Privacy Policy
Last updated: 24 September 2026
This policy explains which personal data ChatLink processes, why we do that, how long we keep it and what your rights are. We keep it as short and clear as we can.
Who is responsible
ChatLink is responsible (the “controller”) for your personal data as described here. For questions or requests about your data, use the contact form on our support page.
What we collect and why
| Data | Why | Legal basis |
|---|---|---|
| Account: email address, username and tag, password (stored only as a secure hash), date of birth | To create and secure your account, and to check you are 16 or older | Contract; legal obligation (age) |
| Profile: profile picture, bio, custom status | To show your profile to others | Contract |
| Content: messages, files and pictures, servers, channels, roles you create | To deliver them to the people you share them with | Contract |
| Relationships and memberships: friends, blocks, servers you’re in | To make friends, DMs and servers work | Contract |
| Settings: notification settings, what you’ve read, muted servers | To make the app work the way you set it up | Contract |
| Technical data: IP address, browser or app version, login sessions | To keep you logged in, to protect the service against abuse and to fix problems | Legitimate interest (security) |
| Support requests and reports: what you send us through our forms, including your name and email if you give them | To help you and to handle reports of illegal content | Legitimate interest; legal obligation (EU Digital Services Act) |
| Live chat: your messages to our support chat, and your name and email if you give them | To answer your question | Legitimate interest |
Voice and video calls are sent live through our own media server and are not recorded or stored. While you’re in a call, others in it can see that you’re there and whether your microphone or camera is on.
We don’t sell your data, don’t show ads and don’t use tracking or analytics cookies.
Who can see what
- Other users see your username, tag, profile picture, status and bio, and the messages you send in servers and DMs you share with them. Your email address and date of birth are never shown to others.
- Server owners and moderators can manage the servers they run, for example remove members or delete messages there.
- Our hosting provider stores the data on our behalf, on servers we rent. Nobody else gets your data, unless the law requires us to share it (for example an order from a court or the police).
Where your data is stored
All data is stored on our servers in the Netherlands. We don’t send your data to countries outside the European Union.
Cookies and local storage
We use one cookie: a login cookie that keeps you signed in. It is strictly necessary, so we don’t ask for consent. The app also saves a few preferences in your browser (like your voice settings), which never leave your device. No third-party cookies are used.
How long we keep it
- Your account is kept until you delete it. When it’s deleted, we remove your email address, password, profile picture, bio and status, and delete the servers you own. Messages you sent in other servers and DMs stay, but are shown as “Deleted User” — delete them yourself first if you want them gone.
- Messages and files are kept until you or a moderator deletes them, or the server is deleted. Files you uploaded but never sent are deleted after one hour.
- Login sessions end after 30 days without use, or when you log out.
- Support requests and reports are kept as long as needed to handle them and to meet our legal obligations, and then deleted.
- Live chats are deleted 90 days after the last message.
Security
All connections use encryption (HTTPS). Passwords are stored with a strong one-way hash, so nobody — not even we — can read them. Shared files are behind links that can’t be guessed. Access to our systems is limited and protected.
Your rights
You have the right to see your data, correct it, have it deleted, get a copy of it, limit how we use it and object to our use of it. Much of it you can change yourself in the app (username, profile, status, bio). For everything else, contact us through the support page — we reply within one month.
If you think we handle your data wrongly, please tell us first. You can also file a complaint with your data protection authority; in the Netherlands that’s the Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens.
Children
ChatLink is only for people aged 16 and up. If we learn that someone younger has an account, we delete it.
Changes
If we change this policy in a way that matters, we tell you in the app or by email before it applies. The date at the top shows the latest version.