HandeChatOpen HandeChat Web

Privacy Policy

Draft — last updated with this release.

This is a draft, not final legal text. It accurately describes what HandeChat's systems actually do today, but it has not been through legal review and is not yet a binding policy. It should not be relied on as a final Privacy Policy until the product owner completes that review.

What we collect

To provide the service, HandeChat collects account and profile information (email, a hashed password — never your plaintext password — display name, bio, avatar), your contact list, the content of ordinary (non-encrypted) conversations, call metadata (participants and timing, not the media itself), content you post to stories/channels/live streams, and technical information such as device identifiers, push notification tokens, and IP address. If you file a report, we also collect the details you submit.

Encrypted chats — what's different

HandeChat's mobile app lets you turn on end-to-end encryption for a conversation. When you do, HandeChat's servers store and relay only encrypted data they cannot read — not even HandeChat staff can access the content of an encrypted conversation.

This is not true of every conversation. Ordinary (non-encrypted) chats are readable by HandeChat's backend, the same way any non-encrypted messaging service's servers can read messages sent through them — this is what allows features like moderation, translation, and voice transcription to work. We do not claim that all HandeChat conversations are end-to-end encrypted.

HandeChat Web (the browser) does not support opening encrypted conversations. Encrypted chat is available on the HandeChat mobile app only. Everything else — ordinary messaging, calls, stories, channels, and live streaming — works the same on HandeChat Web.

One narrow exception: if you file a report about a specific message in an encrypted conversation, you may choose to submit a plaintext copy of that message as evidence. HandeChat cannot verify such evidence is complete or unmodified, and labels it accordingly.

What we never collect

  • No cryptocurrency, bank account, or payment-card information.
  • No continuous or precise location tracking.
  • No advertising identifiers and no third-party analytics or ad SDKs.
  • The content of encrypted conversations, except the reporting exception above.

How long we keep it

Account data, messages, and media are kept until you delete your account (see below). Stories expire automatically after 24 hours. Moderation records and wallet transaction history are kept indefinitely as an audit trail, the same way a financial ledger is — deleting your account anonymizes your profile but does not erase these compliance records.

Deleting your account

You can delete your account at any time from Settings → Security → Delete account, on the phone app or HandeChat Web. This immediately signs out every device and session, removes your profile name/photo/username (replacing them with a generic placeholder), and cannot be undone. Messages you already sent remain in shared conversations, since deleting your account doesn't reach into other people's devices — but they'll show as coming from a deleted account. Moderation and financial-ledger records are not affected, for the reason above.

Sharing with third parties

We share only what's needed to operate a feature you use, and only with the specific provider that feature depends on: call and live-stream media routing, translation (the message text you ask to translate), voice transcription (the voice message you ask to transcribe), push notifications (a device token and a generic notification, never your message content), and email delivery for password resets. We do not sell your data, and we never share wallet/financial data, encrypted-conversation content, or moderation report evidence with third parties.

Contact

A dedicated privacy contact address has not been configured yet — see our Contact page.