Privacy Policy

Last updated 6 August 2026. This describes how Chatu handles your data.

What we store

Only what the product needs to work:

• Account — your email address, held by our authentication provider.
• Profile — handle, display name, bio, website, links, avatar and cover images, and whether your account is private.
• Content — posts, captions, uploaded photos and video, polls, comments, reactions, bookmarks and stories.
• Social graph — who you follow, who follows you, follow requests, blocks and close-friends lists.
• Messages — conversation membership, message contents and attachments, delivery and read receipts.
• Activity — notifications, last-active time, and presence while you are online.
• Devices — browser user agent, IP address and push subscription for each signed-in device.

What we do not do

• We do not sell your data.
• We do not run third-party advertising or tracking scripts.
• We do not read your private messages for advertising.

Who can see what

Visibility is enforced in the database itself, not only in the interface. A private account's posts are readable only by accepted followers; close-friends content only by that list; direct messages only by the people in the conversation. Blocking removes access in both directions.

Where it lives

Data is stored on Supabase infrastructure in the Mumbai (ap-south-1) region. The application is served by Vercel. Uploads are held in private storage buckets and served through short-lived signed links, except profile pictures and covers, which are public because they appear beside your handle throughout the product.

Retention

Deleting content marks it deleted and removes it from every view immediately. Stories expire automatically 24 hours after posting unless you save them to a highlight. Disappearing messages have their contents removed when the timer ends. Administrative audit records are kept for one year.

Your rights

You can edit or delete your profile and content at any time from within the app. To request a copy of your data or full erasure of your account, email us and we will act within 30 days.

Contact

Questions about this policy: write to the address published on chatu.in.

Before launch

This policy is written to match what the software genuinely does, but it has not been reviewed by a lawyer and does not yet address jurisdiction-specific obligations such as India's DPDP Act or the GDPR. Have it reviewed before opening the product publicly.