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Privacy Policy

Version 2.5Last updated

In short

This summary is here to be readable. The full policy below is what governs.

  • We collect your email address, Display name and profile picture from the Google or Apple account you sign in with; a date of birth if you enter one; everything you send to a Character; and a record of every Top-up of Crowns. We never see or store your card number.
  • Your messages leave your phone. Replies are generated in the cloud, not on your device. Your message and recent conversation context go to our servers and to Google, the AI provider that generates replies, and your conversations are stored on our servers as well as on your phone.
  • Chika also keeps a copy on your device, including your account, your conversations and their messages, so the app opens quickly. Signing out deletes that copy.
  • Public Characters are checked automatically, and a person reads every report about one. Our admin can see the source photo behind a Character you made.
  • We do not sell your personal information.
  • Chika is 18+. We do not knowingly collect data from anyone under 18.
  • You can delete your account at any time. Open Profile and tap Settings, then tap Delete account and confirm, though on the version currently in the stores Delete account is at the foot of Profile instead. It takes your conversations, pictures and Between us notes with it.

This Privacy Policy applies to all visitors, registered Players ("Players"), and individuals engaging with the Chika platform ("Platform") or services ("Services"). It explains what data we collect, how we use it, and how we protect your information.

By creating an account, accessing our Services, or confirming acceptance through prompts such as "Sign Up" or similar acknowledgments, you agree that you have read, understood, and accepted the practices described in this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree, please do not use our Services.

We encourage you to read this Policy carefully, along with any additional notices that may apply to specific features.

How We Collect Data

Personal Data You Provide

When you interact with Chika, we collect personal information that you choose to share, such as:

  • Account information from the Google or Apple account you sign in with: your email address, your Display name, and, for Google sign-in, your account's profile picture. Apple can also pass your name the first time you sign in. We store the account identifier Google or Apple gives us, so we can recognise you next time.
  • A date of birth. We ask for one before you can use Chika, and we ask for a date rather than an age. It can be set once, as described under "Your Rights" below.
  • What you send to a Character: your messages, the gifts and stickers you send, and any picture you ask for.
  • Reports you file. If you report a Character's message, we record which message it was, the reason you chose, and anything you type in the note, together with your account. If you report a Character, we record which Character, the reason and your note, together with your account. A report sent by email to the contact address carries what you put in the email.
  • Characters you make. The name, picture, tagline, description, Style and instructions you give a Character, and its visibility (Private or Public).
  • People you stop seeing. If you choose not to see a Character, or any Characters from one maker, we keep that choice in your Hidden list.

Payment details are not in this list. Purchases are made through the Apple App Store or Google Play. You enter your payment details with Apple or Google, never with Chika, and we never receive or store your card number.

Data Collected Automatically

When you use the Platform, limited service-connected features may collect:

  • Service usage data related to sign-in, Character interactions, or paid purchases.
  • Device and technical information needed to process service requests securely.
  • A record of every Top-up: how many Crowns, the store payment method, the store's transaction identifier, the amount, and whether it completed. What you then spend those Crowns on is recorded as part of your conversation, not as a separate purchase record.
  • A push-notification token, if you allow notifications. It is cleared when you sign out.

Special Note

We do not knowingly collect sensitive personal data (e.g., health, race, religion) or data from individuals under 18.

How We Use Your Data

We process your personal data to:

  • Provide and improve service-connected features such as sign-in, Character refreshes, and purchases.
  • Generate Character replies, suggested replies, the Between us note each Character keeps about you, and a Character's message to you when you have not replied for a while.
  • Generate a picture when you ask a Character for one and confirm the price.
  • Process purchases through the App Store or Google Play and our purchase provider.
  • Maintain safe use of the Platform, including abuse prevention, moderation, and fraud detection.
  • Provide customer support and respond to inquiries.
  • Send you announcements in the app, and push notifications if you have allowed them.
  • Conduct limited operational analytics to improve reliability and safety.
  • Comply with legal, contractual, tax, and regulatory obligations.

How We Store and Protect Data

We use industry-standard safeguards such as encryption, access controls, and secure servers to protect your data. Players should also take care to secure their own devices and accounts.

On our servers. Your account, your conversations and their messages, your Between us notes, your generated pictures and your purchase records are stored on our servers, so they follow you to a new device.

On your device. Chika also keeps a copy on the phone itself, including your account details, your conversations and their messages, and downloaded pictures and video, so the app opens quickly instead of re-fetching everything. When you sign out, the app deletes that local copy from the device, including the cached media.

We retain your personal data for as long as your account exists. Deleting your account is what ends that, and we then delete what we hold, except the reports you have filed, which are covered below. The App Store or Google Play, and RevenueCat, our purchase provider, keep their own record of what you paid.

Deleting Your Account

You can delete your account yourself, at any time, in the app. Open Profile and tap Settings, then tap Delete account and confirm, though on the version currently in the stores Delete account is at the foot of Profile instead. Deleting it removes your conversations and their messages, your generated pictures, the photos you uploaded, your Between us notes, your saved notes and your purchase records from our servers, and clears the copy held on your device.

If you cannot reach that control because you have signed out, deleted the app, or the age gate has refused your account, write to us at the address below and we will do it for you. The delete-account page has the full instructions for both routes.

Public Characters you made are handled differently, as set out under "Public Characters" below.

Reports you have filed about a Character's message, or about a Character, are kept. They are moderation records rather than personal content, and removing them would erase the evidence of a safety issue.

Your Rights

  • See and correct your information. Your Display name is editable in Profile → Account Details. Your date of birth is shown there but cannot be changed once it is set, because an editable one would let an under-age account simply answer again. Write to us at the address below to correct a genuine mistake.
  • Erase your information. Use Delete account, as described above.
  • Withdraw permissions. Notifications and the floating chat head can be turned off in your device settings at any time; the app keeps working without them.
  • Ask us anything else, including a copy of your data or an objection to how we use it, using the contact address at the end of this Policy.

Permissions We Ask For

  • Notifications let a Character reach you when the app is closed. Optional; the app works without it.
  • Display over other apps (Android only) lets a Character's chat head float over other apps. Optional, off unless you turn it on, and it gives Chika no access to what those other apps show.

Public Characters

A Character you make is Private until you make it Public. Other Players who find a Public Character see its name, picture, tagline, description and Style. They do not see who made it, your account, or the instructions you wrote for it.

Automated checks

When you switch a Character to Public, and each time you edit it while it is Public, we run these checks automatically, before it is shown to anyone:

  • A text check of the name, tagline and description, to refuse content that breaks the Terms, including any sexual or romantic framing of anyone under 18.
  • A Safe Search check of the picture, to refuse sexual, violent or suggestive images.
  • A face check of the picture, to refuse a photographic face. A kept face photo is refused.

The picture is sent to Google (Gemini and Google's image safety tools) for these checks. A failed check keeps the Character Private, or leaves the live version unchanged if you were editing; you are told the reason category. These decisions are made by software. A person looks again at Public drawings made from a face photo, and can overrule the software. A Character refused Public stays usable by you in Private.

Reports about Characters

A report about a Character is read by a person, and Chika's administrator can see the Character, its source photo, the report and the maker's earlier reports. If we Hide a Character, the maker's account carries a strike, which is described in the Terms. Intimate-image reports are looked at within 48 hours; reports about minors within 24 hours.

Preserving evidence

Where a report concerns child sexual abuse material, we do not delete it. The law of the Philippines (Republic Act 11930) requires us to preserve it. We copy the Character's picture, source photo, text and instructions into restricted storage that no admin list or account deletion reaches. We keep that content for 1 year and the maker's account and log data for 6 months, and then destroy it, unless the authorities ask us to keep it longer. We may report it to the Philippine authorities, including the Department of Justice Office of Cybercrime.

When a maker deletes their account

Drafts and Private Characters are deleted. Public Characters stay, for the Players already chatting with them, without the maker's account on them: the link to the maker is removed, and every source photo and face-photo marker is deleted. The Character's name, picture, tagline, description and instructions are kept. No new Player can find them.

Your Complaint Rights

You have the right to complain to the National Privacy Commission of the Philippines (privacy.gov.ph) about how we handle your personal data. Please also write to us first, if you can, so we can try to put it right.

Our Data Protection Officer can be reached at hello@chikachat.com with the subject line "Data Protection Officer".

You can ask us to review a decision made by the automated checks above. Taking a Character down (Hide) is decided by a person and has no appeal, as the Terms say.

Cloud AI Replies

Character replies are generated in the cloud by Google, the AI provider Chika uses. They cannot be generated on your device, so a network connection is required to chat.

To produce a reply we send your Display name, the Character's persona, the Between us note that Character keeps about you, and the recent messages of that conversation. We do not send your email address, your account identifier, your device identifier, or any payment data.

That same conversation content is used for four things and nothing else: to generate the Character's reply; to suggest replies you might send next; to maintain the Between us note that Character keeps about you; and to write a Character's message to you when you have not replied for a while.

Any third party that receives your personal data from Chika is contractually required to provide the same or equal protection of that data as this Privacy Policy states, and to use it only to produce what Chika asked for.

Your conversations are also saved on our servers, not only on your device, which is how they follow you when you sign in somewhere new.

Generated Pictures

Some Characters offer to send you a picture, and we always show you the price before anything is generated. When you accept, a description of the scene is sent to Google, whose image model generates it, and the picture that comes back is stored on our servers and shown in your conversation. It is deleted when you delete your account.

Uploaded Photos

When you upload a photo to make a Character, we send it to Google (Gemini), which checks it and edits it.

How long we keep it. We keep the source photo for as long as it is the source of a Character's face. We delete it when that face is replaced, when the Character is deleted, or when you delete your account. A photo you upload and never use is deleted after 1 day.

Who can see it. Our administrator can see the source photo of a Character, next to the picture made from it, when checking a report or a Public Character for real people and minors. No other Player ever sees it.

Between us

Chika keeps a short running note about your relationship with each Character, drawn from your conversations. It exists so a Character can remember you the next time you talk, and it is scoped to that one Character and is not shared with or used by any other part of the Platform.

This note is stored on our servers, not on your device, and it is rewritten as you talk. You can erase it at any time from the chat panel inside that Character's conversation, and deleting your account deletes it too.

How We Share Your Data

We do not sell your personal information. We may share limited service-related data only in the following cases:

  • Trusted Partners. We share only what each one needs:
    • Google provides Google sign-in, hosting and file storage, Android push delivery, the AI model that generates Character replies, the image model that generates pictures, and Gemini, which checks and edits the photos you upload. On this website, Google Analytics runs if you allow it, as described under "Cookies on this website".
    • Apple provides Sign in with Apple and App Store purchases.
    • RevenueCat handles in-app purchases and receives an account identifier so your Crowns land on the right account.
    • Expo delivers iOS push notifications and serves app updates.
  • Legal Obligations: If required by law, regulation, subpoena, or government request.
  • Platform Features: Limited account information may be used when required for sign-in, purchases, or other service-connected flows.
  • Any third party that receives your personal data from Chika is contractually required to provide the same or equal protection of that data as this Privacy Policy states, and to use it only to produce what Chika asked for.

App updates. When the app opens it checks Expo's update service for a newer version of Chika. That check tells Expo your platform and the version you are running. It carries nothing about you or your conversations.

Where Your Data Is Processed

Our servers and stored files are hosted in Singapore (Google Cloud, asia-southeast1). Google may process your messages in other countries. By using Chika you understand that your information is transferred and processed outside your own country.

Cookies and Tracking Technologies

On supported platforms or web surfaces, third-party sign-in or payment flows may use cookies or similar technologies to maintain secure sessions and complete transactions.

Privacy of Children

Chika is not intended for children under 18. We ask for a date of birth, and an account that gives one below 18 is refused access to the app.

We keep that date of birth, and only that, so the refusal cannot be undone by answering again. We do not otherwise knowingly collect personal data from anyone under 18. Ask us at the address below and we will delete the account and everything in it.

Policy Updates

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we make significant changes, we will notify you by posting an announcement in the app. The date and version at the top of this page tell you which version you are reading, and the history at the end says what changed. Your continued use of the Services after updates constitutes acceptance of the revised Policy.

Contact Us

Chika is operated by Eden Holdings Philippines Inc., the company responsible for the personal data described in this Policy.

If you have questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or your personal data, please contact us at:

Email: hello@chikachat.com

Cookies on this website

This website uses Google Analytics, loaded through Google Tag Manager, to count visits and see which pages are read, and only if you allow it. The first time you visit, a banner asks. Until you choose Allow, neither loads and nothing is sent to Google.

If you allow it, Google Analytics sets its own cookies (named _ga) and records the pages you visit, roughly where you are (Google works this out from your IP address and does not store the address), your browser and type of device, and the site that sent you here. We use it only to understand which pages are read. It runs no advertising, and it is not connected to your Chika account.

Your choice is kept in your browser's local storage, not in a cookie, so the banner does not ask again. You can change it at any time from Cookie settings at the foot of every page. Choosing No thanks stops Google Analytics and deletes its cookies.

This is separate from the Chika app, where third-party sign-in and payment flows may set cookies of their own, as described under "Cookies and Tracking Technologies" above.

Version history

Version 2.5, 19 October 2026. This website now uses Google Analytics, loaded through Google Tag Manager, and only after you allow it in a cookie banner. "Cookies on this website" said the site set no cookies and ran no analytics. It now says what Google Analytics records, that nothing loads before you choose, and how to change your choice from Cookie settings. Google Analytics is also named under Google in the sharing section.

Version 2.4, 3 October 2026. Player-made Characters can now be Public, and the minimum age is now 18, raised from 16 to match the app. Added "Public Characters": what other Players see and do not see; the automated checks (text, Safe Search and a face check, sent to Google); that a person reviews reports and flagged Characters; how evidence of child sexual abuse material is preserved for 1 year, with account and log data for 6 months, and then destroyed; and what happens to a Public Character when its maker deletes their account. Added "Your Complaint Rights": the right to complain to the National Privacy Commission, and the Data Protection Officer. Named the administrator's access to the source photo, and added reports about Characters, the Characters you make and your Hidden list to what we collect.

Version 2.3, 30 September 2026. Added "Uploaded Photos": a photo you upload is sent to Google (Gemini) to be checked and edited. It is kept while it is the source of a Character's face, and deleted when that face is replaced, the Character is deleted, or your account is deleted. A photo never used is deleted after 1 day. Uploaded photos are now named under Google in the sharing section and among what deleting your account removes.

Version 2.2, 21 September 2026. Corrected the account-deletion path, and named the AI provider.

The deletion instruction said "You can delete your account at any time from Profile → Account Details". The control is not on that screen, which holds a Display name and a date of birth, so a Player who followed this page found nothing and concluded the feature did not exist. The path is now stated once, in the words the app itself uses, and the Terms and the delete-account page state the same sentence.

Named Google as the provider that generates Character replies, and as the provider behind the pictures a Character sends, where the earlier text said only "a third-party AI provider" and "an AI image provider". Listed what is sent to produce a reply: your Display name, the Character's persona, the Between us note and the recent messages of that conversation. Listed what is not sent: your email address, your account identifier, your device identifier and any payment data. Added, in the same section and in the sharing section, the commitment that a third party receiving your personal data provides the same or equal protection of it as this Policy states.

Replaced "It is not used for anything else", which was not true. A Character's message to you when you have not replied for a while is generated from that same conversation content, and the list of uses now says so, all four of them.

"Companion Memory" is renamed Between us, the name the app uses, and no longer claims the note is drawn from "the Stories you complete": no Story can be started or completed in Chika. The vocabulary elsewhere follows the app too, so a Crown is a Crown rather than a "Crown Credit", a Player is a Player rather than a "User", and Character takes its capital.

Version 2.1, 7 September 2026. Corrected retention: deleting your account deletes your purchase records too. The earlier text said a purchase record could be kept for tax or accounting, which contradicted the Deleting Your Account section on the same page. Nothing is anonymised; what is kept is the reports you have filed.

Version 2.0, 31 August 2026. The first review of this policy against what the app actually does.

Removed three claims with nothing behind them: a "country" field, a "language preference" field, and referral programs paying bonus credits, none of which exist anywhere in the product. Corrected "age" to a date of birth, which is what is actually stored. Replaced the vague "third-party providers" for payments with the fact that card details go to Apple or Google and never to Chika. Corrected the statement that conversation content reaches the AI provider "solely to generate the response": it also produces suggested replies and the companion memory note.

Added what the policy had never disclosed: that conversations are stored on our servers and not merely passed through; that the app keeps a copy on your device and clears it when you sign out; that pictures are generated and stored; that a report carries the note you type; that you can delete your account, and what that removes; your rights; the permissions the app asks for; the partners we share with, by name; and where the data is processed. It also names, for the first time, the company that operates Chika and is responsible for your data.

Corrected what this Policy said about a date of birth. It is now asked for before you can use Chika rather than being optional profile data, it can be set once rather than being editable, and an account below the minimum age is refused access rather than having its data deleted, and we keep the date so the refusal holds, and delete the account on request.

Version 1.3, 31 August 2026. Minimum age lowered from 18 to 16, matching the app and the Terms.

Version 1.2, 25 August 2026. Contact address changed to hello@chikachat.com. The address published in 1.1, hello@onlyfriends.ai, sits on a domain that publishes no mail records at all, so nothing sent to it was ever delivered. No other changes.

Version 1.1, 24 August 2026. Disclosed push-notification tokens and the Companion Memory feature, both already in use. No other changes.

Version 1.0, 13 August 2026. First publication on the web of the policy already shipping inside the Chika app. No changes to the terms themselves.