TekChat Privacy Policy

1. Who We Are

TekChat is operated by an independent developer. For questions you can reach us at tekchatapp@gmail.com.

2. Age Limit

TekChat is for users aged 18 and over only. The App requests your date of birth at sign-up and prevents users under 18 from creating an account. If we discover that you are under 18, we reserve the right to close your account.

3. Data We Collect

• Account information: email address (email or Google sign-in), an automatically assigned nickname, avatar selection.
• Profile information: date of birth (for age verification), gender.
• Usage/interaction data: which rooms you joined, your match history, the text chat messages you sent, friend requests (retained for moderation and safety purposes).
• Online status: your last seen time and online/offline status, kept so that your friends can see it.
• Multi-person room data: in group rooms such as the "Red Seat", who joined and any questions you sent are processed temporarily; questions are delivered to the other participant anonymously, without revealing your identity.
• Voice calls: where possible, voice chats are established directly between users (peer-to-peer) using WebRTC; under some network conditions the connection is relayed through a TURN server — even then the audio is never recorded or held on the server, only relayed in real time.
• Purchase and virtual currency data: VIP subscription status, your Gold (coin) balance and spending, the gift codes you have used, the items you acquired from the store — your payment details (card number etc.) never reach us; all payments run through Google Play.
• Notification data: a Firebase Cloud Messaging (push) token for your device so that in-app notifications can be delivered.
• Moderation data: reports you have submitted or that have been made about you, and ban appeals.
• Technical data: basic connection/session information via the Firebase infrastructure (subject to Google/Firebase's own privacy policy).

4. How We Use the Data

• To create and verify your account and manage your session
• To match you with other users inside rooms
• To assign and verify the VIP/Gold/store items you purchase to your account
• To send you in-app notifications (e.g. incoming friend requests, messages)
• To enforce the community rules (report review, bans, appeals process)
• To protect the security and integrity of the app (preventing abuse)

Your data is never shared with or sold to third parties for advertising purposes. The commercial terms of paid services (subscription, virtual currency) — auto-renewal, cancellation, refunds — are explained in a separate document, the Terms of Use.

5. Where Data Is Stored

Your data is stored on Google Firebase infrastructure (Cloud Firestore, Firebase Authentication). Firebase keeps data on servers that meet Google's security standards. For details, see the Google Privacy Policy.

6. Data Retention Period

Your account information is retained for as long as your account is active. Match and chat records are retained so that they can support security and report review processes. If you request deletion of your account, the relevant data is removed from the system within a reasonable period (except where we have legal retention obligations).

7. Your Rights

Under Turkish Personal Data Protection Law No. 6698 (KVKK) and related legislation, you have the right to access, correct and request deletion of your data, and to object to its processing. To exercise these rights, contact us at tekchatapp@gmail.com.

8. Account and Data Deletion

If you want to delete your account and the data associated with it, you can do so in the app (Profile → "Delete My Account") or, without installing the app, send a request from this page.

9. Children's Privacy

TekChat is not directed at users under 18 and does not knowingly collect data from users under 18.

10. Changes to This Policy

We may update this privacy policy from time to time. When there are significant changes, you will be notified in the app or via this page.

11. Contact