Privacy Policy

1. Who we are

Burner (“Burner”, “we”, “us”) provides the Burner messaging app, Burner Mail and the website burnerchat.ai. The company responsible for your personal data (the “data controller”) is [Company legal name], [Registered address].

Burner AI, the on-device assistant inside the app, is developed by Arc IO. Because Burner AI runs entirely on your phone, Arc IO does not receive your data through it.

Questions about privacy: legal@burnerchat.ai. Help with the app: support@burnerchat.ai.

2. What we hold and why

Your account

• Username (public — it is also your Burner Mail address), and anything you add to your profile: display name, profile photo, “about” text, gender and location. Other Burner users can see your profile.
• Password — stored only as a salted, one-way hash. We can’t see your password.
• A hidden login email — an internal address generated from your account ID and used only for signing in. It is not a mailbox and we never write to it.
• Recovery phrase proof — your 12-word recovery phrase stays with you. We only store a value derived from it that lets us check it’s right, and a backup of your encryption keys that is locked with your phrase so that we can’t open it.
• Account settings such as language, translation preferences and privacy choices.

Your phone number (optional)

You don’t need a phone number to use Burner. If you choose to verify one (it’s required to create a channel), we store the verified number and the date it was verified. The one-time SMS code is sent through Google Firebase Authentication. We use the number to confirm you are a real person, to stop the same number being used on several accounts, and — for channel creators — as described in the channel creator terms.

Your connections and chat settings

• Who you are connected to, contact requests, and who you have blocked.
• The chats and groups you are in, group names, photos and members, and admin roles.
• Per-chat settings the server needs to apply for you, such as muted, pinned or hidden-until dates, and chat themes.

Messages

• Content: one-to-one and group messages are encrypted on the sender’s phone and can only be decrypted on the recipients’ phones. We cannot read them.
• Relay storage: our server keeps each encrypted message only until every recipient’s phone has received it, and then deletes it. After delivery we keep only a small record without any content (message id, chat, sender and time) for up to 30 days, so we can enforce delete, edit, forward and secure rules; then it is deleted too. Secured messages are kept, encrypted, until they are unsecured or deleted. Messages that are never delivered are deleted after 30 days.
• Secured messages: if you secure a message, we keep it (still encrypted) so it can be restored on a new phone, until it is unsecured and deleted.
• Polls and quizzes are kept while the chat exists so that votes can be counted.
• Message metadata: while a message is on our server we also hold who sent it, which chat it belongs to, when it was sent, its type, and whether it has been delivered and read. Small events such as edits, deletes, reactions and read receipts are queued for your other chat partners’ phones and removed once delivered.
• Forward requests: when someone asks to forward your media, we store the request and the chain of people it passed through until it is approved or declined.

Photos, videos, voice notes and files

Attachments are uploaded over an encrypted connection to our file storage (Bunny CDN) so recipients can download them. Unlike message text, attachments are not end-to-end encrypted in every case today. Each file is deleted from our storage when the message it belongs to leaves our server (after delivery, or when it is deleted for everyone), when its story expires, or when its channel post is deleted — unless the same file is still used by another message (for example, one that was forwarded). Your phone keeps its own copy.

Stories

A story, its file, its audience settings and its list of viewers are kept for 24 hours and then deleted. Every viewer sees their own username watermarked on your story.

Channels

Channels are public broadcasts and are not end-to-end encrypted. We store channel details, posts, media, members, admins and reports so the channel can work, and we can review channel content. We also record when and which version of the channel creator terms you accepted. Posts under an open report are kept until the report is resolved.

Burner Mail

• Every account has a mailbox at username@burnerchat.ai. The mailbox password is generated by us, stored encrypted, and never shown to your phone.
• Incoming mail is kept on our mail server until your phone has fetched it. Email is a global standard, so mail to and from other providers is not end-to-end encrypted.
• All mail, in both directions, is automatically scanned for viruses and spam, and mail carrying dangerous attachment types (for example executables, scripts or macro documents, also inside archives) is rejected. This scanning is automated; no person reads your mail.
• Like any mail server, ours logs delivery details (sender, recipient, time, size and status) for a short time to deliver mail and fight abuse.

Calls

Voice and video calls are connected through our calling provider, ZEGOCLOUD. To set up a call we exchange the caller’s and callee’s user IDs, names and call type, and the call’s audio and video travel through ZEGOCLOUD’s real-time network. We keep a call history (who called whom, when, how long, missed or answered) so your Calls tab works. Burner does not record calls.

Notifications

We store a push token for each of your devices and use Google Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM) to deliver notifications. For chat messages the message text travels to your phone encrypted and your phone decrypts it; the notification data can include the sender’s username or the group name. We don’t use FCM for advertising or analytics.

Reports, support and feedback

If you report a user, a channel or a post, or send us a bug report or support email, we keep what you send us (including any content you choose to include) and our notes on how we handled it.

Technical and security data

Our servers log basic request information — IP address, time, device type and app version, and error details — to keep the service running, prevent abuse and investigate problems. These logs are kept for a short time (normally no longer than 30 days).

3. What we don’t collect

• We can’t read the content of your one-to-one or group messages.
• We don’t upload your phone’s address book.
• We don’t receive what you ask Burner AI or what it reads, and we don’t receive the text you translate.
• We don’t use advertising IDs, ad networks or third-party analytics or tracking SDKs.
• We don’t sell, rent or trade your personal data.

4. What stays on your phone

Your chat history, received media, your mail once fetched, Burner AI’s model and everything it works on, and your private encryption keys live on your device. Because your chats live on your phone, a lost, broken or reset phone can mean lost chats — except messages you secured, which come back when you sign in and unlock them with your recovery phrase. You are responsible for your phone’s security and for any backups you make (for example with “Download all chats”).

Burner AI’s model file (about 1 GB) is downloaded once from our file storage. That download is an ordinary file download and contains nothing about you.

5. How we use data

• To create and secure your account, sign you in and help you recover it.
• To relay messages, calls, stories, channel posts and mail, and to send notifications.
• To apply your settings and features (for example secured messages, forward approvals, hidden chats and Betoo controls).
• To keep Burner safe: fighting spam, fraud and malware, enforcing our Terms, handling reports, and protecting children and others from harm.
• To fix bugs, answer support requests and improve reliability.
• To meet legal obligations.

We don’t use your data for advertising or for automated decisions that have legal or similarly significant effects on you.

6. Legal bases (EEA, UK and similar laws)

• Contract — to provide the service you signed up for (account, messaging, calls, mail, notifications).
• Legitimate interests — to keep Burner secure, prevent abuse, handle reports and improve the service. We balance these against your rights.
• Consent — for optional features you switch on, such as phone verification and notifications. You can withdraw consent at any time in the app or your phone’s settings.
• Legal obligation — where the law requires us to keep or disclose information.

7. Who we share data with

We use a small number of service providers (“processors”) who handle data for us under contract and only on our instructions:

We also share information:

• With other users, as the service requires: your profile with people you chat with, your messages with their recipients, and channel posts with the public.
• With authorities, when the law requires it, in response to valid legal process, or to protect someone from serious harm — see law enforcement requests. We report child sexual abuse material to the relevant authorities (in the US, NCMEC).
• In a business transfer, such as a merger or acquisition, in which case this policy continues to apply to your data.

Google Play distributes the app and has its own privacy policy. If you download Burner from Google Play, Google handles that download under its own terms.

8. How long we keep it

9. International transfers

Our servers are located in [region — to be confirmed], and some of our providers (for example Google and ZEGOCLOUD) may process data in other countries. When personal data leaves the European Economic Area or the UK, we rely on appropriate safeguards such as adequacy decisions or the European Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses.

10. Security

We follow at least industry-standard security practices: end-to-end encryption for chats, encrypted connections (HTTPS/TLS) everywhere, hashed passwords, encrypted secrets, a hardened, key-only server, automatic security updates, and restricted internal access. You can read more on our Security page. No system is perfectly secure, so we can’t guarantee absolute security — but if a breach affects your personal data, we will tell you and the authorities as the law requires.

11. Your rights and choices

Depending on where you live, you have the right to access, correct, delete, restrict or object to our use of your data, to data portability, and to withdraw consent. Many of these are built into the app:

• Access and portability: Settings → Account security → “Download my data” and “Download all chats”.
• Correction: edit your profile at any time.
• Deletion: Settings → Account security → “Delete account”. You can also delete messages for everyone, clear chats and delete stories.
• Notifications and permissions: manage them in the app or your phone’s settings.

For anything else, email legal@burnerchat.ai from your Burner Mail address, or tell us your username. We may need to confirm it’s you. We answer within one month. You can also complain to your local data protection authority. California residents: we do not sell or “share” personal information for cross-context behavioural advertising.

12. Deleting your account

When you delete your account we delete your profile, connections, settings, secured messages you hold with us, your Burner Mail mailbox and its mail, your stories and your channels. Messages you already sent remain on the recipients’ phones, just as a letter stays with the person who received it. Remaining copies in backups are gone within 14 days. We may keep limited records where the law requires it or to handle an open report.

13. Children and Betoo

You must be at least 13 years old to use Burner, or older where the law in your country sets a higher age for consenting to online services. You must be 18 or older to create a channel.

Betoo lets a parent or legal guardian create and manage a child account. The parent sets the child’s password (without being able to see it afterwards) and can require approval of new contacts and media, switch off calls, chats or stories, and set sleep times. The parent gives consent on the child’s behalf and is responsible for the child’s use of Burner. We store the link between the parent and child accounts and the parent’s settings.

If you believe a child is using Burner without appropriate consent, contact legal@burnerchat.ai and we will act promptly.

14. Law enforcement

We respond to valid legal requests as described in our law enforcement policy. Because chats are end-to-end encrypted and relayed rather than stored, we usually cannot provide message content: what we may hold is limited to the account and metadata described in this policy.

15. This website

burnerchat.ai sets no cookies, uses no analytics or trackers, and loads no third-party fonts or scripts. Our web server records standard access logs (IP address, time, page requested, browser) for security, kept for a short time. See the Cookie Policy.

16. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as Burner changes. We’ll change the “Last updated” date above and, for important changes, tell you in the app before they take effect.

17. Contact us

[Company legal name], [Registered address]
Privacy and legal: legal@burnerchat.ai
Support: support@burnerchat.ai