OurSpace Privacy Policy

Effective: September 18, 2026

The short version

• We don't run ads, we don't sell or rent data, and there are no analytics or tracking scripts in the app or on this website. This website sets no cookies.
• Your private messages are end-to-end encrypted. We store ciphertext we cannot read.
• Your posts, comments, and profile are social content. They are not end-to-end encrypted, and they are visible according to the audiences you choose.
• We collect the minimum needed to run the service, and this page lists exactly what that is.
• You can delete your account yourself, in the app, at any time. You can ask us for a copy of your data by email.

Who we are

OurSpace is operated by OurSpace LLC, a limited liability company formed in New Mexico, United States. Under data protection law, OurSpace LLC is the "controller" of the personal data described here. The app is built and run by one person.

Contact for anything in this policy, including data requests: contact@joinourspace.org. Postal address for legal notices: OurSpace LLC, c/o Registered Agents Inc., 1209 Mountain Road Pl NE, Ste R, Albuquerque, NM 87110, USA.

OurSpace is in early beta. This policy describes what the system actually does today, not what we hope it will do. When the system changes, this page changes with it.

What this policy covers

This policy covers the OurSpace apps for iOS and Android when they are connected to the server we run (the default), and this website, joinourspace.org.

OurSpace is open source and can be self-hosted. If you connect the app to a server that someone else runs, that server's operator, not OurSpace LLC, decides what happens to the data stored there, and this policy does not apply to it. Ask that operator for their policy.

What we collect, and why

Account. To create an account you give us a display name and a password. Passwords are stored only as salted hashes; we cannot see them. An email address is optional: accounts can be pseudonymous, but without an email we cannot reset a forgotten password. You may choose a public handle (username) or let the app generate one. If you signed up through an invite, we record which invite code you used. The app also generates a random per-install identifier so the server can tell your devices apart; it is not derived from any hardware or advertising identifier.

Devices and encryption keys. Because private messages are end-to-end encrypted and you can use OurSpace on more than one device, the server stores, for each of your devices, the public half of its encryption keys (identity, signed pre-keys, and one-time pre-keys in the Signal protocol's terms). Private keys never leave your device.

Profile. Your bio, avatar, profile theme, and profile song (an audio file you upload, plus an optional caption) are content you choose to share. They are visible to other people according to the app's audience rules.

Social content. Posts (text, photos, videos, links), comments, likes, reactions, reposts, ratings, friendships, community groups and your memberships in them are stored on our server so we can show them to the audiences you pick. Social content is not end-to-end encrypted: the server processes it to build feeds, previews, and search. Photos and videos are resized and transcoded on our server; no outside service touches them.

Link previews. When a post or comment contains a link, our server fetches that page once to build a preview (title, description, image). The linked site sees our server's address, not yours. In private messages, previews are built on the sender's device and travel inside the encrypted message; there the linked site sees the sender's device, and our server sees nothing.

Private messages. One-to-one and group chats are end-to-end encrypted with the Signal protocol (using libsignal). Message text, voice messages, GIFs, and attachments are encrypted on your device before they reach us; the server stores only ciphertext and cannot read it. To deliver messages, the server does handle conversation metadata: who is in a conversation, when messages were sent, and a group chat's name and photo, which are set in plaintext. We keep that metadata to what delivery needs.

Encrypted backups. Message backup is optional. Backups are encrypted on your device with a key derived from your recovery code. The recovery code never leaves your device and we never receive it, which means we cannot read your backups and cannot recover them if you lose the code. You can delete your backups at any time.

Notifications. The app keeps an in-app list of notifications (friend requests, likes, comments, and so on). Push notifications are content-free: a push never contains message text, only a signal that wakes the app so it can fetch and decrypt on your device. On iOS, that signal goes through Apple's push service (APNs), which handles a device token for routing. On Android, it goes through a private push relay that we run ourselves; Google's push service is not involved. While the app is open it also keeps a direct connection to our server for the same purpose.

Democracy Dev. Feature proposals, discussion on them, and votes are stored so the community can see and act on them. Proposals and discussion are visible to other members; votes are shown as totals, and only you can see how you voted. Feature proposals, their status and vote totals are shown publicly at joinourspace.org/democracydev, without the proposer's name; discussion stays in the app.

Safety tools. Blocks and reports you file are stored so we can act on them.

Email we send. With your email address we send transactional mail (password-reset codes) and, occasionally, announcements about OurSpace. Every announcement carries an unsubscribe link; transactional mail does not, because you asked for it. We never send marketing on anyone else's behalf.

Waitlist. If you join the waitlist on this website, we store your email address, the fact that it came from this site, and the time. Nothing else: no IP address, no browser fingerprint. Your IP address is used only in memory, for a few minutes, to rate-limit submissions; it is not written down.

Server logs. Like nearly every server on the internet, ours keeps standard access logs (IP address, requested endpoint, timestamp, browser or app version) for security, debugging, and abuse prevention. They are kept for a short period and then deleted, and they are not used for profiling or marketing.

GIF search. When you open the GIF picker or search, your search terms, if any, and your IP address go to GIPHY to fetch results. GIFs you send in private messages are delivered through our server as encrypted attachments; the recipient's device never contacts GIPHY.

What we don't do

No advertising. No selling, renting, or sharing personal data for money. No analytics SDKs, tracking pixels, or third-party scripts, in the app or on this website (this page loads nothing from any server but ours). No engagement-ranked feed: you see your friends' posts, newest first. No automated decisions about you with legal or similarly significant effects. And we cannot read your private messages, because the system is built so that we can't.

Cookies and local storage

This website sets no cookies and stores nothing in your browser. There is no cookie banner because there is nothing to consent to. The apps use a session token to keep you signed in, stored in your device's secure storage; that is not a cookie and is not used to track you. If we ever change this, we will update this section first and ask for consent where the law requires it.

Third-party services

We use a small number of providers, each for one job. They act on our instructions and receive only what that job needs.

• Hosting — our server and its storage run with a cloud hosting provider in Finland. The provider stores data for us and does not use it.
• Apple (APNs) — delivers content-free wake notifications to iPhones. Apple receives a device push token.
• Resend — sends our email (password-reset codes, announcements) to your address.
• GIPHY — returns GIF search results when you search; see above.
• Apple TestFlight and Google Firebase App Distribution — during the beta, installs are delivered through Apple's and Google's distribution services under their own policies. Testers invited by email have their address on those services. Android builds are also available as a direct download from our own server.

We have no other data-sharing relationships. We do not share personal data with data brokers or advertisers, ever.

Why we are allowed to process your data

If you are in the EU, EEA, UK, or another place whose law asks us to name a legal basis:

• Performing our agreement with you (the Terms of Service) — your account, devices and keys, profile, social content, messages, backups, notifications, Democracy Dev, and transactional email.
• Our legitimate interests in running a secure, abuse-free service — server logs, rate limiting, safety tools, and keeping reports after an account is deleted. We have weighed these against your interests and keep them minimal.
• Your consent — the waitlist and announcement emails (withdraw by unsubscribing), the optional email address on your account, and GIF search (you start it).

Where your data goes

OurSpace LLC is a United States company, and the providers above are in the United States or in Finland, the country named under Hosting. When data protection law treats this as an international transfer, we rely on the provider's certification under the EU-US Data Privacy Framework or on standard contractual clauses, as applicable. You can ask us which applies to a given provider.

Retention and deletion

Your content stays until you remove it. You can delete individual posts and messages, use disappearing messages to remove chat content automatically on a timer, and delete your backups whenever you like. Deleting your account, in the app under Settings, permanently removes your account and content from our server. Two things survive: messages you already sent remain on the other participants' devices, which we cannot reach; and reports filed through the safety tools are kept after the accounts involved are deleted, including the text copy of the reported content taken when the report was filed; a deleted reporter's account is unlinked from the report, and reports are not deleted on any schedule, so abuse cannot be erased by deleting the account that did it. Server logs age out on their own schedule as described above.

Your rights

You can do most of this yourself, in the app: correct your profile, delete content, and delete your account. For a copy of your data, or for anything you cannot do in-app, email contact@joinourspace.org. We will confirm you own the account (usually by replying from the address on it, or through the app) and answer within one month.

If you are in the EU, EEA, or UK, you have the rights the GDPR and UK GDPR give you: access, rectification, erasure, portability, restriction, and objection, and the right to withdraw consent where consent is the basis. You also have the right to complain to your supervisory authority; we would rather you told us first, but that is your choice. If you are in a US state with a privacy law, the equivalent rights are yours through the same email, and we do not sell personal data or use it for targeted advertising, so there is nothing to opt out of.

Age

OurSpace is for adults. You must be 18 or older to use it. The service is not directed at children, and we do not knowingly collect personal data from anyone under 18. If we learn an account belongs to someone under 18, we delete it. If you believe that has happened, tell us at the address above.

Security

Private messages are end-to-end encrypted with the Signal protocol. Passwords are hashed. All traffic uses TLS. Backups are client-side encrypted with a key we never hold. Private push on Android goes through a relay we run, not a third party. That said: this is early-beta software maintained by one person, and no system is perfectly secure. If you find a security problem, please tell us at contact@joinourspace.org; we take reports seriously and will respond honestly. If a breach ever affects your personal data, we will notify you and the authorities as the law requires.

Changes to this policy

If this policy changes, we update this page and its effective date. If a change is material, we say so in the app before it takes effect. We will never quietly weaken what this document promises.

Contact

contact@joinourspace.org
OurSpace LLC, c/o Registered Agents Inc., 1209 Mountain Road Pl NE, Ste R, Albuquerque, NM 87110, USA