Privacy Policy

Effective November 3, 2026

1. About this policy

This policy explains what data the PLACE messenger (the iPhone app and the server it works with) and the applace.ru website process, why, and how you can control it. By using PLACE you agree to this policy. If you do not agree, please do not use the app.

For any question about your data, write to official.iki.technologies@gmail.com or contact support on Telegram: t.me/iki_support.

2. Data we process

Your account

• Sign in with Apple. Apple gives us only an identifier of your account for PLACE. We store an irreversible hash of it, not the identifier itself. We do not ask Apple for your name or email address.
• Profile: your username, display name and, if you add one, a profile photo. People can find you by username in search unless you turn this off.
• Encryption keys: the public keys of your device, which others use to encrypt messages for you.
• Settings: who sees you online, who sees your profile photo, who can call you and message you, whether you appear in search, notifications, and Anonymity mode.
• Blocks: the list of people you have blocked.

Messages in transit

Every message is encrypted on the sender's iPhone for the recipient's iPhone and passes through the server as an encrypted envelope. The sender is recorded only inside the encryption. The envelope is kept until the recipient collects it, for no longer than 30 days, and is then deleted.

Account archive (on by default)

So that your chats are not lost when you sign in on a new iPhone, PLACE keeps a copy of what is on your phone on the server: chats and groups, messages, contacts, call history, your profile photo and your device keys. Attachments (photos, videos, voice messages, files) are stored on the server encrypted, but the keys to them are part of the archive together with the messages.

The archive and your device keys are stored on the server in a form the server can read. So while the archive is on, end-to-end encryption protects your conversations from outsiders in transit, but not from access on the server side. If you want your conversations to exist only on your phones, turn on Anonymity.

Disappearing messages are never archived.

Anonymity mode

The switch is in Settings → Privacy. While it is on:

• your archive is deleted from the server and no longer created, and your device keys stay only on your iPhone;
• your direct chat with each contact and your messages are deleted from their archives, and new ones are not saved;
• you cannot be found in search, and nobody sees when you are online;
• your files are deleted from the server after 30 days.

One exception: your profile photo stays on the server so that it comes back the next time you sign in. Note that in this mode your conversations cannot be restored on a new iPhone.

Calls

Audio and video pass through a media server in encrypted form. The call key is created by the caller's iPhone and shared only inside the encrypted call invitation, so the media server cannot decrypt the call. Calls are never recorded. Call history (with whom, when, for how long) is kept on your iPhone and, while the archive is on, in the archive.

Online status

While the app is connected, the server knows you are online and tells the people you allow to see it. This is kept only in the server's memory and is never stored.

Notifications

To wake your iPhone we store the notification tokens Apple issues. Only an encrypted envelope passes through Apple: the notification text is decrypted on your iPhone, and Apple cannot see it.

Technical data

We do not keep access logs or a history of IP addresses. The server sees the IP address of a connection while you are connected and briefly keeps it in memory to protect the service from abuse by limiting too frequent requests. Server error logs may contain an IP address. We use them only to fix problems, and they are overwritten automatically.

3. Permissions on your iPhone

PLACE asks for access only when an action you chose needs it:

• Microphone: calls and voice messages.
• Camera: video calls, taking photos and videos to send.
• Photos: choosing photos and videos to send or for your profile photo. Metadata such as the location is removed from photos before sending.
• Location: only when you send it to a chat yourself. The point you send becomes a message.
• Notifications: for new messages and calls.

You can revoke access at any time in the iPhone settings.

4. Why we use data

• to deliver messages, files and calls;
• to let people find you by username and to apply your privacy settings;
• to restore your conversations on a new iPhone while the archive is on;
• to protect the service from spam and abuse and to handle support requests.

We do not use data for advertising, profiling or sale, and we do not train algorithms on it.

5. Who else receives data

• The people you talk to receive what you send them, your username and name, and, according to your privacy settings, your profile photo and online status.
• Apple provides sign-in and notification delivery under its own terms.
• Our hosting provider provides the servers PLACE runs on.

There are no other recipients. We disclose data to third parties only where applicable law expressly requires it. Only what is stored on the server can be disclosed: in Anonymity mode there are no conversations on the server.

6. How long data is kept

• Account, profile and settings — until you delete your account.
• Messages in transit — until delivered, for no longer than 30 days.
• Archive — until you delete the chat or messages, turn on Anonymity or delete your account.
• Files — while they are part of the archive; in Anonymity mode, 30 days.

Database backups made while maintaining the server may contain deleted data for some time.

7. Deleting your account

Settings → Privacy → Delete Account. Your account, profile, archive, keys, undelivered messages and notification tokens are deleted from the server, and Sign in with Apple for PLACE is revoked. Messages you have already sent stay on the iPhones of the people you sent them to.

8. Your rights

You can ask what data about you is stored, correct your profile, delete individual chats or your whole account, turn the archive off with Anonymity, and revoke permissions on your iPhone. Send any request to official.iki.technologies@gmail.com.

9. Children

PLACE is not intended for children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect their data. If you believe a child has created an account, write to us and we will delete it.

10. The applace.ru website

The website uses no cookies, analytics or third-party scripts and keeps no access logs.

11. Changes

We may update this policy. The new version is published on this page with its date. We will tell you about significant changes in the app.

12. Contact

Email: official.iki.technologies@gmail.com
Telegram: t.me/iki_support