Privacy and photos in Hayat Gate
gate.hayaterp.com ↗How Hayat Gate protects the people who drive through your gates — photo retention (90 days by default) and automatic deletion, who can see photos, plates and CNIC numbers, encryption of CNIC and phone numbers, what residents, visitors and clients see, how the gate PC protects its data, and good practice for the site.
Hayat Gate records people's movements: who came in, when, with whom. Treat that log like a CCTV recording and the visitor book together — keep only what you need, show it only to those who need it.
How long photos are kept
Each read keeps two photos: the plate close-up and a wider picture of the car. Settings → Keep photos (days) — 90 days by default — decides how long. Every few hours Hayat deletes older photos (and camera snapshots); the text of the log (time, lane, plate, decision) stays for the reports.
- A society usually needs 30–90 days. Set fewer days if your committee or client asks.
- Need a photo for longer — an incident, a police case? Download it from the event while it is still there, and keep it with the incident file.
- Blacklist evidence photos stay until you remove the blacklist entry.
Who sees what
| Who | Sees |
|---|---|
| Staff with See gate passes and the gate register (gate.view) | The log and photos of the sites in their company and branch |
| Managers (gate.manage) | Also full CNIC numbers and the camera push addresses |
| Guards and cashiers | The log and photos; CNIC numbers masked |
| Residents in the portal | Their own vehicles' and their own visitors' entries and exits — no photos |
| Visitors | Only their own pass page (name, host, time window, QR) |
| Security company clients | Counts, alerts and the log of their sites — no photos, no names or phones, plates partly hidden unless you allow full plates |
Photos are never public: they open only for a signed-in staff user with the right permission, and are not kept in the browser's cache. Every barrier opening, manual entry, alert action, waiver and payment is logged with the user's name.
CNIC and phone numbers
The CNIC and phone numbers of members, vehicle owners, visitors and monthly-pass holders are stored encrypted in the database. Hayat can still find a person by their exact CNIC or phone, but nobody reading the database sees the numbers. On screen, CNICs are masked (42101-*******-1) except for managers.
Ask for a CNIC only when your site rules need it (e.g. contractors, workers); for most visitors a name and phone are enough.
On the gate PC
- The site's lists, recent reads and photos waiting to upload are kept in a folder only Windows administrators can open.
- The pairing key and camera passwords are encrypted on the PC and never written to the logs.
- The status page at
localhost:7781opens only on that PC, not from the network. - When the PC is replaced or stolen, Revoke it in gate.hayaterp.com (Devices).
Good practice for the site
- Put up a clear sign at each gate: Number plates are read and recorded by camera for security. (English and Urdu.)
- Give each guard their own sign-in; remove leavers the same day.
- Give clients' links an end date and revoke them when a contract ends.
- Keep the blacklist fair: a reason, who asked, and an expiry date. Remove entries that are no longer needed.
- Do not share photos or logs on WhatsApp groups. Share a single event with the person who needs it.
- If a resident asks what is recorded about them, the manager can show them their vehicles' log.
See also Security and card data for how Hayat protects data on the server.