- Your calls are neither recorded nor listened to.
- Your approximate location is used only when you are visible.
This policy explains what data vChat collects, why, who it is shared with and how to have it deleted. It applies to the vChat mobile app and to the vchat.love website.
1. Who is responsible for your data
vChat is published by La Pieuvre Technologique, a limited liability company (SARL) with a share capital of 30,000,000 FCFA, registered with the Abidjan Trade and Personal Property Register (RCCM) under number CI-ABJ-03-2024-B12-00789 (IDU CI-2024-0071029 E), whose registered office is in Abidjan, Cocody Angré Château, Résidence Pierre Gabrielle, Republic of Côte d’Ivoire. For any question about your data: vchat@lapieuvre.tech.
2. The data we collect
| Data | When | Visible to other users |
|---|---|---|
| WhatsApp phone number and country | At sign-up | No, never. Only the country is visible. |
| E-mail address (optional), and the date you confirmed it with the code received | If you add it to your profile | No, never. It is erased when the account is deleted. |
| Username | At sign-up | Yes |
| Gender (woman or man) | At sign-up | It is used to filter the list of available people |
| Main photo, gallery, description, city and neighbourhood | If you add them to your profile | Yes, after review by our team for photos and the description |
| Voice introduction (recording of your voice, 30 seconds at most) | If you record it, with your explicit consent | Yes, after being listened to and approved by our team |
| Last name, first name, date of birth | If you request identity verification | No. Only your age is visible. |
| Photo of your national ID card or passport (no other document is accepted), and verification selfie | If you request identity verification | No |
| Address, proof of address and GPS location recorded once (with its accuracy, and whether a simulated location was detected) | If you request address verification | No. Only the city and neighbourhood are visible. |
| Approximate location of the phone, rounded to about 1 km | If you allow it: when you go visible or confirm your presence, and when you filter the list by distance | No. Others only see a distance in whole kilometres. |
| Your call history: with whom, when, duration, type | With every call | Each participant sees their own calls |
| Post-call ratings and comments, date proposals | If you enter them | No |
| Purchases of plans and boosts, wallet top-ups and transactions: amount, date, status | With every purchase or transaction | No |
| Blocks and reports | If you block or report someone | No. The person concerned is not informed. |
| Device type, notification identifier and technical device identifier (provided by Android or iOS, specific to vChat; we do not read the IMEI or serial number) | At login | No |
| Login log: date, IP address, app, device model and technical device identifier (to spot accounts created on the same phone and fight fraud), system and app version, and the phone’s location if you have already allowed it | At every login or sign-up, for the security of your account (only one device signed in at a time) | No |
| App technical log: operating and error messages (incoming calls and ringing, notifications, connection), with the phone model and the system and app versions. It contains neither your conversations, nor your photos, nor your location | While you use the app, to diagnose problems; kept 30 days | No |
Your calls are neither recorded nor listened to. Sound and video travel live between the two participants and are not stored.
We do not collect your contacts list, and we do not track your movements. Your location is recorded at only four moments, and only if you allow it: when you go visible or confirm your presence (so that others can see how far away you are), when you filter the list by distance, when you sign in (for the security of your account), and once for verification level 3. You can use vChat without sharing your location: the distance then simply does not appear.
On the vchat.love website, we count visits without cookies or identifiers: page viewed, the site you came from, device and browser type, language, and the country derived from your IP address. The IP address is not stored; an anonymous fingerprint, renewed every day, is only used to avoid counting the same visit twice. These statistics are kept for 13 months. If your browser asks not to be tracked (“Do Not Track”), nothing is counted.
We do not store any means of payment. Payment is made on the page of our provider PayPlus.
3. Why we use this data
- To create your account and verify your number with a code sent via WhatsApp.
- To show you to others when you are visible, and to set up calls.
- To display the distance between you and available people and to allow the list to be filtered by distance.
- To deduct your call credit and manage your purchases.
- To verify your identity or your address if you request a verification level.
- To review photos and descriptions before they are published, handle reports and suspend accounts that breach the terms of use.
- To send you the necessary notifications: incoming call, availability check, result of a payment or of a verification.
- To produce usage statistics, without identifying you.
We do not sell your data and we do not use it for advertising purposes.
4. Who your data is shared with
We use technical service providers, which receive only what is necessary for their service:
| Provider | Role | Data transmitted |
|---|---|---|
| Our messaging provider, and through it WhatsApp (Meta) and telephone operators | Sending the verification code | Phone number, code |
| Our audio and video calling provider | Live transport of call sound and video | Audio and video streams during the call, technical identifier |
| Google Firebase | Notifications on your phone | Notification identifier, notification content |
| PayPlus | Payment for plans, boosts and wallet top-ups | Amount and reference of the purchase; your Mobile Money number is entered directly on the PayPlus page |
| OVH | Hosting of our servers, in France | All data stored by vChat |
Some of these providers process data outside your country. Our servers are hosted by OVH in France. Google Firebase processes data in the United States, and our audio and video calling provider may route calls through servers located outside your country. These transfers are covered by contractual safeguards, such as standard contractual clauses, which require these providers to ensure an appropriate level of protection.
We may also disclose data to the authorities when required to do so by law.
Members of our team who access your data only have access to the sections relevant to their role, and their actions are logged.
5. How long we keep it
- Rejected photo or document: the file is destroyed at the time of rejection.
- Log of codes sent (number, channel, date, result): 12 months at most.
- Approximate location: only for as long as you are visible; it is erased as soon as you go offline. The location used to filter the list is not stored.
- Verification codes: 5 minutes.
Our providers retain certain data on their side according to their own rules, in particular PayPlus for payments.
6. Your rights
You may at any time:
- view and edit your profile in the app;
- remove a photo or delete your description;
- turn off your visibility or decline video calls;
- delete your account, in the app (Profile → Delete my account) or on the Delete my account page: the account is deleted and your number is released;
- ask us for a copy of your data, or object to processing, by writing to vchat@lapieuvre.tech.
You may also lodge a complaint with the data protection authority of your country. In Benin, the Personal Data Protection Authority (APDP); in Togo, the Personal Data Protection Authority (IPDCP); in Côte d’Ivoire, where our registered office is located, the Telecommunications/ICT Regulatory Authority of Côte d’Ivoire (ARTCI).
7. Security
Communications with our servers are encrypted. Photos and supporting documents are stored privately and can only be accessed through temporary links. No system is infallible: if an incident affected your data, we would inform you.
8. Minors
vChat is reserved for people aged 18 and over. We delete any account that we learn belongs to a minor. You can report such an account to us from the app.
9. Changes
If this policy changes significantly, we will inform you in the app before the changes take effect.