Privacy Policy — ChatHindi | How We Protect Your Data

✅ Our Core Promise

ChatHindi does not sell your personal data. Ever. Passwords are hashed with bcrypt — we cannot see them. WebRTC calls are peer-to-peer and never pass through our servers. Ads appear only on public pages, never inside your conversations.

1. Who We Are

ChatHindi (chathindi.co.in) is an independent, India-based chat platform. We are not affiliated with any large technology company. When we say "we," "us," or "our," we mean the ChatHindi team operating this website. For privacy questions, contact us at support@chathindi.co.in.

2. Information We Collect

2.1 Information You Provide

Username: Chosen by you at registration. Displayed publicly in chats.
Password: Stored as a bcrypt hash (cost factor 10). We cannot see or recover your actual password.
Profile information: Avatar URL (from Cloudinary CDN), About Me, Location, Gender — all optional, all user-controlled.
Messages and media: Stored in our database to deliver to recipients and maintain chat history. We do not analyse message content for advertising or any other commercial purpose.

2.2 Information Collected Automatically

IP address: Logged temporarily for rate limiting, spam prevention, and ban enforcement. Not stored permanently or shared with third parties.
Activity metadata: Last seen time, XP earned, level, badges — used to power the gamification system.
Browser localStorage: We use localStorage (not HTTP cookies) to store your JWT session token, username, and display preferences. This data never leaves your device except in API request headers.

2.3 What We Do NOT Collect

No email addressNo phone numberNo real name No device fingerprintNo precise GPS locationNo browsing history

3. How We Use Your Information

Service delivery: Authenticating your account, delivering messages to recipients, maintaining chat room state.
Safety and moderation: Detecting spam, abusive behaviour, and Terms of Service violations. IP-based rate limiting to prevent flooding.
Platform improvement: Aggregate, anonymised usage statistics help us understand which features to build next.
Advertising (public pages only): Google AdSense on our public informational pages (not inside the chat app). Google uses cookies for ad delivery per their own privacy policy.
Legal compliance: Responding to valid legal requests from Indian law enforcement or courts where required by law.

4. How We Protect Your Data

4.1 Password Security

Passwords are hashed using bcrypt with a cost factor of 10 — an industry-standard one-way function. A bcrypt hash is computationally infeasible to reverse. Even if our database were compromised, attackers would only find hashes that take millions of years to crack using current hardware. We strongly recommend using our free Password Generator to create a strong, unique password for your ChatHindi account.

4.2 Secure Connections

All connections to ChatHindi use HTTPS/TLS (encrypted transport) and WSS (WebSocket Secure). Your messages travel over an encrypted channel between your browser and our server. We use TLS 1.2 minimum, with TLS 1.3 where supported.

4.3 Video and Audio Calls

Calls use WebRTC — a browser-to-browser (peer-to-peer) protocol. Audio and video streams go directly between participants' devices. Our servers handle only the signalling phase (call setup/teardown) — never the actual call media. We have no ability to record calls.

4.4 Image and File Storage

Uploaded images and voice notes are stored on Cloudinary CDN (cloudinary.com), a reputable cloud storage service. Cloudinary has its own security certifications (ISO 27001, SOC 2). Media URLs are non-guessable random strings.

5. Data Sharing — What We Don't Do

We do not sell, rent, trade, or share personal data with third parties for their marketing or commercial purposes. Full stop. Data is shared only with:

Cloudinary — for image and audio storage (no personal profile data)
Google AdSense — on public pages only, per Google's privacy policy
Indian legal authorities — when required by valid court order or law enforcement request under Indian law (IT Act 2000, DPDP Act 2023)

6. Data Retention

Active accounts: Retained while your account is active and for a reasonable period after last login.
Guest sessions: Automatically deleted after 30 days of inactivity.
Messages: Room messages are retained for 90 days by default. DMs are retained until either party deletes them or the account is deleted.
Account deletion: Email support@chathindi.co.in with your username. We delete your account and all associated data within 7 business days and confirm by email reply.

7. Children's Privacy (COPPA / DPDP)

ChatHindi is not intended for users under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child under 13 has registered, contact us immediately at support@chathindi.co.in and we will delete the account within 48 hours.

For users aged 13–17, we recommend parental supervision. See our Parental Control Guide for recommended settings.

8. Your Rights Under Indian Law (DPDP Act 2023)

Under India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023, you have the following rights:

Right to access: Request a copy of the personal data we hold about you
Right to correction: Update inaccurate or incomplete personal data
Right to erasure: Request deletion of your personal data
Right to grievance redressal: File a complaint if your rights are violated
Right to nominate: Nominate another person to exercise your rights in case of your death or incapacity

To exercise any of these rights, email support@chathindi.co.in. We respond within 30 days.

9. Google AdSense and Advertising

Public pages of ChatHindi display advertisements served by Google AdSense. These ads may use cookies to serve relevant advertisements. We have configured AdSense to use non-personalised ads by default for users in India, limiting data collection. No advertising is shown inside the authenticated chat application.

You can opt out of Google's ad personalisation at adssettings.google.com or install the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on.

10. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy as our platform evolves. The "Last updated" date at the top reflects the most recent change. For significant changes, we will post a notice on the ChatHindi homepage. Continued use of the platform after changes constitutes your acceptance.

11. Contact Us

Privacy questions, data access requests, or concerns: support@chathindi.co.in
Abuse or legal matters: legal@chathindi.co.in
Or visit our Contact page.

Why Privacy Matters More Than Ever in India

India added over 200 million new internet users between 2020 and 2024 — many of them first-time users who are still learning what online privacy means, what data they are sharing, and what risks exist. At ChatHindi, we believe it is our responsibility to be honest and transparent about data practices, not to bury important information in legal language most people will never read.

India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023 is a landmark step — it gives Indian users enforceable rights over their personal data for the first time. ChatHindi supports these rights fully. We have designed our data practices to be compliant with the DPDP Act's principles of purpose limitation, data minimisation, accuracy, and storage limitation.

Technical Privacy Measures — How We Protect You

bcrypt password hashing: Your password is never stored in readable form. Even our own engineers cannot see it. If our database were stolen tomorrow, your password would not be exposed.
JWT session tokens: Authentication uses time-limited JSON Web Tokens, not permanent session cookies. Tokens expire automatically and are invalidated on logout.
HTTPS/TLS everywhere: All data travels over encrypted connections. We enforce HTTPS and redirect all HTTP traffic automatically.
WebRTC peer-to-peer calls: Voice and video call content travels directly between participants — never through our servers. We physically cannot intercept calls.
Cloudinary CDN for media: Images and voice notes are stored with industry-standard security (ISO 27001, SOC 2 certified infrastructure).
No email required: We do not collect email addresses — which means there is no email address to be leaked, sold, or used for spam.

Reporting a Privacy Concern

If you believe your privacy has been violated on ChatHindi — for example, someone has shared your personal information without consent, or you suspect unauthorised access to your account — contact us immediately at support@chathindi.co.in with subject line "Privacy Concern." We treat these reports with the highest priority and respond within 24 hours.