Privacy Policy
Last updated: January 1, 2025
At Calln, your privacy is our priority. This policy explains exactly what data we handle, why we handle it, and how we protect you. Spoiler: we collect very little, store even less, and we never sell anything to anyone.
📦 Information We Collect
We keep data collection minimal by design. Here's what we may handle when you use Calln:
- IP Address — Used temporarily to match you with users in your preferred region and for abuse prevention. Not stored beyond the session.
- Country/Region — Derived from your IP or from the country filter you choose. Used only for matching you with the right partner.
- Browser & Connection Info — Basic technical data (browser type, WebRTC capabilities) needed to establish your call. Never tied to your identity.
- Chat Messages — Relayed in real-time between call partners only. Never stored on our servers at any point.
- Microphone Audio — Streamed peer-to-peer via WebRTC. Our servers never receive, record, or process your audio.
🚫 What We Never Collect
- Your name, email address, phone number, or any account information
- Recordings or transcripts of your voice calls or chat messages
- Your precise location (only country-level, and only if you choose it)
- Any data used for advertising, marketing, or behavioural profiling
- Payment information of any kind — Calln is and always will be free
- Device identifiers, fingerprints, or persistent tracking tokens
⚙️ How We Use Information
The limited data we handle is used exclusively to:
- Match you with a partner — Your country preference and IP help us connect you with a compatible user quickly and fairly.
- Enable real-time communication — Our signalling server relays WebRTC connection data (offers, answers, ICE candidates) to establish the peer connection.
- Prevent abuse — Reported users' IP addresses are temporarily blocked to protect the community from bad actors.
- Maintain service quality — Anonymous, aggregate traffic statistics help us understand load patterns. No personal data is involved.
🗑️ Data Retention
We hold data for the minimum time necessary, then delete it:
- In-session data (IP, match state, chat messages) — Deleted immediately when your session or call ends. No exceptions.
- Ban records — Reported or banned IP addresses may be held for up to 30 days for abuse prevention, then automatically purged.
- Server logs — Standard web server logs retained for up to 7 days for debugging purposes, then deleted.
🔗 WebRTC & Peer-to-Peer Audio
Calln uses WebRTC to transmit voice audio. Once a call is established, your audio travels directly between your browser and your partner's browser — our servers are completely bypassed. We have no technical capability to listen to, intercept, or record your conversations.
To establish the WebRTC connection, your browser may share your IP address with your call partner as part of the ICE negotiation process. This is standard WebRTC behaviour. If you are concerned about IP exposure, we recommend using a VPN.
🍪 Cookies & Local Storage
Calln does not use advertising, tracking, or analytics cookies. We use only essential technical mechanisms (such as WebSocket session tokens via Socket.IO) required to keep your real-time connection alive. These expire when you close your browser and cannot be used to identify you across sessions.
🔌 Third-Party Services
- Render.com — Hosts our signalling server. Subject to Render's Privacy Policy.
- Google STUN Servers — Used by WebRTC to discover network paths. Google may log connection attempts per Google's Privacy Policy.
- Google Fonts — Loads the Outfit typeface from Google's CDN. Google may log font requests independently.
- flagcdn.com — Serves country flag images for the filter UI. No personal data is transmitted in these requests.
👦 Children's Privacy
Calln is not intended for users under the age of 18. We do not knowingly collect any information from minors. If you believe a minor is using our service inappropriately, please contact us immediately at [email protected] and we will take prompt action.
⚖️ Your Rights
Because we don't store personal data tied to your identity, there is very little for us to provide or delete. However, you retain the following rights under applicable privacy law:
- The right to know what data we hold (as described in this policy)
- The right to request deletion of any temporarily stored IP records
- The right to lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority (e.g., ICO in the UK, FTC in the US)
To exercise any of these rights, email [email protected]. We aim to respond within 30 days.
📊 Analytics & Tracking
With your consent, Calln uses Google Firebase Analytics to understand how people use the site. This helps us improve the product. Analytics is only activated if you click "Accept" on the cookie consent banner — it never loads if you click "Decline".
- What is collected — Anonymous usage events such as page views, call starts, call matches, and game interactions. No personally identifiable information is collected.
- What is NOT collected — Your name, voice, chat content, or any content from your calls.
- Storage — Firebase Analytics stores aggregated, anonymised data on Google's servers. See Google's Privacy Policy.
- Opt-out — Click "Decline" on the cookie banner, or install the Google Analytics Opt-out Add-on. Your choice is remembered in your browser.
📢 Advertising
Calln is supported by advertising. We use Google AdSense to display advertisements. Ads may appear as a banner in the footer and as full-screen interstitials between calls.
- How ads work — Google AdSense may use cookies and your browsing behaviour to show you relevant ads. This is handled entirely by Google.
- Data shared with Google — Your IP address and browser information may be used by Google for ad targeting. We do not share any call content with advertisers.
- Opt-out of personalised ads — Visit Google Ad Settings or AboutAds.info to manage your ad preferences.
- No ad revenue from call content — We never use anything said or shared during calls for advertising purposes.
📝 Changes to This Policy
If we make material changes to this privacy policy, we will update the "Last updated" date at the top of this page. Continued use of Calln after any changes constitutes acceptance of the updated policy. We will always keep this page freely accessible from our website footer.
📧 Contact Us
Have a privacy question or concern? We're happy to help.