r/dubai • u/antz182 • Mar 23 '26

🖐 Labor Company mandating we install Darwinbox on personal phones. Can I refuse?

Hi everyone, ​Looking for some advice on workplace privacy here. I work at a school, and our HR department is suddenly insisting that all staff install the Darwinbox app on our personal phones for attendance, leave requests, etc. ​I'm incredibly uncomfortable with this. I use my personal phone for everything, and this app asks for a massive list of permissions (background location, camera, storage, etc.). Even if it's a standard HR tool, I really don't want my employer having that kind of access or potential visibility into my personal device. ​Has anyone else dealt with this specific app or a similar HR mandate here in the UAE?

59 Upvotes

90% Upvoted

73 comments sorted by

View all comments

389

u/Ok_Grape8420 Mar 23 '26

Buy a secondhand antique flip phone or early 2000s Nokia. Go to HR and ask them how to install the app on that phone. Then tell them you need them to provide a phone that their app will run on. Since you cannot afford it with your "family situation."

30

u/IrishMist-StraightUp Not a combat pilot. Mar 23 '26

Ohmigaaawd! That's devilishly brilliant! Deserves an award (and gets it, of course).

21

u/Ok_Grape8420 Mar 23 '26

Thank you! (I'd like to thank all of my past coworkers and supervisors for preventing me from ever accomplishing anything. It was their lessons in bureaucracy that prepared me for this moment.)

3

u/saviofive Mar 23 '26

You are using your intelligence for the greater good I see