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Privacy Policy

Last updated: April 16, 2026

This policy explains what data Teacups collects, why, and what happens to it. We're a product of Tilted Planet, Ltd., an Illinois corporation.

What We Collect

Location

• Your approximate location is used in real time to place you in a chat zone.
• We don't store your location history.
• If you're involved in an emergency report, your rough location at that moment may be shared with law enforcement.

Device Identifier

• We use Apple's DeviceCheck to remember if a device has been banned.
• This is a yes-or-no flag. It can't identify you or track you across apps.

Messages, Photos & Videos

• Messages, photos, and videos are relayed through our server in real time but are not permanently stored.
• They're deleted from memory after 4 hours of inactivity.
• Messages that receive enough community upvotes may be featured on teater, our best-of feed. Featured messages may be retained and rebroadcast beyond your local area.
• Photos are compressed before sending. Videos are trimmed to 15 seconds and compressed.
• In an emergency report, the conversation may be temporarily archived and shared with law enforcement.

Home Teapot Address

• If you set a home teapot, the address and coordinates are stored locally on your device only.
• We never receive, store, or transmit your home address to our servers.

Purchases

• If you buy Tea Leaves, the transaction is handled entirely by Apple. We receive a receipt confirming the purchase but no payment details.
• We track your Tea Leaves balance locally on your device.

Push Notification Token

• If you allow notifications, Apple gives us a token to send you alerts.
• We only use it to tell you when someone nearby joins the chat.
• We don't share it with anyone.

Apple Watch

• If you use the Teacups Apple Watch companion app, it connects to the same server as the iPhone app.
• No additional data is collected. The same privacy protections apply.

What We Don't Collect

• Your name, email, phone number, or any account info.
• Your home address (stored on-device only).
• Your contacts, photos, or files (unless you choose to send a photo or video in chat).
• Analytics, advertising IDs, or tracking cookies.

Emergencies

• If a user reports a genuine emergency, we use AI to summarize the situation and look up the nearest law enforcement agency.
• An automated voice call is placed to that agency with the summary and a link to a secure portal.
• Your rough location may be included so police know where to respond.
• No human at Tilted Planet sees your location during this process. It's handled entirely by software.

Sharing Your Data

• We don't sell your data. Ever.
• We don't share data with advertisers.
• We only share data with law enforcement in emergencies, as described above.

Data Retention

• Chat messages: deleted after 4 hours of inactivity — unless featured on teater, in which case they may be retained indefinitely.
• Emergency archives: retained as required for law enforcement coordination.
• Ban records: retained indefinitely to enforce community safety.
• Everything else: not stored in the first place.

No Expectation of Privacy

Teacups is a public forum. Messages can be read by anyone nearby and may be rebroadcast to a wider audience through teater, our best-of feed. Anonymous does not mean private. Do not share anything you wouldn't want seen by strangers, and do not post anything intended to harass, threaten, or cause harm to another person.

Children

Teacups is for users 18 and older. We don't knowingly collect data from anyone under 18. If we find out someone under 18 is using the app, we'll remove their access.

Changes

We may update this policy. If we make significant changes, you'll see the updated policy in the app. Continuing to use Teacups means you accept the changes.

Contact

Tilted Planet, Ltd.
privacy@Teacups.app