Privacy

Privacy policy

What ChatGO knows about you, why, who it is shared with, how long it stays, and how to erase all of it. No jargon, and nothing hidden.

Last updated: October 25, 2026

Who looks after your data

A small game, one address.

ChatGO is an independent game made in Lausanne, Switzerland. Its team decides what happens to your data and answers for it (the "controller").

For any question or request: comsojo@sideral.ch.

ChatGO follows the Swiss Federal Act on Data Protection (FADP). If you play from the European Union, you also have the rights the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) gives you.

No ads, no tracking. No audience-measurement tools, no advertising profile.
Nothing is sold or rented. Your data runs the game, and that's it.
Your photos are cleaned of their metadata before they are published.
You can delete everything from the app, in a few taps.

What we collect, and why

Only what the game needs.

Your account

Email address. To create your account, sign you in, and send you the code that confirms your address and the one that lets you change your password. It is never shown to other players.
Username. It is public: it shows on the leaderboard, under your photos and your comments. In Settings you choose whether your page is public, closed or anonymous (your username then becomes "a player").
Password. We don't know it: only an encrypted fingerprint (bcrypt) is stored, which can't be turned back into the password.

Your photos and where they were taken

Photos of cats and cat signs (bowls, notices, cat tracks…), with the place they were taken: your phone's GPS position when you took the picture. Photo and position are public and shown exactly on the map, so other players can find the cat. So avoid taking pictures from your home if you don't want the place to be known.
Metadata removed. Before a photo is saved, the server rebuilds it without any metadata (EXIF): no coordinates, no phone model, no capture date stays in the published file.
The 5-second video (beta version). While the Capture screen is open and the REC key is on, your phone keeps the last 5 seconds in memory: the cat camera and, if you allow it, your front camera and the microphone's sound (the system « microphone in use » dot stays visible). Nothing leaves the phone unless you choose « With the video »; otherwise it is all erased. A published video is visible like its photo; your face and the sound are included by default: you see them before posting, you can turn them off, or post the photo alone. You can also remove your face or delete the video later from the photo. The video is deleted with its photo or your account; a video sent but never attached to a photo is erased after 24 hours. Avoid filming recognisable passers-by.
Your last position. When you open the app and have allowed location, your approximate position (to about 100 m) is sent to the server, at most once every 10 minutes. Only the latest one is kept, for 3 days at most, and it is used only to tell you about cats near you ("Around me" notifications). It is never shown to other players and does not build a history of your movements. Without a recent position, the server falls back to an area worked out from the positions of your own photos. You can turn these notifications off in Settings; your position is deleted with your account.
Searches around you. When you look for nearby cat signs or lost-cat posters, your position is sent to get the list.

What you write and decide in the game

Comments, names suggested for cats, Community votes and reports. Comments and names are public; votes and reports are used to fix the catalog and to moderate.
Lost-cat posters: photo, the cat's name, the date and area it went missing (the map shows an area, not the exact address), and the contact detail you choose to show. That contact is public: only put what you are happy to show.
Game data: points, coins, items, your cats' outfits, quests, trophies.

Your phone

A device identifier sent when you sign up, and a notification token with the kind of phone (Android or iPhone), the app version and the chosen language. They are used to send you notifications in your language and to know which app versions are still in use.

Bug reports and ideas

When you report a bug or suggest an idea, we receive your message, the app screen you were on, the last error message shown, the app version, your phone's model and operating system and, if you add one, a screenshot of the app screen.
The report also includes the approximate position of your phone (to about 100 m) and the map area shown, when known. The app does not ask for location permission for this.
The report is copied as a ticket into the project's issue tracker on GitHub, with your username and account number, without your email address, and the position and map area are copied there too. The screenshot stays on our server.

Crash reports

If the app crashes or closes suddenly, on the next launch it sends our server a technical report: the error type and its technical trace, the screen you were on, a few usage steps as fixed keywords, the app version, your phone's model and operating system, and a random device identifier. Never a photo, a position, a username, an email or text you typed.
You can turn this off in Settings, "Send crash reports". When off, nothing is recorded or sent.

Technical logs

Like any web server, ours technically records the requests it receives (including the IP address) for its security and to fix outages. These logs are used for nothing else and are erased over time.

Legal basis

To run the game (contract): your account, your photos and their location, your comments, your game data, the code emails and the game's notifications.
For security and moderation (legitimate interest): technical logs, reports, fighting cheating, bug and idea reports.
With your agreement (consent): your location (your phone's permission), notifications (your phone's permission) and crash reports (a setting). You can withdraw your agreement at any time in your phone's or the app's settings.

How long it stays

As long as your account exists, then nothing that points to you.

Your data stays as long as your account exists. Codes sent by email expire after 15 minutes. When you delete your account:

Deleted right away: your account, email, password, your photos and their files, your cat signs, your lost-cat posters, likes, points, items, votes, reports, bug reports, notification token and settings.
Kept without your name: your comments stay under other players' cats and cat signs, signed "a player". They are part of the page's story, but nothing links them to you any more.
Kept: cat pages other players also photographed, and corrections already adopted by the Community vote.
On GitHub: the ticket copied from one of your bug reports may stay (with your username). Write to us and we delete it.

Details are on the Delete your account page.

Your rights

You stay in control.

See and correct: your username and settings can be changed in the app; for a copy of your data or any other correction, write to us.
Delete: in the app, Profile tab › Settings gear › Account › Delete my account. Without the app, write from your account's address to comsojo@sideral.ch.
Object, restrict, get your data back: by email, at the same address.

We answer within 30 days. If you are not satisfied with our answer, you can contact the Swiss Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (FDPIC), or the data protection authority of your country if you live in the European Union.

Age, security, changes

The rest, in short.

Age

ChatGO is meant for players aged 13 and over. If you are under 13, don't create an account. A parent who thinks their child opened an account can write to us: we delete it.

Security

Traffic between the app and the server is encrypted (HTTPS), passwords and codes are only kept as fingerprints, and changing your password signs out all your old sessions.

Changes

If this policy changes, the new version is published here with its date. For a major change, we let you know in the app.