Privacy Policy

Everything you type into Ciao! belongs to you:

• the names of your friends
• how often you want to be in touch with each of them
• when you last talked
• birthdays
• your notes and reminders
• your own first name

This information is stored on your iPhone and, if you are signed into iCloud, backed up to your own private iCloud storage so it is not lost with your phone and appears on your other Apple devices.

That storage is yours, not ours. It sits in your Apple Account, under Apple's encryption, in a private area that only your own devices can open. Ciao! has no server of its own, and we cannot read, collect or receive any of it, not the names, not the notes, not the dates. There is nothing to sign up for and no password to choose: if your iPhone is signed into iCloud, this simply works.

If you are not signed into iCloud, the app works exactly the same way, using only your iPhone. You can turn the backup off at any time in iOS Settings, under your name, then iCloud.

This is the one part of Ciao! that is not private to you, so it is worth explaining properly.

Ciao! gives you a four-character invite code to share. When somebody uses it, you both get room for one more friend.

A referral is a fact about two phones, and neither phone can see the other. So the codes are kept in a shared table in Ciao!'s iCloud storage, which every copy of the app can read. Two things are written there:

• your code, and an identifier that marks it as yours
• each use of a code, and an identifier for the person who used it

That identifier is an opaque string Apple gives the app for your Apple Account. It is not your name, your email address, your Apple ID or your phone number, and it cannot be turned back into any of them. Nothing about your friends is ever written to this table.

Two consequences worth being straight about:

• We can see this table. Unlike your friends and notes, these records are readable by the developer. They contain only codes and opaque identifiers.
• These records outlive the app. The identifier deliberately survives deleting and reinstalling Ciao!, because otherwise the free tier could be reset by reinstalling. So deleting the app does not remove your code or your redemptions. You can ask for them to be deleted, see Your rights below.

When somebody uses your code, your phone is told. The message says only "Someone used your code." It never says who, and Ciao! is never told who.

Ciao! is free for a few friends. Unlimited friends is a one-time purchase.

Purchases are handled by Apple and by RevenueCat, a purchase-management service, which is the only third-party service inside the app. To confirm that a purchase belongs to you, RevenueCat receives:

• a randomly generated, anonymous identifier for your installation
• your purchase history for this app
• basic device and diagnostic information

RevenueCat does not receive your name, your email address, or anything about your friends. The anonymous identifier is not connected to your identity and is separate from the one used for invite codes.

RevenueCat's privacy policy: revenuecat.com/privacy

Apple's handling of the payment itself is covered by Apple's own privacy policy.

Ciao! sends you a quiet weekly note, and a note on a friend's birthday. These are written and scheduled on your device by iOS. Their contents, including your friends' names, never leave your phone.

There is one exception. When somebody uses your invite code, that notification is delivered through Apple's servers, because the event happens on somebody else's phone. It contains no names.

You can turn notifications off at any time in iOS Settings, and the app will keep working without them.

• Ciao! never reads your messages. It cannot see WhatsApp, iMessage, Telegram, Instagram or any other messaging app. iOS does not allow it, and the app does not attempt it. Every catch-up you record, you record yourself by tapping.
• Ciao! never sends messages on your behalf. When you choose to message someone, it opens your messaging app with the conversation ready. You write and send it.
• The people in your list are never contacted by Ciao! and are never told they are in it. There is no feed, no profiles, and no way for another user to see anything about your friends.
• Ciao! does not access your Contacts. Friends are added by typing a name.
• Ciao! does not track you across apps or websites, shows no ads, and contains no analytics or advertising software.
• Nothing is ever sold or shared with anyone for advertising or any other purpose.

• Your friends and notes: delete the app, and turn its storage off in iOS Settings, your name, iCloud. That removes them from your devices and from your iCloud.
• Your invite code and redemptions: these are not removed by deleting the app, for the reason given above. Email the address at the bottom of this page and they will be deleted.

Because Ciao! has no account system, most of your data is already entirely in your hands: it is on your device and in your own iCloud, and we never receive a copy.

The only information we hold about you is the invite-code records described above, a code and an opaque identifier. You may ask us at any time to tell you what those contain, or to delete them.

If you are in the European Economic Area or the United Kingdom, you have rights under the GDPR to access, correct, delete, export and restrict the use of personal data we hold about you, and to complain to your national data protection authority. If you are in California, you have comparable rights under the CCPA, including the right not to be discriminated against for exercising them. We do not sell personal information as those laws define it.

To exercise any of these rights, email the address below. There is no form and no account to log into.

Ciao! is not directed at children, has no age rating restrictions, and collects no information about age.

If this policy changes, the date at the top of this page changes with it.

Questions about this policy, or requests about your data: simonegiannatiempo1@gmail.com