ChatNative

Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy describes how Lovette Software (“Lovette Software”, “we”, “us”) collects, uses, and shares information when you use the ChatNative mobile application and this website at chatnative.lovettesoftware.com. By using ChatNative, you agree to this policy.

1. Who we are

Lovette Software operates ChatNative, a language-exchange app for people learning English or Mandarin Chinese. The app helps you message and speak with language partners, with word-level help in chat and after calls. This policy covers the iOS and Android apps and this marketing website.

Contact: lewis@lovettesoftware.com

2. Age

ChatNative is for people 16 and over. We collect your date of birth during onboarding to enforce this. If we learn that someone under 16 has created an account, we will delete it. If you believe a child under 16 is using the app, contact us at the email above.

3. Information we collect

Depending on how you use ChatNative, we may collect:

  • Account information: name, email address, password (if you sign up with email), or identifiers from Sign in with Apple or Google; date of birth; gender (optional); city; bio; interests; profile photo; native language and learning language (English or Chinese).
  • Messages: text you send, voice messages (and their transcripts if you request one), photos and videos after the in-app unlock threshold, and quoted replies.
  • Voice calls: live audio over WebRTC while you are on a call; optional call recordings if both people agree; live captions; transcripts; and “view as lesson” progress for words in those transcripts.
  • Learning data: which word forms and phrases you mark as unknown, recognised, or known; words the app has marked as seen; learning streaks; and related daily counts.
  • Device and notifications: platform (iOS or Android), push token, device name, app version, timezone, last-seen / presence, and your notification preferences (including quiet hours).
  • Safety: reports you submit, users you block, and outcomes of automated content checks (for example if an image is not sent).
  • Website support form: name, email, message, and optional platform / app version when you submit the form on this site.

We also process short-lived technical data needed to operate the service (for example connection quality during a call, or a grammar-check request you send).

4. How we use information

We use your information to:

  • Create and authenticate your account
  • Match you with language partners and run the daily Looking pool and live call queue
  • Deliver chat, voice messages, media, and voice calls
  • Show in-place word translations, dictionary lookups, grammar suggestions, and sentence translations
  • Generate live captions, transcripts, and call lessons when those features are used
  • Send push notifications you have enabled (messages, matches, streak reminders, safety notices)
  • Moderate content, handle reports and blocks, and keep the community safe
  • Respond to support requests
  • Operate, secure, and debug the service, and comply with law

We do not sell your personal information.

5. What language partners see

People you match with or chat with can see your public profile (name, photo, languages, bio, interests, city, last-seen style presence) and the messages, voice notes, and media you send them. During a call they hear your live audio. If both of you opt in to recording, both of you can later see the shared recording and transcript. Anyone you already chat with is skipped from new daily match lists.

6. Processors and third-party services

We use service providers that process data on our behalf. The ChatNative app currently uses:

  • OpenAI — grammar checks, sentence translation, word-in-context explanations, some speech transcription, call summaries, and automated moderation of text and images. Content you ask the app to check or translate is sent to OpenAI for that purpose.
  • AssemblyAI — live captions during calls and transcription of recorded calls (with fallback to OpenAI if AssemblyAI is unavailable).
  • Apple and Google — if you choose Sign in with Apple or Google, those companies authenticate you and share an identifier (and, depending on your settings, a name or email) with us.
  • Google STUN (and optional TURN providers such as Metered) — to help establish WebRTC voice connections. Call audio is peer-to-peer when the network allows; a TURN relay may carry audio when a direct path is not possible. STUN/TURN servers see connection metadata (and, for TURN, the media they relay).
  • Expo — push notification delivery to your device.
  • MongoDB — storage of accounts, chats, vocabulary progress, call metadata, and related records.
  • Telegram — operator alerts. We send a notice to our Telegram chat when a new ChatNative account is created, when you submit a support request (from this website or in the app), and when a user flags a message or reports another person. Support messages include name, email, message, and optional platform / app version so we can reply by email. Telegram is not used to message other users.

Built-in dictionaries (CC-CEDICT for Chinese and ECDICT for English) are reference data we host. Looking up a word does not create an account with those dictionary projects.

We may also use hosting and reverse-proxy infrastructure to run the app API and this website. We may disclose information if required by law or to protect the rights, safety, and security of Lovette Software, our users, or others.

7. Call recording and captions

Live captions can appear during a call without saving a recording. A recording and transcript are created only if both people agree. Either person can later delete a shared recording; that removes the recording and transcript for both of you. If someone opts out, captions may still show during the call, but nothing is saved afterward. You can use “view as lesson” on a transcript to tap words the same way you do in chat.

8. Account deletion

In the ChatNative app, open your profile and choose Delete account. This permanently deletes your account, chats, and call history. It cannot be undone. You can also request deletion by emailing lewis@lovettesoftware.com.

9. Retention

We keep your information while your account is active and as needed to provide the service, handle safety issues, resolve disputes, and comply with law. After you delete your account, we remove the associated account, chat, and call records as described above. Support messages sent through this website or email (including the copy forwarded to Telegram) are kept as needed to reply to you.

10. This website

The marketing site does not use advertising cookies or third-party analytics scripts. It is for product information, support, and legal pages. The site loads the Plus Jakarta Sans typeface from Google Fonts. If you submit the support form, we process the fields you enter as described above.

11. Security

We use technical and organizational measures appropriate to the data we hold, including encrypted connections to our API. Voice calls use WebRTC. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure.

12. International transfers

Your information may be processed in countries other than where you live, including by the processors listed above. Where required, we take steps to use appropriate safeguards for those transfers.

13. Your rights

Depending on where you live, you may have rights to access, correct, delete, or restrict processing of your personal data, or to object to certain processing. You can update much of your profile in the app, delete your account as described above, or contact us at lewis@lovettesoftware.com. If you are in the UK or EEA, you may also lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority.

14. Children

ChatNative is not directed at children under 16. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 16.

15. Changes

We may update this policy from time to time. We will post the updated version on this page. Continued use of ChatNative after changes means you accept the updated policy.

16. Contact

Questions or requests about this policy: lewis@lovettesoftware.com. See also our Terms of Use, Support, and Copyright pages.

Last updated: September 17, 2026