Privacy policy

Draft. Takes effect when Channel opens.

Channel is a network of verified people, so we ask for more than most apps do before you can reach anyone. This page says what we collect, why, and what we leave alone.

What we collect

• Your account. Your handle, name, email and phone number. Your email and phone are never shown to other people and never sold. We use your phone to keep Channel to one account per person.
• Your passkey. The public half only. The private half stays on your devices, and Channel has no passwords.
• Your identity check. A verification provider checks your government ID and selfie. We keep the result, not the raw documents or biometrics, unless we can’t avoid it.
• What you make. Your profile, posts, pictures, video, voice note, signature, messages, and email you send or receive through Channel.
• What you watch. One record for each story you view, such as how long it played and how far you got. It helps rank the optional Feed and measure both feeds. Nobody else can see it, you can turn it off in Privacy and safety, and records are deleted after 90 days.
• Payments. Business pages subscribe through Apple. We receive the subscription’s status, not your card.

Claiming a handle on this website

If you claim a handle here, we save the handle, your email, the time, and a scrambled copy of your IP address that we use to limit abuse. We use your email only to tell you when Channel opens. We don’t sell it, and nobody else can see who asked for what. To have it removed, write to support@channel.is.

What we leave alone

• No ads, so nothing about you is used to sell ads.
• We remove location and camera details from pictures before anyone else sees them.
• We add no tracking pixels to your email and don’t rewrite its links for tracking.
• Message and email bodies, identity details and passkey secrets stay out of our analytics and general logs.
• This website sets no cookies and runs no analytics.

What other people see

Your profile, your handle, your public posts and your signature are public. Your signature can be seen and copied by anyone, so a nickname or a squiggle is fine. Messages go to the people you send them to.

Messages and encryption

Messages are encrypted on their way to our servers and where we store them, but they are not end-to-end encrypted. Content people report, and content our safety systems flag, can be reviewed by automated tools and by people on our team.

Email from outside

When you email someone outside Channel, that person sees your address and what you wrote, and their reply comes back into that thread. Their address and reply are stored with the conversation.

Who helps us run Channel

We use service providers for identity verification, text messages, email delivery, hosting, media delivery, error reports and safety review. They handle your information only to do that work for us. We don’t sell your information.

Deleting your account

Delete your account in the app, under Settings. We revoke your sessions, take down your profile, then remove or anonymize your content. We keep only the safety and legal records we’re required to keep. Your handle isn’t given to someone else right away, so nobody can pose as you.

Age

Channel is for people 18 and older.

Questions

Write to support@channel.is.