Your chats never leave your phone.

1. The ShroudChat app: data we (don’t) collect

ShroudChat is an on-device AI chat app. The AI model runs locally on your phone — there is no user account system, and no backend that receives your chats or content. The only ShroudChat server the app ever contacts is our app-update server (see §3).

• No personal data collected: we do not collect, transmit, share, or sell names, emails, phone numbers, chat content, device identifiers, or location. The update check described in §3 transmits only technical version details, never personal data.
• No analytics or crash SDKs: the app contains no third-party analytics, advertising, tracking, or crash-reporting SDKs.
• No accounts: you never sign up, sign in, or provide credentials of any kind.
• No advertising: the app shows no ads and shares nothing with advertisers.
• AI processing is local: your messages are processed by the model on your device. Nothing you type is sent to us or to any AI cloud service.
• Voice input stays on your device: if you use the microphone to dictate a message, the audio is transcribed by your phone's own built-in speech recogniser (Android's system speech service, also used by your keyboard and voice assistant). ShroudChat never receives the recording, never stores it, and has no access to it — the microphone is only active between the moment you tap the mic and the moment you stop. The recognised text is placed in the message box like typed text, and is saved only if you send it, as an ordinary local message.
• No cloud fallback for voice: ShroudChat is configured to use only your device's offline speech recognition. If the offline voice model for your chosen language is not installed, the app will not start dictation or fall back to sending your audio anywhere — it offers to download the offline model instead.

2. Android permissions and why we need them

The app requests only the permissions needed for the one-time AI model download, periodic app-update checks, optional voice dictation, and running offline afterwards:

• Internet + view network state — used to download the AI model file on first launch and to check for app updates (see §3). Chatting itself works fully offline.
• Foreground service (data sync) — keeps the one-time model download running reliably if you leave the app or lock the screen.
• Notifications (optional) — shows model-download progress. You can deny it; the download still works.
• Vibrate — standard support-library permission, not used for tracking.
• Microphone (optional, never requested up front) — used only if you choose to dictate a message. It is requested the first time you tap the mic, not at launch. If you deny it, typing, sending, and every other feature keep working, and you can grant it later in Android Settings.

Dictation is handled entirely by Android's own speech recogniser. We ask for no speech-recognition permission because the app only ever requests the offline, on-device recogniser — the one that needs no network and sends nothing to us.

The app does not request camera, location, contacts, SMS, call-log, calendar, or body-sensor permissions.

3. Network use: model download and app updates

On first launch, the app downloads the open on-device AI model file (approx. 2.6 GB) over HTTPS from its public host (Hugging Face). That connection is between your device and the model host only — we operate no proxy and see nothing of it.

When online, the app also checks our app-update server (shroud-ota-api.shroudchat.com) on launch for a newer version of the app itself, so small improvements can reach you without a Play Store update. Each check sends only technical version details — the app's runtime version (e.g. 1.0.1), the platform (Android), and the current update ID. It never sends your chats, settings, or any personal or device identifier. If an update is available, the app downloads the new app code and images over HTTPS, verifies them, and applies them on the next restart.

• Optional and offline-safe: if you are offline or the check fails, the app simply runs its built-in version. No internet connection is ever required to chat.
• Nothing retained: we keep no per-user records of update checks and run no analytics on them. Like any web server, ours necessarily observes the connection itself (IP address, request time) while serving it.

4. On-device storage and deletion

• What stays on your phone: your conversations and messages (local database), app settings (theme, font size, sampling options), and the downloaded AI model file.
• Delete anytime: you can delete individual chats or clear all data from inside the app Settings. Deleting is permanent and immediate.
• Uninstall removes your ShroudChat data: uninstalling the app deletes all on-device conversations, settings, and app data. Because we hold no copy anywhere, there is nothing left to request back from us.
• One exception, and it isn't ours: offline voice models are installed by Android, not by ShroudChat, and are stored in Android's own speech-recognition storage. They are shared with your keyboard and voice assistant, so uninstalling ShroudChat does not remove them. To delete one, use Android's speech settings (Google app → Settings → Voice typing → Offline speech, or Android Settings → Google → Voice typing). You can also do this from inside ShroudChat in Settings → Voice.

5. Children

ShroudChat is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect data from children — we do not knowingly collect data from anyone, since the app transmits no personal data off-device (see §1, §2, §3).

6. This website

This website (shroudchat.com) is a static informational page. It has no forms, no accounts, and no data collection. We run no analytics, cookies, or trackers on it. If you email us, we use your message only to reply.

7. Changes to this policy

If we ever change how the app or site handles data, we will update this page and revise the Last updated date above. Because the app collects nothing, any future collection would be disclosed here first and gated behind your explicit consent and an app update.

8. Contact us

Questions about this policy or your data? Email us at hello@shroudchat.com. We aim to reply within a few days.