ChatCards Privacy Policy

Last updated: 1 November 2026 · Scope: the ChatCards iOS and Android app (version 1.1) and website

In short

ChatCards analyses the WhatsApp chat export you choose on your phone. The chat file, message text, participant names and analysis results are not sent to us or to any other company. We have no server for chat analysis.

The app connects to the internet for the following purposes. None of them carries chat content:

• Anonymous product analytics (Mixpanel, EU data region): which screens are opened, whether an analysis starts and finishes, sharing and purchase steps, and which campaign the app was installed from. Events are sent with a random installation ID and technical device information.
• Purchase verification (RevenueCat, USA): purchase and earlier subscription information, sent with an anonymous app user ID. On iPhone, this is also how we learn whether an installation came from an Apple Ads ad.
• App settings file (our website, GitHub Pages): a public settings file (config.json) is downloaded so some features can be switched on or off without a new release. The request carries no identifier or usage information.

This version does not collect or send crash reports (see "Crash reports").

Apple or Google processes payments. The app shows no ads, uses no advertising ID and does not ask for app tracking permission (ATT).

Four details you should know:

• Your analysis history is stored on your phone. It may be included in your phone's own iCloud or Google backup.
• A card image you share may contain names, frequent words and short phrases taken from the chat. On one-on-one cards, the other person's name becomes an initial by default.
• Phone numbers of people who are not in your contacts are masked on your phone (for example +90 ••• ••• •• 67).
• When you write to us with "Report a problem", the email contains an error code, the app version, phone and language information; it contains no chat content.

Data controller and contact

ChatCards is developed and published by Mehmet Emre Karamustafa, who is the data controller for the personal data described in this policy.

• Data controller: Mehmet Emre Karamustafa (trading as Mek Mobile Tech)
• Address: Üsküdar, Istanbul, Türkiye
• Email: karamustafaemre@gmail.com

What is processed on your phone

1. You choose a .txt or .zip file, or send it to ChatCards from WhatsApp's "Export chat" screen.
2. The file is read on your phone and analysed in a separate worker.
3. During the analysis, phone numbers that stand in for the names of people who are not in your contacts are masked: only the country code and the last two digits remain (for example +90 ••• ••• •• 67). A chat name that is entirely a number is masked too. Cards, history and shared images use only the masked form.
4. When the analysis finishes, the messages themselves are dropped from memory. Only counts and the summaries listed below remain.
5. Cards are built from those summaries and saved to your analysis history.

The contents of photos, videos and audio files are not read. Media inside a ZIP is not opened; only the "media omitted" lines in the chat text are counted.

Temporary copies of the file. The file you choose or share is copied to the app's temporary folder on your phone so it can be read. The app does not delete these copies itself. The operating system clears the temporary folder over time, and this folder is not included in phone backups. On iPhone, when you send the file from WhatsApp's share sheet, iOS may also place a copy in the app's documents folder (Documents/Inbox). The app does not delete that copy, and it may be included in your iCloud backup. The copies are not uploaded to a server. Deleting the app removes all of them from your phone.

What is stored on your phone

The app's own folder on your phone holds:

1. Analysis history. The result of each analysis is written as a record and listed on the home screen. The history keeps at most 50 records; older ones are deleted first.
2. Settings. Your language preference, your analysis period preference ("Your group's 2026" or "All time"), which analysis or group used the free unlock and the extra 2026 analysis, your chats (how many are left, which analyses a chat unlocked, the transaction numbers of packs already counted, and whether a running earlier subscription turned into Unlimited on this phone), a cache of your verified Unlimited status, the share-text choice, whether the first open has been measured, whether the review prompt has been shown and the last downloaded app settings file. If you turned anonymous usage stats off, that choice is stored too. Whether the "Where did you hear about us?" question was answered is also stored.
3. Your "Which one is you?" choice. When you pick your own name in a group deck, the choice is stored on the phone so your card opens directly next time. The name is not stored as text but as a short digest (hash); the key is a digest of the group name and participant names. The group that received the extra 2026 analysis is stored with the same kind of digest. None of this is sent over the network or to analytics.
4. Anonymous service IDs. The random IDs that the Mixpanel and RevenueCat libraries create for this installation, the properties Mixpanel adds to every event (app version, platform, interface language, install source) and events waiting to be sent.

A record holds: the chat or group name, the analysis period, the date range, participant names (numbers masked), per-participant counts (messages, emoji, words, hourly distribution and so on), the most used emoji, the most frequent words and the 2–4 word phrases some cards show. A record does not hold the text of your messages, media files, the chat file you picked or its file name. Records written by version 1.0 are rewritten on the first launch of 1.1 with numbers masked and file names removed.

Backups. If backups are turned on, the app's folder may be included in your iCloud backup on iPhone or in your Google account backup on Android. When you move to a new phone from a backup, your history, settings and anonymous IDs may move with it. Apple or Google keeps these backups in your account; ChatCards cannot access them.

You can delete history one record at a time (the ⋮ menu in the list) or all at once (Settings → Privacy → "Delete analysis history"). Deleting the app removes this folder from your phone.

Anonymous product analytics

To understand how the app is used, these events are sent to Mixpanel:

• App First Open: only once, on the first launch of a new installation. The install source; on Android, the campaign codes read from Google Play's install information (utm_source, utm_medium, utm_campaign, utm_content); the interface language and the device's language code (for example pt).
• Open Page: the fixed name of the screen that was opened: home, onboarding, exportGuide, import, analysis, relationship, recap, history, paywall.
• Import Started: where an analysis was started from: the file picker, the share sheet or the sample chat.
• Analysis Completed: the source (your own file or the sample chat), where it was started, the chat type (group or one-to-one), the export format (Android, iOS or unknown), a duration range (under 1 second, 1–3 seconds, 3–10 seconds, over 10 seconds), the analysis period (all time or "Your group's 2026") and whether year mode fell back to all time because there were too few messages.
• Analysis Failed: the code of the error type (for example unsupported format), where the analysis was started and the file type (txt, zip or other).
• Share Started and Share Result: the share surface, the fixed share-text variant, single card or all cards, group or relationship flow, the number of cards, the share context (inviting the same group, a personal card or elsewhere), for personal cards the card's fixed type, and the analysis period. The result event also has the result of the system share sheet, the kind of app chosen (WhatsApp, Instagram, Telegram, Snapchat, X, Messages, save image or other), whether names were hidden, and whether a relationship verdict card and the call-to-action strip were included.
• Free Unlock Consumed: that an unlock was used and which one: the first free full analysis, the extra analysis in "Your group's 2026" mode (each once) or a chat (from a pack).
• Paywall Viewed: where the purchase screen was opened from, whether store offers had loaded and, if it was opened from a locked analysis, that analysis's period (all time or year).
• Purchase Result: the result of a purchase attempt (purchased, cancelled, pending or failed) and the product (3 chats pack or Unlimited).
• Review Prompted: that the store's rating prompt was requested and why (first successful share). The store does not tell us whether you saw it or how you rated.
• Source Survey Answered: your answer to "Where did you hear about us?", from a fixed list (a friend's card, TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, store search, an ad, press, other) or that you skipped it. There is no free text. Unless you skipped it, the answer is also added to later events.
• Period Selected: that a period (all time or "Your group's 2026") was chosen and where (home screen, closing card or the link that opened the app).
• Personal Card Viewed: that the "Who are you?" personal card was opened and whether the person had been picked in this chat before. The chosen person's name is not sent.

Every event also carries the app version, the platform (iOS or Android), the interface language (Turkish, English, English (India), Portuguese, Hindi or other), the two-letter country code from the phone's language and region setting (for example tr, br, in; read from the setting, not from your location; unknown if not set) and the install source.

Events carry only values chosen from fixed lists, the number of cards, yes/no flags and cleaned short campaign codes. Chat content, participant or group names, file names or paths, phone numbers and message or participant counts (not even as ranges) are not sent.

The Mixpanel library adds technical information to these events by itself, such as the operating system and its version, device manufacturer and model, screen size, and app and library version. Events are grouped by a random ID created for this installation of the app; it is not an advertising ID. Mixpanel derives an approximate city- and country-level location from the connection's IP address. No GPS or location permission is used.

Data is sent to Mixpanel's EU data region; Mixpanel, Inc. is a US-based company. This data is used to improve the product and to measure how many installs a campaign brings. It is not used to target ads or to track you across other apps and websites.

You can turn anonymous usage stats off in Settings → Anonymous usage stats. While it is off no events are sent, and events waiting to be sent are deleted. The app settings file and subscription verification are not affected.

Install source and campaign measurement

• Android: on the first launch, the link you installed the app from is read on the phone from Google Play's Install Referrer service. Only the campaign codes (the utm_* fields above, cleaned) go to Mixpanel. The Google Ads click ID (gclid) is not sent; its presence only marks the install source as "google_ads".
• iPhone: RevenueCat obtains an attribution token from Apple's AdServices service and sends it to Apple to learn whether the installation came from an Apple Ads campaign (such as the campaign, ad group and keyword). This information is added to the anonymous customer record at RevenueCat. This method uses no advertising ID (IDFA), does not ask for app tracking permission (ATT) and does not track you across other apps or websites.
• Share links: the link in the share text and the QR code on the card image carry only the chat type (group or one-to-one) and the share-text variant. The link in the "everyone opens their own card" invite carries only the invite type (group or personal card). No chat, group or person name is added.

Crash reports

This version does not collect or send crash reports. The app's code contains crash-reporting code (Sentry), but it is switched off in the release build and never starts. Before we switch crash reporting on, we will update this policy to describe what reports contain and where they are sent.

App settings file

When it starts and when it comes back to the foreground (at most every 15 minutes), the app downloads a public settings file (config.json) from our website. The file only says whether some features (the relationship verdict card and its sharing, the call-to-action strip on shared images, "Your group's 2026" mode, purchasing) are on or off, so we can switch a feature off without a new release if it causes problems. The request is a plain HTTPS request with no identifier, cookie, usage or chat information. The site is hosted on GitHub Pages; GitHub may log the request's IP address and the app's technical user agent to keep the service secure. The last downloaded file is kept on the phone; without a network or a readable file, every feature stays on.

Purchases

Every card in your first analysis is free. In later analyses the first two cards are open; the remaining cards unlock with a chat or with Unlimited. The sample chat does not use the free analysis. "Your group's 2026" mode also gives one extra analysis for one group. These are recorded only on the phone: how many are left and which analyses they unlocked are not sent to RevenueCat or Mixpanel. Mixpanel only receives that one was used ("Free Unlock Consumed" below).

Two one-time products are sold through the App Store or Google Play: the 3 chats pack, which adds three chats, and lifetime Unlimited. No subscriptions are sold. There is no free trial. Monthly or yearly subscriptions bought earlier keep renewing under the store's rules until you cancel them. Details are in the Purchase Terms.

Apple or Google processes the payment and your store account; ChatCards does not see your card or bank details. Every time the app opens, even if you have not bought anything, it connects to RevenueCat (RevenueCat, Inc., USA) to check your purchases and load store prices; RevenueCat creates an anonymous customer record for this installation. To verify your purchases, process refunds and, for earlier subscriptions, renewals, cancellations and expiry, and prevent fraud, the following is sent to RevenueCat: product ID, purchase token or signed transaction information, store and store environment, subscription status and expiry for an earlier subscription, and an anonymous app user ID. RevenueCat reports the transaction numbers of this installation's pack purchases back to the app; the app keeps them on the phone so that each pack is counted once. RevenueCat also processes technical information such as app and operating-system version and store country. RevenueCat's collection of advertising and device identifiers is turned off.

The app adds Mixpanel's anonymous installation ID to the anonymous customer record at RevenueCat. This lets RevenueCat pass purchase events (such as purchase, refund and, for earlier subscriptions, renewal and cancellation, with product, price and currency) to our Mixpanel project under the same anonymous ID, so we can measure purchases together with app usage. This information is not combined with chat files or analysis content. The app caches your verified Unlimited status on the phone to stay usable during outages.

Cards you share

When you choose to share a card, ChatCards renders it as a PNG image, writes it to the app's temporary folder and hands it to the system share sheet. A strip with the ChatCards name, the store names and a QR code to our website may be added at the bottom of the image. The address in the QR code is the same for everyone and carries no information about you or your chat. The share text also includes a link to our website. You decide who to share the image with. A shared image is in the recipient's hands and ChatCards cannot take it back.

The image does not contain your messages. Depending on the card, it may contain numbers and statistics, the group or chat name, participant names, the most used emoji, the most frequent words in the chat and 2–4 word phrases taken from the chat (for example the "Group Catchphrase" card). Numbers of people who are not in your contacts appear masked. When you share one-on-one (relationship) cards, the other person's name becomes an initial by default (for example "A.") and words containing the name are removed from the image; the card inside the app keeps showing the real name. Check the card before sharing.

The PNG file is deleted when your next share starts; until then it stays in the app's temporary folder. The operating system may clear that folder earlier. The folder is not included in phone backups, and deleting the app removes the file.

Deleting your data

Data on your phone. You can delete your analysis history in the app (see "What is stored on your phone"). Deleting the app removes the history, settings, unused chats, temporary files and anonymous IDs from your phone. Older copies in your iCloud or Google backup may remain there until you delete the backup or it is replaced. You manage these in your Apple or Google account's backup settings.

Product analytics (Mixpanel). Events are recorded only with a random installation ID, not with your name, email or phone number. The email opened from Settings → Report a problem in the app includes this ID automatically ("Anonymous ID for data deletion requests"). Send that email with the subject "Data deletion" and we will have the events linked to that ID deleted from Mixpanel. If you made a purchase, we can also use your order number to find your RevenueCat record and the Mixpanel ID added to it. If you delete and reinstall the app, a new ID is created and old events are not linked to the new installation. Restoring from a backup may bring the old ID back.

Purchase data (RevenueCat). If you made a purchase, write to us with the order number from your App Store or Google Play receipt. We will have your anonymous customer record and the purchase history linked to it deleted at RevenueCat. This does not cancel an earlier subscription; you manage it in your App Store or Google Play settings. Apple's and Google's own purchase records are not affected.

Support emails. When you write to us with "Report a problem" or directly, we use your email address and what the email contains (error code, app version, platform and operating-system version, interface and device language; for reports sent from Settings, the anonymous ID) only to answer your request. Please don't attach your chat file or screenshots; we don't need them.

How to ask. Send deletion and other privacy requests to karamustafaemre@gmail.com with the subject "Data deletion". We reply within 30 days at the latest.

Legal bases

• Product analytics and campaign measurement: our legitimate interest in keeping the app working and improving it (KVKK Art. 5(2)(f); in the EU, GDPR Art. 6(1)(f)). You can turn this measurement off at any time in Settings → Anonymous usage stats.
• Purchase verification: performance of the sales or subscription contract with you (KVKK Art. 5(2)(c); GDPR Art. 6(1)(b)).
• Answering your requests and legal obligations: compliance with our legal obligations (KVKK Art. 5(2)(ç); GDPR Art. 6(1)(c)).

International transfers

Data is transferred to the following service providers, only for the purposes above:

• Mixpanel, Inc. (US company): product analytics; events are stored in the EU data region.
• GitHub, Inc. (USA): hosting of the website and the app settings file.
• RevenueCat, Inc. (USA): purchase verification and Apple Ads attribution.
• Apple and Google: payments and store transactions, under their own privacy policies.

Transfers from Türkiye are made in line with Article 9 of the KVKK. Transfers from the European Union rely on the EU Standard Contractual Clauses in the providers' data processing agreements or on the provider's participation in the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework.

Retention

• Data on your phone: until you delete it or remove the app. The history keeps at most 50 records.
• Mixpanel events: at most 2 years from the event date, or until you ask for deletion.
• RevenueCat purchase records: for at most 5 years after your last purchase or after an earlier subscription ends (for tax and accounting obligations and possible disputes). If you ask for deletion, we delete earlier any records we are not legally required to keep.
• Privacy and deletion correspondence: 2 years after your request is closed.

Your rights

Under Article 11 of the Turkish Personal Data Protection Law No. 6698 (KVKK) you have the right to:

• learn whether your personal data is processed,
• request information about it if it is,
• learn the purpose of processing and whether the data is used for that purpose,
• know the third parties in Turkey or abroad to whom the data is transferred,
• ask for incomplete or inaccurate data to be corrected,
• ask for the data to be deleted or destroyed under the conditions of Article 7 of the Law,
• ask for corrections, deletions and destructions to be notified to the third parties who received the data,
• object to an outcome against you that results solely from automated analysis of the data,
• claim compensation if you suffer damage because the data was processed unlawfully.

Send requests to the email address above. We answer free of charge within 30 days at the latest. If you are not satisfied with our answer, you can complain to the Turkish Personal Data Protection Board. If you are in the European Union, you can use your GDPR rights (access, rectification, erasure, restriction, objection, data portability) through the same address and complain to the data protection authority of your country.

Website

This website sets no cookies and uses no browser storage. The home page may send you to the English, Portuguese or Hindi page based on your browser language; this is decided in the browser and not stored. The site uses no visitor counter or analytics tool. The store buttons pass the campaign code on to the App Store and Google Play. The site is hosted on GitHub Pages; GitHub may log visitors' IP addresses to keep the service secure.

Children

ChatCards is not directed to children and does not knowingly ask children for personal data. The app may show an infrequent profanity-themed analysis card and carries the store age rating that results from that disclosure.

Permissions

• File selection: Only the file you pick is accessed, and only when you pick it. ChatCards cannot browse the files on your phone.
• Internet: for the analytics, purchase and app-settings connections described above.

The app does not ask for access to your contacts, location, camera, microphone or photo library.

Older versions

Version 1.0 of the app does not mask phone numbers, saves the chosen file's name in the history and sends no crash reports. It sends only the Open Page, Share Started and Share Result events to Mixpanel. When you update the app, numbers in old records are masked and file names are removed.

Changes

If this policy changes, the updated version is published at this address and the date above is updated. If a new version of the app introduces new data processing, the policy is updated on the same day as that version.