Privacy Policy — POP Chat

before you read on

this is a plain-language summary written to match how the product actually behaves. it is not legal advice. where this page and the behaviour of the app ever disagree, the app is the honest answer and you should tell us — see contact.

the short version

an account is a handle you choose. to create one we store the handle, a password or key that protects it, and the technical details needed to deliver a message to the right person. we do not ask for your phone number, and we do not build a profile of your contacts.

what an account is

your handle is the account. it is the thing other people type to open a thread with you, and it is the only identifier we ask you to invent. it is also the handle you would remove if you decided to leave.

because there is no number attached to the account, there is also no number attached to a request to delete it. we think that is a feature, not a gap.

what we collect

your handle: the name you chose, and the settings you attach to it. this is the public part of your account — anyone who knows it can start a thread.
your credential: the password or key that proves you are you. we store it in a form that is not the readable version you typed.
the message: the text you send, who you sent it to, and when. this is the point of the product, so it is the main thing we hold.
operational records: things like delivery success or failure, and coarse crash reports, kept so we can tell whether the app is working. these are not used to build a profile of you.

what we do not collect

your phone number — the app has no field to enter one, and no screen asks for one.
your address book or contact list — the app never reads or uploads it.
your carrier, network, or sim details.
your location.
advertising identifiers, and third-party ad tracking pixels.

these are product decisions, not settings. there is no toggle to turn address-book upload back on, because we did not build it.

how messages are handled

when you send a message, it is delivered to the person whose handle you chose. the recipient sees your handle as the sender, in the same way you see theirs. we do not read your messages to decide what to show you next, and we do not use message content for advertising.

who can find your handle

only people you give it to. pop chat has no people-you-may-know feature and no number-based lookup, so we cannot introduce you to a contact you did not already have in mind. a handle is findable by the people you send it to, and by the people they send it to.

pick a handle with that in mind. anything you would not put on a poster is probably not the right handle for a public identifier.

how long we keep things

we keep your account for as long as you use it. when you ask us to delete your account, we remove your handle and your messages from our active systems. some records may still need to be kept where the law requires it — for example, a record that an abuse report was filed — and we will keep those only as long as that requirement lasts.

if you want to know about a specific piece of data, ask us and we will tell you whether we hold it.

your choices

change or release your handle whenever you like.
delete your account, which removes your handle and your messages.
ask us what we hold about you, and ask us to correct it.
ask us to delete a specific message from our systems.

none of these require a phone number, a support ticket number, or an account-verification call.

changes and contact

if this policy changes in a way that affects you, we will update the date at the top of this page. if you have a question, or you think something here does not match what the app does, write to us at hello@octadevs.fun or reach octa devs on @octadevsofficial.

what we collect, and what we don’t.