Gracelink Privacy Policy

1. What We Collect

We collect only what is necessary to provide the Service:

• Account and profile: the phone number or email address you register with (depending on the registration method enabled on our servers) and your password (stored encrypted), plus the nickname, avatar, name, email address, signature and gender you choose to provide.
• Content you create while using the Service: the messages you send and receive (text, emoji, images, video, files, voice messages), your friend and group relationships, group announcements and group settings, and the upload records needed to send that content.
• Call information: signalling and call state (who started the call, when it was answered and ended, who took part, mute and screen-sharing state), the network addresses and relay credentials needed to establish a call, and network and quality data during the call. Audio and video content is only relayed; we do not record or store it.
• Device and log information: device model and manufacturer, operating system and version, client version, the device push token (used to deliver offline messages and incoming-call alerts to your device), network type and IP address, sign-in times and operation records, and error and crash logs.
• Information corresponding to permissions: collected only while you use the relevant feature — see section 2.

2. Permissions and Why We Ask for Them

Every permission the client requests maps to a specific feature. You can turn any of them off in your system settings at any time; the corresponding feature then stops working while the others are unaffected. On HarmonyOS the Android package is used, so the permissions requested are the same as those listed below.

• Camera: video calls, and scanning QR codes (including reading a QR code from your album);
• Microphone: audio and video calls, and recording voice messages;
• Storage and album: choosing and sending images and files, saving received images to your album and files to your download folder;
• Notifications: new-message alerts, incoming calls and group-call invitations, including the "call in progress" notice;
• Network and device state, battery-optimisation exemption: keeping the connection alive during calls and while running in the background, so the system's power saving does not cut it off;
• Screen recording (macOS): requested only when you start sharing your screen, so your display can be sent into the call — never recorded in the background.

3. How We Use This Information

We use the information we collect only for the following purposes:

• Providing and maintaining the Service: delivering messages, syncing across your devices, setting up audio/video calls, uploading and downloading files, delivering offline message and incoming-call alerts, and checking for and installing updates;
• Accounts and security: registration and sign-in (including signing in by QR code), identity verification, changing and recovering passwords, closing accounts, detecting unusual sign-ins and preventing account theft, spam and abuse;
• Customer support: responding to the questions and complaints you raise through in-app feedback or email;
• Improving the Service: analysing feature usage and error logs to diagnose faults and improve performance and usability;
• Complying with the law: handling information as required by laws, regulations or competent authorities, or where necessary to assert or defend legal claims.

4. Sharing and Service Providers

We do not sell your personal information and we do not use the content of your chats for advertising. The client contains no third-party advertising or marketing SDKs.

To provide the Service we engage the following third parties to process information on our behalf. They may only process it on our instructions and for the agreed purposes, and they are bound by confidentiality obligations:

• Cloudflare: audio/video call media relay and group-call service. Call media is forwarded through their servers and is not written to disk there;
• Google Firebase Cloud Messaging: a device push channel used when the client is closed or in the background, to deliver new-message alerts, incoming calls and group-call invitations (the HarmonyOS build uses the same Android package, so push goes through this channel too);
• Hosting, bandwidth and content-delivery providers: hosting the server software, file storage and static assets such as this website.

5. What We Do Not Do

• We do not sell or rent your personal information;
• We do not use your chat content, contacts or call content for advertising or marketing;
• We do not read your camera, microphone or album in contexts unrelated to the features;
• We do not restrict unrelated features because you declined an optional permission;
• Except as described in section 4, we do not provide your personal information to any third party without your consent.

6. Storage and Retention

The content you create and your account information are stored on our servers; those servers, and the cloud infrastructure behind them, may be located outside your country or region.

We retain information for the shortest period necessary for the purposes described in this policy, unless the law requires otherwise. When you close your account we delete or anonymise its profile and content; anything we must keep in order to comply with the law, handle a dispute or cooperate with a competent authority is deleted once the statutory period expires.

Messages you send also exist in the recipient's account and on their device. Deleting your own copy does not delete what the other party has already saved.

7. Data on Your Device and How to Remove It

To allow offline reading and fast loading, chat history, contacts and group information, sign-in state and settings are stored on the device you use: on Windows in the current user's data directory (under %APPDATA%); on macOS in the app's own container (~/Library/Containers/cc.gracelink.im/); on Android in the app's private storage, which other apps cannot read; on HarmonyOS the same Android package is used, so the data lives in the same place (on HarmonyOS 5 and later, installed through the 卓易通 (Droitong) compatibility environment, that environment manages the app data).

Uninstalling the software does not delete this data automatically. After uninstalling on Windows, remove that user data directory in your file manager if you want it gone completely; on macOS, remove the container as well; on Android, uninstalling through the system removes the app data too; on HarmonyOS it works the same way as on Android.

Sign-in credentials stored on the device are encrypted. Please do not let untrusted people use your device, and avoid signing in on public or untrusted computers.

8. Your Rights and Controls

You can manage your own information in the client:

• Access and correction: Me → Settings → Profile (nickname, avatar, name, email, signature, gender and more);
• Change your password: Me → Settings → Account Security → Change Password (your current password is required; accounts verified by email can also use an email verification code);
• Close your account: Me → Settings → Account Security → Delete Account (irreversible — please deal with your local files and saved content first);
• Withdraw permissions: turn off camera, microphone, album or notification access in your system settings;
• Remove data from your device: see section 7;
• Sign out and remove a local account: Me → Settings (Sign out, Switch Account).

9. Minors

The Service is intended for users with full legal capacity. If you are below the age of legal majority, please use the Service with your guardian's consent and guidance, and have your guardian read this policy. We do not knowingly collect personal information from minors; if we learn that we have, we will delete it promptly.

10. Security

Communication between the client and our servers uses HTTPS and encrypted WebSocket, and call media travels over encrypted channels. Sign-in credentials and local data are stored encrypted on your device. We request permissions on a least-privilege basis and limit staff access to data through access controls and internal audit.

Please note that no internet environment is absolutely secure. If a security incident occurs, we will notify you and report it to the competent authorities as required by law.

11. Changes to This Policy and Contacting Us

We may update this policy when the features or the legal requirements change. An updated policy will be published on this page with a revised date; where the change affects the purposes, the methods or the types of information involved, we will additionally give notice in the client.

If you have any questions about this policy, wish to access, correct or delete your information, or want to make a complaint, you can reach us in the following ways:

• Email: support@gracelink.cc
• In the client: Me → Settings → Help and About → Help Centre