TalkGroupTalkGroup Privacy Policy
The short version
TalkGroup has no accounts and no servers. We do not collect your data. What you say and type goes from your phone straight to the phones of the people in your group. The app shows no ads and contains no analytics or tracking tools.
What the app handles, and where it goes
A permanent ID and signing key. The first time you open the app it creates a random secret key and stores it in the iOS Keychain on your phone. Your ID is made from the public half of that key. It is not linked to your name, Apple ID, phone number, email, or contacts. Everything your phone sends to other phones is digitally signed with the key, so nobody can pretend to be you, and other people use your ID to recognize you inside a group, for example to count votes and to show who wrote a chat message. The ID stays the same for as long as the key is on your phone. That is on purpose: blocking and reporting only work if a person cannot simply start over with a new ID. Phones in range can see your ID while the app is open on screen, and while you belong to a group. The app does not broadcast it otherwise.
Your public name. You choose it. It is shown to phones in range, including strangers, so that a host can see who is asking to join. You do not have to use your real name.
Public groups. If you host a public group, phones in range can see its name, type, how many people are in it, how people join, your public name, and your ID. Public group names and public names are checked against a list of hateful and sexually explicit terms and are refused if they match.
Private nicknames. You can pick a different nickname in each group. Only people in that group see it. Nicknames are not filtered.
Groups and members. Each phone keeps the list of groups it belongs to, with each group's members, host, and settings. The members of a group share this list with each other. If a group uses a password, the group holds only a scrambled code made from it, never the password. The password you type is sent to a member of the group when you ask to join.
Voice. When you talk, your voice is sent live to the phones of the people in your group over a direct connection between phones.
Text chat. Messages, read receipts, and deletion notices are stored on the phones of the group's members and shared between them directly. See How long things are kept.
Blocking and reports. Your list of blocked people is stored only on your phone. If you report someone, the app prepares an email for you to read and send yourself, or copies the report if no mail account is set up. We receive only what is in the email you send, which may include the reported person's ID, the group, and message text.
Your age. The app asks iOS, through Apple's age range sharing, whether you are 18 or older. Apple asks you before anything is shared. The app keeps only the answer, yes or no, on your phone. It never learns your birthdate or exact age, and the answer is not sent to anyone.
Quick signals. The one-tap messages you send, such as On my way, are shared with the members of your group. Phones keep them for a few minutes and never save them. They are chosen from a fixed list, so they contain no typed text.
Location, only when you choose to send it. Meet here always attaches your phone's location, and Leaving now asks whether to include it. The location goes only to the members of that group, with that one signal, over the direct connection between phones, and it disappears when the signal expires after a few minutes. When a friend has shared their location, the Find screen uses your phone's own location and compass to point you toward them. This happens on your phone. Your location is never sent to us.
Range alerts. Your phone tells you when people from your groups go out of range or come back. It works this out on your phone from which phones it can reach. Nothing is sent for this.
Invite links. A private group invite, shown as a QR code or a link, contains the group ID, the host ID, and the invite code. Anyone who has it and is in range of the host can ask to join, and the host or a member still has to let them in.
Text checks. Names, nicknames, and chat messages are checked on your phone against a list of offensive words. Nothing is sent anywhere for this.
Purchases. Purchases are handled by Apple. The app only learns whether you own each upgrade. Whether you own Text chat and Permanent groups is shared only with people who share a group with you, because chat unlocks for a whole group while someone who owns it is present. Strangers do not see it.
Permissions the app asks for. Microphone, to send your voice to your group. Bluetooth and local network, to find and connect to nearby phones. Nearby Interaction, to join a group by tapping phones together. Camera, to scan a group's invite QR code, and to help work out direction when you use precise finding. Location, only when you send Meet here or Leaving now with your location, or use the Find screen.
What we do not do
We do not run servers that receive your data. We do not create accounts. We never receive your location, contacts, or photos. Your location goes only to your group, and only when you choose to send it. We do not sell or share your data, and we do not use advertising or analytics services.
Who can see what
- Strangers in range: your public name, your ID, and the public groups you host.
- People in your group: your public name, your nickname in that group, your messages, who has read them, your quick signals, your location if you send it with a quick signal, and whether you own the paid upgrades.
- Nobody else. There is no server that holds a copy.
How long things are kept
- A group is kept on your phone until you leave it, you are removed, or it ends. Without the Permanent groups upgrade, a group disappears from your phone after an hour with nobody else from the group in range. A temporary public group ends 24 hours after it is created, for everyone.
- When a group is removed from your phone, its chat history goes with it.
- You can delete a message you wrote. The deletion spreads to the other phones in the group and removes the message and its read receipts from them. Anyone who already saw the message has seen it, and a modified copy of the app could keep it. Your own phone keeps a private copy of messages you deleted, with the list of who had read them, so you know who saw them.
Deleting your data
There is no account to delete. Deleting the app removes the groups, chat, block list, and settings from your phone. The permanent random ID is kept in the iOS Keychain, which iOS may keep after the app is deleted, so a reinstall can reuse it. If you have a real need for a new ID, contact [email protected] with the support ID shown in Settings under Reset ID, and the reason. Support can send a one-time code that works only on your phone. Entering it gives your phone a new ID and clears its groups and chat. Copies of your name or messages that other people's phones already hold are theirs to delete, and we cannot reach them.
Children
TalkGroup is not directed to children under 13. We do not knowingly collect information from children, and we do not collect information from anyone.
Security
Your app data is stored on your phone using iOS file protection, and the random ID is kept in the Keychain. Phones connect to each other directly and ask for encrypted connections. Separately from that, every message and every slice of voice is digitally signed by the phone that sent it, and receiving phones ignore anything unsigned or altered.
Website launch list
The app collects nothing, but the TalkGroup website has an optional launch list. If you join it, we keep the email address you give and any answers you choose (where you would use the app, your iPhone and AirPods, your usual group size, and whether you want to try a test version), with the date you joined. We use them only to email you when TalkGroup is released, and to invite you to a test version if you asked for one. They are stored with Cloudflare, which hosts the website. We do not sell or share them. To be removed, email [email protected] or [email protected] and we will delete your entry.
Changes to this policy
If this policy changes we will update the date above and describe the change in the app's release notes.
Contact
Questions or concerns: [email protected]