What is the Welkom-App Mechelen?
The Welkom-App is a free smartphone app that informs Mechelen’s residents about leisure, healthcare, living, learning and life in Mechelen. In this multilingual welcome app, Mechelen’s residents find information they are looking for faster in a targeted and tailormade way.
What can you find in the app?
- different organisations per theme on a map
- a calendar with interesting activities
- a dictionary with an explanation of the difficult words.
- is reading difficult for you? Then listen to all the information via the read-aloud function.
- your personal profile with important information about yourself
Purpose of the WelkomApp Mechelen
The WelcomeApp aims to offer bundled information in an accessible and e-inclusive way. The stakeholders are the inhabitants of Mechelen, city services and Mechelen civil society organisations working with (non-Dutch-speaking) inhabitants of Mechelen.
Privacy statement
We respect the privacy of your personal data. To this end, we follow the General Data Protection Regulation (also known as General Data Protection Regulation or GDPR) because we consider the protection of your privacy and the protection of your personal data very important. This privacy statement explains how we handle your data. The Group Mechelen’s general privacy statement can be found on the website www.mechelen.be/jouw-privacy.
Which personal data of yours do we process?
Personal data is all data that allows Stad Mechelen to recognise you, directly or indirectly. Personal data is therefore all data that we can link to you in one way or another, such as your e-mail address, telephone number, etc.
Anyone in possession of a smartphone or tablet can download the WelcomeApp free of charge (both iOS and Android). For more info: www.mechelen.be/welkom-app. The user of this application does not have to enter any personal data or log in to use the app.
The user can leave personal data in the app in three ways, on their own initiative:
- When the user wants to send feedback about the app. This can be done both in the app and via e-mail.
- When the user sends feedback in the app, only the feedback field is mandatory. Personal identification data (name, first name and mail address) are not mandatory fields.
- If the user does fill in these data, it is only used to process feedback and is not passed on or reused for other purposes (e.g. newsletters).
Additionally,the user also has the option to enter a personal profile and favourites in the app. The user chooses which data. This data may contain personal data but is only stored locally on the device. There is no way this data flows through to the operating system.
We store personal data on the feedback form for 1 year. We never forward this personal data to others.
Who all has access to your personal data?
The City of Mechelen is the 'data controller'. Specifically, only those responsible for and manage the WelcomeApp at the City of Mechelen (Social Policy Department and Strategy and ICT Department), will have access to the personal data.
The City of Mechelen cannot track who installs the WelcomeApp Mechelen or which data or favourites are stored locally on the device.
The City of Mechelen relies on IT partners for maintenance and developments. They will act as processors, always acting in accordance with the City's guidelines. We have strict agreements with all processors to ensure that they use the same high privacy standards. They only use the data in the context of maintenance tasks for the WelcomeApp Mechelen.
What if you have questions or concerns about the protection of your data?
If you have questions or concerns about the processing of your data, you can contact us, in the first instance, at welkomapp@mechelen.be.
Secondly, you can contact the Data Protection Officer (DPO) at privacy@mechelen.be.
If you wish to lodge a complaint, you can contact the Flemish Supervisory Commission or Belgian Data Protection Authority (formerly the Privacy Commission CBPL). The contact details can be found on their website:
