noon

Is noon safe to use?

For shopping, yes, with the usual marketplace caveats. noon has been the Gulf's homegrown answer to Amazon since 2017, and we found no consumer-protection fine, regulator order or confirmed data breach against it in the UAE, Saudi Arabia or Egypt. The weaker side is what the app does with your data: it uses your purchases to track you for advertising and, by its own Google Play declaration, shares your searches and the list of apps on your phone with other companies. We score it 53/100.

That puts it in the same range as Amazon (54) and talabat (51), but for different reasons. Amazon loses points for large US fines. noon has no such record, but it has also had far less outside scrutiny, and it publishes much less about security. noon has also owned the fashion shop Namshi since February 2023, when it completed the purchase from Emaar; Namshi has its own app, sold by Namshi General Trading, which this score does not cover.

What data does the noon app collect?

More than a shopping app strictly needs. Apple's privacy label for the UAE store lists three kinds of data used to track you across other companies' apps and websites: your purchase history, your device ID and the products you look at. Name, email, precise location and user ID are linked to your identity and used for marketing, analytics and personalisation.

Google Play's data safety section goes further. It says the app shares data with other companies, including diagnostics, in-app search history, installed apps, other actions in the app, purchase history and device IDs. Several of these are shared for "advertising or marketing". A list of installed apps says a lot about a person, and few shopping apps declare sharing it.

The privacy policy fits that picture. noon collects nationality, date of birth and gender, uses your location for "location-based services, such as advertising", and serves interest-based ads. It says noon is "not in the business of selling" personal data, but it has no date, gives no retention periods, and tells visitors who do not accept cookies to stop using the site. For deletion, you email [email protected].

Is it safe to pay on noon?

As far as anyone can tell. noon's policy says it follows the PCI DSS standard for card data and uses encryption in transit, and we found no reported breach of customer accounts or cards. What we could not find is the kind of public evidence big Western shops provide: there is no public bug bounty on HackerOne or Bugcrowd, and we could not confirm whether the app offers two-factorTwo-factor authenticationSigning in with a second proof of identity on top of your password, such as a code from an app, a security key or a passkey.More in the glossary sign-in. That keeps security in the middle of our scale rather than higher.

Pay by card or Apple Pay rather than cash on delivery if you want a chargeback route when something goes wrong.

Fake products and refunds

This is where most complaints about noon land. noon sells some items itself and lets third-party sellers list others, including imports shipped from abroad. Its terms say noon does not examine or guarantee seller product descriptions, and that a seller's own policies may differ from noon's.

noon's seller code of conduct bans counterfeits, and we found no regulator finding of fake or unsafe goods on the platform. Return rules are the more common friction. The return policy page sets windows that vary by item and seller, mostly 14 to 30 days, and noon refuses a refund on electronics whose box or seal has been opened unless the item is faulty. Import charges on international items are not refunded on returns.

Saudi Arabia's e-commerce law allows fines of up to SR1 million and the blocking of online stores, and the Ministry of Commerce has used it against dozens of smaller shops. None of the published actions we found named noon.

How to shop on noon more safely

1. For phones, perfume, watches and branded electronics, choose items sold by noon or a brand's official store, not unknown sellers.
2. Film yourself opening expensive parcels. If an item is fake or faulty, that video helps a refund claim when the seal is broken.
3. Check whether an item ships from abroad. International items carry import charges you will not get back on a return.
4. When the iPhone app asks to track you, tap Ask App Not to Track. On Android, delete or reset your advertising ID.
5. Treat texts about noon refunds, prizes or delivery fees with links as phishing. Open the app instead.

How we scored it

Privacy (40) is the weakest factor because Apple's label shows tracking and Google Play declares sharing of search history and installed apps. Security (55) and transparency and control (48) sit in the middle: no breach found, but no public bug bounty, an undated policy and email-only deletion. The regulatory record (86) is the strongest factor, because we found no fines, although no regulator has examined the app closely either.