Privacy Policy
Last updated: 26 October 2026
This policy explains what information the ChaloChat app for iPhone and Apple Watch (“ChaloChat”) collects, why, where it goes and the choices you have. ChaloChat is provided by Down the Cove Group Ltd, a company registered in the United Kingdom (“we”, “us”). We are the data controller for the information described here. You can contact us at support@downthecove.com.
The short version
- Your private chats — messages, photos, videos, voice notes, files, locations you send in a chat — and your calls are end-to-end encrypted. We can’t read them or listen to them.
- We don’t show ads, we don’t sell your data, and there are no advertising or analytics trackers in the app.
- Some family features (such as plans, live trips and SOS alerts) and anything you post publicly in Mehfil are stored on our servers in a form we can read, so the app can show them to the right people. We list them below.
- Our servers are in the European Union (Germany).
- You can delete your account in the app at any time.
1. What we can’t see: end-to-end encryption
In one-to-one and group chats, your phone encrypts each message before it leaves the phone, separately for each recipient’s verified device. This covers text, photos, videos, voice notes, files, contacts and locations you send, polls, reactions, edits, read receipts and “view once” content. Photos, videos and files are encrypted on your phone before they are uploaded, and the key to open them travels only inside the encrypted message.
- Encrypted messages pass through our delivery service, which holds them only until the recipient’s phone collects them, for at most 7 days. We don’t have the keys to open them.
- Voice and video calls, group hangouts, screen sharing and private Mehfil rooms are also end-to-end encrypted, with keys created on the phone of the person who starts the call.
- Your chat history is stored encrypted on your phone. The keys stay in your phone’s secure keychain and are not included in iPhone backups.
What we can see is the information needed to run the service (“metadata”): your account, who is in which chats and groups, when messages are sent and delivered, and when calls take place and who joins them. Group names are also stored on our servers.
2. Information we collect
Your account
- Username, display name and password. Your password is handled by our sign-in system and stored only in hashed form. ChaloChat does not ask for an email address.
- Invitation code, if you joined with one. We use it to connect you as friends with the person who invited you.
- Phone number, only if you added one to your account (signing up with a phone number is not currently offered in the app).
- Profile: an optional profile photo and an optional “About” line, your time zone, and your settings (for example who can see your photo, “About”, last seen and online status, read receipts, notification and quiet-hours preferences).
- Last seen and online status, shown to others according to your privacy settings.
Profile photos are stored so that anyone with the photo’s web address can load it, which lets them appear quickly in chats and notifications.
Contacts (only if you allow it)
If you give permission, ChaloChat checks which of your contacts already use ChaloChat. Your phone turns each phone number into a one-way code (a SHA-256 hash) and sends only those codes; names and other details never leave your phone. We compare the codes with our users and do not store them. We keep only a count of how many numbers were checked, for one day, to prevent abuse.
Messages, media and calls
These are end-to-end encrypted as described in section 1. To deliver them we process the sender, recipients, times and delivery status. For calls we keep a call record: who called whom, whether it was a video call, who joined, and when it started, was answered and ended.
Notifications
To send notifications we store a push token for your device and send notifications through Apple’s Push Notification service. For private chats, the notification we send contains no message text and no sender name — just “You have a new message” and an encrypted preview that only your phone can open. Your phone then shows the sender and preview, unless you turn previews off in Settings › Notifications. Call notifications include the caller’s display name.
Family features (stored on our servers, not end-to-end encrypted)
Some shared family features are stored on our servers in a readable form so they can be shown to the members of the chat or group you share them with. These include:
- Live trips and SOS alerts, including your location (see below);
- plans and RSVPs, dawats (invitations), occasions, weddings and their guest lists, photos and songs;
- the family tree (names, dates of birth and death, cities, photos, notes and voice recordings you add);
- time capsules, notes and stories (which disappear after 24 hours) and the photos or videos in them;
- shared lists, albums, committees, split bills and group collections (amounts only — ChaloChat never holds or moves money);
- Quran reading and dhikr progress and goals you share, and family game results.
Location (only if you allow it)
- Sending a location in a chat: your phone takes one reading and sends it as an end-to-end encrypted message.
- Live trips and SOS: while a trip or SOS is active, your phone sends your location to our servers (including in the background) so the group can follow it. This location is stored on our servers and is not end-to-end encrypted. Sharing stops when you arrive, stop sharing, mark yourself safe or leave the group.
- Prayer times and Nearby mode use your location on your phone only; it is not sent to us.
Mehfil (community rooms and posts)
- Public posts, replies, pages, comments and public live rooms are visible to other ChaloChat users and are stored on our servers in readable form. Please don’t share anything there you want to keep private.
- Public live rooms may be recorded on our servers so people can “listen again” and share short clips, together with the live captions.
- Private Mehfil rooms are end-to-end encrypted like calls.
- If you translate a post, the translation is done on our own servers; the text is not sent to another company.
Stars and in-app purchases
If you buy Stars, Apple processes the payment; we never see your card details. We receive and keep the purchase’s transaction details from Apple (transaction ID, product and environment) to add the Stars to your account, and we keep a record of your Stars balance and the gifts you send.
Reports and blocks
If you report someone, we receive your reason and, only if you choose to include them, the recent messages you selected — your phone sends these to us because we can’t otherwise read your chats. Reports about Mehfil include a copy of the reported public content. We keep the list of people you have blocked.
Crash reports and performance statistics
- Crash and diagnostic reports from Apple’s MetricKit: the type of problem (crash, freeze, high battery or storage use, slow start), app and iOS version, iPhone model and technical details of what the app was doing. They are not stored with your account and never contain your messages.
- Performance statistics: how long sending, delivery, call setup and app start take, call quality, network type (for example Wi-Fi), your phone’s region setting, app and iOS version and iPhone model. They are sent under a random ID that is not linked to your account and never include what was said or who you talk to. This is on by default; you can turn it off in Settings › Privacy › Share performance stats.
Technical and security information
Like any internet service, our servers receive your IP address when your phone connects. We use it to deliver the service and to protect against abuse, for example limiting repeated sign-up attempts; where we store it for that purpose we keep it for no more than 7 days. We do not use your IP address to track you.
3. Things that stay on your phone
- Face ID / app lock and locked chats are handled by iOS on your phone.
- Live captions and voice-note transcripts use Apple’s speech recognition in on-device mode, so audio is not sent to Apple or to us. During a call, captions are shared with the others in the call over the encrypted call. If you post a voice note in Mehfil, its transcript is posted with it.
- Translation of chat messages and call captions uses Apple’s on-device translation.
- Nearby mode uses Bluetooth, your local network and Ultra Wideband to find family phones close by. Your phone shares your name, ChaloChat ID, battery level and a chosen meeting spot with nearby family phones, over an encrypted connection. This is not sent to our servers.
- Calendar: ChaloChat can only add events you choose (dawats and plans); it can’t read your calendar.
- Widgets and Apple Watch show information your iPhone saves for them (for example names, unread counts, prayer times and planned calls — never message text). The Watch app talks only to your iPhone.
- Sharing from other apps: items you share into ChaloChat are handed to the app on your phone, which encrypts and sends them.
Encrypted chat backup in your iCloud (optional)
If you turn on Settings › Storage & backups › Chat backup, your chat history and media are encrypted on your phone with a key made from a backup password only you know, and saved in your own iCloud Drive. Neither we nor Apple can read the backup. If you forget the password, the backup can’t be restored.
4. Phone permissions
ChaloChat asks for these only when you use the feature that needs them. You can change them at any time in your iPhone’s Settings.
| Permission | What it’s used for |
|---|---|
| Camera | Video calls, taking photos and videos to send |
| Microphone | Calls, hangouts, voice notes and Mehfil rooms |
| Photos | Choosing photos and videos to send; saving ones you choose |
| Contacts | Finding which contacts use ChaloChat (hashed numbers only, not stored) |
| Location | Sending a location, live trips and SOS (including in the background while active), prayer times |
| Bluetooth, Local Network, Nearby Interaction | Nearby mode, to reach and find family phones close by |
| Speech Recognition | Live captions and voice-note transcripts, on your phone |
| Face ID | App lock and locked chats |
| Calendar (add only) | Adding dawats and plans you choose |
| Notifications | Message and call alerts |
5. Other companies
We don’t sell your personal information or share it for advertising. ChaloChat contains no advertising, analytics or tracking SDKs. We use these other services:
- Apple — the App Store, push notifications, in-app purchases, iCloud (for your optional backup), and Maps (map search, directions and place names for trips and plans send your search or location to Apple). Apple’s privacy policy applies.
- GIF search (Giphy), optional — if this feature is available and you search for a GIF, the text you type is sent to Giphy through our servers, so Giphy doesn’t receive your account details.
- Quran content (Quran Foundation), optional — if this feature is available, Quran text and recitations you open are requested from the Quran Foundation through our servers.
- Watch together — if you watch a YouTube, Vimeo, TikTok or Facebook video together on a call, your phone loads it directly from that site, which will receive your IP address and may apply its own cookies and privacy policy.
- Link previews — when you send a link, your phone fetches the page to make a preview, which then travels inside the encrypted message. That website will see a request from your phone.
Our servers, the call servers and the message delivery service are run by us; they are not shared with other companies. We use a hosting provider in Germany to run the servers.
We may disclose information if required by law, to respond to valid legal requests, or to protect someone from serious harm. Because private messages and calls are end-to-end encrypted, we can’t provide their content.
6. How we use information
- To create and run your account and deliver messages, calls and notifications.
- To show your profile and shared family features to the people you choose.
- To keep ChaloChat safe: preventing spam and abuse, reviewing reports and enforcing our Terms.
- To fix crashes and make the app faster and more reliable.
- To run Kids accounts and the controls a parent sets.
- To process in-app purchases.
- To answer your support requests and to meet our legal obligations.
We don’t use your information for advertising, and we don’t make automated decisions about you that have legal or similarly significant effects.
7. Our legal reasons for using your information
Under UK and EU data protection law (UK GDPR, the Data Protection Act 2018 and EU GDPR), we rely on:
- Contract — to provide ChaloChat to you under our Terms (account, messaging, calls, notifications, purchases).
- Legitimate interests — to keep the service secure, prevent abuse, review reports, and fix crashes and improve performance. You can object, and turn performance stats off at any time.
- Consent — for access to your contacts, location and other phone permissions, and for a parent’s consent to a Kids account. You can withdraw consent at any time in your iPhone’s Settings.
- Legal obligation — where the law requires us to keep or disclose information.
8. Where your data is kept
ChaloChat’s servers are hosted in the European Union (Germany). The UK recognises the EU as providing adequate protection for personal data. Some services from other companies listed in section 5, such as Apple, may process data in other countries, including the United States, under their own safeguards.
9. How long we keep information
| Information | How long |
|---|---|
| Encrypted messages and files waiting for delivery | Until the recipient’s phone collects them, at most 7 days |
| Encrypted notification previews | At most 1 hour |
| Disappearing messages | The timer you choose (24 hours, 7 days or 90 days) |
| Notes and stories | Hidden after 24 hours |
| Contact-check count and sign-up security checks | 1 day |
| Phone verification codes and related IP address | 7 days |
| Crash reports and performance statistics | 90 days |
| Account, profile, call records, family features, Mehfil content and Stars records | While your account exists, or until you or the group delete them |
Messages saved on your phone (and in your optional iCloud backup) stay there until you delete them or the app.
10. Deleting your account
Open the Settings tab, scroll to the bottom, tap Delete account and type DELETE to confirm. When you delete your account:
- you are removed from every chat, your devices are signed out and their push tokens are deleted, and any active calls are ended;
- your account, profile and profile photo, and the content and files you uploaded to our servers (including family features and Mehfil content) are deleted;
- copies of messages already delivered to other people stay on their phones, as with any messenger;
- reports you made or that were made about you are kept without your account linked, so we can keep the service safe; anonymous crash reports and performance statistics are not linked to you and expire after 90 days.
A parent who manages a Kids account needs to delete that Kids account first. A parent can delete a child’s Kids account from the Kids account screen. If you can’t open the app, email us at support@downthecove.com.
11. Your rights
Under UK GDPR (and EU GDPR where it applies) you have the right to:
- access the personal information we hold about you and get a copy;
- correct information that is wrong (you can edit your profile in the app);
- have your information deleted (you can delete your account in the app);
- restrict or object to how we use it, including use based on legitimate interests;
- receive your information in a portable format;
- withdraw consent at any time, without affecting what we did before.
To use any of these rights, email support@downthecove.com. We will reply within one month. We may need to confirm it’s your account first.
If you’re unhappy with how we handle your information, please tell us. You also have the right to complain to the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk or on 0303 123 1113, or to your local data protection authority if you live in the EU.
12. Children and Kids accounts
You must be at least 13 to create your own ChaloChat account. Children aged 4 to 12 can only use ChaloChat through a Kids account that a parent or guardian creates from their own account, after confirming they give consent. For a Kids account we collect:
- the child’s name, username, password and age in years (no date of birth, phone number or email);
- the parent’s consent record and the controls they set (approved contacts, group joining, video calls, games, bedtime and daily time limit);
- daily screen time in ChaloChat, so the limits work and the parent can see it.
Children’s messages and calls are end-to-end encrypted like everyone else’s. Parents can see their child’s contacts, requests and screen time, but not their messages. Kids accounts can’t use Mehfil or be found by username search. If you believe a child under 13 is using ChaloChat without a Kids account, please contact us and we will delete the account.
13. Security
We protect your information with end-to-end encryption for private content, encrypted storage on your phone, encrypted connections (HTTPS/TLS) to our servers, and access controls on our systems. No service can promise perfect security, so please keep your phone and password safe and tell us at once if you think your account has been misused.
14. Changes and contact
We will update this policy when ChaloChat changes. If a change is important, we will tell you in the app or on this page before it takes effect. The date at the top shows when it was last updated.
Down the Cove Group Ltd, United Kingdom
Email: support@downthecove.com