Privacy Policy

Last updated: 16 October 2026

PIING is provided by Hectic Software Limited, company number 17514067, a private limited company registered in England and Wales. The registered office is Unit 1c Sandown Road Industrial Estate, Watford, United Kingdom, WD24 7UB. Hectic Software Limited is the data controller for personal information described in this policy. PIING is a product of Hectic Software Limited. Write to privacy@piingapp.co.uk. The public register is Companies House 17514067.

Face data is in section 1A. Apple features, including CarPlay, Apple Watch, Siri, widgets and iCloud backup, are in section 1B. Android and Google Play are in section 1C.

1. What We Collect

We collect only the minimum data required to deliver the service:

Account Information: Your email address and username.
Profile: Your display name and, if you set one, a profile photo.
Date of Birth: Used to apply the age rules. Under 16 cannot use PIING. A 16 or 17 year old starts with stricter privacy defaults. A public or community live, and explicit music, are for 18 and over. It is not used for advertising.
Messages & Media: The content you send — text, photos, videos and voice messages — is held on our servers only until it reaches the people you sent it to. About an hour after everyone in the chat has it, the server copy is deleted. A message that has not reached everyone 30 days after it was sent is deleted anyway. A message pinned in a chat stays on the server while it is pinned, so every member sees it, and is deleted under these same rules once it is unpinned. A photo, video, voice note or file is deleted within about three hours of its message, unless you also use it somewhere else, such as your story. We do not keep your message history: it lives on your devices, and moves to a new phone only by phone transfer or your own encrypted backup. Our servers can see who messages whom and when, so a message can be delivered. They cannot read an end-to-end encrypted message.
Device Token: A push-notification identifier, plus an identifier created on this phone, used only to deliver notifications and to tell your devices apart. It is not used to track you across other companies’ apps. The Apple Watch, if paired, can receive the same alerts.
Diagnostics (optional, off until you turn it on): Crash and performance reports are sent only if you turn on Settings → Share crash reports with PIING. See section 4. They are not used to advertise to you.
Phone Number (optional): A phone number is not how you create an account. You can add one later so friends who already have your number can find you. A one-time code confirms it.
Sign in with Apple: If you use it, we receive the name and email (or Apple's private relay email) that Apple shares with us. We do not receive an Apple ID password.
Sign in with Google: Offered on Android. If you use it, we receive the name and email Google shares with us. We do not receive your Google password.
Contact Discovery (optional): If you turn it on, PIING sends scrambled copies (hashes) of the phone numbers in your contacts to find which contacts use PIING. Hashes of people who aren't on PIING aren't kept. Each account can only check a limited number of hashes a day.
Location (optional): Off until you choose to share it. On the Friends Map, your latest location is stored and shown to the friends you choose, and each update expires after 4 hours. A live location in a chat is shown only in that chat, for the time you pick (15 minutes, 1 hour, or 8 hours), and then it stops. If you turn on “Keep sharing when PIING is closed”, the iPhone can update those same friends while the app is not open, using the low-power location service, including when you move a fair distance or arrive at or leave a saved place. With that update PIING can send how you are travelling, your speed, a nearby place name, and, if you turn it on, battery level. A place name is looked up with Apple’s maps. On a current version, a Friends Map location is sealed for each friend. If someone you share with is still on an older version, that copy can be read by our servers until they update, and the app tells you when that is happening; this fallback ends on 31 January 2027. When you stop sharing, your live location is deleted from our servers straight away. Circles keep only who is in them and which group chat they belong to on our servers; the name comes from the group chat. If you turn them on, place alerts, visit history and drive summaries use Apple’s low-power location services (region monitoring, visits and motion); visits and drive summaries stay on your iPhone and are not uploaded. For 16 and 17 year olds, the Friends Map starts off and our servers refuse map updates until the person turns sharing on. This is not advertising tracking.
iCloud chat backup (optional): If you turn it on, a copy of your chats is encrypted on your iPhone and stored in your own iCloud, including text that was end-to-end encrypted. Apple holds that copy. The key stays in your iCloud Keychain unless you choose a recovery key. We cannot read that backup. Turning backup off deletes the iCloud copy.
Calls: Call history (who called whom, when, voice or video, and whether it was answered). PIING does not keep a recording of a call. If everyone on the call allows it, an audio file can be saved on the phone of the person who asked. Everyone on the call sees that it is recording, and anyone can stop it. That file is not uploaded, and PIING does not keep it.
Security Logs: Your IP address and device type, used for sign-in sessions, rate limiting and preventing abuse.
Problem Reports: When you send a report from the app's Help form, we receive your description, the screen you were on, recent screens, device and app version, network type and any screenshot you attach. Reports are sorted by a person and, only if you have allowed AI services in Settings → AI, also by AI services run by other companies; emails and phone numbers are removed before a report is sent to them.

1A. Face data (TrueDepth camera)

On an iPhone or iPad with a TrueDepth camera, Lenses uses Apple's ARKit face tracking so a decorative effect stays on your face. While that screen is open, and only then, the app reads the following in memory on your device:

the face mesh for that frame (the 3D points of the face, and how those points join);
where the eyes are, and blend shapes that describe the expression, such as an open mouth or raised eyebrows;
the position and orientation of the face in the camera frame.

This is used only to draw the lens. It is not used to identify you, to recognise you later, for advertising, or to train a model. It is not sent to Hectic Software Limited, not sent to any third party, and not written to the phone's storage, iCloud, or our servers. When you leave Lenses, the camera session stops and this information is discarded. There is nothing left to delete.

If you take a photo with a lens, that photo is a normal picture of what is on the screen. The depth map, mesh and blend shapes are not saved in the file. If you then send the photo, it is handled like any other photo you send. Face ID, used to unlock the app, is Apple's own check on the device. PIING does not receive the Face ID template.

1B. Apple features

The iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch and CarPlay apps use the Apple features below. This is the list a reviewer can use to see what each one can access. None of them is used for advertising. The iPhone shows Apple’s own permission prompt before the camera, microphone, photo library, contacts, location, Bluetooth, local network, motion, calendar, speech recognition, Face ID, nearby interaction or Focus status is used. The words on that prompt match this policy.

CarPlay. When an iPhone is connected to a car that supports CarPlay, PIING shows a communication screen: chat names, a profile photo or initials, unread counts, pins, mutes and times, plus recent calls and how long they lasted. The words of a message are not drawn on the car screen. Siri reads a chat and sends a reply when you ask. A tap can start a voice call through the iPhone. Favourites are people you already talk to on PIING. This is the same account data already on the iPhone. CarPlay does not collect a separate location, and it does not show the Friends Map.
Apple Watch. The Watch shows a copy of what the iPhone already has: chat names, unread counts and short replies. It does not sign in by itself and it does not hold the account token. Replies normally go through the iPhone and are sent like any other message. If the iPhone is out of reach, a group reply, a reaction or an SOS can be sent from the Watch’s own connection. An SOS sent from the Watch can include the Watch’s location, so the people you chose can find you. The Watch does not track location at other times. A complication shows an unread count, or a place name and arrival time the iPhone already worked out while you are sharing a trip.
Widgets and Live Activities. A Home Screen widget can show chats you choose (names and whether they are unread). A Live Activity on the Lock Screen can show a call that is in progress, with mute and end, and can show an SOS or a live (a name and a count). Widgets and Live Activities do not show the text of an end-to-end encrypted message. A push token for a Live Activity is kept so Apple can start that display.
Siri. If you ask, Siri can start a PIING call, send a PIING message, read new messages, mark them read, and say who called. A one-to-one message you dictate is end-to-end encrypted like one you type. Apple handles the Siri request under Apple’s terms.
Face ID, passkeys and TrueDepth. Face ID unlocks the app. A passkey, if you create one, signs you in with Face ID or Touch ID. The private key stays on your devices. We store only the public key. Lenses face tracking is section 1A. We receive neither the Face ID template nor the TrueDepth mesh.
Apple Music. If you add a song to a story, a video, a live or a call, each phone plays it from that person’s own Apple Music. Listen together uses SharePlay so each phone starts the same song. We do not receive the Apple Music library or the audio file, and we do not mix that audio into a file you send. A card can include the title, the artist and an Apple Music link.
Sensitive content check. On iOS, if you or Screen Time have turned on Apple’s sensitive-content warning, a photo or video you receive can be checked on the iPhone before it is shown. The result stays on the device. It is not sent to us.
Screen sharing. If you share your screen on a call, that picture is sent to the other people on the call in the same way as the camera. iOS shows its recording indicator while this is on. A one-to-one call is encrypted between the two phones. A group call is encrypted on the way to the call relay and is not end-to-end encrypted.
Calendar. Only when you tap Add to Calendar on a call you have scheduled. PIING writes that one event. It does not read the rest of the calendar.
Bluetooth and the local network. Used for Nearby messages when there is no internet, and to move chats to a new iPhone when you choose Transfer. Ordinary Nearby messages are sealed on the way, so a phone that relays them cannot read them. An SOS on that link is signed but not encrypted, so a nearby PIING phone can read the words and the location. When Friends Map looks up a place name, the coordinate is sent to Apple’s maps. This is not used to build an advertising profile.
Ultra Wideband. Only when both people turn on Find precisely, to show distance and direction. It is not kept as a location history.
Motion. A shake can start the help gesture. If Friends Map sharing is on, the iPhone can tell the friends you chose whether you are walking, cycling or driving.
Focus. If you allow it, people you message can be told that your notifications are silenced. PIING is not told which Focus is on.
Speech recognition. Voice-note transcripts, call captions and clip captions use Apple’s on-device speech recognition. That recognition stays on the iPhone. If the iPhone cannot transcribe a voice note, and you allow AI services, the audio can be sent to an AI service, and the text is then kept with that message.
Age range. On iOS 26, before a public or community live, PIING can show Apple’s age-range sheet. If you share it, Apple tells the app an age band for the 16 and 18 rules, and which kind of check Apple used. One of those checks is a payment method already on the Apple account, which can be an Apple Card. PIING receives that fact only. PIING does not receive the card, the card number, or any access to the Apple Card account. PIING also does not receive a copy of an identity document or a biometric template. If your date of birth is not already confirmed and you are asked for a selfie, that photo is sent once to PIING to estimate whether you are 25 or over. The photo is not kept. The estimate is kept with your account.
Share sheet and links. Something you share into PIING, or a PIING link you open, is content you chose to send or open. It is handled as a message or a profile link. Profile QR codes are drawn on the device. We do not send your username to a QR-image website.
App Clip. A link opened before the full app is installed can show a public business card, a festival name, or an invite preview: who invited you, and an event’s name, place and dates. The App Clip does not sign you in.
SOS. SOS does not call 999 or any other emergency service. If you confirm it, PIING can open Messages so you can text the people you chose, include where you are and a map link, and send that location to PIING so those PIING contacts can be notified. The same alert can go over Bluetooth to nearby PIING phones. That Bluetooth alert is signed but not encrypted, so a nearby PIING phone can read the words and the location. An SOS from the Apple Watch can include the Watch’s location. The line is “Are you OK?”.
Notifications. A push token delivers alerts to the iPhone and, if it is paired, the Apple Watch, through Apple. On Android, Google’s push service delivers them. The push from our server does not contain the message text. On your iPhone, a small end-to-end encrypted one-to-one message can be decrypted so the notification shows it. That text is not sent back to PIING. A notification can say that another phone signed in, or that there is a product note.
Genuine install. Apple App Attest can confirm this copy of PIING is genuine. We receive that check. We do not receive your messages from it.

1C. Android and Google Play

PIING is not yet listed on Google Play. Today, on Android, PIING runs in the browser with the same account, and Sign in with Google is offered there, as described in section 1. When the Android app is published on Google Play, it works as follows.

Camera and microphone: photos, videos, voice messages, calls and Live, only when you use them.
Contacts: only if you choose to find people you know. Before Android shows its own prompt, PIING explains what happens and asks you first. Phone numbers are turned into one-way codes (hashes) on the phone and only those codes are sent to find matches; the server does not keep them. Names and photos stay on the phone.
Location: only while you are using the app, and only when you share it. The app does not ask for background location.
Notifications, and a fingerprint or face unlock: for messages, calls and locking the app. The unlock check is Android’s own; PIING does not receive your fingerprint or face template.
Photos and videos you pick: through Android’s Photo Picker. The app does not ask for access to all your files.
Not requested: Bluetooth (offline Nearby messaging is not on Android yet), SMS, call log, and the advertising identifier.
Lenses face tracking (section 1A) is not offered on Android or in a browser. No face data is read there.
Android Auto: new messages can be read aloud and answered by voice through Android Auto’s messaging notifications. There is no separate car screen.
Deleting your account: in the app, or on the web at www.piingapp.co.uk/delete-account, without the app installed (section 6).

2. How Your Data Is Protected

In transit: All communication with our servers is encrypted using standard transport security (HTTPS/TLS).
Passwords: Stored only as a strong one-way hash (PBKDF2). We never store your password in a readable form.
End-to-end encryption: one-to-one chats in the PIING app (text, photos, videos, voice messages and files) are end-to-end encrypted when both people use a current version of the app. Look for the lock. One-to-one chats also have post-quantum protection when both phones support it. Group chats do not. One-to-one calls are encrypted between the two phones. Call keys are not yet checked against your safety code, so a call is not described as end-to-end encrypted. Business chats are not end-to-end encrypted. Group chats (messages, photos, videos and files) and Stories are end-to-end encrypted too when everyone in them uses a current version of the app. Web chat, saved notes, channels, and anything sent from or to an older version are protected in transit only. A group call, when it is available, is encrypted on the way to the call relay and is not end-to-end encrypted.

3. AI Features

PIING's smart replies, voice-message transcripts, summaries and translation can use AI. Where they run decides who sees your data, so here is exactly what happens.

On your phone first (Apple): On iPhones that support Apple Intelligence (iOS 26 or later), PIING uses Apple's on-device model for smart replies and summaries, Apple's speech recognition — set to on-device only — for voice-message transcripts and clip captions, and Apple's language detection. These run entirely on your phone. Nothing from those on-device features is sent to us, to Apple or to anyone else, and they also work in end-to-end encrypted chats.
AI services run by other companies — only if you allow it: If your phone can't do something on-device, PIING can send it to AI services run by other companies. Before anything is ever sent, the app asks for your permission and shows which companies would receive it. If you say no, nothing is sent and PIING uses simple suggestions made on your phone. You can change your mind at any time in Settings → AI.
What is sent, and only when you use the feature:
- Smart replies: the last few messages of the chat you are replying in.
- Voice-message transcripts: the audio of that voice message, when you tap Transcribe.
- Summaries and translation: the text you ask PIING to summarise or translate.
- Auto Chat (only if you turn it on): the incoming message and a few of your recent messages, so a reply can be written.
- Problem reports: the description you write, with emails and phone numbers removed.
We do not attach your name, account ID or phone number to these requests (anything written inside the text itself is part of the text).
Who may receive it: Apple's on-device features are tried first, then your own AI key if you saved one. Only after that, and only with your permission, the text may go to one of these companies: Groq and Cloudflare (Workers AI). Anthropic and OpenAI are used only if we turn them on; they are off today, and we will update this page before we do. Each has a published data processing agreement and does not train its models on data sent through its API. Your text is never sent to a provider hosted in China, or to an anonymous or keyless AI gateway. The permission prompt in the app names the ones in use at that moment.
Never sent to an AI service: end-to-end encrypted messages (they stay on your phone and are only ever handled by Apple's on-device features), and messages other people report to us — reported messages are reviewed by a person, not by an AI service.

4. Service Providers

We use other companies only to run the service. They process data on our behalf, only for that purpose, and none of them may use it for their own advertising:

Servers: Fly.io runs the PIING servers, in London.
Database: our managed MongoDB host stores accounts, messages and the other records described on this page.
Rate limiting and cache: Upstash holds short-lived counters and cached data, including IP addresses for a short time, to limit abuse.
Cloudflare: stores photos, videos and voice messages (R2), relays call connections when two phones can't reach each other directly, carries PIING Live (Cloudflare Stream), and serves this website. One-to-one calls are encrypted between the two phones (DTLS-SRTP), so Cloudflare can't decrypt them.
App updates: Expo checks for and delivers app updates in PIING versions before 4.0.5.
Group calls: when a group call is available, the sound and picture go through Cloudflare’s call relay. They are encrypted on the way and are not end-to-end encrypted. PIING does not record the call. If you share your screen, that picture uses the same path as the camera on that call.
Live broadcasts: if you go live or watch a live, the video and sound go through Cloudflare Stream so they can reach viewers. Live video is not end-to-end encrypted and PIING does not keep a recording of the live. While you are live, your iPhone also sends a still of the camera to PIING about every 10 seconds so we can check it for nudity or a possible minor. The still is not kept. We keep the check result with that live. Apple can also check a still on your iPhone. If that check flags nudity, the live ends and PIING is told the result, not the picture. Live comments are stored by PIING so the host can moderate them, and reports go to PIING's moderators. If the host turns on live captions, the host's iPhone turns the host's own speech into text on the iPhone (Apple Speech, on-device). That text is speech-to-text of a public broadcast: PIING passes it to the people watching and does not store it. A viewer who translates captions does so on their own device. If the host turns on Big audience, people past the first 50 watch through Cloudflare Stream with a short delay, with recording switched off, and the Stream input is deleted when the live ends.
Apple and Google: push notifications, and Sign in with Apple or Google if you use it.
Notifications: Apple's push notification service, and Expo's push service, deliver notifications. The push from our server does not contain the message text. On your iPhone, a small end-to-end encrypted one-to-one message can be decrypted so the notification shows it. That text is not sent back to PIING.
Crash reports (optional, off until you turn it on): the same Settings → Share crash reports with PIING switch can send anonymous crash details (device model, app version and what went wrong, never your messages) to our crash-reporting provider, Sentry, so we can fix it. Nothing is sent while the switch is off.
Server error reports (always on): when something goes wrong on our servers, Sentry receives the error and where in the code it happened. Before it is sent, user IDs, emails, phone numbers, IP addresses, sign-in headers, cookies and request bodies are removed.
Apple crash and performance reports (optional, off by default): if you turn on Settings > Share crash reports with PIING, the crash, hang, launch-time and battery reports Apple keeps on your iPhone (MetricKit: device model, iOS version, app version and where in the app code a problem happened; never messages, contacts or location) are sent to PIING and deleted from your phone. We store them without your account and delete them after 90 days.
Sign-in codes and emails: Twilio sends SMS codes (to confirm a phone number) and Resend sends emails such as sign-in codes and password resets.
Payments: Stripe is not used today. Purchases in the app go through Apple (section 4A).
AI services: only if you allow them — see section 3.

4A. Purchases (PIING Pro)

If you buy PIING Pro, Apple takes the payment. We never see your card or bank details. Apple sends us a signed record of the subscription (product, transaction ID, dates, renewal and refund status, and an anonymous account token we create for your PIING account) so we can turn Pro on or off. We keep it for as long as you have an account, and for accounting records where the law requires.

5. What We Do Not Do

No ad trackers or ads: We do not track you across other apps or sites, and we show no ads.
No selling your data: We never sell or rent your personal data.
No raw address-book upload: Contact discovery is off until you turn it on. Numbers are turned into codes on your phone. We do not upload your raw address book.
No advertising location: Location stays off until you share it on the Friends Map, in a chat, or on an SOS. Background updates happen only if you turn on “Keep sharing when PIING is closed”, and only for the friends you already chose.
No behavioural profiling: We do not build advertising profiles.
No face data upload: TrueDepth face tracking for Lenses stays on your iPhone. We do not receive, store or share the face mesh, depth map or blend shapes.

5A. Children and Teens

PIING is for people aged 16 and over. A public or community live, and explicit music, are for people 18 and over. If an account is under 16, it is closed and its data is deleted. An account aged 16 or 17 starts with stricter defaults: messages and calls from people you know, phone number hidden, and location sharing off until you choose to share it.

6. Data Deletion

You can delete your account at any time from within the app (Settings → Delete Account), in a web browser, or by email, without the app installed. The steps are at www.piingapp.co.uk/delete-account. Your account is scheduled for deletion and permanently removed after 30 days; signing back in within that window cancels the deletion. Once permanent, your account information, messages and tokens are removed from our servers.

7. Why we use personal information

Under UK GDPR we rely on one of these reasons:

Contract. To create your account, deliver messages, run calls and provide the features you use.
Legal obligation. To apply the minimum age, keep records the law requires for purchases, and respond to valid legal requests.
Legitimate interests. To keep the service secure, limit abuse, rate-limit traffic, and investigate reports. We balance this against your rights.
Consent. For optional things you turn on: phone number, contact discovery, Friends Map location (including background updates), a live location in a chat, an SOS that includes where you are, an age-check selfie if you are asked for one, iCloud chat backup, off-device AI, Apple’s age-range sheet, screen sharing on a call, a call recording everyone has allowed, and sharing crash reports. You can withdraw consent in Settings. That does not affect use that was already lawful.

8. How long we keep it

Account: until you delete it. After 30 days we delete it, with your photos, videos and voice notes.
Messages on our servers: until delivered to everyone in the chat, then deleted about an hour later. Never delivered: deleted 30 days after sending. Pinned: kept while pinned, then the same rules. This covers every kind of message: one-to-one, group, notes to yourself, business and bot messages, and chat notices. A scheduled message is kept until it is sent, then follows the same rules. On your devices: until you delete them, or the chat’s timer removes them.
Photo, video, voice-note and file attachments of messages (encrypted or not): deleted within about three hours after their message is deleted from our servers, unless something else still uses them (for example your story). An encrypted upload that is never sent is deleted after about three hours.
A view-once photo or video: deleted from our storage once everyone has opened it. If nobody opens it, it goes after 14 days.
Friends Map location: each update expires after 4 hours. When you stop sharing, your live location is deleted at once.
A live location in a chat: for the time you pick (15 minutes, 1 hour, or 8 hours). When you stop sharing, it is deleted.
An SOS location: deleted when the SOS ends, and always within 24 hours. We keep a record that the alert happened, and who was told, for safety review. It is not kept as a location history. A text message an SOS sends to a phone contact is sent from your own phone’s Messages app, not by PIING.
Call history: 1 year.
Screenshot alerts (that someone took a screenshot in a chat): 90 days.
Trips (Friends Map journeys and drive summaries): 90 days at most, and cleared when you stop sharing.
Visit history (places you stayed, only if you turn it on): 30 days, kept on your iPhone only.
Push delivery log (whether a notification was delivered, never its text): 30 days.
Safety telemetry (SOS and check-in delivery records): 30 days.
App Attest checks (whether a request came from a real copy of the app): 30 days.
Live chat and Live usage records: 30 days.
A data export you ask for: 7 days, then the file is deleted.
Security logs (IP address and device type): 90 days.
Money and audit records: purchase, payout and coin records are kept as UK accounting law requires. When you delete your account, your name is removed from them. Audit records are kept for up to 2 years, and the ones about your account are deleted with it.
iCloud chat backup: in your iCloud until you delete it there. We do not hold a copy.
Server backups: our database provider keeps encrypted backups for disaster recovery on a rolling schedule. Data you delete can stay in those backups until they roll over, and is never restored except to recover from a failure. It is not used for anything else.
A voice-note transcript made after you allow AI services: kept with that message until the message or the account is deleted. A transcript made on the iPhone is not sent to us.
Optional Apple crash reports: 90 days, stored without your account.
Live safety check results (the score and decision for a live’s stills): 90 days, or longer only while a report about that live is still open.
Live comments: 30 days.
Reports you or others make, and our decision: kept while the report is open, then 1 year after it is closed.
Push notification tokens (the address your device gives us for notifications): deleted when the device has not used PIING for 270 days, or when you sign out.
One-time sign-in codes: 10 minutes.
A live safety still: not kept. The check result stays with that live for the period above. An age-check selfie, if you are asked for one, is not kept. The estimate (25 or over, or under 25) stays with your account.
Lenses face tracking (TrueDepth): kept only in memory while the Lenses screen is open, then discarded. It is not stored.

9. Your rights

If UK GDPR applies to you, you can ask us to:

confirm whether we hold personal information about you, and for a copy of it (access). In the app, Settings → Chats → Export My Data gives you a copy;
correct information that is wrong (rectification). You can edit your name, username, photo and other profile details in the app, or email support@piingapp.co.uk;
delete it (erasure), including by deleting your account in the app (Settings → Delete Account);
restrict how we use it, or object to use based on legitimate interests;
receive information you provided, in a portable form, where the law gives that right;
withdraw consent, where we rely on consent.

Email privacy@piingapp.co.uk. We may need to confirm it is you. We reply within one month. End-to-end encrypted content is not readable by us, so we cannot produce the text of those messages.

You can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ico.org.uk) if you are unhappy with how we handle your information. If you live outside the United Kingdom, you can also contact your local data protection authority. We do not name a person on this page. The controller is the company.

10. Where information is processed

The PIING API runs in London. Some providers we use (including Apple, Cloudflare and, if you opt in, a crash-reporting service) may process information outside the United Kingdom. Where UK GDPR requires it, those transfers use a UK adequacy regulation or the UK international data transfer agreement, plus the contract with that provider.

11. Fair use, security and the law that applies to the service

We limit how often one account can message, call, go live, upload and look people up, so one person cannot exhaust the service. We may suspend an account that attacks the service, bypasses those limits, or uses PIING to break the law. Uploads are size-capped. This is not a promise that every attack will fail. It is how the service is run.

PIING is a user-to-user service. You can report and block people in the app: press and hold a message and choose Report, or open a profile and choose Report user. You can also email support@piingapp.co.uk. A person reviews reports, and we aim to act on reports within 24 hours. A live to people you know is for 16 and over. A public or community live is for 18 and over. The site and the app do not use advertising or analytics cookies. UK GDPR, the Data Protection Act 2018 and PECR apply to this processing. The Online Safety Act 2023 applies to illegal and harmful user-to-user content. Consumer law applies to purchases. The courts of the United Kingdom have jurisdiction, as set out in the Terms.

11A. Report illegal content

If you see something on PIING you think is illegal, report it in the app (press and hold the message, or open the profile, and choose Report) or email support@piingapp.co.uk with what you saw, where, and when. You don't need a PIING account to email us. We aim to act on reports within 24 hours.

12. Copyright

13. Contact

Hectic Software Limited, company number 17514067. The registered office is at the top of this page.

Privacy: privacy@piingapp.co.uk. Support: support@piingapp.co.uk.