This Privacy Policy explains what personal data Zado ("we", "us", "our") collects, how we use it, and the choices you have. It applies to the Zado app and related services (the "Service").
1. Data We Collect
| Category | Examples |
|---|---|
| Account | Mobile phone number, display name, username, optional "about", optional profile photo. |
| Messages & media | Text, photos, videos, documents, voice messages and related metadata (sender, timestamps, delivery/read status), stored temporarily to deliver them (see Retention). |
| Calls & captions | If you start a video call, call media is routed in real time; if you enable live captions, call audio is processed to produce translated subtitles. |
| Location | Only when you choose to send a location or start live location sharing: the coordinates you send, and a lookup against Google Geocoding to turn them into a place name. Zado never tracks your location in the background. |
| Status updates | If you post a Status: its content, your audience settings, and who viewed it. |
| Chat backups | Optional. If you start a backup, a copy of your chat history is stored on our servers so you can restore it on a new device (see Retention). |
| Subscription | If you buy a subscription: the store receipt, your subscription status and expiry date. Payment is handled entirely by Apple or Google — we never see your card details. |
| Device & usage | Device/app information, push notification token, presence (online/last-seen), and diagnostics/crash data. We do not run an analytics product — no behavioural analytics SDK is included in the app. |
We do not sell your personal data. We do not run ads.
2. How & Why We Use Data
- Provide the Service — register your account, deliver messages and calls, show presence and receipts. (Legal basis: performance of a contract.)
- Optional AI features — translate messages, transcribe/translate voice messages, generate live call captions, run Interpreter Mode, and answer you in the Zado Assistant, when you use them. (Legal basis: your consent / your request to use the feature.)
- Security & abuse prevention — phone verification, rate limiting, moderation of reported content. (Legal basis: legitimate interests / legal obligation.)
- Reliability — diagnostics and crash reporting to keep the app working. (Legal basis: legitimate interests.)
3. AI & Caption Processing
Several features send content to our processors so they can produce a result. This happens only while you are using the feature:
- Message translation — the message text is translated.
- Voice messages — the audio is transcribed and, if you want, translated.
- Live call captions and voice translation — call audio is turned into text, translated, and (for voice translation) spoken back.
- Interpreter Mode — when you open the interpreter tab and speak, your microphone audio is transcribed, translated and read aloud in the other language, so two people can talk face to face. Audio is processed live and is not stored.
- Zado Assistant — what you type or say to the assistant, and its replies, are processed by OpenAI. Assistant conversations are kept on our servers for 7 days so you can continue a thread, then deleted automatically. Nothing you send to the assistant is used to train anyone's models.
The processors involved are:
- OpenAI — message translation, voice/caption text processing, Interpreter Mode translation, and the Zado Assistant.
- Google Cloud Speech-to-Text — converting call and interpreter audio to text.
- Google Cloud Text-to-Speech — speaking translations aloud in Interpreter Mode.
- Cartesia — speech synthesis for live call translation and, if you choose, creating and storing your personal translation voice (voice clone).
- ElevenLabs — a second speech-synthesis provider. For ordinary translated speech it is used only as a fallback when Cartesia is unavailable. However, if you create a personal translation voice, your voice recording is sent to both Cartesia and ElevenLabs, and a voice is created at each of them, so the feature keeps working if one provider is down. Deleting your translation voice deletes it at both.
These features are optional and run only when you enable/use them. Your translation voice is entirely optional: it can only be recorded inside the app by reading the prompts aloud, is used solely to speak your translations, and can be permanently deleted at any time together with all language variants derived from it. This processing is based on your explicit consent, which you can withdraw at any time by deleting your translation voice. Call audio is processed only while translation or captions are on and is not retained after the translation is produced.
4. Who We Share Data With (Sub-processors)
We share data only with service providers that process it on our behalf to operate the Service:
| Provider | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Google / Firebase | Authentication, database, file storage, push messaging, crash reporting and performance diagnostics, Cloud Speech-to-Text (captions and Interpreter Mode), Cloud Text-to-Speech (speaking translations in Interpreter Mode), and Geocoding (turning a shared location into a place name). |
| OpenAI | Message translation, voice/caption processing, Interpreter Mode translation, and the Zado Assistant. We send every request with storage switched off, so OpenAI keeps no copy of the results. Your content is never used to train their models. OpenAI may keep short-lived abuse-monitoring logs for up to 30 days, accessible only to a limited number of authorised staff investigating misuse. |
| Twilio | Sending SMS one-time verification codes. |
| Agora | Real-time video/voice call delivery. |
| Cartesia | Speech synthesis for call translation; creation and storage of optional personal translation voices. |
| ElevenLabs | Second speech-synthesis provider (fallback for translated speech); also receives your voice recording and stores a personal translation voice when you create one. |
Maps in the web version. When you open Zado in a browser and a location message is shown, your browser loads map tiles directly from OpenStreetMap's servers. Those servers therefore see your IP address and the coordinates being displayed. We do not send them anything ourselves, and this does not happen in the iOS or Android apps, which draw maps using the operating system's own map component.
We may also disclose data where required by law, to enforce our Terms, or to protect the rights, safety and security of users and the public.
5. Data Retention
| Data | Retention |
|---|---|
| Text messages | Deleted from our servers about 2 minutes after they are delivered. |
| Media (photos, videos, documents, voice) | Up to 7 days after upload, then automatically deleted. |
| Chat backups (only if you turn them on) | A backup is a stored copy of your chat history, so it is not covered by the 2-minute and 7-day rules above. We keep your 3 most recent backups and delete older ones automatically. Backups belonging to a device that has been inactive for 14 days are removed. You can delete a backup yourself at any time in the app, and all backups are deleted when you delete your account. |
| Location messages | Stored as part of the message and deleted on the same schedule. Live location sharing stops at the time you set, or when you end it. |
| Status updates | Deleted automatically when they expire. |
| Account & profile | Kept while your account is active. When you delete your account, everything tied to it is erased — your profile, messages, media, chat backups, status posts, scheduled messages, subscription records, push tokens, and your personal translation voice at both Cartesia and ElevenLabs. Two things survive, deliberately and briefly: a deletion marker (your user ID and a one-way hash of your phone number — never the number itself), kept 7 days so a deleted identity cannot be silently restored; and abuse reports, which we keep to enforce our Terms and defend against misuse. |
| Assistant conversations | Deleted automatically 7 days after they are created. |
| Diagnostics & crash reports | Retained for a limited period per our providers' settings. |
6. Our Security & Privacy Model
We protect your data with:
- Encryption in transit (TLS/HTTPS/WSS) and at rest on our infrastructure;
- Ephemeral storage — text is deleted shortly after delivery, media within 7 days (chat backups are the deliberate exception, because their purpose is to let you restore your history);
- No ads and no sale of your personal data;
- Phone verification, access controls and rate limiting.
Zado does not use end-to-end encryption — and this includes chat backups, which are stored encrypted at rest on our infrastructure but are not end-to-end encrypted. To provide features you use (e.g., translation, captions), message content may be accessed by our systems and the service providers listed above. Please don't share information that requires end-to-end encryption.
7. Your Rights
Depending on where you live, you may have the right to:
- Access, correct, or delete your personal data;
- Object to or restrict certain processing, and withdraw consent for optional features;
- Receive a copy of your data (portability) — there is no self-service export in the app yet, so email privacy@zadomessenger.com from your registered number and we will send you a machine-readable copy within 30 days;
- Not be subject to unlawful sale of your data — Zado does not sell personal data.
- Not be subject to automated decision-making — we do not profile you and we make no automated decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects. Translation, captions and the assistant generate text or speech for you; they do not decide anything about you.
You can edit your profile and delete your account in the app — see how to delete your account and data for step-by-step instructions and exactly what is removed. To exercise other rights, contact privacy@zadomessenger.com. EU/EEA users may lodge a complaint with their local Data Protection Authority; Türkiye users may apply to the KVKK Authority (KVKK Kurumu).
8. Children
Zado is not intended for anyone under 16. We do not knowingly collect data from children under 16. If you believe a child has provided us data, contact us and we will delete it.
9. International Transfers
Zado is offered globally and our providers operate worldwide, so your data may be processed in countries other than yours (including the EU and the United States). Where required, transfers rely on appropriate safeguards — such as EU Standard Contractual Clauses or an adequacy mechanism — under our data processing agreements with these providers. We are progressively putting such an agreement in place with every provider listed above.
10. Changes to This Policy
We may update this Policy from time to time. We will update the "Last updated" date and, for material changes, provide reasonable notice (e.g., in-app).
11. Contact
Privacy questions or requests: privacy@zadomessenger.com
See also our Terms of Service.