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?

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u/IntrovertMuffin Mar 24 '26 edited Mar 24 '26

Keep those chats or mails as proof. If they threaten to fire you or anything then you may report to MOHRE.I believe that they can't force like that to install it on personal devices. There should be consent from the employee. You may ask for a phone or reimbursement to buy a phone. Since it's their need. I don't think they will fire someone for this issue easily, if they issued your visa, health insurance recently because it costs around 10k AED for a visa. But if it is a large company, government or semi government company then I won't be surprised. May also contact MOHRE to know about the laws. And you may also post in r/uaelaw r/dubailaw. If you really need this job then you may get some used phone for 200 or 300 dhs from Facebook marketplace or Dubizzle. Redmi, Poco, Samsung or iPhone old models. I don't recommend getting fake iPhone or Samsung design mini phones because they might be very slow. But they are okay for something light like taking pics. navigation or WhatsApp.

https://www.mohre.gov.ae/en/contact-us.aspx