Privacy Policy
Buddy ("we", "us") is an app where adults chat with fictional AI companions. This policy explains what personal data we collect, how we use it, who helps us process it, and the choices you have. We wrote it to be read, so it is short on legal jargon and specific about what actually happens.
In short: we collect only what we need to run your account, your chats and your wallet. We don't sell your data and we don't show ads. Your messages are processed by an AI service to write replies. You can delete your account and data from inside the app at any time.
1. Who is responsible
The service is operated by Stalin E Commerce Company (GSTIN 09GSNPP1125A1ZU), 35E Damodar Nagar, Barra, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh 208027, India. For privacy questions, and for anything else, write to support@buddyi.in. Complaints and grievances can be sent to the Grievance Officer, Stalin E Commerce Company, at the same email address.
2. What we collect
| Data | Details | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Account | Your email address, name and Google account ID, received when you sign in with Google. We never receive your Google password. | To create and secure your account |
| Chats | The messages you send and the replies you receive, with timestamps. | To show your chat history and generate replies |
| Wallet and purchases | Your balance, a record of charges (₹0.20 per message), and top-ups: product, order number and amount. Payment is made through Google Play, so we never see your card, UPI or bank details. | To run the wallet and verify purchases |
| Activity | Screens you open, profiles viewed, photos liked, and taps on key buttons. Each carries a random device ID and a per-launch session ID that the app generates, plus the app version and platform. | To improve the app and prevent abuse |
| Approximate location | Your country, worked out from your connection. We do not store your IP address. | Analytics and fraud prevention |
| Reports | Messages you report, with any note you add. | To review problems and keep the service safe |
We don't ask for your phone number, contacts, precise location, photos or microphone, and the app doesn't request those permissions.
3. How we use your data
- Provide the service: sign you in, keep your chats, run your wallet.
- Write AI replies: your recent messages are sent to an AI provider (see section 4).
- Keep people safe: filter harmful content, handle reports, and prevent fraud and abuse, including making sure the first top-up bonus is given once per Google account (we keep a one-way hash of your Google account ID for this, even after deletion).
- Understand and improve the app: counts and trends such as active users, popular features and what each AI reply costs us.
- Meet legal obligations and respond to lawful requests.
We do not use your chats to advertise to you, we do not sell personal data, and we do not build advertising profiles.
4. AI processing
To write a reply, we send the recent part of your conversation, together with the character's instructions, to OpenAI through its business API. OpenAI states that data sent through its API is not used to train its models by default; you can read its policy at openai.com. The AI is not a person: it can be wrong, and nothing it says is professional advice.
Because chats can be sensitive, access is limited. In limited cases, such as when a message is reported or to investigate abuse, authorised staff may read conversations, and each such access is logged.
5. Who else processes your data
| Provider | What for |
|---|---|
| Google (Sign-In and Google Play) | Signing you in, taking payments, confirming purchases |
| OpenAI | Generating AI replies |
| Cloudflare | Hosting, our database and image storage |
These providers act on our instructions and under their own terms. Your data may be processed in countries outside India. We may also share data when the law requires it, or to protect people's safety.
6. How long we keep data
- Account, chats, reports, wallet records: until you delete your account.
- Activity records: kept for analytics, but the link to you (user ID and device ID) is removed when you delete your account.
- Cost records of AI replies: kept for our accounting, unlinked from you when you delete your account.
- First top-up bonus marker: a one-way hash, kept to stop the bonus being claimed twice.
- Backups: deleted data may remain in database backups for up to 30 days before it is overwritten.
- Google Play: keeps its own payment records under its own policy.
7. Your choices and rights
- Delete your account in the app (Profile, then Delete account), or request it here.
- Ask for a copy, a correction, or to withdraw consent by emailing support@buddyi.in. We'll reply within 30 days.
- Complain: write to our Grievance Officer above. If you are in India, you may also have rights under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023.
8. Security
Data travels over encrypted connections (HTTPS). Sessions are signed, admin access is restricted and logged, and we limit who can see personal data. No system is perfectly secure, so please keep your Google account safe.
9. Children
Buddy is only for people aged 18 and over. We do not knowingly collect data from anyone younger. If you believe a child is using the app, contact us and we will delete the account.
10. Changes
If we make material changes we'll update the date above and, where appropriate, tell you in the app.
11. Contact
support@buddyi.in · Stalin E Commerce Company, 35E Damodar Nagar, Barra, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh 208027, India · GSTIN 09GSNPP1125A1ZU