Privacy Policy
HiStranger is designed to be as private as we can make it while still running the service. Here's what that means in practice.
What we DON'T collect
- Names, emails, phone numbers, addresses — we don't ask for them, we don't store them.
- Chat message content — messages are relayed between paired users in real time and are not written to any database or log we control.
- Payment information — the service is free; we take no payments.
What we DO collect
- Session data (temporary): a random session ID and the nickname you type before entering chat. Deleted when you disconnect.
- Server logs (short-term): IP address, timestamp, and HTTP path for each request, retained for up to 30 days for abuse investigation and infrastructure debugging. Rotated automatically.
- Shadow-ban list (persistent): if a user is banned for policy violations, we store an anonymized identifier — no message content, no PII.
Third-party analytics
We use two analytics tools to understand how the site is used:
- Google Analytics 4 — page views, referrer, device type, coarse location (country). Google's own privacy policy applies to data they collect.
- Microsoft Clarity — anonymous session recordings and heatmaps for UX research. Microsoft's privacy statement applies.
Neither of these tools has access to chat message content.
Cookies
We use a small number of first-party cookies for session state and analytics. No advertising cookies. No cross-site tracking cookies we set ourselves.
Your rights (GDPR / CCPA)
Because we don't collect identifying information, there is very little data to request or delete — but if you believe we have data connected to you (for example, if you reported abuse and gave us a timestamp), you can email legal@histranger.lol for a data request or deletion.
Age restriction
HiStranger is 18+. If we determine an account or session belongs to a minor, we delete session data and block the identifier.
Changes to this policy
If we materially change how we handle data, we'll update the "Last updated" date at the top of this page. Continued use of the service constitutes acceptance.
Contact
Privacy questions: legal@histranger.lol