Privacy
Last updated 24 October 2026.
Who we are
svchat is run by Oppian Systems Limited, a company registered in England and Wales (number 06782942), registered office c/o High Royd Business Services Limited, BBIC, Innovation Way, Barnsley, South Yorkshire, S75 1JL, United Kingdom. We decide how your information is used, which makes us its controller. Write to [email protected] about anything on this page.
What we keep
- Your account: email address, display name, your password in a form that cannot be read back, any passkeys, and when you signed in.
- What you write: your messages, the rooms you make and who you invite, and the bots and bot templates you create.
- About you, if you give it: your preferred language, a few words about yourself, and your town and country. Bots see this, so they can answer you better.
- Reports: the reason and details when you report a message.
- Usage: how much each bot reply used, which is what your credits pay for.
- Your answer on the crisis check, and when you gave it.
- Voice recordings you make with the microphone button. We pass them to OpenAI to turn into text and delete our copy straight away.
- Technical information: your IP address, browser, the country and region Cloudflare reports for it, and error reports.
Why we use it
- To run svchat for you: your account, your rooms, and bot replies, which means sending the conversation to an AI model. The legal basis is our contract with you.
- To protect people at risk, if you say yes: the crisis check reads your messages in rooms with a bot for signs of suicidal thoughts or self-harm, and posts help when it finds them (how it works). It can reveal something about your health, so we do it only with your explicit consent, which you can give at sign-up or on your profile, and withdraw there at any time. Saying no changes nothing else about svchat.
- To keep svchat safe and working: blocking automated sign-ups, handling reports, and finding and fixing faults. The legal basis is our legitimate interest in a service that works and is not abused, and, for reports of illegal content, our duties under the Online Safety Act 2023.
We do not sell your information, show you advertising, or use your messages to train AI models ourselves. The companies that make the AI models receive the conversations their model answers, under their own terms, and some of them may use it to improve their models. Nothing about you is decided by a machine in a way that has legal or similar effects on you.
Who else sees it
These companies process information for us, under contracts that only let them use it to provide their service to us.
| Company | What it does | What it sees | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nhost | Database, sign-in and file storage | Everything in your account, your messages, bots and reports | United Kingdom (London) |
| Heroku (Salesforce) | Runs the website and the bots | Everything passing through the app, including messages | United States |
| OpenRouter | Sends the conversation to the AI model that writes a bot reply | The recent messages in a room with a bot, and the bot instructions | United States, then the model maker (for example OpenAI or Anthropic) |
| TypeSafe | The crisis check described on our Safety page | Each message you send in a room with a bot, if you said yes to the check | United States |
| OpenAI | Turns a voice recording into text, when you use the microphone button | The recording you upload | United States |
| Postmark (ActiveCampaign) | Sends sign-in and verification emails | Your email address and the email we send | United States |
| Sentry | Error reports, so we can fix faults | The page, your browser and the error, and, if you allow it, a replay with text hidden | United States |
| Cloudflare | Delivers the site, blocks attacks and checks sign-ups are not bots | Your IP address, browser and approximate location | Worldwide, nearest to you |
| Gravatar (Automattic) | Profile pictures: every account shows its Gravatar picture, or a pattern if it has none | A coded form of your email address, sent from our server | United States |
| OpenStreetMap | Turns your location into a town name, if you ask it to fill in your location | The position your browser gives, sent from your browser | United Kingdom |
Where a company is outside the UK and the European Economic Area, the transfer is covered by the UK-US data bridge or the EU-US Data Privacy Framework where that company is certified, or otherwise by standard contractual clauses. We may also share information where the law requires it, for example with the police.
How long we keep it
- Your account, messages, rooms and bots: until you ask us to delete your account.
- A room you delete is hidden straight away. Its messages stay in our database until your account is deleted.
- Reports: for as long as we need them to deal with the report and any repeat of it.
- Usage and credit records: six years, as UK tax law requires for business records.
- Voice recordings: deleted from our server as soon as they are turned into text.
- The companies above keep their copies for the periods in their own terms, linked in the table.
Your rights
You can ask us for a copy of your information, to correct it, to delete it, to restrict or object to how we use it, and to have it sent to you or another service in a common format. Email [email protected] and we will answer within one month. There is no charge.
If you are unhappy with how we have handled your information, please tell us first. You can also complain to the UK Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk.
Cookies
Without asking, we use only the cookies and browser storage svchat needs to work: the ones that keep you signed in, carry you through sign-in links, and remember your answer below. We use no advertising or tracking cookies.
With your permission, Sentry also records a replay of what a page did: for one visit in ten, and whenever something goes wrong. Text and anything you type are hidden in the replay. We ask on your first visit, and you can change your answer at any time with "Cookie settings" at the foot of every page.
Children
svchat is for adults. Do not use it if you are under 18.
Changes
When we change this policy we update the date at the top, and we email you about any change that matters.