Privacy policy

Last updated 29 August 2026

Sonar is built so that there is very little about you to hold. This page says exactly what is kept, what is not, and for how long.

What we store

• Your Telegram numeric id. Not your username, not your phone number.
• The details you entered during setup: how you describe yourself, your birth year, and your country.
• The timestamp of your confirmation that you are 18 or older.
• That a conversation happened, when it started and ended, and how many messages it carried.
• Who you have blocked, and who you were recently matched with, so you are not matched with the same person again immediately.
• Your Pro status and the record of any purchase.

What we never write to our database

• Message content.
• Photos and video. They are relayed by reference through Telegram and the files themselves are never saved by us.
• Your Telegram username, your phone number, or your contact list.

The exceptions, stated plainly

Two places hold message text for a short time. Neither is a permanent record, and we would rather name them than let you discover them.

The report buffer. While a conversation is open, the last 50 messages are held in temporary memory for up to an hour. This exists only so that if you report someone, there is something for a human to review. Without it, a report would be your word against theirs. The buffer is deleted when the conversation ends. If you do report someone, that conversation is kept for 90 days so it can be reviewed, then deleted.

The translation cache. If you turn on translation, the translated text is cached so that repeated phrases do not have to be translated again. The cache is keyed by a one-way digest of the original, so the original is not recoverable from the key, and entries expire on their own. Translation runs on our own server. Your messages are not sent to an outside translation service.

Media

Every image and video is checked against known illegal-content databases before it is delivered. This check is automatic and applies to everyone, and it cannot be switched off.

Where the check is done by perceptual hash, only the hash leaves our server. The file itself does not. We keep the hash of files we relayed so that they can be re-checked if the databases are updated later.

Location

Location is optional and is used only to show approximate distance when you use Shake. It is never relayed inside a conversation, and a location sent during a conversation is neither forwarded nor stored. You can switch it off at any time in the bot's settings.

Payments

Sonar Pro is paid for with Telegram Stars, inside Telegram. We never see your card, your bank details, or your billing address. We store only that a purchase happened and what it was for.

How long things are kept

• Conversation records that nobody reported: 90 days after the conversation ends, then deleted.
• Bottles that have expired or been picked up: 90 days, then deleted.
• Routine internal logs: 90 days, then deleted.
• The report buffer: about an hour, or until the conversation ends.
• Reported conversations: 90 days from the report.
• Your account record: for as long as your account exists.

Records of enforcement action, of payments, and anything on the child-protection path are kept beyond 90 days. We are required to be able to account for those.

Who else sees anything

• Telegram. Every message you send passes through Telegram, under Telegram's own privacy policy. That is true of everything on the platform, not only of Sonar.
• Our child-protection partner. Receives image hashes for matching against known illegal content. No user account information is sent.
• Our infrastructure provider. Evidence preserved for a report is encrypted by us before it is stored, so the storage provider cannot read it.

We do not sell your data. We do not run advertising. There are no third-party trackers or analytics scripts on this site or in the bot.

Your choices

• Change or correct any detail from setup, in the bot's settings.
• Turn translation, location, and notifications on or off.
• Block anyone, permanently, in one tap.
• Unsend a message you sent, which deletes it from the other person's chat.
• Ask for your account and its data to be deleted. Write to the address below and we will confirm when it is done.

Children

Sonar is for adults. We do not knowingly hold data about anyone under 18. If we find that an account belongs to a minor, it is closed and its data is removed, except for anything we are legally required to retain.

Changes

If this policy changes in a way that matters, the change is announced in the bot before it takes effect.

Contact

For anything about another user, use /report inside the bot. It reaches us with the context attached, which an email cannot.

For privacy requests, including deletion, and for legal or abuse matters, contact us through the bot and mark the message for the operator.