01
Scope and who we are
Qiao is an independent, privacy-first contact-discovery service for adults aged 18 and over, built to connect people in China and across East Asia with people around the world. It helps people find others with shared interests and, only after explicit approval, exchange a private WeChat contact QR. Qiao is not affiliated with Tencent or WeChat.
This policy covers the Qiao web application and the pilot programme. It does not cover WeChat or any third-party service you use after an introduction.
02
What we collect
- Authentication data: your email address, authentication events and session metadata, processed through Supabase Auth. We do not store passwords because sign-in is passwordless.
- Profile data you choose to provide: display name, handle, short introduction, country, optional city, interests, languages, purposes, visibility and consent timestamps.
- Contact and safety data: contact requests, their status, blocks and reports. If QR sharing is enabled, a private QR image is stored in a private bucket and its storage reference is kept in our database.
- Technical data: minimised request metadata, coarse IP-derived rate-limit keys (stored only as an HMAC digest), and server logs without QR bytes, email bodies, introductions or analytics payloads.
03
What is public
Only an explicitly published profile appears in the public directory. Public fields are display name, handle, introduction, country, optional city, interests, languages, purposes, and whether you are open to contact requests. Your email, private QR, storage paths, moderation data and reports are never part of the public directory.
Bios are written in your own language and are not machine translated. You can hide your listing at any time; search engines may retain cached copies outside our control.
04
Why we use it
- To authenticate you without a password and protect your account.
- To publish and operate a directory you have asked to join.
- To support consent-based introductions, apply rate limits and prevent abuse.
- To meet legal obligations, investigate reports and enforce our terms.
05
Consent and withdrawal
Publishing requires explicit consent and confirmation that you are 18 or older. Hiding your profile with our controls removes it from the directory immediately. Revoking a contact grant stops future QR retrievals; it cannot recall screenshots that someone has already taken.
You may withdraw consent by hiding your profile or requesting deletion. Withdrawal does not affect processing already carried out.
07
Retention
We keep your profile until you request deletion or we complete an account cleanup. A deletion request hides your profile and revokes grants immediately; a small set of safety, audit and rate-limit records may be retained for the period needed to meet legal obligations, resolve disputes and prevent abuse.
Rate-limit counters expire automatically. Sign-in emails and authentication records are held by Supabase Auth under the retention controls configured for the project. We aim to document and test a final retention schedule before a public launch.
08
Your choices and rights
Depending on where you live, you may have rights to access, correct, export or delete your personal data, or to object to certain processing. You can edit public profile fields in settings. Account deletion is requested through privacy settings and completed through our documented process.
We cannot show another member's email or private QR. If you are a member and need a copy of your own account data, use the privacy controls or contact the pilot operator through the channel published at launch.
09
Security
Internal tables are not exposed to the browser. All application data access goes through server endpoints that verify the session and permissions for each operation. We use private storage, short-lived sessions, rate limits, server-only credentials and audit records for staff actions.
No internet service can be perfectly secure. Use a strong email account, be cautious about what you share, and report suspicious behaviour. Qiao will never ask for your WeChat password, verification code or a payment to make an introduction.
10
Age requirement
The pilot is strictly for people aged 18 and over. We do not knowingly collect data from children. If you believe a minor is using Qiao, please report the profile so it can be reviewed.
11
Changes to this policy
We will update this policy as the pilot develops and will change the date above. Material changes should be announced in the product or by email where appropriate. Continuing to use Qiao after an update means you accept the revised policy.
Still have questions?
This is a pilot policy. Formal company details, contact channels and governing jurisdiction will be added before public launch. Please do not send sensitive personal information through Qiao.
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