Privacy Policy

Last updated November 8, 2026

Pinyotta is a group chat for families and old friends, with Pip, an AI friend in the chat. This policy explains what we collect, why, who helps us run Pinyotta, and the choices you have. Questions: support@pinyotta.com.

The short version

• No ads, ever. We never sell your information or share it for advertising, and we don’t track you across other apps or websites.
• Pip reads your messages only if you choose Allow. You can change that any time in Profile → Privacy.
• What you share in a group is seen by the people in that group, and by Pip if you allowed it. Nobody at Pinyotta reads your chats, except a message someone reports to us.
• You can delete your account in the app at any time.

What we collect

Your account

• Phone number, to sign you in and so people can invite you. People in your groups can see it.
• Your name and profile photo (the photo is optional).

What you share

• Messages, photos, GIFs, reactions, and things like Café drinks and treats, polls and votes, plans, quiz answers and Word Board plays you send in a group or in your private chat with Pip. Everyone in a group can see who voted for what in a poll. Your letters on the Word Board are shown only to you.
• Photos: before a photo is sent, the app makes a new copy of it on your phone, which leaves out hidden details such as where it was taken. We keep only the month it was taken, so Pip can bring back old photos. (GIFs are sent as they are.)
• About You and pets, if you add them: things like where you live, your birthday, work, favorites, food needs and your pets. You choose which groups see each one.
• Invites: the phone numbers of people you invite, and any short notes you add to help Pip get to know them (like “my sister” or a birthday). The person you invite can see and change what you shared.

Your contacts

If you let the app use your contacts, it reads them on your phone to help you pick who to invite and to show people by the names you saved for them. Your contact list is never uploaded. Only the phone numbers you choose to invite are sent to us.

Your phone and how you use the app

• A notification token, your phone type and the app’s version, so we can send you notifications and fix problems.
• Your time zone, so Pip posts at sensible hours. The app doesn’t use your location.
• Usage counts: numbers only, like how many messages a group sent today or how many people opened the app. Never what anyone wrote. Daily activity is stored under a coded number rather than your account.
• Crash reports: what went wrong, on which screen, your phone type and the app’s version. They aren’t linked to your account.
• Feedback you send us: your note, the picture of your screen if you keep it, your phone model, its software version and the app’s version, linked to your account so we can follow up.
• Reports: when you report something, we keep a copy of it and the few messages before it, so we can review it.

Pip and AI

Pip is powered by Claude, an AI made by Anthropic. When the app first asks, you choose Allow or Don’t Allow, and you can change it any time in Profile → Privacy → Pip can read my messages.

• If you allow Pip: your messages and photos in your groups, your private chat with Pip, and the About You details you shared with a group are sent to Anthropic so Pip can reply, remember what matters and plan things with you. Pip describes each photo once and remembers the description.
• If you don’t: your messages, photos and details are not sent to Anthropic. Pip won’t reply to you or mention you, though you’ll still see what Pip posts in your groups.
• Anthropic doesn’t use your messages to train its AI models.
• What Pip remembers is kept separately for each group and shown in the group’s Info → What Pip remembers here, where anyone in the group can remove a memory. What you tell Pip privately is used only in your private chat with Pip, unless you choose to share it.
• For news and weather, Pip may search the web. Its searches can include general details Pip knows about the group, such as a city someone lives in.
• If you allow Pip, it may suggest a poll when your group is choosing between things; the poll is made only if someone sends it, and Pip never votes.
• When Pip suggests a place, we look up its name and address with Google so the link opens in Maps. Nothing about you is sent.
• When you hold or tap a word on the Word Board to see what it means, that word (only words in the game’s dictionary) is sent to Anthropic the first time anyone looks it up, and the meaning is kept for everyone. Nothing about you is sent.

Who helps us run Pinyotta

These companies process information only to provide their part of Pinyotta:

• Cloudflare runs our servers and stores messages, photos and accounts.
• Google Firebase sends sign-in codes by text to your phone number, and checks sign-ins for abuse (reCAPTCHA). It also delivers notifications to Android phones.
• Apple delivers notifications to iPhones. A notification shows who sent a message and its words, and passes through Apple or Google to reach your phone.
• Anthropic powers Pip, as described above, for people who allowed it.
• GIPHY: when you search for a GIF, your phone sends the search words to GIPHY, and GIFs in a chat load from GIPHY.
• Google Places turns the name and address of a place Pip suggests into a map link.
• Link previews: when someone shares a link, our server visits it to make a preview. The website sees our server, not you.

Keeping it safe

Messages and photos are encrypted on their way between your phone and our servers, and stored encrypted. They aren’t end-to-end encrypted: our servers can read them, which is how Pip and notifications work. Each group’s messages and Pip’s memories are kept apart from every other group’s. Only the people in a group can see its messages and photos.

How long we keep things

• Messages and photos stay as long as their group exists. When the last person leaves a group, the group, its messages and its photos are deleted.
• When you leave a group, your private chat with Pip there, what Pip learned privately from you, and what your inviter wrote about you are deleted. Your messages in the group stay.
• When you delete your account (Profile → Delete Account), we delete your account, phone number, name, profile photo, About You, the pets only you own, your notification tokens, your private chats with Pip and what Pip learned privately from you. Your messages and photos in groups stay, shown as from a “Former member”, as do group memories that mention you (anyone in the group can remove those). Reports, feedback and crash reports are kept to keep Pinyotta safe and working, without your account.
• Deleted information can remain in our service providers’ backups for up to 30 days.

Your choices

• Turn Pip on or off for yourself in Profile → Privacy; change what Pip does in a group in its Info.
• Allow or deny contacts, photos, camera and notifications in your phone’s Settings at any time.
• Block people, mute chats, leave groups, and delete your account in the app.
• Ask us for a copy of your information, or to correct or delete it, by writing to support@pinyotta.com. We’ll answer within 30 days.

Children

Pinyotta accounts are for people 13 and older. We don’t knowingly collect information from children under 13. If you believe a child under 13 has an account, write to support@pinyotta.com and we’ll delete it.

Where information is processed

Pinyotta is run from the United States. Your information is processed in the United States and wherever our service providers operate.

Changes

If we change this policy in a way that matters, we’ll tell you in the app before the change takes effect.

Contact

support@pinyotta.com