Privacy policy

The short version

You do not fill in a registration form to start a conversation, but that does not make this an anonymous service. A session is created for you automatically, your messages are stored so they can be delivered, and technical details about your device are recorded so the service can run and so abuse can be acted on. This page explains all of it.

What is collected

A session identifier

Opening the chat creates a session for you and stores an identifier in your browser. It is what keeps you in the same conversation when you navigate, and it is what makes blocking and reporting possible at all — without something that identifies a participant, neither control could work.

Technical and device information

When the site starts it records ordinary technical characteristics of your browser and device: browser and operating system version, screen size, language, time zone, graphics capabilities and an IP address. These are used to deliver a working page, to route audio and video, and to detect abusive or automated use.

What you send in a conversation

Messages and photos you send are stored on the service so they can be delivered to the other person and shown to you again later. Voice and video calls are transmitted in real time. Reports you submit — the reason, your description and any screenshot you attach — are stored so they can be reviewed and acted on.

Profile and account details

Anything you choose to add to your profile, and any sign-in method you later connect, is stored so the service can recognise you across devices. You choose whether to add any of it.

Purchases

If you buy credits, the payment is handled by the payment provider shown at checkout. Your card details go to them, not to us; what is kept here is the record that the purchase happened and the balance it produced.

Analytics

Aggregate usage measurement may be used to understand which pages people reach and where the product is failing them. It is not used to build an advertising profile of you, and message content is never sent to an analytics service.

Why it is collected

• To run the service — delivering messages, connecting calls, keeping you signed in.
• To keep people safe — reviewing reports, enforcing blocks, detecting scams, bots and abuse.
• To handle payments — processing purchases and maintaining balances.
• To meet legal obligations — responding to lawful requests and keeping records we are required to keep.
• To improve the product — understanding, in aggregate, what works and what does not.

What is not done with it

Your personal information is not sold. Conversations are not published, are not made searchable, and are not shared with other users beyond the person you are talking to. Messages are not used as website content.

Who it is shared with

Service providers who make the product work — hosting, real-time audio and video delivery, content storage, payment processing and analytics — process data on our behalf and only for those purposes. Information may also be disclosed where the law requires it, or where it is necessary to investigate a credible threat to someone's safety.

How long it is kept

Information is kept for as long as it is needed for the purpose it was collected for — messages while your account exists, safety and report records for as long as they may be needed to enforce the rules, and payment records for as long as financial and tax rules require. When none of those apply any more, it is deleted or anonymised.

What you can ask for

Depending on where you live you may have the right to ask for a copy of the data held about you, to have it corrected, to have it deleted, and to object to some processing. Requests can be made through the support controls in the app. Deleting your account removes it and the data tied to it, with two exceptions that apply everywhere: records we are legally required to keep, and safety records tied to a report or a ban, which would otherwise let a banned account simply start again.

Note that messages you have already sent to another person exist in their copy of the conversation too. Deleting your account does not reach into someone else's device.

Cookies and local storage

The site stores your session identifier and your interface preferences — such as language — in your browser. These are required for the service to function; clearing them signs you out and starts a new session.

Children

This service is for adults only and is not directed at anyone under 18. Accounts believed to belong to a minor are removed, and the associated data is deleted except where it must be retained for a safety or legal reason. See the community guidelines.

International transfers

The service and the providers it relies on operate in more than one country, so your information may be processed outside the country you are in. Where that happens, it is done on the basis that the receiving provider is contractually bound to protect it to the standard described here.

Changes to this policy

This page will change as the product does. When it changes materially the date at the top is updated. Continuing to use Chatiw after a change means the updated policy applies to you.