runs it, what it is and what it is not, how it works, and what happens to what you write — in one place.
Last reviewed:
Who runs it
Sibona is operated by GOLDMIND AI CONSULTING - FZCO, a company registered in the United Arab Emirates, registration number Licence No. 67869 (Dubai Integrated Economic Zones Authority), registered address IFZA Business Park, DDP, Premises No 67869-001, Dubai Silicon Oasis, Dubai.
The company is registered outside South Africa, but the service is built for people who live here. We handle your personal information under South Africa’s POPI Act, and a subscription comes with the 7-day cooling-off period in section 44 of the ECT Act.
The servers and the database that hold your account and your conversations run on Google Cloud (Johannesburg, South Africa). The replies themselves are written by AI language models from providers outside South Africa, so what you type is sent to them to be answered. The privacy notice names every provider and explains the safeguards.
We are a small team building one product. We make money in one way only: subscriptions. We do not sell advertising and we do not sell data.
What it is, and what it is not
What it is
- Software: an AI companion built on a large language model. It will always tell you it is software if you ask.
- A private space to talk things through — a hard day, a decision you cannot make, a worry that will not let go — at any hour.
- A wellbeing service for adults. You have to be 18 or older to use it.
- A companion that remembers your earlier conversations, so you do not have to start from the beginning every time.
What it is not
- Not a person. No human reads along while you talk.
- Not a medical or health service. It cannot advise you about your health, and it does not replace a qualified health professional.
- Not an emergency service. Nobody here can come to you, send anyone to you, or call someone on your behalf.
- Not always right. It can get things wrong, so check anything that matters — money, health, legal questions — with a qualified person.
Three steps
Confirm two things
Open the chat, confirm that you are 18 or older, and give the separate consent the POPI Act asks for, because what you write may touch on your health or state of mind. No card is needed to start.
Say what is on your mind
Write it the way it comes. You get a reply straight away: it listens, reflects back what it hears, and helps you find one small next step.
Keep going if it is useful
Your first 5 answers are free. After that it is R99 a month or R699 a year, and you can cancel at any time. The details are on the pricing page.
What happens to what you write
We store your email address, your conversations, your subscription status and basic technical records. Your conversations are used to write your replies and to run automated safety checks. We do not sell them, we do not use them to advertise to you, and we do not use them to train our own models.
Anything you write about your health or state of mind is special personal information under the POPI Act, so we ask for a separate, explicit consent before your first message. You can withdraw it at any time — see the health-data consent.
You can delete a single conversation, or your whole account, whenever you like. The privacy notice covers what we collect, who processes it and how long we keep it, and the PAIA manual explains how to ask for the records we hold about you.
How to reach us
Email support@sibona.co.za. Support is by email only. Questions about your personal information go to the same address, for the attention of our Information Officer.
Answers to the usual questions about payments, cancelling and refunds are on the help page.
If things are very bad right now
Sibona is not an emergency service. If you are in danger, or thinking of ending your life, please use one of the free lines on our get help now page — they are staffed by people trained for exactly this call.