Community Rules & Content Policy
A respectful, clean community
Circle Chat is an invitation-only community for adults age 18 and older. These rules apply to every group, private chat, profile, photo, video, file, link, username, and invitation. A private chat is not an exception to these rules. You are responsible for what you post and share.
No profanity or degrading language
Do not use profanity, vulgar insults, obscene gestures, or abusive language. Deliberately misspelled, abbreviated, masked, or image-based profanity is also prohibited. Disagree respectfully. Do not attack, humiliate, bully, stalk, or repeatedly contact someone who has asked you to stop.
No sexual, nude, or inappropriate images
Do not upload pornography, sexual acts, sexually explicit or sexualized images, nudity, intimate body photographs, fetish material, sexual solicitation, or nonconsensual intimate content. This includes artificial or AI-generated images, altered photos, and sexual deepfakes. Graphic violence, gore, humiliating images, and material depicting abuse are also prohibited. Do not post nude images of anyone, including children, even as a joke or family photo.
Photo violations: deletion and a ban
Photos confirmed by an administrator to violate this policy will be deleted, and the person responsible for uploading them will be banned. Main administrators can impose a site-wide ban; group administrators can ban a person from the group they manage and escalate the incident to main administrators. A report alone is not proof of a violation. Administrators should review the available context before taking action. An administrator may restrict access while reviewing a serious concern.
Protect people and respect consent
Do not post another person’s contact details, private communications, medical information, financial documents, government identifiers, precise location, or other sensitive information without authorization. Get permission before uploading identifiable photos of others. Obtain a parent or guardian’s permission for an appropriate, fully clothed photo of a minor, and do not include identifying school or location details. Do not share passwords, access codes, payment-card data, or Social Security numbers.
No exploitation, hate, threats, or illegal activity
Sexual exploitation, grooming, abuse, trafficking, credible threats, encouragement of violence, and content attacking people on the basis of protected characteristics are prohibited. Do not use the service to facilitate criminal activity or the sale of illegal or regulated goods. Do not encourage self-harm. If someone appears to be in immediate danger, contact local emergency services rather than relying on this app.
No scams, impersonation, spam, or malicious files
Do not impersonate another person, misrepresent your role, solicit money deceptively, send phishing links, distribute malware, or promote fraudulent investments or offers. Do not flood chats with repeated messages or unwanted advertising. Do not test, probe, or bypass access controls, share another person’s login, evade a ban, or create replacement accounts to continue prohibited conduct.
Respect ownership and private conversations
Upload only material you own or have permission to share. Do not distribute pirated documents, music, films, or confidential business material. Do not copy or forward someone else’s private chat, image, or profile outside its intended audience without permission, except when reasonably needed to make a safety report or comply with law. Access to a group does not give you ownership of its content.
Community business listings
Only list a business you are authorized to represent. A license or registration number, issuing authority, jurisdiction, official lookup URL, and current expiration date are required. Listings remain hidden until a site main administrator checks the issuing authority. Invalid or unverifiable licenses result in removal from the directory; expired listings are hidden. Changes require another review. Do not misrepresent licensing or treat approval as an endorsement. Members should independently check current credentials before hiring or paying. Community listings follow the same content rules as chats.
Invitations and administrators
Only the site owner and appointed main administrators may create site-only invitations. Group members may invite people into their groups as permitted by the app. Group creators may appoint group administrators. Main administrators oversee all groups and private chats. Group administrators do not automatically have access to private chats in which they are not participants. Do not claim to be an administrator unless appointed.
Report problems; do not spread the content
Use Report on a message or photo, or Settings → Community & safety → Report a concern. Describe the concern and identify the original post. Do not download, forward, or re-upload suspected illegal sexual content to prove a report. Reports are reviewed manually; no automatic image screening or continuous monitoring is promised. Do not submit knowingly false or retaliatory reports.
Enforcement and appeals
Depending on the violation, administrators may remove content, cancel invitations, remove or ban a member from a group, or impose a site-wide ban. Serious or repeated violations can lead to immediate removal without a prior warning. Confirmed prohibited-photo violations result in deletion and a ban as stated above. Main administrators can review appeals submitted through Report a concern → Appeal a ban. Group bans should be escalated to main administrators if you believe they were mistaken. Retaliation against a good-faith reporter is prohibited.
Privacy Notice
Operator and scope
Circle Chat is operated by Jeff Gardner (the site owner) for invitation-based group communication. This notice explains the app’s current handling of personal information. It covers profiles, group conversations, private chats, files, invitations, moderation, and preferences. It is not a promise that the service is anonymous, end-to-end encrypted, or immune from security incidents.
Information used by the app
The sign-in provider supplies a site-specific account identifier and sign-in email and may supply a display name. The app stores group memberships, roles, messages, uploaded files, invitation records, profile details you choose to provide, sharing selections, read markers, emoji-use counts, policy acceptance records, and moderation reports and bans. Acceptance records include the policy version, time, account identity, and age affirmation, not your date of birth. Infrastructure providers may process technical and security logs.
Who can see your information
Group content is available to group members and main administrators. A private chat is available to its two participants and main administrators. Group administrators manage only their assigned groups and do not automatically see private chats. Profile details and profile photos follow your field checkboxes and selected audience; your display name appears with your activity. Main-administrator access to conversations does not by itself override profile-sharing controls. When someone reports a profile or profile photo they can view, main administrators may inspect that reported material for moderation; this does not grant general access to the person’s unshared profile details. People with access can copy information despite app restrictions.
Business profiles and community sharing
Business profiles are separate from personal profiles. A submitted business profile includes its contact information, logo URL, description, services, licensing details, and audience choice. You can share with all community groups on this site, all groups you currently belong to, or selected groups you belong to. All-community sharing makes the approved profile visible in groups you have not joined, without granting access to those groups or their conversations. Main administrators can review submitted business details and licensing records. License review findings are visible to the listing owner and main administrators; approved profiles show the check date and source. Remote logo providers may receive technical request information when a logo is viewed. Invalid listings are hidden but their submission and review record remain available to their owner until deleted. You can edit or delete your business profiles.
Why information is used
Information is used to authenticate accounts, deliver invitations and messages, display profiles and files to permitted viewers, remember preferences, maintain read and notification features, enforce rules, review reports and appeals, respond to privacy requests, and protect the service. No advertising or personal-data sale feature is included in the current app. Do not use this app to store information requiring specialized confidentiality protections.
Service providers and storage
Circle Chat uses Sites hosting and Cloudflare-hosted database and file storage. Email-and-password sign-in uses Supabase; confirmation and password-reset emails are sent through Hostinger. ChatGPT sign-in remains available during the transition. These providers process information needed to operate the service under their applicable terms and privacy practices. Passwords submitted through the sign-in form are forwarded securely to Supabase and are not stored in the Circle Chat database. Session credentials are encrypted on the server; the browser receives an opaque session cookie. Browser storage remembers device preferences. Emoji-use counts and account-level preferences may be stored on the server.
Notifications and privacy
Browser notifications require your device’s permission and can be turned off. Current message alerts show a group name and generic activity text rather than the full message or photo. Anyone who can see your device screen may see an alert. Notifications require an open, visible Circle Chat tab; checks run about every 15 seconds and pause in hidden tabs or after sign-out. Delivery while closed is not enabled.
Retention, deletion, and requests
Chat photos and image attachments expire 30 days after upload in every group and private chat, including pinned images and existing images already older than 30 days when this policy takes effect. Access is blocked at expiry; stored originals are removed by automatic cleanup during site use and scheduled maintenance when available. Physical deletion may occur after the expiration time when cleanup next runs or retries. Captions, text, and a deletion notice remain. Profile photos, business logos, videos, and non-image attachments are not automatically deleted under this rule. Downloaded copies and infrastructure backups cannot be recalled by this feature. Messages, files, profiles, and membership records generally remain until removed through available controls or handled by an administrator. There is no automatic deletion schedule for inactive accounts in the current version. Policy acceptance, moderation, and security records may be retained as reasonably needed for safety, dispute handling, and legal obligations. Deleting an item does not recall copies already made by recipients or necessarily immediately remove provider logs or backups. Exact infrastructure retention and backup deletion schedules have not been verified.
Your choices and how to contact us
You can edit or remove profile information and photos, choose profile fields and recipients, change notifications, and use available message/file deletion controls. For account deletion, access, correction, other privacy requests, or questions, use Settings → Community & safety → Report a concern and select Privacy / deletion request. Main administrators receive these requests. If you cannot sign in, contact the person who invited you and ask them to reach the site owner. Never share your password. We will handle rights requests as applicable law requires; no automated account export or full-account deletion tool is currently offered.
Reports and administrator concerns
Reports are not anonymous: they include your account identity and the details you submit. Main administrators can review ordinary reports. Reports categorized as Administrator conduct are restricted to the permanent site owner. A reported person is not automatically notified by the report tool. Information may be used or disclosed as reasonably necessary to investigate abuse, protect people, or respond to valid legal requirements. Do not include unnecessary sensitive information in a report.
Adults only and security limits
Participation is limited to adults age 18 and older. Do not invite minors to use the service. If you believe a minor has an account, report it so the operator can investigate and take appropriate action. An age checkbox is a self-affirmation, not verified age identification. Reasonable access controls are implemented, but the app has not undergone an independent security audit and does not guarantee confidentiality or uninterrupted availability.
Terms of Use
Agreement and eligibility
By affirmatively accepting these terms, you agree to these Terms of Use and the Community Rules and acknowledge the Privacy Notice. You must be at least 18 and use an account you are authorized to control. An invitation grants limited permission to participate; it does not grant ownership of the service or access to every group. If you do not agree, do not participate.
Accounts, passwords, and invitations
Circle Chat sessions end after 10 minutes without user interaction. Background message checks do not extend the session; tabs in the same browser share activity. A one-minute warning is provided while the page runs, but sleeping devices may miss it. Unsent drafts are not saved on sign-out. Use your own invited email address and a strong, unique password. Confirm your email before signing in. For email accounts, request a reset code using Forgot password on the sign-in screen. Never share verification or reset codes. During the ChatGPT sign-in transition, password recovery for a ChatGPT account is handled by that provider. Use only invitations intended for you. Do not forward access credentials or permit someone else to use your account. Tell a main administrator if you believe your account or invitation has been misused.
Your content and permission to operate the service
You keep ownership of your original content. You represent that you have the rights and permissions needed to upload it. You grant the operator and necessary service providers a limited, nonexclusive permission to host, process, display, deliver, and moderate that content for operating the service, providing it to permitted recipients, and handling safety or legal obligations. This is not a general license to sell your photos or use them in advertising.
Acceptable use and moderation
You must follow the Community Rules. The operator and authorized administrators may review content within their authorized scope, remove violating material, restrict access, and impose bans. Private chats remain subject to moderation by main administrators. Moderation is not continuous and does not guarantee that every violation will be detected. Knowingly false reports and ban evasion are prohibited.
Responsibility for member content and third-party links
Members are responsible for their statements, uploads, permissions, and interactions. The operator does not endorse member content or linked websites. Check information and use care before following a link, meeting someone, sending money, or acting on advice. The app is not an emergency service or a substitute for qualified medical, legal, financial, or other professional advice.
Service limitations and liability
The service is provided as available, without a promise of uninterrupted operation, error-free content, absolute security, or permanent storage. Keep your own copies of information important to you. To the extent permitted by applicable law, the operator does not warrant the accuracy or safety of member content and is not responsible for losses caused by another member’s unauthorized conduct, disclosure, or external services. These provisions do not exclude responsibilities or remedies that cannot lawfully be excluded. They do not excuse intentional wrongdoing or override applicable statutory rights.
Copyright complaints and repeat violations
Do not upload infringing material. A rights holder or authorized representative can submit a Copyright complaint through the reporting tool, identifying the work, original post or location, ownership basis, contact information, and requested action. Repeat infringers may be banned. This complaint process does not mean the operator has registered a DMCA designated agent or qualified for a statutory safe harbor. Formal copyright procedures and operator contact arrangements require separate legal review before relying on them.
Leaving, bans, and appeals
You may stop using the app at any time and request account or data deletion through the privacy-request process. Administrators may restrict or terminate access for violations, safety concerns, legal requirements, or discontinuation of the service, subject to applicable law. A site-wide ban blocks access across the app; a group ban applies to that group. Use Appeal a ban in the reporting tool to request a review. Banned users can still access policies and submit a request or appeal.
Policy changes and contact
The policy version and effective date are shown on this page. Material changes will require a new acceptance before further participation. Direct questions, complaints, and privacy requests to the site owner through the reporting process. Nothing here waives rights that applicable law does not permit you to waive. These policies are operational rules and terms for this app, not a guarantee of legal immunity for anyone.