Welcome to Chatr! These Terms of Service (“Terms”) constitute a legally binding agreement between you (“you,” “your,” or “User”) and the individual maintainers and developers of the Chatr project (“Chatr,” “we,” “us,” or “our”).
These Terms govern your access to and use of the Chatr mobile applications, desktop applications, websites, backend APIs, and hosted relay services (collectively, the “Services”).
PLEASE READ THESE TERMS CAREFULLY. BY DOWNLOADING, INSTALLING, REGISTERING FOR, OR USING THE SERVICES, YOU AGREE TO BE BOUND BY THESE TERMS. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO THESE TERMS, DO NOT INSTALL, ACCESS, OR USE OUR SERVICES.
1. About Our Services & Zero-Knowledge Architecture
1.1. End-to-End Encryption & Privacy by Design.
Chatr is a private communication service. Direct messages, media attachments, and conversation threads are end-to-end encrypted on your device using open, peer-reviewed cryptographic standards (including the Double Ratchet Algorithm and Extended Triple Diffie-Hellman protocols). Plaintext message content, captions, and private encryption keys are generated and stored exclusively on your device and are never transmitted to or readable by our servers.
1.2. Crypto-Blind Relay Servers.
Chatr operates relay servers, authentication mechanisms, and cloud media storage. Our servers are crypto-blind: they route opaque, undecryptable ciphertext envelopes, public identity keys, and delivery receipts. Because we do not possess your private encryption keys, we physically cannot read, decrypt, inspect, censor, or recover your message plaintext or private attachments.
1.3. Proprietary Software.
The Chatr client software (mobile and desktop applications) and server software are proprietary software owned exclusively by the developers. The software is licensed to you, not sold, under Section 6 of these Terms. Chatr is not open-source software, and no license to the underlying source code is granted herein.
1.4. NO ACCESS TO EMERGENCY SERVICES.
CHATR DOES NOT PROVIDE ACCESS TO EMERGENCY SERVICES, INCLUDING POLICE, FIRE, AMBULANCE, MEDICAL FACILITIES, OR PUBLIC SAFETY ANSWERING POINTS (SUCH AS 119 IN SRI LANKA, 911 IN THE UNITED STATES, OR 112 IN THE EUROPEAN UNION). CHATR IS NOT A TELECOMMUNICATIONS PROVIDER OR REPLACEMENT FOR TRADITIONAL TELEPHONE SERVICES. YOU MUST ENSURE THAT YOU HAVE ALTERNATIVE MEANS TO CONTACT EMERGENCY SERVICE PROVIDERS ON YOUR DEVICE.
2. Eligibility & Age Requirements
2.1. Minimum Age.
You must be at least 13 years old to use the Services. If applicable law in your country of residence requires that you must be older for Chatr to lawfully provide the Services to you without parental consent (for example, 16 years old in certain member states of the European Union), you must meet that higher age requirement.
2.2. Minors & Legal Guardians.
If you are under the legal age of majority in your jurisdiction (for example, under 18 years of age under the laws of Sri Lanka), you represent that your parent or legal guardian has reviewed and agreed to these Terms on your behalf. If you are a parent or legal guardian permitting a minor to use the Services, you agree to be bound by these Terms and assume full responsibility for the minor’s use of the Services.
2.3. Legal Eligibility.
You represent that you are not barred from receiving the Services under the laws of Sri Lanka, the United States, or any other applicable international trade sanctions or export control regulations.
3. Account Registration, Devices & Data Custody
3.1. Account Creation.
To register for Chatr, you must provide a valid email address to receive a one-time verification code (OTP) and reserve a unique handle. You agree to provide accurate information and keep your credentials and device secure. You are solely responsible for all activities occurring under your account.
3.2. Paired Device Limits.
To maintain network stability and cryptographic performance, Chatr limits the maximum number of active paired devices per account. Connecting a new device beyond established limits may require disconnecting or revoking an existing device session.
3.3. Local Storage Custody & Irrecoverability.
Because Chatr operates on a zero-knowledge model, your encryption keys and decrypted conversation history reside exclusively in secure local storage on your device. WE DO NOT STORE OR BACK UP YOUR PRIVATE KEYS OR MESSAGE HISTORY ON OUR SERVERS. IF YOU LOSE YOUR DEVICE, CLEAR APPLICATION STORAGE, UNINSTALL CHATR, OR FORGET YOUR DEVICE CREDENTIALS WITHOUT AN INDEPENDENT BACKUP, YOUR CONVERSATION HISTORY CANNOT BE RECOVERED BY US.
3.4. Temporary Mailbox Retention.
Encrypted envelopes addressed to offline devices are retained temporarily in server relay queues for up to thirty (30) days solely to facilitate store-and-forward delivery. Envelopes that remain undelivered after thirty (30) days are automatically and permanently deleted from our relay servers and cannot be retransmitted.
4. Acceptable Use Policy & Google Play Compliance
Chatr is built for personal, private, and lawful communication between mutual contacts. You agree that you will not use, attempt to use, or assist others in using the Services to:
- Exploit Minors: Upload, transmit, or facilitate Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM), child sexual exploitation, or any material endangering or exploiting minors. We enforce a zero-tolerance policy and will immediately terminate accounts and cooperate with law enforcement authorities and child protection organizations.
- Engage in Unlawful Activity: Transmit content or organize activities recognized as criminal offenses under the laws of Sri Lanka or international law, including terrorism, illicit drug trafficking, illegal weapons distribution, or identity fraud.
- Harass & Abuse: Stalk, threaten, bully, defame, or intimidate other users.
- Distribute Spam & Automated Messages: Send bulk unsolicited communications, automated phishing scams, or commercial solicitations.
- Harm Platform Infrastructure: Attack, disrupt, overload, or flood our servers, networks, or APIs; conduct Denial-of-Service (DoS) attacks; bypass rate limits; or inject malicious code or exploits.
- Impersonate Others: Claim handles or create profiles intended to impersonate individuals, public figures, or brand entities.
- Scrape or Harvest Data: Use automated crawlers, scrapers, bots, or scripts to harvest user handles, public prekey bundles, or directory metadata.
5. User Safety: Blocking & Reporting
5.1. Friendship Model.
Chatr operates an invitation-based model: direct message threads are established only between mutual contacts once an incoming friend request has been accepted.
5.2. User Blocking.
You may block any user at any time using in-app controls. Blocking a user prevents that account from viewing your presence status, sending you friend requests, or delivering future messages or media to your devices.
5.3. Abuse Reporting.
If you experience harassment, spam, impersonation, or violations of these Terms, you may submit an abuse report through the in-app reporting tool or by emailing support@chatr.xerosf.dev. Because direct messages are end-to-end encrypted, we cannot inspect message contents; however, we investigate actionable reports regarding abusive handles, profile avatars, and network spam patterns, and reserve the right to suspend or terminate violating accounts.
6. Software License & Intellectual Property
6.1. Limited License to You.
Subject to your continuous compliance with these Terms, Chatr grants you a personal, worldwide, revocable, non-exclusive, non-sublicensable, and non-transferable license to download, install, and execute the Chatr client applications in binary object-code form on compatible devices you own or control, solely for your personal, non-commercial communication purposes.
6.2. License Restrictions.
You agree that you will not, and will not permit any third party to:
- Copy, distribute, rent, lease, lend, sell, or sublicense the Chatr software or Services;
- Reverse engineer, decompile, disassemble, decipher, or attempt to derive the source code of the software, except to the extent that such restriction is expressly prohibited by applicable statutory law;
- Modify, adapt, translate, or create derivative works of the software;
- Remove, alter, or obscure any proprietary notices, copyright legends, or trademark symbols;
- Access our backend APIs through unauthorized clients or tools without our prior written consent.
6.3. Ownership & Intellectual Property.
All rights, title, and interest in and to the Services—including software code, visual designs, interfaces, logos, domains, and trademarks—remain the exclusive property of the Chatr project maintainers. All rights not expressly granted to you are reserved.
6.4. Your Content & Technical License.
You retain all ownership and intellectual property rights in the content, messages, and files you transmit through Chatr (“Your Content”). To provide the Services, you grant Chatr a minimal, non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide license solely to buffer, store, route, and deliver Your Content across our servers (e.g., storing encrypted media blobs, queueing encrypted envelopes in mailboxes, and displaying your profile avatar). Because direct communications are end-to-end encrypted, this license grants no right to view, inspect, monetize, or use your data for advertising or model training.
7. Disclaimers (“AS IS”)
TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED UNDER APPLICABLE LAW:
- THE SERVICES AND SOFTWARE ARE PROVIDED STRICTLY ON AN “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE” BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS, IMPLIED, STATUTORY, OR OTHERWISE.
- CHATR AND ITS DEVELOPERS, MAINTAINERS, AND OPERATORS (COLLECTIVELY, THE “CHATR PARTIES”) SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIM ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, ACCURACY, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT.
- THE CHATR PARTIES DO NOT WARRANT THAT THE SERVICES WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, TIMELY, ERROR-FREE, DEFECT-FREE, OR SECURE; THAT DEFECTS WILL BE CORRECTED; OR THAT STORED DATA OR TRANSMITTED CIPHERTEXT WILL NOT BE SUBJECT TO NETWORK DELAY, CORRUPTION, OR LOSS.
- YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT DIGITAL COMMUNICATIONS CAN BE PRESERVED OR RECORDED BY RECIPIENTS (SUCH AS THROUGH SCREENSHOTS, PHOTOGRAPHS, OR EXTERNAL RECORDING TOOLS). CHATR CANNOT CONTROL HOW RECIPIENTS PROCESS, STORE, OR SHARE INFORMATION ONCE RECEIVED.
8. Limitation of Liability
TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED UNDER APPLICABLE LAW:
- UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHALL THE CHATR PARTIES BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, SPECIAL, PUNITIVE, OR EXEMPLARY DAMAGES, INCLUDING LOSS OF PROFITS, LOSS OF DATA, DEVICE DAMAGE, HARDWARE FAILURE, PERSONAL INJURY, BUSINESS INTERRUPTION, OR COST OF SUBSTITUTE SERVICES, ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THESE TERMS OR YOUR USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THE SERVICES, REGARDLESS OF THE LEGAL THEORY (WHETHER IN CONTRACT, DELICT, TORT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR OTHERWISE), EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
- THE TOTAL AGGREGATE LIABILITY OF THE CHATR PARTIES FOR ALL CLAIMS ARISING OUT OF OR CONNECTED WITH THESE TERMS OR THE SERVICES SHALL NOT EXCEED THE GREATER OF:
- ONE HUNDRED UNITED STATES DOLLARS ($100.00 USD), OR
- THE AMOUNT YOU PAID TO CHATR (IF ANY) IN THE TWELVE (12) MONTHS PRECEDING THE CLAIM.
9. Indemnification
You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless the Chatr Parties from and against any claims, disputes, demands, liabilities, damages, losses, costs, and expenses (including reasonable legal and attorney fees) arising out of or in any way connected with: (a) your access to or use of the Services; (b) your violation of these Terms or the Acceptable Use Policy; or (c) your violation of the rights of any third party, including intellectual property, privacy, or statutory rights.
10. Modifications & Termination
10.1. Modifications.
We reserve the right to update, modify, or discontinue any part of the Services, features, or device support at any time without prior notice.
10.2. Termination by You & Account Deletion.
You may terminate these Terms at any time by deleting your account and discontinuing use of the Services:
- In-App Self-Serve Deletion (Primary Method): You may permanently delete your account directly through the application interface at Settings > Account > Delete Account. Account deletion is executed immediately on our servers.
- Account Deletion Request (Fallback Method): If you no longer have the application installed or cannot access your device, you may submit a deletion request by emailing support@chatr.xerosf.dev from your registered email address with the subject line “Account Deletion Request: @yourhandle”.
- Local Data: Deleting your account on our servers does not automatically modify local device storage. To remove all local message history and cryptographic keys, you should uninstall the application or clear application data on your device.
10.3. Termination or Suspension by Chatr.
We reserve the right to suspend or permanently terminate your access to the Services at any time, with or without notice, if you violate these Terms, create operational disruption or legal risk for Chatr, or if required by law. Sections 1.4, 3.3, 6.2, 6.3, 7, 8, 9, 11, and 12 shall survive any termination of these Terms.
11. Governing Law & Dispute Resolution (Option A)
11.1. Governing Law.
These Terms, your use of the Services, and any dispute or controversy arising out of or related to these Terms shall be governed by, construed, and enforced in accordance with the substantive laws of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, without regard to conflict of laws principles.
11.2. Informal Dispute Resolution.
Before initiating any formal legal proceeding, you and Chatr agree to attempt to resolve any dispute informally and in good faith. You agree to contact us at support@chatr.xerosf.dev providing a written summary of the claim and requested relief. Both parties will make reasonable efforts to resolve the matter within thirty (30) days of receipt.
11.3. Exclusive Court Venue.
If a dispute cannot be resolved informally, you and Chatr irrevocably agree that any action, suit, or legal proceeding arising out of or relating to these Terms or the Services shall be instituted exclusively in the competent courts of Sri Lanka (including the Commercial High Court or District Court of Colombo, as jurisdiction permits). You irrevocably submit to the personal and exclusive jurisdiction of such courts and waive any objection as to inconvenient forum.
12. General Provisions
12.1. Severability.
If any provision of these Terms is found to be unlawful, void, or unenforceable, that provision shall be severed, and the remaining provisions will continue in full force and effect.
12.2. Entire Agreement.
These Terms, together with our Privacy Policy, constitute the complete agreement between you and Chatr concerning the Services, superseding all prior understandings or agreements.
12.3. No Waiver.
Our failure to enforce any right or provision of these Terms will not be deemed a waiver of such right or provision in that or any subsequent instance.
12.4. Updates to Terms.
We may revise these Terms periodically. When changes are published, we will update the “Last Updated” date at the top of this document. Continued use of the Services following posted revisions constitutes acceptance of the updated Terms.
12.5. Contact Information.
For inquiries, legal notices, or abuse reports, contact us at:
- Email: support@chatr.xerosf.dev
- Project Maintainers: Chatr Development Team (Colombo, Sri Lanka)