Privacy Policy
In short
Chirping is built so that your private conversations belong to you. Messages are end-to-end encrypted, stored only on your phone, and never used for ads or analytics. Chirping has no ads, no trackers and sells no data.
What stays on your phone
Your chats, photos, files, voice notes, contacts, reactions and encryption keys are stored only in Chirping's private storage on your device. They are excluded from cloud backups and device-to-device transfers. Settings → Erase All Data deletes all of it.
End-to-end encryption
Every private message, reaction, receipt and file is encrypted on your phone before it leaves it (ECDH P-256 key agreement with AES-256-GCM). Only the recipient's phone can decrypt it — not our server, not Google, not anyone in between. Your private key never leaves your device and is protected by the Android Keystore. You can compare safety numbers in a chat's info screen to confirm nobody is intercepting your conversation.
Offline (nearby) messaging
Without internet, Chirping talks directly to nearby phones over Bluetooth and Wi-Fi using Google Play services' Nearby Connections. Android requires the Location permission for this kind of discovery; Chirping never reads, stores or shares your location. People nearby can see the name you choose and your profile photo while you're discoverable, which you can turn off in Settings.
Online mode and your account
If you choose Online + Offline, you sign in with your email address or phone number through Google Firebase Authentication. Our server (Google Cloud Firestore, Mumbai region) then stores: your email or phone number, your unique username, your public encryption key and a random device ID, so friends can find and reach you. Your email is never shown publicly.
Phone numbers and contacts
You can sign up with your phone number, or add one to an email account in Settings. It's verified by SMS through Firebase Authentication, stored privately so people who already have your number can find you, and never shown publicly. If you open New Message → Phone Contacts and allow contacts access, Chirping reads the phone numbers in your address book on your phone and checks each one against Chirping accounts. The numbers aren't uploaded in bulk, stored on our servers or used for anything else, and nobody is told you checked. The contacts found on Chirping are remembered on your phone so the list opens instantly. You can turn off contacts access at any time in Android settings.
Online messages and files are deleted after delivery
When a message or file travels over the internet, the server only ever holds the encrypted version. The recipient's phone deletes it from the server the moment it's downloaded. Anything never collected is automatically erased after 14 days. Files up to 20 MB can be sent online; larger files wait until you're nearby.
Voice and video calls
You can call people you can message online. Calls are end-to-end encrypted: the two phones agree on keys through Chirping's encrypted inbox, then audio and video travel directly between them. When a network blocks a direct connection, the encrypted call passes through Cloudflare's relay servers, which can't listen to or watch it. Calls are never recorded or stored, and the microphone and camera are used only during a call you place or answer. Your call history (who, when, how long) is kept only on your phone.
Message requests, blocking and muting
Nobody can message you online unless you accept their request, you've met nearby, or you share a group. Blocking someone is enforced by the server: they can no longer message you or send you requests, and their posts are hidden. Muting only hides their Chirps content and notifications on your phone.
Reports
You can report posts, comments, accounts and chats. Reports, including any details you add, go privately to our moderators and the reported person isn't told who reported them. Because chats are end-to-end encrypted, a chat report only includes messages if you choose to attach them (up to the last 20 text messages); those copies are readable by our moderators and may be shared with authorities when the law requires, for example in cases of child sexual abuse. See our Child Safety Standards.
Chirps (public communities)
Chirps posts (text and an optional photo), comments, votes and community names are public to everyone signed in to Chirping and are stored on our server so others can read them. They are not end-to-end encrypted. Photos are resized on your phone and stripped of location and camera details before upload, stored in Google Cloud Storage (United States), and deleted automatically after 90 days, or straight away when you delete the post. Community logos and banners added by a community's creator or moderators are public too. Your votes are private. You can delete your posts and comments at any time.
Community admins and removed content
Each Chirps community has up to 3 admins (its creator and the next people to join), shown publicly on the community. Admins can remove posts and comments that break the rules, warn members and ban them from that community; the reason for a removal is shown to everyone. A copy of removed content is kept for Chirping's chief moderators to review. Only chief moderators can see a community's full member list; others see its admins and any members they already know. If you add a GIF to a comment, your search is sent to GIPHY (giphy.com) to find GIFs, and the GIF is loaded from GIPHY's servers; only the GIF's id is stored with your comment.
Deleting your account
Settings → Delete Online Account removes your login, username, directory entry and your Chirps posts and photos from the server. Erase All Data removes everything stored on your phone.
Services we use
Google Firebase Authentication, Cloud Firestore (account and encrypted relay) and Cloud Storage (Chirps photos), GIPHY (GIF search, only if you use GIFs), Cloudflare (relaying calls that can't connect directly, and this website), and Google Play services Nearby Connections (offline messaging). Their use is governed by Google's privacy policy. Chirping includes no advertising or analytics SDKs.
Children
Chirping is not directed at children under 13.
Changes and contact
If this policy changes, the new version will appear in the app. Questions: farukbiswas59@gmail.com.