Privacy

What does AChat collect?

Your Google name, email address and photo, your username, the people you add in AChat, the messages and files you send, location in chats that record it, reports, error and usage data, and payment details.

• Account: the name, email address and photo from your Google account, and your username. You can replace the photo and change the username.
• Chats: your messages, files, voice notes and statuses, and who's in each chat.
• Contacts: people you've accepted, requests you've sent or received, and people you've blocked.
• Anonymous rooms: the display name you pick in each room, the messages you send there and a device ID used in that room.
• Location: recorded in a chat that has device and location history on, after you agree. The sections below explain it.
• Camera: only when you scan a QR code to link a device or to add a contact. The code is read on this device; no picture is saved or sent to AChat.
• Microphone: only when you record a voice note or dictate a message. If you say no, text, photos and files still work.
• Link previews: off unless you turn them on. Then the first link in a message you see goes to AChat's server, which reads that page's title and image for you; nothing is kept, and the linked site never sees your device.
• Reports: when you report messages, the ones you select go to AChat's moderators, and in a community to its admins as well.
• Contact form: your name, email address and message, so the AChat team can reply.
• Error reports and usage analytics, so the AChat team can find what's broken. They leave out message content, passwords, keys and precise locations.
• Screen recordings: masked recordings of a few account screens, never of chats.
• Payments: the plan you chose and the details the AChat team needs to confirm your payment, such as its reference code.

AChat never asks for your phone number.

Who is responsible for my data?

The AChat team, based in Lahore, Pakistan. The team runs AChat and decides how to handle the data it holds.

Questions about this page go to the AChat team through the contact page.

Can children use AChat?

No. You need to be 16 or older, and an account found to belong to someone younger is closed.

Who can read a personal chat?

The people in it. Personal chats, private groups and their files are end-to-end encrypted, so each message can be read only on those people's devices.

AChat stores those messages in a form its servers and administrators can't read.

AChat's moderators see a message only if someone in the chat reports it.

AChat promises end-to-end encryption for personal chats, private groups and rooms with a password. It doesn't promise it for communities, their channels or open rooms.

Status updates aren't end-to-end encrypted, so AChat's servers can read them. Access rules limit who else can see each one to the audience you chose.

A room with a password encrypts its messages on your device, using that password.

Search looks only at messages already on your device.

Notifications never include the message itself.

What does anonymous mean here?

No account and no phone number. It doesn't mean invisible.

Anonymous mode doesn't promise that no one can identify you.

Your device still connects to AChat's servers, as it would for any website.

If you also have an account, AChat doesn't link your anonymous messages to it.

Rooms never show when you're online or last seen.

Who sees my location in a chat with location history on?

In a public chat, anyone who can open it, now or later, can see the location records and copy them.

In a personal chat or private group, only members who enter the chat's audit password can see them. In a room with a password, it's the room password.

They're encrypted end to end. AChat's administrators can't open them.

Each record holds your precise location and how accurate your device says it is. It also holds the date and time, a device ID used only in that chat, your browser and operating system, and your language and time zone.

The history never shows your IP address or an ID that links you across chats.

A chat tells you all of this before you enter, and records nothing until you agree.

• Your location comes from your device and can be wrong.
• These records aren't proof of who you are or where you really were.
• If your browser pauses this tab, recording pauses too. The chat asks for a new record when you're back.

What if I deny location permission?

That chat stays closed. You can still leave it or try again later, and your other chats aren't affected.

How long is chat location history kept?

For as long as the chat exists. Records end only when the chat is permanently deleted from Trash or expires.

Turning history off stops new records. It doesn't delete the earlier ones.

Anything someone has already copied or saved can't be taken back.

What if I lose every device?

Your recovery key or another linked device brings your history back. Google sign-in alone can't, so keep the key somewhere you'll find it.

AChat doesn't keep a copy of your message keys, so the AChat team can't restore your history for you.

Can a family plan owner read my messages?

No. The person paying for Team / Family manages seats and renewal, and can't read other members' chats or see their location.

How long is everything else kept?

Who else handles my data?

Google handles sign-in, and AChat receives your name, email address and photo from it.

Other companies' services run parts of AChat. The table below lists each one by what it does and what it receives.

AChat doesn't show ads from ad networks and doesn't sell your personal data. It may show you other apps made by the AChat team.

What can I control?

You can export your data, delete your account and choose who sees your status and when you're online.

• Export: one file with your profile, your contacts and the chats this device can read, built on your device.
• Delete your account: it's immediate and permanent. The delete account page explains what goes and what stays.

• Online status: everyone, your contacts or nobody. Contacts is the default.
• Read receipts: on by default. Turn them off and you won't see when others read yours either.
• Status: your accepted contacts by default, and you can include or leave out particular people before you post.
• Message requests: someone you haven't accepted can send one message, and any media they send stays hidden until you accept.
• Blocking: the person you block isn't told.

To see what AChat holds about you, export it. To correct it, edit your profile or username. To remove it, delete your account. For anything else, write to the AChat team through the contact page.

What can't be taken back?

Anything already read, copied, saved or exported. A later setting or policy change can't recall it.

Anyone in a chat can copy, save or screenshot a message before it disappears.

What happens when this page changes?

The date at the top changes with it, and changes are listed in the release feed.