XIGUANG PRIVACY POLICY
Last updated: 2026-11-11
Xiguang ("we", "us", "our") is operated by Guangzhou Jingjian Linyan Technology Co., Ltd., registered at Room A1590, Unit 1102, No. 585 Airport Road, Tangjing Street, Baiyun District, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China. We build Xiguang as a place where you can be yourself. This policy explains, in plain language, what personal data we collect, why we collect it, who we share it with, how long we keep it, and the choices and rights you have.
If anything here is unclear, write to us at xg@xiguang.chat. We answer in the language you write to us in, where we can.
1. WHO THIS APPLIES TO AND THE AGE LIMIT
Xiguang is not for children. Our baseline minimum registration age is 13. Where the law of your country or state sets a higher minimum age, a different age for consenting to the processing of personal data, or a specific minimum age for social media accounts, that rule applies to you as well. If we learn that we hold data about someone below the age that applies to them, we delete it. Users under 18 are covered by the additional rules in our Minor Privacy Notice, including Teen Mode, which you can turn on in Settings. We currently offer Xiguang in a limited set of markets; we do not offer it in the People's Republic of China, the European Economic Area, or the United Kingdom.
We provide this policy primarily in English; translations are offered for convenience. If a translation differs from the English version, the language version required by the law that applies to you prevails; where no such requirement applies, the English version is the reference version.
2. WHAT WE COLLECT
2.1 Account and profile data - Email address (used to register, to sign in with a one-time passcode or a password, and to recover your account). It is stored by our authentication provider. Phone numbers are not used for registration or sign-in. - Business contact details (optional): if you create a business listing you may enter a contact phone number and a WeChat ID. We store only a salted, non-reversible hash of each value, not the original. In the current version these details are not displayed to other users and cannot be read back; the app only records whether a contact value has been set. - Password, stored only as a salted hash by our authentication provider. - Third-party login identifiers, if you sign in with a third-party account enabled in your version of the app (currently Google on supported platforms). We receive an identifier and basic profile data from that provider; we never receive your password for that provider. - Nickname, avatar, bio, free-text location, cover image, username (@handle), your automatically assigned Xiguang ID, and counters derived from your activity (likes received, accounts you follow, followers). - Your profile is public: nickname, username, avatar, bio, free-text location, cover image, Xiguang ID and the counters above are shown to other users who open your profile, including visitors who are not signed in. You can edit your bio, free-text location and cover image in the app.
2.2 Content you create - Posts, articles, images, video, and audio you publish. - Time Capsules, including the content, the scheduled open time, and attached media. - Comments, likes, and other reactions. - Private messages, including text, images, voice messages, and files. - Voice and video call signalling data when you use calls (the media itself is peer-to-peer or relayed, not stored by us, unless you choose to record). - Reports you submit about other users or content.
2.3 AI conversations and AI memory - The text you send to AI features, the replies you receive, and the AI persona settings you choose. - AI features may keep short-term conversation context so a conversation feels continuous, and may store a short profile of preferences you have expressed (for example, the name you gave your companion and the tone you prefer). - You can clear AI memory at any time in Settings, and clearing it removes it from your device and from our servers. To request deletion of data held by an AI provider, write to xg@xiguang.chat; whether and how a provider deletes data depends on that provider's own terms and our account configuration, and we do not represent that every provider retains no data or never uses data for model training.
2.4 Location - With your permission, Xiguang uses precise location (GPS-level latitude and longitude) for Star Encounter. The coordinates are sent to our servers as parameters of the nearby-user query so we can return people near you. We do not build a history of your movements. - You can use the app without granting location permission. Star Encounter will not work, and no location is sent, until you grant it. You can stop using Star Encounter or revoke the permission at any time; the app will then stop making nearby-user queries. - Location markers you publish expire automatically; if the app stops sending its periodic heartbeat, the marker is removed within minutes. - The free-text location shown on your profile is a field you type yourself. It is not derived from, and is not linked to, the precise location used by Star Encounter; we do not generate it from your GPS position.
2.5 Device, diagnostic, and security data - Push notification token, device model, operating system version, and app version, so we can deliver notifications and support your device. - IP address, timestamps, and request metadata, recorded in server logs for security and abuse prevention. - Crash reports and performance traces, collected through Sentry. These are filtered to remove personal data before they leave your device. - Security events such as failed logins, rate-limit triggers, and certificate-pinning warnings.
2.6 Behavioural data used for recommendations - Which posts you view, for how long, and whether you like, comment, share, bookmark, or hide them; your searches; and the topics and communities you follow. - We use this to rank your feed, to recommend people and communities, and to keep content you have marked as "not interested" out of your feed.
2.7 Purchase data - Purchase data. VIP entitlements are sold as non-consumable in-app purchases through the Apple App Store or Google Play for a fixed period; they do not renew automatically and are not subscriptions. The store processes the payment; our servers verify the receipt and we receive the transaction identifier and your entitlement status, but never your card number or full payment details. You can restore previous purchases in the VIP centre.
2.8 Permissions we ask for, and why - Camera: to take photos and video, scan QR codes, and use video calls. - Microphone: to record voice messages and audio, and for calls. - Photos / media: to pick images and video to publish, and to save images. - Location: for Star Encounter, as described in 2.4. - Notifications: to tell you about replies, messages, and scheduled capsules. - Local network: only for peer-to-peer transfer and call connectivity on your own network. - Speech recognition: to turn your voice into text when you dictate something, such as a question for the AI. Where your device supports on-device recognition it stays on the device; otherwise your platform's speech service (Apple or Google) processes it. You can revoke any of these in your device settings. The feature that needs the permission stops working; the rest of the app keeps working.
2.9 What we do NOT collect - We do not collect your contacts list or your precise location in the background. The current version does not use advertising identifiers (such as IDFA or GAID) and does not use them to track you across apps; if we introduce advertising in the future, we will update this policy and obtain your consent as required by applicable law before enabling it. - We do not sell personal data.
Business listing information
When you create or manage a business profile, we process the information you enter: business name, description, category, service area, city, address, opening hours, images, video, and optional contact details. We use it to display and manage listings, to help other users find local businesses, to handle reports of impersonation or misuse, and to keep the platform secure.
In the current version, telephone numbers and WeChat IDs are stored only as salted, non-reversible hashes and are not shown to other users. We do not verify or certify any listed business, its identity, its licences, its products, or its operating status, and no verification badge is displayed. If a future version displays raw contact details publicly, we will update this policy before enabling it and will explain how those details can be copied, saved, or shared by others.
You can edit or delete a listing from the listing management screen. Xiguang does not provide online transactions, payments, escrow, delivery, or order fulfilment for business listings. Cloud AI processing and third-party models
Most AI features run on third-party cloud models. The message you send, the conversation context needed to answer it, any image or file you attach, and preferences you have expressed are sent to the processors listed in section 5 of this policy, including OpenAI, Google (Gemini), Cloudflare Workers AI, and DeepL. Only small TensorFlow Lite models for text embedding and emotion detection run on your device; that data does not leave the device.
We cannot promise that those providers do not retain what they receive or do not use it to train models; their processing is also governed by their own policies. You can choose not to use AI features. Deleting your account removes the data we hold as described in the Delete Your Account document, but we cannot control copies that a third party already holds independently.
3. ON-DEVICE PROCESSING
Some processing happens only on your phone and never reaches our servers: - Text recognition (OCR) on images you scan, which runs on-device through Google ML Kit. Google does not receive the image or the recognised text. - Media processing such as compression, trimming, and merging, which runs on-device. - Simple keyword and character-frequency heuristics used for local text analysis. These produce a score only; no text is uploaded. We also run small machine-learning models on your device (TFLite) to produce text embeddings and an emotion score for local ranking and analysis. These models run entirely on the phone: the text, the embedding and the score are not uploaded for this purpose. Generative AI responses, translation, web search, content labelling, and automated moderation, by contrast, are produced by the cloud providers listed in section 5. We do not describe the whole AI feature set as on-device processing.
4. WHY WE USE YOUR DATA, AND OUR LEGAL BASIS
Where the GDPR or UK GDPR applies, we rely on: - Performance of a contract: creating and running your account, delivering messages, storing your capsules, providing purchases. - Legitimate interests: security, abuse and fraud prevention, debugging, ranking content, and defending legal claims. We balance these against your rights and use the least intrusive method available. - Consent: precise location, notifications, camera, microphone, and photos; optional personalisation; and any marketing messages. You can withdraw consent at any time. - Legal obligation: retaining records where law requires, and responding to lawful requests from authorities.
5. WHO WE SHARE DATA WITH
We use a small number of service providers. They act on our instructions, under contract, and may not use your data for their own purposes.
Provider - Purpose - Location of processing - Supabase (database, authentication, realtime messaging, serverless functions) - core infrastructure - United States (us-east-2) - Cloudflare R2 (media and file storage, bucket "media"), Cloudflare (content delivery and security), and Cloudflare Workers AI (AI inference and automated moderation) - storing and delivering your media and running some AI processing - United States (Western North America) - OpenAI - AI conversation and automated content moderation - United States - Google (Gemini) - AI conversation and automated content moderation - United States - Google Firebase Cloud Messaging and Apple Push Notification service - delivering push notifications - United States - LiveKit Cloud - audio and video call transport - United States - DeepL - translating messages and content - European Union - Tencent Cloud and Volcengine - translating messages and content - China - Tavily - web search results when you ask the AI a question that needs current information - United States - Sentry - crash and performance monitoring - United States - OpenFreeMap (map tiles) - drawing the map in Star Encounter - European Union - Apple and Google speech recognition - turning your voice into text for voice input - on your device where available, otherwise the United States - Google - third-party sign-in, currently the only enabled third-party login provider - United States - Apple and Facebook sign-in are not enabled in the current version and receive no user data from us; they are listed here only so this section can be updated if they are enabled in a future release. - Apple App Store and Google Play - non-consumable in-app purchases for VIP entitlements - United States
We also disclose data when we are legally required to, when it is necessary to protect someone's life or safety, and to enforce our Terms and Community Guidelines. If our business is sold or merged, data may transfer to the successor, and we will tell you before that happens.
AI providers act under their own terms. Whether a provider retains prompts and outputs, and whether it may use them for model training, depends on that provider's terms, our account type, and our contractual settings. We do not promise that no provider retains data or uses it for training. You can ask us at xg@xiguang.chat for the current list of providers and the settings that apply to your data. If you want to avoid cloud AI processing, do not use the AI features; clearing AI memory removes the copy stored in your account.
6. AUTOMATED MODERATION AND DECISION-MAKING
We use automated systems to detect content that breaches our Community Guidelines and to rank your feed. Moderation may result in content being hidden or removed. Ranking affects what you see, not your legal rights. You can ask us to review a moderation decision by writing to xg@xiguang.chat, and a human will look at it.
7. COOKIES AND SDKS
Xiguang is currently a mobile app and we do not operate a public web version, so we do not use browser cookies for advertising or analytics. The third-party SDKs listed in section 5 may set their own identifiers on your device for the purposes listed there.
8. HOW LONG WE KEEP DATA
Account and profile data - for as long as your account exists. When you delete your account we hide it immediately, then hold it for a 30-day grace period during which you can cancel by signing in again. When that period ends we remove it from active systems, except for the limited records described below. Published posts, comments, and media - until you delete them. After deletion we remove them from active systems; encrypted backups are overwritten on a rolling basis. Time Capsules - until their scheduled opening time and then until you delete them. Private messages - until you or the recipient deletes them. Deleted or recalled messages are then removed from our servers. AI conversations and AI profile - until you clear them or delete your account. Cached AI responses are purged regularly. Behavioural data used for recommendations - kept while your account exists so we can rank your feed, and removed when you delete your account, except for "not interested" signals. Notifications - deleted after they have been read. Crash and performance data - kept in line with the retention settings of our monitoring provider. Server logs - kept for a limited period for security and abuse prevention. Reports and moderation cases - kept for as long as needed to enforce our rules and handle repeat offences, subject to applicable law. Purchase and transaction records for VIP entitlements - kept for as long as tax and accounting law requires.
Where we must keep data after you delete your account, we keep it only for that purpose, restrict access to it, and delete it when the period ends. Where no fixed period is stated above, data is kept only as long as needed for the purpose described in this policy, or as long as the law requires, and is deleted when that purpose ends.
9. INTERNATIONAL TRANSFERS
We are based in China and our infrastructure is global, so your data may be processed outside your country, including in the United States. Where the GDPR or UK GDPR applies, transfers outside the EEA or UK are made on the basis of the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses, the UK International Data Transfer Addendum, or another lawful mechanism, together with additional safeguards such as encryption in transit and access controls.
Please note that our translation feature may route text through providers in China as well as the European Union. If you are in the EEA or UK and do not want your text routed to China, contact us at xg@xiguang.chat and we will restrict translation for your account to the European Union provider.
You can ask us for a copy of the relevant transfer safeguards by writing to xg@xiguang.chat.
10. HOW WE PROTECT DATA
- All network traffic is encrypted in transit (TLS), and the app pins the certificates of our own domains so that impersonation is detectable. - Data stored on your device is encrypted, including local message storage and local caches. - Media is stored in private storage buckets and is only accessible through short-lived signed links that expire within minutes. - Access to production systems is restricted, logged, and reviewed. - Crash reports are filtered for personal data before they are sent. No system is perfectly secure. If we become aware of a breach that affects you and that creates a risk to your rights, we will notify you and the relevant authority as required by law.
11. YOUR RIGHTS
Depending on where you live, you may have the right to: - Access your data and get a copy of it. - Correct data that is wrong or incomplete. - Delete your data and your account. - Export your data in a portable format (available in Settings - Privacy - Privacy Centre). - Restrict or object to certain processing, including profiling used for recommendations. - Withdraw consent, for example for location or notifications, without affecting the lawfulness of processing before withdrawal. - Not be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing that has legal or similarly significant effects. We do not make such decisions. - Complain to your local data protection authority.
To exercise any of these rights, use the in-app privacy centre or write to xg@xiguang.chat. We aim to respond without undue delay and within any deadline set by applicable law, and we may ask you to verify your identity first.
12. DELETING YOUR ACCOUNT
You can delete your account in the app at Settings - Delete Account (at the bottom of the Settings screen). Your profile and published content stop being visible immediately, and a 30-day grace period begins; signing in again during that period cancels the deletion and restores your content. After the grace period, your profile, content, messages, and AI data are permanently removed from our active systems and your media files are deleted from storage. A limited set of records is kept for the periods in section 8.
We also provide a web deletion route, so you can delete your account even without the app installed: https://legal.xiguang.chat/delete-account/
13. CHANGES TO THIS POLICY
We version this policy. When we change it we publish the new version in the app, with a new version number and effective date; you can read the current version at any time in Settings, and previous versions are available on request. Continuing to use Xiguang after a new version takes effect means you accept it. If you do not agree, stop using Xiguang and you may delete your account. Where a change requires your express consent under applicable law - for example new charges, arbitration terms, or sharing personal information with third parties - we will ask for that consent separately instead of relying on continued use.
14. CONTACT
Guangzhou Jingjian Linyan Technology Co., Ltd. Registered address: Room A1590, Unit 1102, No. 585 Airport Road, Tangjing Street, Baiyun District, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China Email: xg@xiguang.chat
Data protection enquiries: xg@xiguang.chat We do not currently offer Xiguang to users in the European Economic Area or the United Kingdom. If that changes, we will appoint a representative under Article 27 GDPR (and Article 27 UK GDPR) before offering the service there, and will publish their name and contact details in this policy.