Privacy policy

Who we are and what this covers

Alveo is an independently operated communication service at alveo.chat for text chat, voice, video, and sharing screens, games, and application audio. Alveo is operated by Xander Apicella. In this policy, “we” means Xander Apicella as the operator of Alveo. It covers the current website and explains how we will approach planned features. A roadmap item is not a statement that we already collect that information.

Privacy contact: Xander Apicella, xapicella7@gmail.com. Contact us privately about this policy or to request access, correction, export, or deletion of your information.

Accounts and sign-in

We process your account identifier, display name, profile image if provided, and account creation time. You can also choose a display name, per-server and per-channel nicknames, and upload a profile picture; we store these until you change or remove them or delete your account, and show them to members of servers you share. Server owners and admins can change or clear members' nicknames in their server. Our authentication service, Neon Auth, also processes information needed for sign-in, including your email address, authentication records, and session information. If you use email and password, your credentials are handled through Neon Auth; do not send us your password in a support request.

Google sign-in is optional. When you choose it, Google shares basic identity information through the email, profile, and openid permissions, such as your name, email, profile image, and a unique identifier. We use this to authenticate you and display your profile. We do not request access to Gmail, Drive, contacts, or your Google password. Where enabled, a connected D&D account can provide an identifier, name, and optional profile image for single sign-on.

Messages and community information

We store the messages you send, their author, channel and timestamps; images and files you attach to messages, with their names, types and sizes; server and channel names; server ownership; memberships and join times; and invitation codes. This information supports shared conversations, history, and access to your communities. Attached files are available to members who can read the channel, including people who join later, and are removed when their message is deleted. Files uploaded but never sent are removed after about a day.

While Alveo is open on one of your devices, we keep a short-lived record of each open window or app and whether it is on a phone, so members of your servers and people you have direct conversations with can see that you are online, or online only on your phone. A record is removed when that window or app closes, and is ignored after about 75 seconds without an update. If you use the Alveo desktop app and keep sharing what you play turned on, the app compares the names of running programs with a built-in list of games about every 30 seconds. Only the name of a recognized game is sent to us, and it is shown to the same people along with how long you have been playing. Names of other programs never leave your computer. We keep the current game until you stop playing, or for about three minutes after the app stops reporting it. In your privacy settings you can appear offline to everyone or stop sharing games. This does not record your camera or microphone, and call participants are displayed separately.

Your display identity and contributions are visible to other members with access. The current service uses server membership to control channel access; do not assume individual channels are private from other members. People with a valid invite can join and may see existing message history. Share invitations carefully. Information you send to us for support or a privacy request is also processed to respond.

Voice, video, screens, and application audio

When you join voice, Alveo requests microphone access and can publish microphone audio using your device permissions. Camera and screen or audio sharing use the sources you enable. Your browser or operating system controls available capture options and permissions. You can mute, turn off your camera, stop each share, leave the room, or revoke permissions.

Live audio and video are transmitted through our media infrastructure to participants in the room. Sharing a screen, window, tab, or system audio can expose notifications, private conversations, other people’s voices, and anything else included in the selected source. Check what is visible and audible before sharing. Alveo does not otherwise read arbitrary files on your machine.

A server's owner or admins can allow clipping. Members of such a server are asked whether to accept it, and we store each member's answer for that server until they change it in their settings or leave the server. Only members who accept can clip others' streams or have their own streams clipped. While such a member shares their screen, their own device keeps the last minute of that share in memory; a clip is cut there and sent through our media infrastructure directly to the member who asked for it, who saves it to their device. Alveo stores a clip only when a member posts it in a channel, where it is kept like any other attachment until the message is deleted.

We do not currently operate server-side recording, replay archives, transcription, or AI analysis of calls or streams. Live media is processed and temporarily buffered to deliver the session rather than intentionally saved as a recording. Room, participant, track, connection, and error metadata may appear in operational state or logs. Other participants can independently record, copy, or redistribute what they receive; we cannot prevent that.

Technical information and cookies

Our hosting, authentication, database, and media systems process technical information needed to deliver and protect the service. This can include IP addresses, request times and routes, browser or device information, session and room identifiers, connection failures, and media connection statistics. We use it for authentication, troubleshooting, reliability, and security.

We use essential cookies and related session mechanisms to keep you signed in and complete authentication. The Alveo single-sign-on session cookie can last up to 30 days; Neon and Google manage their own authentication cookie lifetimes. Blocking or clearing these cookies may sign you out or prevent login. Browser or SDK storage may also remember device and interface preferences.

We do not currently use advertising cookies, advertising pixels, or third-party marketing analytics. We do not sell personal information or share it for cross-context behavioral advertising. We do not use your conversations or streams to train AI models. We do not change our practices in response to a browser Do Not Track signal.

Notifications

Notifications are off until you turn them on for a device. When you do, your browser gives us a push address for that device and keys to encrypt what we send to it; we store these with your account, along with the notification choices you make for your account and for each server. Turning notifications off on a device, blocking them in your browser, or deleting your account removes that device's push address; addresses the browser reports as expired are removed automatically.

Each notification is delivered through the push service run by your browser or device maker, such as Apple, Google, Microsoft or Mozilla. It carries the sender's name, the server and channel, and the start of the message, encrypted so that the push service cannot read it; the push service does see the device address, timing and size. The Alveo desktop app instead receives notifications directly from Alveo while it is running. You choose separately which kinds of notifications reach phones and computers. Your device may show notification text on the lock screen according to its own settings.

Why we use information

We use information to create and authenticate accounts, provide chat and live media, maintain memberships and invitations, deliver message history, respond to requests, diagnose failures, protect the service from misuse, and meet applicable legal obligations. We do not use your Google identity data for unrelated advertising.

Where applicable data-protection law requires a legal basis, we rely on providing the service you request, legitimate interests in operating and securing it where those interests are not overridden by your rights, compliance with legal obligations, and consent where required. You can withdraw consent for optional processing without affecting earlier lawful processing. Device permission is a capture control and does not replace any legally required notice or consent.

Who receives information

Other users receive the messages and media you share in spaces they can access. Authorized Alveo operators may access stored information and operational records when needed to operate the service, troubleshoot, handle requests, or investigate misuse.

Our current infrastructure uses OVHcloud for the application, self-hosted LiveKit media and relay services, and server backups; Neon for the database and authentication; Google for optional Google sign-in; and Porkbun for domain registration and DNS. These providers process information relevant to their roles, such as hosted data, authentication information, network traffic, or DNS queries. Using LiveKit software on our VPS does not mean your streams are currently hosted by LiveKit Cloud.

Providers may use their own subprocessors and process certain service or security information under their own policies. Google’s handling of your Google account is governed by its privacy policy. We may disclose relevant information if reasonably necessary to comply with applicable law or valid legal process, protect people or the service, or address fraud and security incidents. If operation of Alveo is transferred, information may transfer with it subject to applicable law and notice of material changes.

Storage, retention, and security

Desktop browser sign-in creates an independent Alveo session lasting up to seven days. The database stores a hash of the session token, your account reference, and its expiry. Signing out in the desktop app revokes that session; signing out of Google or the approving browser does not itself revoke it. The desktop saves its credential using operating-system encryption when available, otherwise only in memory. Short-lived approval records and expired sessions are cleaned up during later authorization requests.

When you use the desktop app, we record which app version you last used on each operating system and when, so we can tell whether updates are reaching people. It is read from the version the app already sends with each request, is only reported to the operator as counts per version, and is deleted with your account.

The current application and media server are in the United States, and our Neon database and authentication deployment are in a US region. Providers and their support or subprocessors may process information elsewhere. Data-protection rules may differ from those where you live; where legally required, applicable safeguards must be used for international transfers.

Accounts, memberships, and message history currently have no automatic age-based deletion schedule. They remain until you delete your account from your account settings or they are removed through an administrative process. We retain operational information as needed for reliability, security, and investigations; log rotation is based on storage size rather than a guaranteed number of days. Backups and database recovery systems may retain earlier copies until they expire under the relevant provider’s configured recovery cycle. Deleting active data does not necessarily erase backup copies immediately.

We use HTTPS, encrypted media transport, authentication, access checks, and restricted administrative access. The current service does not enable end-to-end encryption: stored messages and media passing through the server are not protected from the service operator by end-to-end encryption. No system is completely secure. Do not use Alveo to transmit secrets or sensitive information that you cannot risk exposing.

Your choices and privacy requests

You can choose whether to use Google sign-in, stop sending messages, disable media, revoke device permissions, and sign out. You can also revoke Alveo’s Google connection in your Google account settings. Revoking Google access does not itself delete information already stored in Alveo.

From your account settings you can export a copy of your own data and delete your account. The export is a JSON file covering your profile, the servers you own, your memberships, and the messages you have written, with a list of the files attached to them (download the files themselves from the chat while signed in); it does not include other members’ private data or service secrets. You can still contact the privacy address above to request a copy, correction, or deletion, for example if you cannot sign in. We may ask for proportionate information to verify that the account is yours, and we will respond within the time required by applicable law. Never send passwords, session cookies, or identity documents unless a specific, necessary verification process has been agreed.

Deleting your account requires choosing what happens to each server you own: delete it and its history, or transfer it to another member. You also choose whether the messages you have written are removed or kept with your name removed. Deletion revokes your active sessions and records the deletion so an expired or restored session cannot silently recreate the account. We cannot delete copies independently made by other users, and information held by our providers, such as authentication records and backups, may persist until the provider completes deletion or it expires under their retention cycle. We will explain any information that must be retained for legal obligations, security, or other lawful reasons. Depending on your location and applicable law, you may also have rights to restrict or object to processing, receive portable data, withdraw consent, appeal a decision, or complain to a data-protection authority. We do not penalize you for exercising applicable privacy rights.

Children

Alveo is not intended for children under 13, or anyone below the minimum age required to use the service in their jurisdiction without parental authorization. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has provided information, contact us so we can investigate and take appropriate action, including deletion.

Planned features and policy updates

Our roadmap includes desktop clients with application-specific video and audio capture, additional streaming controls, external encoders such as OBS, richer messaging and community tools, permissions and moderation, and improved diagnostics. These are not all available today. Depending on what ships, they may involve selected application or device metadata, message interactions, moderation records, or additional connection diagnostics.

Before introducing materially different data collection or use, we will update this policy and provide relevant in-product explanations and controls. Recording, transcription, AI processing, billing, advertising, or a new hosting provider would require a fresh assessment and disclosure before use; this policy does not authorize undisclosed collection just because a feature might be developed. We will obtain consent where required.

The effective date above identifies this version. Material changes will be announced through the site or another appropriate channel.