Privacy Policy

Last Updated: July 2026

1. Introduction

Welcome to Sifter. We respect your privacy and are committed to protecting your personal data. This policy explains what we collect, how we use it, and the rights you have when you use the Sifter app.

2. Data We Collect

• Account information: your phone number, used to sign you in.
• Profile: your display name and avatar.
• Precise location: used to show you nearby chat rooms and for geofencing features. Your location is never shown to other users.
• Chat content: the messages and media you share in chat rooms.
• Device information: device type, operating system, and device identifiers (including a push-notification token).
• Usage and diagnostics: how you interact with the app, plus crash and performance data used to fix bugs.
• Advertising identifier (IDFA): collected only if you grant permission through Apple's App Tracking Transparency prompt (see "Advertising and Tracking" below). If you decline, no advertising identifier is collected or shared.

3. How We Use Your Data

• Provide and maintain the chat service and your account.
• Show you nearby chat rooms (location-based discovery).
• Screen content for safety and moderation.
• Send you notifications about activity relevant to you.
• Diagnose crashes and improve performance.
• Measure advertising performance — only with your consent (see below).

4. Data Security

• Data is encrypted in transit (TLS) and at rest.
• Messages are screened by automated content moderation before they are posted, to help keep chats safe.
• Access controls, authentication, and regular security review protect your data.

5. Data Retention

Chat messages are not permanently stored — they are removed when a chat room is deleted. Your account data is kept until you delete your account, after which it is removed.

6. Your Rights

You have the right to access, correct, delete, or export your personal data, and to object to certain processing. You can delete your account and its data from within the app at any time.

7. Third-Party Services

Sifter uses the following service providers to operate the app:

• Supabase — authentication, database, and storage.
• Cloudflare — push-notification delivery and content-moderation routing.
• Mistral AI — automated content moderation (screening messages for safety).
• Sentry — crash and performance monitoring (not linked to your identity).
• OpenStreetMap — map tiles for location features (no account or tracking).
• Unity Ads — in-app advertising.
• Meta (Facebook) — advertising measurement and attribution, used only if you grant tracking permission (see below).
• Apple — push notifications (APNs) and App Store services.

8. Advertising and Tracking

Sifter shows ads through Unity. With your permission — requested through Apple's App Tracking Transparency prompt — we also share your device advertising identifier (IDFA) with Meta to measure how well our ads perform (for example, connecting an app install to the ad that led to it).

If you choose "Ask App Not to Track," Sifter does not collect or share your advertising identifier, and no advertising or attribution data is sent to Meta. You can change this choice at any time in iOS Settings → Privacy & Security → Tracking.

9. Children's Privacy

Sifter is not intended for children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal data from children under 13. Some areas of the app are restricted to users 18 and older.

10. Changes to This Policy

We may update this policy from time to time. We will post the updated policy and revise the "Last Updated" date above.

11. Contact Us

If you have any questions about this policy or your data, please contact us at:

Email: privacy@sifter.cc