Strangiva privacy policy

Last updated: 30 October 2026

Strangiva is an anonymous one-to-one voice and text chat app for adults (18+). It is run by Zalan Khan in the United Kingdom, who is the data controller. Contact: support@strangiva.co.uk.

This policy describes what the app and our server do today. We will update it when that changes.

The short version

• Nobody is banned automatically. A report on its own never leads to a ban.
• There are no accounts. We don't ask for your real name, email address or phone number.
• We don't record or store your calls.
• Your display name, your About you details and your chat history are kept on your phone.
• There is no advertising and no cross-app tracking. We use anonymous usage stats (PostHog, hosted in the EU) to improve the app. They never include call audio or chat content.

What we process and why

Random app ID

The app creates a random ID the first time it runs and keeps it in your phone's secure storage. It isn't based on your hardware, and we don't use the advertising identifier (IDFA). Our server only ever keeps a salted hash of it. We use it to connect you to calls and text chats, to make blocks and Keeps work, to link reports to the right person and to enforce bans.

Voice calls

Calls go directly between the two phones, encrypted (WebRTC). When a direct connection isn't possible, the audio is relayed through Cloudflare's relay (TURN) servers, still encrypted. We don't record, store or listen to calls. Microphone access is used only while you're in a call.

Text a stranger

You can also be matched with a stranger for a text chat, using the same About you details as calls. Messages are passed between the two phones through our server's memory and are not saved on our server. When the chat ends, they're gone. The only time any messages are kept is when one of you reports the other (see "Reports and bans").

About you and who you'd like to talk to

You confirm that you're 18 or older. You can also give your age range (for example 25–34) and your gender (Woman, Man or Prefer not to say). Your broad region (for example Europe) is worked out on your phone from its region setting, not from GPS or your IP address. Your choices for who you'd like to talk to (age range, gender, region) are saved too. All of this is self-declared and not verified.

These details are saved on your phone. When you start matching, the app sends them to our server, which holds them in memory only while you're connected, so it can find a match. They are not written to a database or logged. The person you're talking to sees your age range and broad region, if you gave them.

We don't collect sexual orientation. If an older version of the app sends that setting, the server ignores it.

Display name

The app gives you a random name such as "Amira Tide". You can choose a new random one or type your own. The name is saved on your phone. The app sends it with a call and with a Keep, and our server passes it on to the other person only if you both tap Keep. After that, your Kept strangers can see your current name while you appear online.

Our server checks custom names against a short list of offensive words, the same check the app does, and doesn't pass on a name that fails it. It doesn't store names. A name is held in memory only while you're connected, or until a Keep resolves. If a Keep becomes mutual while the other person is offline, it is held for at most 24 hours so it can reach them.

Keep, Kept strangers and online status

If you both tap Keep after a call, our server records that your two hashed IDs are Kept strangers, so you can call and message each other. Your list of Kept strangers is stored on your phone. While the app is open, your Kept strangers can see that you're online. You can turn this off with "Appear online" in Strangers. Removing or blocking someone ends this for both of you.

Our server saves the link between your two hashed IDs on its permanent storage, so Keeps survive restarts. It holds no names or messages, and the link is deleted when either of you removes the other.

Messages with Kept strangers

Messages are stored on the two phones. Our server holds a message only until the other person's phone confirms it has received it, for at most 7 days, and then deletes it.

Strangiverse voice notes

You can post short voice notes to the Strangiverse, and reply to other people's notes. A note and its replies last 24 hours. Once, in the last hour of a note's life, you can keep it for another 24 hours, and its replies stay with it. Anyone using the Strangiverse can hear a live note, unless they've blocked you or hidden it. You can always see and hear your own notes in My notes.

The audio is saved on our server only while the note is up. When a note ends or you delete it, its audio is deleted. If you delete a reply that others have answered, it stays as an empty "removed" marker so the conversation still makes sense. Its audio, name and other details are deleted.

When you post a note, its audio is sent to OpenAI to be turned into text, and the text is checked automatically. This usually takes a few seconds, and My notes shows "Checking" until it's done. The only thing this check rejects is a direct threat of violence or a call for violence against others (for example "I'll kill you"). Swearing and adult talk are not rejected. If a note fails the check, it isn't posted and only you can see it, marked "Not posted". If the check can't be done (for example, OpenAI is unavailable), the note is posted anyway. The text is kept with the note on our server and deleted when the note ends or you delete it. If someone reports the note, its text is kept with the report.

Sharing. The first time you open the Strangiverse, we ask whether people may share your notes as a link. It's off unless you say yes, and you can change it any time in My notes. If it's on, someone can create a link to one of your live notes on strangiva.co.uk, and anyone with the link can listen while the note is up. Each link only plays the audio for a short time before it needs refreshing. The link stops working when the note ends or is deleted, when you turn sharing off for that note in My notes, or when you turn sharing off altogether.

Reporting a note. If you report a note, it's hidden for you straight away. It stays up for everyone else until a moderator looks at it. A report keeps your hashed ID, the poster's hashed ID, which note it was, the note's text, the reason you chose and the time. Reports on notes are kept after the note itself ends, so they can be reviewed.

Strangiva Wavelength

Strangiva Wavelength is optional. If you use it, you paste a short summary of yourself, written by an AI assistant you choose, into About you. Before it leaves your phone, the app removes anything that looks like an email address, a web link, a social media handle or a phone number.

The cleaned summary is sent to our server, which sends it to OpenAI's text embedding service (text-embedding-3-small) to turn it into a list of 64 numbers, your wavelength signature. If OpenAI can't be reached, our server works out the signature itself, and if our server can't be reached, your phone does. Our server doesn't save or log your summary. It sends the 64 numbers back to your phone and keeps neither.

Your summary and your signature are saved in your phone's secure storage. When you start matching, the app sends the signature (never the summary) to our server with your other About you details. It's held in memory only while you're connected, and it's used to prefer matches on a similar wavelength and to show you both a match score. The other person sees only the score, never your summary or your signature.

To delete it, open the Strangiva Wavelength card in About you, clear the text and tap "Remove wavelength". Deleting the app removes it too.

View-once photos and photo swaps

Kept strangers can send each other view-once photos. In a text chat with a stranger, either of you can also ask for a photo swap once you've each sent at least 2 messages. A swap only happens if you both accept.

Location and other details are removed on the sender's phone before sending. A photo is passed on through our server's memory, shown once and then dropped. For Kept strangers it's held for at most 24 hours if the other person is offline. If the other person takes a screenshot while a photo is on screen, the app tells you. A photo is never saved on either phone or on our server. The only time a photo is kept is when someone reports it, in which case it is attached to the report.

Notifications

If you allow notifications, our server saves your phone's push token (an address Apple gives us for sending notifications, not your phone number) together with your hashed ID, so Kept strangers can ring you or message you while the app is closed. It's replaced when you get a new one and removed when Apple tells us it no longer works, for example after you delete the app.

Thumbs up and down, and blocks

After a call you can give a thumbs up or down. We keep a simple count per hashed ID, and it never leads to a ban. A thumbs down, or a block, means the two of you won't be matched again. Blocked pairs are saved on our server's permanent storage as a pair of hashed IDs and the date, so they last after restarts.

Reports and bans

If you report someone, we keep both hashed IDs, the reason you chose, any note you write and the time. If you report someone from a text chat with a stranger or from a chat with a Kept stranger, the report also includes up to the last 50 messages of that chat, and any swap photo you reported, as evidence.

Strangiva is a free-speech space. Swearing is fine, and nobody is banned for a word. Reports never ban anyone automatically, however many there are. A ban is only ever decided by a person (a moderator) who reads the evidence, and only when the overwhelming majority of someone's last 50 messages, about 70% (at least 35 of 50), are abusive or offensive, threatening or harassing, or spam. A few bad messages are not enough.

Usage stats

The app sends anonymous usage stats to PostHog, hosted in the EU, so we can see things like how long matching takes and where the app needs improving. These are behaviour events only (for example app opened, matching started, call connected and how long it lasted, Keep, mood chip, screens viewed). The app may also record anonymised session replays in which all text, text fields and images are masked. They never include call audio, chat messages, voice notes or anything you type. They aren't linked to your name, phone number or email, and they aren't used for advertising.

Server logs

Our server logs requests for security and to fix problems. These logs include IP addresses. They are kept only for our hosting provider's short default retention period, and we don't archive them.

Purchases

Strangiva doesn't offer any purchases at the moment. If that changes, payments will be handled by Apple or Google, and we will update this policy.

Legal bases (UK GDPR)

• Providing the service you ask for: matching, calls, text chats, display names, Keep, messages and photo swaps (contract).
• Keeping people safe: blocks, reports, moderator review, bans, the name check and the voice note threat check (legitimate interests).
• Security logs (legitimate interests).

Who else is involved

• Fly.io hosts our server (in London).
• Cloudflare relays call audio when a direct connection isn't possible.
• OpenAI turns Strangiverse voice notes into text for the automatic threat check.
• OpenAI turns Strangiva Wavelength summaries into wavelength signatures.
• Apple (TestFlight and the App Store) and Google (Google Play) distribute the app. Their own privacy policies apply.
• Apple's push notification service delivers notifications to iPhones.

They act as our processors or as independent providers of their platforms. We don't sell data, and we don't share it with advertisers or data brokers. Fly.io and Cloudflare are US companies and may process data outside the UK, under their standard data protection terms.

How long we keep things

• Information in server memory (About you details, display names, undelivered messages) is deleted when you disconnect or the time limits above run out. All of it is lost when the server restarts.
• Reports (with their evidence) and bans are saved on our server's permanent storage, so they last after restarts. They're kept until we delete them. Thumbs counts are held in server memory, so they last until the server restarts.
• Strangiverse notes, their audio and their text are deleted when they end, after 24 hours, or 48 if kept once. Share links end with them. The text of a reported note is kept with the report.
• Blocked pairs are kept permanently, so the two of you are never matched again.
• Kept-stranger links are kept until either of you removes the other.
• Push tokens are kept until they're replaced or Apple tells us they no longer work.
• Everything on your phone is deleted when you delete the app.

Your rights

You have the right to access, correct or delete your data and to object to how we use it. Because there are no accounts, we usually can't tell which data is yours, but contact support@strangiva.co.uk and we'll help where we can. Deleting the app removes everything stored on your phone. You can also complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ico.org.uk).

Age limit

Strangiva is only for people aged 18 and over.

Changes

If this policy changes, we'll update the date at the top and post the new version at https://strangiva.co.uk/privacy.

Credits

The waving hand on the opening screen is based on Twemoji by Twitter, Inc and other contributors, licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). We changed its colour and animated it.