Privacy Policy

1. Who we are

DangClub is provided by Elnnd Selman, an individual developer trading as “DangClub”, based in the Kurdistan Region, Iraq (“DangClub”, “we”, “us”). We are responsible for the personal data described here.

Privacy questions and requests: privacy@dangclub.com. General help: support@dangclub.com.

2. Data we collect

2.1 Your account

• Phone number in international format (for example +964 750 …). It is used to log you in with a code sent by SMS. Other users never see it.
• Display name and username, shown to other users.
• Gender (asked during sign-up). It is private: it is never shown to other users.
• Interests (topics you pick), used to suggest channels and groups.
• Cartoon character (the hair, colours and accessories you choose) and, if you want, a profile photo. Before storing a photo we check that it really is a JPEG, PNG or WebP image and remove embedded metadata such as EXIF (including GPS location and camera details), XMP and comments.
• App language and your settings: notifications for new voices, likes, joins and being added to groups, hiding names in notifications, hiding your like counts, and who may add you to groups.

2.2 What you create

• Voice recordings you send: the audio, its length in seconds, file size and format, a small waveform (up to 64 loudness points used to draw it), the channel or group, and the time it was sent. Voices sent in a group are deleted automatically 24 hours after they are sent (see section 6).
• Channels and groups you create: name, description, topic, picture, whether it is public or private, and (for private ones) its invite code.

2.3 Your activity in the app

• Likes: which voices you liked. People who can see a voice can see who liked it, unless the sender hides like counts.
• Listens: that you listened to a voice (once per voice). Others only see a total count.
• Memberships: the channels and groups you follow or belong to, your role there, your notification choice for each, and up to where you have listened.
• Voices you hide “for me”, people you block.
• Reports you send: what you reported, the reason (spam, harassment, hate, sexual content, violence or other) and optional details (up to 500 characters). The reported person is not told who reported them.
• In-app notifications: for example, someone liked your voice, a new voice in a space you follow, someone joined your channel, or you were added to a group.

2.4 Login and security data

• Login codes: we never store the code itself, only a keyed hash (HMAC) of it, together with your phone number, the IP address the request came from, its expiry time and the number of attempts. These records are deleted automatically after 24 hours; they exist to stop abuse such as mass SMS requests.
• Sessions: for each logged-in device we store the IP address and the user agent (a short text describing the app and operating system), a hashed refresh token and dates. Each time the app renews its session, a new record with the current IP address and user agent is created.

2.5 Push notifications

To send notifications to your phone we use Google Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM). On each device where you are logged in and have allowed notifications, the app gets a push token from FCM (a random identifier for DangClub on that device, which lets us address notifications to it) and sends it to our server. We store it with that device's login session, together with the platform (Android or iOS), the app version and your app language (so that notifications arrive in your language).

• What a notification contains: only internal IDs (for example of the voice, or of the channel or group), a short text in your app language, such as “[name] sent a new voice in [group]” or “[name] liked your voice”, and, on iPhone, the unread count for the app badge. It never contains audio or phone numbers. Because the text can include a display name and the name of a channel or group, and notifications can appear on your lock screen, you can turn on شاردنەوەی ناوەکان لە ئاگادارکردنەوەکاندا (Hide names in notifications) in the app (the text then contains no names), or hide notification previews in your device settings. Notifications from private channels and groups never contain names, on the lock screen or anywhere else.
• When we send them: only for the kinds you have turned on. There are four: a new voice in a channel or group you follow or belong to (unless you muted it), a like on one of your voices, someone joining your channel or group, and you being added to a group. Your device shows them only if you have allowed notifications for DangClub.
• When we ask for permission: on the last step of sign-up the app offers to turn notifications on, and your device asks for permission only if you tap that option. If notifications are not allowed, the app may offer again after you join a channel or group, at most twice and at least 30 days apart.
• What the Firebase SDK sends to Google: to deliver notifications, the Firebase SDK in the app creates a Firebase installation ID and sends Google technical information such as the device model, operating-system version, language, time zone, the app's identifier and version, and the SDK version. On iPhone, it also links the Apple push token (APNs token) to that installation.
• How to turn them off: in the app, من (Me) → ڕێکخستنەکان (Settings), where you can switch off each kind separately: دەنگی نوێ (New voices), حەزکردن (Likes), بەشداربوون (Joins) and زیادکردن بۆ گرووپەکان (Added to groups). The same screen has شاردنەوەی ناوەکان لە ئاگادارکردنەوەکاندا (Hide names in notifications). To silence a single channel or group, use its ئاگادارکردنەوە (Notifications) button. Switching off a kind in the app, or muting a channel or group, stops both the push notification and the entry in the app's notification list. You can also turn off all notifications for DangClub in your phone's settings; that stops only the push notifications, and the notification list inside the app keeps working.

2.6 On your device

The app keeps your login tokens in the device's secure storage, and a copy of the app's texts and your language choice so it opens quickly. The microphone is used only while you record a voice; the camera or photo library only when you choose a profile photo. Permission to show notifications is never asked when the app first opens, only as described in section 2.5. You can withdraw these permissions in your device settings at any time.

2.7 What we do not collect

We do not access your contacts, we do not collect your location, and the app contains no advertising, analytics or crash-reporting SDKs and no third-party trackers. We do not use advertising identifiers. Firebase Cloud Messaging is used only to deliver notifications (section 2.5); the push token is never used to track you or for advertising.

3. Why we use it (purposes and legal bases)

• To provide DangClub (account, login, sending and playing voices, channels and groups, likes, notifications, suggestions based on your interests). Basis: performance of our contract with you (these Terms).
• To deliver the push notifications you have turned on (push token, platform, app version, language). Basis: performance of our contract with you; your device shows them only with your consent in the system notification prompt, which you can withdraw at any time.
• To keep DangClub secure: limiting login codes per number, per network (IP address) and overall; detecting stolen sessions; rate limits. Basis: our legitimate interest in protecting users and the service, and legal obligations.
• To keep the community safe: handling reports, blocks, removing content and suspending accounts. Basis: legitimate interest and legal obligations.
• To answer you when you contact support. Basis: legitimate interest.
• To comply with the law and valid requests from authorities. Basis: legal obligation.
• Device permissions (microphone, camera, photos, notifications). Basis: your consent, given in the system prompt.

We do not use your data for advertising or ad profiling, and we do not sell it. Moderation decisions are taken by people, not by automated systems.

4. What other people can see

• Other DangClub users can see your display name, username, character or photo, the channels and groups you have in common with them, your voices in the spaces they can open, and your counts (spaces, voices, likes received; you can hide like counts). They can find you by username or name.
• Public channels and groups can be found and listened to by any logged-in DangClub user. Private ones can only be joined through an invite link and are visible only to their members.
• Voice audio is delivered only to logged-in users allowed to open that channel or group. Profile pictures are served through a public web address, so anyone who has the exact link can open the picture.
• Never shown to other users: your phone number and your gender.
• DangClub administrators (our staff) can see account information, including phone numbers, and reported content, to run and moderate the service.

5. Who we share data with

• SMS provider (OTPIQ, otpiq.com): receives your phone number and the text message containing your login code, only to deliver it.
• Hosting provider (Hetzner Online GmbH, Germany): runs our server and database on our behalf, in data centres in Germany (European Union).
• Network and file storage provider (Cloudflare, Inc.): protects and delivers our network traffic (security, encryption and content delivery), so it handles technical data such as your IP address when the app connects to us. It also stores uploaded files (voice messages and images) on our behalf in its Cloudflare R2 storage service.
• Push notification services: Google (Firebase Cloud Messaging) receives the push token and the content of each notification (internal IDs, the short text and, on iPhone, the unread count) to deliver it to your device, and the technical information described in section 2.5. On iPhone, notifications are delivered through Apple Push Notification service (Apple Inc.), which receives the Apple push token and the notification content for that purpose.
• Authorities: only when the law requires it, in response to a valid legal request, or when needed to protect someone's life or safety.
• A successor: if DangClub is merged or sold, your data may transfer to the new operator under this policy; we will tell you beforehand.

Where your data is stored. Our database is stored in the European Union (Germany). Files (voice messages and images) are stored in Cloudflare R2 and delivered through Cloudflare's global network. Push notifications pass through the global networks of Google and, on iPhone, Apple, including in the United States. This means that your data is transferred to, and processed in, countries outside Iraq. We protect these transfers with appropriate safeguards: we use these providers only under data-processing terms that require them to handle the data solely on our instructions and to keep it secure, and data is always transferred over encrypted connections.

We share nothing with advertisers or data brokers. App stores (Google Play, Apple App Store) process download data under their own policies.

6. How long we keep data

• Account and profile: while your account exists.
• Login codes: deleted automatically after 24 hours.
• Sessions: a session record is deleted 30 days after the session ends (for example when you log out) or expires. Each renewal creates a new record; the replaced one is kept until it expires (30 days) so that stolen sessions can be detected, and is then deleted 30 days later. IP addresses and device details are never kept longer than 90 days, and deleting your account erases them at once.
• Push tokens (with platform, app version and language): kept while you are logged in on that device and notifications are allowed there. A token is deleted when you log out on that device, when you log out of all devices or your account is suspended, when you turn off notifications for DangClub in your phone's settings (the next time you open the app), when Firebase tells us it is no longer valid (for example because the app was uninstalled), or when you delete your account. Up to 10 devices can have a token: when an 11th device registers, the token of the device used least recently is deleted. A token that has not been renewed by the app for 270 days is treated as expired and deleted. Short-lived records of the notifications we sent you (used so that we do not send too many) are deleted after 1 day.
• Group voices: deleted automatically and permanently 24 hours after they are sent. The audio file is erased together with the voice's likes, listens and the notifications about it. A deleted group voice cannot be recovered, by you or by us. Exception: if a group voice has been reported, it is hidden from everyone after 24 hours but kept for our moderators until the report is reviewed, and never longer than 30 days.
• Channel voices: kept until the sender or the channel owner deletes them, or the account is deleted. If you use “delete for everyone” (or a moderator removes a voice), the audio is erased at once and a “deleted voice” placeholder (time, length, waveform) stays in the conversation.
• Notifications: notifications, read or unread, are deleted 90 days after they were sent.
• Reports and moderation decisions: kept for up to 12 months after the report was made, then deleted.
• Backups: the database is backed up daily. Each backup is kept on our server for 7 days and is then overwritten by newer ones, so deleted data is gone from all backups within 7 days.

7. Deleting your account

You can delete your account in the app: من (Me) → ڕێکخستنەکان (Settings) → سڕینەوەی هەژمار. Full steps and an alternative if you lost access: Delete your account.

Erased immediately

• Your phone number, display name, username and gender.
• Your profile photo (the file is deleted); your cartoon character is reset to a default one.
• The audio of every voice you sent in channels (the audio files are deleted). Your group voices are already deleted automatically 24 hours after sending; any you sent in the last 24 hours lose their audio at once.
• Your interests, your likes and listens (counters on other people's voices are corrected), and the list of voices you hid for yourself.
• Your memberships in channels and groups.
• Notifications sent to you or caused by you.
• Pending login codes for your number.
• The IP addresses and device details stored with your sessions; you are logged out on every device.
• Your push tokens on every device, so no more notifications are sent to you.
• Channels and groups you own are closed: nobody can open, find or join them any more.

Kept

• A minimal account record: an internal ID marked “deleted”, its creation date, and your app language and notification/privacy switches. It contains no phone number, name, username, gender or photo. It exists so that conversations can show “deleted account” instead of breaking.
• Placeholders of your voices in channels: when and where each voice was sent, its length, file size and format, and its waveform drawing (up to 64 loudness points). There is no audio; the app shows them as a deleted voice from a deleted account. They remain for as long as the channel exists. Nothing is left of your group voices once their 24 hours are up.
• Reports you sent and reports about you or your content (reason and the optional text), and the moderators' decisions, for safety and legal purposes, for up to 12 months, then deleted.
• Blocks and bans from channels/groups involving your former account, linked only to the internal ID.
• Session records without IP address or device details (dates only, all revoked), deleted within 30 days.
• Closed channels and groups you owned (name, description, picture), in inactive form, visible to nobody.
• Copies forwarded by other people: if someone used “send to another group” on one of your voices, that copy became their own message and is not deleted with your account. You can report it. Like every group voice, a copy in a group is deleted automatically 24 hours after it was sent.
• Copies in database backups, until they are overwritten, within 7 days.

After deletion your phone number and username are free again; using the number later creates a new, empty account.

8. How we protect data

• All traffic between the app and our servers is encrypted (HTTPS/TLS); the released app refuses unencrypted connections.
• Login codes are stored only as a keyed hash, expire after a few minutes, allow a limited number of attempts and only the newest code works.
• Sessions use short-lived access tokens and refresh tokens that are stored only as hashes and change on every use; re-use of an old token ends that login immediately.
• Uploaded files are checked by their content, not their name; photo metadata is removed.
• Administrator functions are limited to staff accounts; secrets are kept out of the code.

No system is perfectly secure. If a breach affects your data, we will inform you and the authorities as the law requires.

9. Children

DangClub is not meant for children under 13. Users under 18 need the permission of a parent or guardian where local law requires it, and should use DangClub with their guidance. We do not ask for your date of birth; if we learn that a child under 13 has an account, we will delete it. Parents or guardians can write to privacy@dangclub.com.

10. Your rights

• Access: ask for a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
• Correction: change your name, username, gender, photo, character, interests, language and settings in the app at any time. To change the phone number of an account, contact us.
• Deletion: delete your account in the app, or ask us by email (see section 7).
• Objection and restriction: object to a use of your data or ask us to limit it.
• Withdraw consent for device permissions (including notifications) in your device settings, and turn push notifications off in the app (section 2.5).

Write to privacy@dangclub.com. To protect your account we confirm that you own the phone number, for example with a code sent by SMS. We answer within 30 days. Iraq does not currently have a dedicated data-protection authority. If you are not satisfied with our answer, write to support@dangclub.com and we will review your request again; where applicable, you may also complain to the competent authority in your country (for example, in the European Union, the data-protection authority of the country where you live).

11. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy when the app changes. The “last updated” date at the top shows when this policy was last changed; for important changes we will also tell you inside the app before they apply.

12. Contact

Elnnd Selman (trading as DangClub), Kurdistan Region, Iraq. Please contact us by email:
Privacy: privacy@dangclub.com · Support: support@dangclub.com