Legal

Privacy Policy

Effective Date: April 2026

At AirlockChat, we built our platform because trust online shouldn't be rare. Because we require government identity verification for all users, we hold ourselves to an incredibly high standard when it comes to your privacy and personal data.

1. Our Verified-First Approach

AirlockChat is a compulsory verified-only platform. To maintain a safe environment free from fake profiles and anonymous abuse, you must verify your identity using DigiLocker before you can use the app. This requires collecting specific, limited pieces of identifiable information.

2. Information We Collect

To operate our services, we collect the following limited information:

  • Phone Number: Used for account creation, authentication, and communication.
  • Profile Photos: You must upload between 1 to 6 profile photos. We use these for liveness checks and facial comparison against your government ID.
  • DigiLocker Verified Data: We connect with DigiLocker to fetch your verified first name, date of birth, document type, and a masked version of your document number (e.g., last 4 digits only).
  • Optional Email: You may provide an email address strictly for account recovery purposes.
  • Optional LinkedIn Profile: To display an additional verification badge on your profile.

3. How We Use Your Information

We process your data for the sole purpose of operating a trusted chat ecosystem:

  • Identity Verification: We compute a facial verification score between your uploaded profile photo and your DigiLocker ID photo.
  • Age Verification: We compute your age internally to ensure you meet our minimum age requirement of 18 years old. Your full date of birth is never publicly displayed.
  • Profile Display: We display your verified first name on your profile. You cannot change this name.
  • Safety & Moderation: We use metadata strictly to enforce platform rules, investigate reports, and prevent banned users from returning.

4. What We Do NOT Collect or Store

We believe in data minimization. In compliance with the Digital Personal Data Protection Act (DPDPA), we explicitly DO NOT store:

  • Your full government ID / document numbers.
  • Full document photos or raw digital copies of your IDs.
  • Your residential address.
  • Any other extraneous personal data returned by verification APIs.

5. Data Retention & Account Deletion

Your verified profile and data are retained for the lifetime of your account. If you choose to delete your account, your profile will immediately become inactive.

Deletion Grace Period: Upon account deletion, your user profile data and chat history may be retained in a deactivated, inaccessible state for up to 14 days. During this 14-day window, you can restore your account and all associated data simply by signing back in. If you do not sign in within 14 days, your account and all associated personal data will be flagged for permanent deletion and completely purged from our systems within 30 days.

6. Who Can See Your Information

Your public profile—visible only when someone searches your exact AirlockChat code or scans your QR code—displays your verified first name, computed age, bio, profile photos, and verification badges.

AirlockChat administrators have limited access to chat histories solely for the purpose of reviewing submitted safety reports. We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information to third parties.

7. Contact Us

If you have any questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or your personal data, please contact our Data Protection Officer at:
Email: care@airlockchat.com