Local Chat is an open source desktop app maintained by Youssef Dhibi. This policy covers the app and local-chat.youssef.tn.
Your conversations
The app sends messages directly to peers on your current local network. It does not upload your conversations to a Local Chat cloud server. There are no Local Chat accounts, advertising trackers, or built-in message analytics.
All rooms are public to everyone using the app on the current network. Peers receive your display name, installation identity, room information, and shared messages. They store their own copies and can relay valid historical messages to returning peers.
Connections use encryption. Nearby discovery does not verify someone’s real identity, and a display name can be imitated. Use trusted networks and avoid sharing sensitive information.
What stays on your computer
The app stores message history, room events, drafts, read positions, settings, and installation identity in local application data. It also keeps local network-context information to separate conversations between networks. Identity keys use platform storage provided by the app’s platform adapters.
Quitting or uninstalling the app may leave local application data on your computer. To remove it, quit the app and remove its app data and stored identity using your operating system’s tools. This does not delete copies held by other peers. Backups may retain your data according to your backup settings.
Permissions and links
Local Network permission lets the app find and communicate with peers. Notifications are optional and may show message information through your operating system. Copy actions place selected content on your system clipboard. Opening a message link sends you to that website in your browser under its own privacy policy.
Software updates
When automatic update checks are enabled, the app periodically requests public release information from GitHub. You can turn them off in Settings and check manually. GitHub receives normal connection information, such as your IP address, as part of these requests and downloads. Chat does not require update checks or internet access.
This website
Cloudflare hosts and delivers this website and processes normal request data, including IP addresses, requested URLs, user agents, timestamps, and security information. Cloudflare may retain data under its service and security policies. We have not added advertising, third-party analytics scripts, forms, or tracking cookies.
The website requests public release metadata through a Cloudflare Worker and caches it briefly. Download links take you to GitHub, which processes its own request data. The screenshot appearance selector runs in your browser and does not send its selection to us.
See Cloudflare’s privacy policy and GitHub’s privacy statement.
Support and your choices
If you post a GitHub issue, its contents are public. Do not include private messages, passwords, or personal information. Vulnerabilities can be reported through private vulnerability reporting.
For privacy questions or requests about information you have voluntarily shared with the project, contact the maintainer through the maintainer’s public profile. Request a private contact channel before sharing personal information. We cannot retrieve messages stored only on your or other peers’ computers.
Changes to this policy
Policy changes appear on this page with an updated effective date and are recorded in the public repository. Check this page when you update the app.