Privacy Policy

Last updated November 8, 2026

Come Hang is an app for planning get-togethers with a group. It's made and run by Gary S. Walton, an individual based in Missouri, in the United States ("we" and "us" below). This policy explains what information Come Hang handles, why, who else handles it, how long it's kept, and the choices you have. If you have a question, write to [email protected].

The short version

• You don't sign up. The app makes an anonymous identity on your device the first time you start or join a group.
• What you write and share in a group, such as messages, events, photos, your name and profile photo in the group, and your location, is encrypted on your device before it's sent, so we can't read it.
• Some details have to stay readable for the app to work, such as your group's name, who's in it, and when messages were sent. They're listed below.
• We don't sell your information, show ads, or use analytics or tracking.
• Information is kept only as long as the app needs it, and most of it deletes itself.

What we collect and why

Your identity

The first time you start or join a group, the app signs your device in anonymously through Firebase Authentication, which gives it a random ID, and makes a pair of encryption keys on your device. The private key never leaves your device. The public key is stored with your ID, so other members can share a group's key with you. We also keep a record of which groups you own or belong to, and whether you've bought the upgrade.

What you share in a group

Chat messages, events and their bring-lists, photos, the name and profile photo you use in each group, and your location are encrypted on your device, with a key only the group's members hold, before they're sent to our servers. We store them, but we can't read them.

What stays readable

To deliver messages, check who may do what, and delete information on time, some details are stored without that encryption:

• a group's name, which people see when they open its invite link, and its settings, such as how long the server keeps chat
• the code in a group's invite link
• who belongs to each group and who owns it, when each member joined, the color the app gives each member, and the last day each member opened the app, which is used only to let members take over a group whose owner has been away for 30 days
• who sent each message and when, and which members haven't received it yet
• each event's start and end times, who planned it, and who has claimed each item on its bring-list
• who shared each photo and when, the size of its file, and how many photos each member has added to an event
• whether a member has the app open right now
• the name and note you type when you ask to join a group, which its members read before letting you in. They're deleted once a member lets you in or declines, or after 7 days, and once you're in, your name is stored encrypted like everything else.
• requests for a group's earlier chat, and the notices the app shows you, such as a group being deleted

Your location

Your location is shared only when you turn sharing on for an event, from 3 hours before the event starts until it ends. While it's on, your device sends your position, precise to about 0.1 meters, how accurate it is, and whether you've arrived, encrypted so only your group can read them. Each update replaces the one before, so no record of where you've been builds up, and your position is deleted an hour after your last update or when the event ends, whichever comes first.

Notifications

If you turn on notifications, your browser gives the app a push token, which we store so we can send you notifications through Firebase Cloud Messaging and your browser's own push service. A notification names the group and what happened, such as a new message, but never what was said.

Linking a Google account

Linking a Google account is optional, and lets you get your groups back on a new device. When you link one, Google shares your email address with Firebase Authentication, along with your name and profile picture if your Google account has them, and Firebase keeps them with your identity. Come Hang uses the link to recognize you on a new device, and your email address to fill in the checkout if you buy the upgrade. It never shows them to other members.

Buying the upgrade

The upgrade is sold through Polar, which handles the payment as the merchant of record. Polar collects your payment details under its own privacy policy, and we never see them. We send Polar your email address and your app ID, and Polar tells us when an order is paid or refunded, which is how the app knows you have the upgrade. We keep a record of each of those messages for a day, so none is handled twice.

Writing to us

If you write to us through Settings, your message and its subject, the version of Come Hang and the browser you're using, and your email address if you give one, go to Netlify, which passes them on to us. We use them only to answer you, and your email address only to reply.

Keeping the service safe and running

Our hosting and Firebase record technical details such as your IP address, your browser, and the time of each request, to run the service and protect it from abuse. Come Hang also uses Firebase App Check with Google reCAPTCHA Enterprise, which looks at signals from your browser and device to tell real use of the app from automated abuse. Google handles those signals under its own privacy policy.

What stays on your device

Your encryption keys, your chat history, messages you wrote offline until they're sent, the places of your groups' events, which requests and offers the app has already pointed out to you, whether you've answered its offer of notifications, and settings such as light or dark mode are stored on your device, in your browser's storage. Photos you open are kept only while the app is open, unless you save them to your device. Come Hang uses no tracking cookies, no analytics, and no ads.

How we use information

We use the information above only to run Come Hang: to deliver messages and notifications, show each group its members and events, share the locations you choose to share, handle the upgrade, keep the service secure, and answer you when you write to us. We don't sell or rent your information, and we don't use it for advertising or profiling.

Who else handles it

A few services run parts of Come Hang for us, and each handles information only to provide its service:

• Google Firebase, run by Google LLC, stores the app's information in the United States and provides its sign-in, notifications, and App Check, with reCAPTCHA Enterprise (Google's Privacy Policy).
• Netlify hosts the app's website and receives the messages you send us through Settings (Netlify's Privacy Policy).
• Polar handles payment for the upgrade (Polar's Privacy Policy).

The members of your groups see what you share with them. We may also disclose information when the law requires it, or to protect someone's safety or the security of the service, and then only what that requires. If Come Hang is ever passed to a new owner, this policy keeps applying to your information.

How long we keep it

• Chat messages are deleted from the server once every member's device has them, or after the period the group's owner sets, from 7 to 180 days, 30 by default.
• Events and their bring-lists are deleted 48 hours after the event ends. Your device keeps only each event's place, to suggest it when your group plans its next event, until you leave the group.
• Photos are deleted with their event, 48 hours after it ends, or sooner when the member who shared one or the group's owner deletes it. Before a photo is shared, your device shrinks it, which also removes the location and other details your camera stores in it.
• Your profile photo, if you add one, is kept in each group you're in until you remove it or your membership ends, when it's deleted from that group. Your device shrinks it first, which also removes the location and other details your camera stores in it.
• Your location is deleted an hour after your last update, or when the event ends.
• Requests to join are deleted once they're answered, or after 7 days.
• Earlier chat sent between members is deleted once it's collected, and in any case within 15 days.
• Notices are deleted after 30 days, and push tokens 60 days after your device last opened the app.
• A group is kept until its owner deletes it, which deletes its members, events, photos, and chat for everyone. When you leave a group or are removed, your membership is deleted.
• Your identity, meaning your ID, your public key, your list of groups, and whether you've bought the upgrade, is kept while you use the app, and deleted when you delete your data or ask us to. If you're in no group, haven't bought the upgrade or linked a Google account, and haven't opened the app for 180 days, it's deleted automatically.
• Messages you send us are kept only as long as we need them to answer you.
• What's on your device stays until you delete the app's data or uninstall it.

Messages already delivered to other members stay on their devices, and we can't delete them there.

Your choices and rights

• You can delete your data at any time, from the account part of Settings, or from the welcome screen if you're in no group. You leave every group you're in, each group you own passes to the member who joined it earliest, or is deleted if no one else is in it, and everything we keep for you is deleted, with your sign-in and any linked Google account, along with what Come Hang keeps on the device you use.
• You can leave a group at any time, and a group's owner can delete it.
• You can turn notifications and location sharing on and off whenever you like.
• Linking a Google account and buying the upgrade are both optional.
• You can also ask us for a copy of the information we hold about you, or ask us to correct or delete it, by writing to [email protected], and we'll answer within 30 days. Since there's no account, we find your information through a linked Google account, so without one, deleting your data in the app is the way to remove it.
• Depending on where you live, such as California or the European Union, the law may give you more rights over your information. We honor the requests above for everyone, wherever they live, and you can also complain to your local data protection authority.

Because what you share is encrypted, we can't read it, export it, or recover it for you. Your device holds your copy.

Security

Information travels to and from our servers over encrypted connections, what you share is encrypted on your device before it's sent, and the servers' access rules let each person reach only what they're allowed to. Come Hang isn't end-to-end encrypted in the strictest sense: it doesn't verify each member's devices, and the details listed above as readable are visible to the service. No system is perfectly secure, so we can't promise that information will never be reached without permission.

Age

Come Hang is for people 18 and older. We don't knowingly collect information from anyone younger. If you believe someone under 18 is using the app, write to us and we'll delete what we can.

Changes to this policy

When we change this policy, we'll post the new version here and update the date at the top. If a change significantly affects how your information is handled, we'll make a reasonable effort to tell you before it takes effect, such as in the app.

Contact

Gary S. Walton, Come Hang, Missouri, United States. Email [email protected].