Privacy policy

Effective from 4 November 2026

In short: we keep what a messenger cannot work without — your phone number, your profile, your conversations and files. We do not sell data and do not use it for advertising. You can delete your account yourself, in the app or at web.mandarin.im.

What this policy covers

It describes what data the Mandarin IM service receives — the Android app, the web app at web.mandarin.im and classic ICQ clients connecting to it — why it needs that data, who it is shared with, and what you can do about it. It is part of the terms of service, which you accept by using the service.

The service is made and run by TomClaw Software, Russia — “we” in this policy.

What we receive

Your phone number — to sign you in with a code sent by SMS and, if you allow it, to let friends find you by your number.
Your profile — nickname, name, bio, avatar and any other fields you fill in yourself. Other people see your profile and your Mandarin ID.
Conversations and files — messages, reactions, files, and the groups and channels you belong to. They are kept on the server so they can be delivered and shown on all your devices.
Your phone book — only if you allow it in the app. Its numbers and names are used to find Mandarin users among them. A phone book belongs to a device and is deleted when that device's session ends.
Devices and sessions — device name and type, app and version, sign-in and last activity times, IP address. This is for security: you see your sessions and can end any of them.
A push notification token — so the app learns about new messages.
Crash reports and usage events — from the Android app, through Bananalytics, our own service: what went wrong in a crash, events such as a message or file sent or a sign-in (never what was in them), the app's version, the phone's maker and model, the Android version, language and country, and a random number the app makes up to tell one phone's reports from another's. They carry no phone number, name or Mandarin ID. Nothing is sent while the app connects through a proxy.
A password for classic clients — if you turn on signing in over the ICQ protocol. It is used only for signing in from those clients; do not reuse it anywhere else.
Your reports — when you report something: what it is, the reason and your comment, and a copy of a reported message as it was then, its text and file. Only our moderators see them; the one reported is not told who reported.

Why we need it

To deliver messages and files and keep them in step across your devices.
To let you, and nobody else, into your account, and to protect the service from abuse.
To review reports and act on what breaks the terms.
To help friends find you, within your privacy settings.
To notify you about new messages.
To find and fix problems in the service.

We do not sell data and do not use it for advertising.

Who we share it with

Our SMS provider — your phone number and the confirmation code, to send the message.
Google (Firebase Cloud Messaging) — your device token and your unread messages: their text, who sent them and in which conversation, so that Android can show them in a notification.
Other people — your profile and whatever you send them.
Authorities — only when the law requires it.

How we store and protect it

The app and the web app talk to the server over an encrypted connection (TLS).
There is no end-to-end encryption: messages and files are stored on our servers in a form the service can read.
Classic clients connect over the OSCAR protocol without encryption, as the old ICQ did. For anything important, use the app or the web app.
The database is backed up daily; backups are kept for a few days and then deleted.

How long we keep it

Data is kept for as long as the account exists. Messages deleted for everyone are erased from the server at once, but for a copy kept in a report of them, and from backups as those are replaced. A phone book is deleted with the session of the device that uploaded it. When an account is deleted, its profile, contacts and sessions are erased at once, while the messages it sent stay with those who got them; its phone number is kept for 14 days, and while restrictions on the account last, only to keep it from signing up again in that time and to keep those restrictions for whoever takes the number; backups and logs that still hold its data are replaced within 30 days. Reports, with their copies of messages, are kept after those messages and the accounts involved are deleted, for the safety of others. Crash reports and usage events are kept only as long as they help us find and fix problems.

What you can do

Change or remove your profile details.
Choose who can message you, invite you to groups, see your status and find you by phone number.
Delete your messages, for yourself or for everyone in the conversation.
End sessions on other devices, and keep your phone book from the app.
Delete your account yourself, in Settings › Privacy: see Deleting your account.
Get a copy of your data: write to igor@citron.dev, and we will ask you to confirm the account is yours.

Children

The service is not meant for children under 13.

Changes

We may update this policy. The version in force is always published on this page with the date it takes effect.

Contact

Questions about your data or this policy: igor@citron.dev.