Privacy Policy

PlanetChat ("we", "us", "our"), operated by Ryan T Ropah, respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal information. This Privacy Policy describes the categories of personal information we collect, the purposes for which we process it, the legal bases on which we rely, and the rights available to you.

We collect the following categories of personal information:

• Account data: email address, username, display name, password hash, and any optional profile information you choose to provide (avatar, bio, date of birth, location).
• Content data: posts, comments, reactions, direct messages, uploaded media, sounds and other content you submit.
• Identity-verification data: where you voluntarily apply for verification, copies of government-issued identification documents.
• Technical data: IP address, approximate geo-location derived from IP, device type, browser, language preference, session identifiers, and crash logs.
• Usage data: interactions with the Service, including matches, friendships, plays, reuses, and moderation events.
• Payment data: where you subscribe to Premium, billing information processed by our third-party payment processor (we do not store full card numbers).

We use personal information for the following purposes:

• to provide, maintain and improve the Service;
• to create and manage your account, including authentication and account security;
• to deliver Premium features and process payments;
• to operate the verification programme and award verified badges;
• to enforce our Terms, detect fraud and protect users (including by automated moderation);
• to communicate with you about service updates, security alerts and (where you have consented) marketing;
• to comply with legal obligations, lawful requests and court orders.

We employ automated systems — including machine-learning classifiers, third-party services and audio-fingerprint matching (such as ACRCloud) — to analyse content posted to public surfaces and uploaded media for the purposes of detecting prohibited content, copyright infringement, spam, and threats to user safety. Direct messages and video-matching streams are not routinely human-reviewed, but may be examined where required to investigate a report, comply with law, or protect against imminent harm. Decisions resulting in account restriction may be appealed through the in-app appeal mechanism.

Random video and voice streams are transmitted on a peer-to-peer basis where technically feasible. We do not routinely record the audiovisual content of calls. Session metadata (such as match identifier, duration and connection quality) is retained for safety, abuse-prevention and analytics purposes.

Where you apply for verification, identification documents are uploaded to a private, access-restricted storage location. They are reviewed only by authorised personnel for the purpose of confirming your identity and are retained no longer than necessary for that purpose and for the maintenance of an audit trail.

We use strictly-necessary cookies and local storage to keep you signed in, remember preferences (such as theme) and protect against fraud. We do not use third-party advertising cookies without your consent where required by law.

We do not sell your personal information. We may share it with:

• Service providers acting on our instructions (hosting, email delivery, payment processing, audio fingerprinting, analytics);
• Other users — your public profile, posts and reels are visible to other users and (where indexed) the general public;
• Authorities where required to comply with applicable law, lawful request, or to protect rights, property or safety.

Personal information may be processed and stored on infrastructure located outside of your country of residence. Where such transfers occur, we rely on appropriate safeguards as required by applicable data-protection law.

We retain personal information for as long as necessary to provide the Service and to fulfil the purposes described in this Policy, unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law. Upon account deletion, we delete or anonymise your personal information within a reasonable period, subject to legal-hold obligations.

Subject to applicable law, you may have the right to access, correct, delete or restrict the processing of your personal information, to object to processing, to data portability, and to withdraw consent. You may exercise these rights through the in-app settings (including data export and account deletion) or by contacting us via Help & Support.

The Service is not intended for users under thirteen (13) years of age. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children below that age. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, please contact us so we may delete it.

We implement appropriate technical and organisational measures designed to protect personal information against unauthorised access, alteration, disclosure or destruction. No method of transmission over the Internet, however, is one hundred percent secure.

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. The revised version shall take effect upon posting. Material changes will be communicated through the Service.

This Privacy Policy is governed by the laws of the Republic of Zimbabwe.

For questions or requests concerning this Privacy Policy or your personal information, please contact us via the in-app Help & Support page.