Privacy Policy

Effective date: November 14, 2026

BBS Chat is made by BessCreative, LLC. This policy explains what the app and our server do with information.

The short version

• Your conversations go directly from one phone to the other. They are encrypted between the two devices. We cannot read them and we do not store them.
• Nothing you type is saved, on your phone or anywhere else.
• The app has no accounts. We never ask for your real name, phone number, email address, contacts or location.
• Our server keeps a small amount of anonymous information so that two phones can find each other.

What stays on your phone

• Your display name and your contacts' names. Your name is sent, encrypted, only to people you invite or whose invitation you accept. It is never sent to our server.
• Your encryption keys. They are created on your phone and kept in its keychain.
• Your settings, such as Do Not Disturb and Require Face ID.

Deleting the app removes all of this from your phone.

What our server keeps

The server's job is to let two phones find each other. To do that it keeps:

• An anonymous ID for your installation. It is derived from a public key your phone creates. It is not your name and does not identify you.
• Your notification token, if you allowed notifications, so we can tell your phone that someone wants to chat while the app is closed.
• Your Do Not Disturb setting.
• Which anonymous IDs are connected to each other, so that only your contacts can see when you are available or send you a chat request.
• Open invitations and, for up to 72 hours, an invitation reply waiting for the person who sent the invitation. The reply is encrypted so that only that person's phone can open it.

While a chat is being set up, the server passes a few connection messages between the two phones. It does not keep them.

The server writes a log of events, such as a connection opening or a chat starting, with the first characters of the anonymous IDs involved. The log contains no names, no conversation text and no notification tokens.

What we never receive

• Anything you type in a chat.
• Your name, or the names you give your contacts.
• Your phone number, email address, address book, photos or location.

Your IP address

• The person you chat with. Because the two phones connect directly, each can see the other's IP address.
• Our hosting provider. Our server runs at Fly.io, which handles your phone's connection to it and, like any host, processes your IP address to do so.
• Connection helper. To find a direct path between two phones on different networks, the app contacts a STUN service run by Cloudflare, which sees your IP address. It receives nothing else about you or your chat.

Notifications

Notifications are delivered by Apple. A notification we send contains only the anonymous ID of the person contacting you. Your phone adds their name from your own contact list.

How long we keep things

• Invitations and unopened invitation replies are deleted after 72 hours.
• A connection between two IDs is deleted when either person removes the other.
• Your anonymous ID, notification token and Do Not Disturb setting are kept while you use the app. To have them deleted, write to us with the "This device" code shown in the app's Settings.

Sharing

We do not sell information, show advertising or track you across apps or websites. We share information only with the services named above, and only as far as they need it to carry out their part.

Children

BBS Chat is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect information from them.

Changes

If this policy changes, we will post the new version on this page and update the effective date.

Contact

BessCreative, LLC, support@besscreative.com