Privacy Policy

1. Who We Are

TruChat (truchat.fun) is the Data Fiduciary for the personal data described in this policy. Questions about your data can be directed to our Grievance Officer (see Section 9).

2. Information We Collect

Guest Users: To start a guest chat session, you provide: a display username, gender, your age, country, state/region, and at least one vibe tag. Your age is collected to enforce the 18+ minimum age requirement and is stored with your session. You also provide an explicit declaration that you are 18 or older before your session is activated. Your browser also generates a session identifier stored as a secure cookie.

Registered Users: If you register via Google OAuth, we collect your email address, display name, and Google account identifier. You also set up a profile (username, bio, gender, age, country, state, vibe tags). Your age is collected to enforce the 18+ minimum age requirement and is stored with your profile. You also provide an explicit declaration that you are 18 or older before your session is activated.

Usage Data: We collect information about how you use TruChat, including pages visited, messages sent, and rooms joined. This is stored in our database and, if you consent, shared with Google Analytics (see Section 5).

Technical Identifiers: We store a device identifier in your browser's local storage to manage your session across visits. Your IP address is processed for rate limiting and fraud prevention.

Country Detection: We may use your IP address to pre-fill your country when you first visit, for your convenience. You can change this at any time.

3. How We Use Your Information

We use your information to: provide and operate the chat service; enforce our 18+ age policy and community guidelines; prevent abuse and spam; improve TruChat (with your consent for analytics); and communicate with you about your account.

4. Third-Party Services & International Transfers

TruChat uses the following third-party services, which may process your data in the United States:

• Supabase — database, authentication, and file storage (USA)
• Vercel — website hosting and delivery (USA/global edge)
• Google Analytics — usage analytics (USA) — only if you consent
• Google OAuth — login for registered users (USA)
• Upstash — rate limiting (USA)
• Resend — transactional email for registered users (USA)

By using TruChat, your personal data will be transferred to and processed in the United States. We require our processors to maintain data protection standards equivalent to ours.

5. Analytics & Cookies

We use analytics cookies (Google Analytics) only with your explicit consent. You may accept or decline analytics cookies when you first visit TruChat. Declining does not affect your access to the platform. You can change your cookie preferences at any time by clearing your browser cookies and revisiting the site.

We also collect internal usage analytics in our own database (without Google) for product improvement. See our Cookie Policy for full details.

6. Data Retention

Guest sessions expire automatically after 24 hours of inactivity, at which point the session record is anonymised (the username is tombstoned and the browser fingerprint is erased); the residual record is fully deleted within 7 days of your last activity. Registered accounts are retained until you delete your account. Chat messages are retained while your account is active.

7. Ephemeral Media (View-Once)

View-Once images are hidden in the app after they are viewed and are removed from storage by our routine cleanup processes. Like any image transmitted online, a recipient could capture an image before it is hidden — View-Once reduces casual resharing but cannot technically prevent all copying.

8. Your Rights

Under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 and applicable laws, you have the right to:

• Access — request a summary of the personal data we hold about you
• Correction — update your personal data via your account Settings
• Erasure — delete your account and data via Settings → Delete Account
• Data Portability — download your data via Settings → Download My Data (registered users)
• Withdraw Consent — decline or withdraw analytics consent at any time
• Nominate — under the DPDP Act, you may nominate another person to exercise your data rights on your behalf in the event of your death or incapacity. Contact our Grievance Officer to register a nominee.

To exercise any right, contact our Grievance Officer below. We will respond within 30 days.

9. Children

TruChat is strictly for users 18 years of age and older. We do not knowingly collect data from minors. If you believe a minor is using TruChat, please report it to our Grievance Officer. Accounts found to belong to minors will be permanently removed.

10. Grievance Officer

For privacy questions, data requests, or to file a grievance under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, contact our Grievance Officer:

Name: Grievance Officer, TruChat

Email: privacy@truchat.fun

Postal Address: Available on request via privacy@truchat.fun

We will acknowledge your grievance within 48 hours and respond within 30 days as required under the DPDP Act.

11. Policy Updates

When we make material changes to this policy, we will notify you and request fresh consent where required by law. The version number and effective date above will be updated with each change.