Who we are
Chatter is a free messaging app made by [YOUR NAME] in [TOWN], Switzerland, as part of Miles Vibecode. When this policy says "we" or "us", it means that person, who is responsible for your data under Swiss data protection law.
Questions about privacy go to [CONTACT EMAIL].
What we keep
We keep only what Chatter needs to work.
| What | Where it comes from | Why we need it |
|---|---|---|
| Your Google email address and name | Google, when you sign in | To create your account and sign you in |
| Your @username, display name and profile photo | You | So friends can find you and see who they are talking to |
| Your messages and voice notes | You | To deliver them and keep your chat history |
| One-view photos and videos | You | To deliver them once, then delete them |
| Friends, groups, blocked people and private nicknames | You | To run your chat list, groups and blocking |
| Call connection details, including your IP address | Your device, during a call | To connect the call directly between the two devices |
| Reports you send | You | To keep people safe (see Reports) |
We do not collect your contacts, your location, your phone number or your Google password. Google handles sign-in, so your password never reaches Chatter.
How we use it
- To run Chatter: signing you in, delivering messages, connecting calls, and showing your chats.
- To keep Chatter safe: dealing with reports, blocking accounts that break the rules, and stopping spam and abuse.
- To fix problems when something breaks.
- To meet a legal obligation, if one ever applies.
That is the full list. We rely on providing the service you asked for, and on our legitimate interest in keeping it safe, as the reasons we are allowed to use your data.
What we never do
- Sell, rent or trade your data, to anyone, ever.
- Share your data with advertisers or data brokers.
- Use your messages to target ads or build a profile of you.
- Use analytics or tracking tools that follow you around the web.
- Read your messages out of curiosity, or for any reason other than those listed under Who can see what.
Who can see what
Other people on Chatter
Your @username, display name and profile photo are visible to other signed-in users so they can find you. Your email address is stored alongside your profile and can technically be read by other signed-in users. Your messages can only be read in the app by the people in that conversation.
Us
The Chatter administrator can see each account's username, name, email address and friends list, and can block accounts that break the rules.
An honest word about your messages
We do not read your messages. But a privacy policy should never promise more than the technology can deliver, so here is how Chatter actually works.
Chatter is not end-to-end encrypted. Your messages are encrypted while they travel over the internet and while Google stores them, but they are not locked in a way that shuts out the service itself. That means the administrator could technically access them. We choose not to, and we only ever look at messages when:
- someone sends a report and includes the last messages of that chat as evidence;
- we are legally required to, for example by a Swiss court order; or
- it is needed to stop serious harm or to fix a technical fault, and even then only what is strictly necessary.
If you need a conversation that nobody but you and the other person could ever read, use an end-to-end encrypted app for it.
Reports
If you report someone, we store who you reported, the reason, anything you wrote, your username, any screenshot you add and, if you leave the box ticked, the last 10 messages of that chat. The report goes to the Chatter admin website, which only the administrator can open. The person you report is never told who reported them.
We delete reports once they have been dealt with, unless we need to keep one because of repeated problems with the same account.
Calls and one-view media
Calls go directly between the two devices and are never recorded or stored. To connect, both devices exchange technical details, including IP addresses, through Chatter's database and Google's public connection servers. Only the two people on the call can read those details.
One-view photos and videos are deleted from our database as soon as they are opened. While open, they are marked with the viewer's username and the time, to discourage screenshots. Chatter cannot stop screenshots or screen recording, so only send what you would be comfortable with someone keeping.
Services we use
We use a small number of companies to run Chatter. They process data on our behalf and are not allowed to use it for their own purposes.
- Google Firebase stores accounts and messages and handles Google sign-in. See Firebase privacy.
- Cloudflare hosts the website and protects it from attacks. It processes your IP address and basic request details to deliver pages.
- Google Fonts supplies the typeface, so your browser contacts Google when the app loads.
Some of these companies store or process data outside Switzerland, including in the European Union and the United States. Where that happens, they rely on the legal safeguards required by Swiss and EU law, such as standard contractual clauses.
How long we keep it
- One-view photos and videos: deleted as soon as they are opened.
- Messages and voice notes: kept until the account or conversation is deleted.
- Your account: kept until you ask us to delete it.
- Reports: deleted once dealt with, except where we need to keep one because of repeated problems.
- Blocked accounts: the account record is kept so the block keeps working.
Security
All traffic to Chatter uses HTTPS. Only Google accounts can sign in. Database rules control exactly who can read and write each piece of data: for example, only the people in a conversation can open its messages, and only the administrator can see reports. The admin area is protected by several layers of sign-in.
No system is perfectly secure. If a breach ever puts your data at risk, we will tell affected users and, where the law requires it, the Swiss data protection authority.
Your rights
Wherever you live, you can ask us to:
- show you the data we hold about you;
- correct anything that is wrong;
- give you a copy of your data;
- delete your account and your data; and
- stop using your data for a particular purpose.
You can change your username, display name and photo yourself in Settings. For everything else, email [CONTACT EMAIL] from the Google account you use on Chatter, and we will reply within 30 days. When we delete your account, we remove your profile and username; tell us if you also want the messages you sent removed from other people's chats, and we will do that too.
If you think we are handling your data unlawfully, you can complain to the Swiss Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (edoeb.admin.ch), or, if you live in the EU or UK, to your local data protection authority.
Cookies and storage
Chatter does not use advertising or tracking cookies. Your browser stores a few things so the app works:
- your sign-in session, so you stay logged in;
- your theme and language choice; and
- a copy of the app itself, so it opens quickly and can be installed.
These stay on your device, and you can clear them at any time in your browser settings.
Age
You must be at least [13] years old, and old enough to have your own Google account where you live, to use Chatter. If we learn that someone under that age is using Chatter, we will delete the account.
Changes to this policy
If we change this policy, we will post the new version here with a new date. If a change is significant, for example if we start using your data in a new way, we will tell you in the app before it takes effect.
Contact
[YOUR NAME]
[TOWN], Switzerland
[CONTACT EMAIL]