Legal

Privacy Policy

Last updated 26 October 2026

This policy explains what Katkee collects, how we use it, who can see it, how long we keep it and the choices you have. It covers the Katkee apps for iPhone and Android, the website at katkee.com and the service behind them.

1. Who we are

Katkee is operated by Rahul Katakdhond, a sole proprietorship registered in India ("Katkee", "we", "us"). We decide how and why your personal data is used for the Katkee apps, the website at katkee.com and the service they use, which makes us the Data Fiduciary under India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023, and the controller under the EU and UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and similar laws elsewhere. Katkee is available worldwide; section 8 explains the rights you have wherever you live.

Katkee is only for people 18 and older (section 9).

Questions about this policy or your data go to privacy@katkee.com. Section 11 has our other contacts.

2. What we collect

Account information

Username, email address, a securely hashed password (we never store your actual password; see Section 6), display name, date of birth, and an optional bio, interests (up to five), profile photo and cover photo.

If you sign in with your phone number, Twilio receives it to send you a code. We keep only a keyed fingerprint of the number, not the number itself, so we can recognise it when you sign in again. If you sign in with Google, we keep your Google account ID and email address.

Date of birth

We ask for your date of birth when you create an account, only to confirm you're 18 or older (section 9). It's never shown on your profile or to anyone else, never used for ads, and can't be changed in the app. If you entered it wrongly, write to privacy@katkee.com to correct it.

Content you create

Photos and videos you publish as Stories (with any sound they contain), captions, stickers and drawings, Highlights you keep, comments, likes, shares, and the direct messages you send (including photos and videos, and Stories you share into a conversation). A photo or video you send in a message can be opened only by you and the person you sent it to.

If you give a Story a topic (such as Food or Cricket) in its settings, we store it with the Story and use it to order Home.

If you add a song to a Story, we record which song from Katkee's music library and which part of it plays. The songs are openly licensed and credited on the Story; choosing one tells us nothing else about you.

When you change your profile photo, the app cuts out the square you choose on your phone and uploads only that square. Your cover photo works the same way: only the wide banner you frame is uploaded.

Your connections

Who you follow, who follows you, follow requests, and who you've blocked or muted.

Your approximate area (Nearby Stories, optional)

Only if you turn on Nearby Stories. The app reads an approximate location once in a while, turns it into a city-sized area (about 39 x 20 km) on your phone, and sends only that area, never your coordinates. Your phone's time zone is also sent, so new Stories can come from your region even if Nearby Stories is off.

We use the area and time zone only to show you Stories from people near you and to show your public Stories to people near you. They are never shown to anyone, never used for ads, and deleted:

  • after 30 days without a refresh;
  • at once when you turn Nearby Stories off (the area) or delete your account (both).

If you add a location sticker to a Story, the approximate place you choose is shown on that Story.

Activity used to rank Home and Story reach

We record views, how much of a Story was watched, likes, comments, shares, profile visits, follows, quick skips, "Not interested" and "Show more like this". We use them, and the interests you chose on your profile, for three things:

  • to order your Home;
  • to decide how far a public Story reaches beyond its owner's followers;
  • to give creators aggregate Insights.

Interests we learn from your activity

To order your Home, Katkee also works out which topics you seem to like, from the same list of topics you can choose on your profile. When you watch a Story for a while or to the end, watch it again, like it, comment, share it, visit its owner's profile or tap "Show more like this", the Story's topic (or, if it has none, the interests its owner chose) counts a little more for you; a quick skip or "Not interested" counts against it. This is a score per topic, nothing more. It fades over time (it halves every 14 days), and how much one topic can change in a day is limited. The interests you chose count too, but we don't change them. We use what we learn only to order your Home: never to infer anything about you beyond what topics of Stories you enjoy, and never for Sponsored Stories, which use only the interests you chose. We never learn Devotional from your activity, because it could reveal your religion; it counts only if you choose it yourself.

You can see the topics Katkee thinks you like, and remove any of them, in Settings, then Your interests. Removing a topic resets it and keeps it out for 30 days. Nobody else can see your learned interests, not even the people whose Stories you watch.

A Story's view count is public. Only the Story's owner can see who viewed it.

Katkee shows Sponsored Stories, labelled "Sponsored", from advertisers. Which ones you see depends on your interests and your phone's platform (iPhone or Android). Advertisers receive only totals, such as how many times an ad was shown or tapped, never who you are. Your messages, area, time zone and date of birth are never used for ads. We don't use advertising identifiers or track you across other companies' apps and websites.

App usage and crashes

Katkee's own analytics record when the app is opened, which platform and app version you use, and crash counts. We use them to measure how many people use Katkee each day and month, and how stable it is.

When the app crashes, it sends Katkee a crash report: the error, the technical trace of where in the app's code it happened, the screen you were on, your phone's model and system version, and the app version, linked to your account. A crash report never contains your messages, captions, photos or videos. We use crash reports only to find and fix bugs. Crashes of the app's native code are also collected by Google Play and Apple, under their own privacy policies, and shown to us without your identity.

We don't use third-party analytics, crash-reporting or advertising SDKs.

Feedback you send

Settings > Send feedback sends us what you write, and a screenshot only if you choose to attach one, with your username, app version, phone model and system version. Only Katkee staff who handle support can see it. We use it to answer you and to improve Katkee.

Verification requests (optional)

If you ask for a verified badge (Settings > Request verification), we collect the category you choose, your full name as it appears on your ID, the links you add, and a photo of a government-issued ID. We use them only to check that the account really is you, or the brand or organisation it represents, and to decide on the badge. Only Katkee staff who review verification requests can see the ID photo; it is never shown to anyone else, including other users, and every time staff open it, it is recorded in our audit log. The ID photo is deleted 30 days after we approve or deny the request, or after you withdraw it, and at once if you delete your account. Whether you're verified, and as what (for example "Creator"), is shown on your profile.

Reports

If you report a Story, comment, message or account, we keep a record of the report, what it was about, and how a moderator resolved it. A reported message is kept as evidence for the moderator.

Technical information

  • Your IP address: to limit abuse and secure accounts. It also appears in server logs, which Indian law requires us to keep for 180 days (Katkee is run from India; see section 5).
  • Device and app details for each signed-in session, so you can sign out a device.
  • The push token Apple or Google gives your phone, so we can send notifications.
  • When you visit katkee.com, our servers log your IP address and the page you asked for, as any website does. The website sets no cookies and has no analytics or advertising trackers.

What we do not collect or do

  • We don't access your contacts or your precise location.
  • We remove location details (EXIF/GPS and similar metadata) from the copies of your photos and videos that we show, and delete uploaded originals 30 days after processing.
  • We don't sell your data, use your content to train third-party AI models, or share it with data brokers.

3. How we use it

  • To operate Katkee: your account, Stories and Highlights, notifications, direct messages, search and suggestions.
  • To rank and reach: Home and how far public Stories reach, as described above.
  • To keep Katkee safe: rate limits, link checks, and acting on reports. A moderator can remove content or restrict, suspend or disable an account, and a suspended account is signed out everywhere.
  • For Sponsored Stories and analytics, as described above.

4. Who can see what

  • Stories: a public account's Stories can be seen by anyone, and reach people beyond its followers as described above. A private account's Stories are seen only by followers it approved. Followers-only Stories are seen only by followers.
  • Direct messages: only the people in the conversation see them. Staff can't browse messages. A moderator sees a message only when someone reports it.
  • Profile photo and cover photo: anyone signed in who can see your profile, including when your account is private. People you've blocked, or who've blocked you, never see them.
  • Blocking: hides your content from someone and theirs from you, both ways, at once.
  • Your area and time zone: never shown to anyone.
  • Interests we learn: only you see them (Settings, then Your interests).
  • Verification ID photo: only staff who review verification requests, each view recorded in the audit log.

5. Service providers

  • Amazon Web Services: our servers, database, file storage and email.
  • Google Firebase Cloud Messaging and Apple Push Notification service: deliver notifications.
  • Twilio: sends phone sign-in codes, if you use phone sign-in.
  • Google: Google sign-in, if you use it, and Safe Browsing checks of links posted in Katkee.

They process data only to provide these services to us. Our servers, database and files are in India (Amazon Web Services, Mumbai); Twilio, Google and Apple may process the data they handle for us outside India.

Wherever you use Katkee from, your data is stored and processed in India. If you live in the European Economic Area, the UK or Switzerland, you give it to us directly when you use Katkee, and India is not a country the European Commission or the UK has found to give adequate protection. We protect it as this policy describes wherever it is, and where a service provider moves it on, we rely on that provider's Standard Contractual Clauses (or the UK Addendum) or other safeguards the law recognises. Ask privacy@katkee.com for a copy of them.

6. How we protect it

Passwords are hashed with scrypt; we can't recover your actual password. Sessions use short-lived signed access tokens and an individually revocable refresh token per device. Connections are encrypted (HTTPS/TLS), and our database and file storage are encrypted at rest. Staff access to the admin console needs two-factor authentication, and every admin action is recorded in an audit log that can't be edited.

7. How long we keep it

  • Stories: disappear from view after 24 hours. Highlights you keep stay until you remove them.
  • Deleted Stories: their media is purged after 30 days, unless an open report still needs it.
  • Deleted accounts:
    • unavailable at once;
    • personal data purged and the account scrubbed after 30 days;
    • content removed by moderation kept up to 180 days as evidence;
    • the details you registered with (username and any earlier usernames, email address, display name, date of birth and sign-in identifiers) kept separately for 180 days after deletion, because India's IT Rules 2021 (rule 3(1)(h)) require it, then deleted. We use them only to answer lawful requests.
  • Uploads never used: deleted after 48 hours.
  • Photo originals: deleted 30 days after processing.
  • A video of your Story prepared for sharing to another app: deleted 24 hours after you asked for it.
  • Your area: see above.
  • Interests we learn: each topic fades over time and is deleted 180 days after it last changed; all of them are deleted at once when you delete your account.
  • Raw analytics events: deleted after 90 days; only daily totals that identify nobody remain.
  • Crash reports: deleted after 90 days.
  • Verification ID photo: deleted 30 days after the request is approved, denied or withdrawn, and at once if you delete your account. The request itself (category, name and links) is kept while your account exists, so we can review your badge.
  • Feedback: kept until we've dealt with it, then deleted after 180 days. Deleting your account deletes your feedback and crash reports.
  • Security records: up to 400 days.
  • Server logs: 180 days, kept in India, as the CERT-In directions of 2022 require.
  • Backups: the database can be restored to any moment in the last 14 days. Daily backups of the database and stored files are kept for 35 days and monthly backups for a year; anything you deleted is gone from backups when they expire.
  • Earlier versions of stored files: 30 days after a file is deleted.

8. Your choices and rights

In the app you can:

  • edit your profile;
  • make your account private;
  • turn Nearby Stories on or off (Settings, then Privacy);
  • see and remove the interests Katkee has learned (Settings, then Your interests);
  • turn notification types on or off;
  • block, mute, report, or delete your own Stories and comments;
  • delete your account (Settings, then Delete account).

If you can't use the app, you can ask us to delete your account at katkee.com/delete-account. Write to privacy@katkee.com for a copy of your data or anything else.

In India, the Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023 gives you the right to:

  • get a summary of your personal data and how we use it;
  • have it corrected, completed, updated or erased;
  • have your grievances about it answered;
  • nominate someone to use these rights for you if you die or can't use them yourself.

Write to privacy@katkee.com to use any of them. If you're not satisfied with our answer, you can complain to the Data Protection Board of India. If you'd like this policy in Hindi or another language listed in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India, ask us at the same address.

Wherever you live

You can ask us, at privacy@katkee.com, for a copy of your data, to correct it, to delete it, or to stop or limit something we do with it. We answer within a month (within 45 days for California), we don't charge for it, and using a right never changes how Katkee treats you. We may ask you to confirm the request from your account's email address so no one else can make it.

European Economic Area, UK and Switzerland (GDPR)

You have the right to access, correct, delete and move (port) your data, to object to our use of it, to restrict it, and to withdraw any consent at any time. The legal bases we rely on:

  • Contract: running your account, Stories, Highlights, messages and notifications, which you asked for by signing up (Article 6(1)(b)).
  • Legitimate interests: ordering Home (including the interests we learn) and how far public Stories reach, choosing Sponsored Stories from the interests you chose, keeping Katkee safe (rate limits, link checks, moderation), security records, and our own analytics, which identify nobody once counted (Article 6(1)(f)). You can object to any of these; for Sponsored Stories, removing your interests in Edit Profile stops them being used.
  • Consent: Nearby Stories (your area) and a location sticker; you can turn them off at any time.
  • Legal obligation: keeping server logs and the details of deleted accounts for as long as the law requires (section 7).

You can complain to the data protection authority where you live or work (in the UK, the Information Commissioner's Office).

United States (California and other states)

In the last 12 months we collected the categories in section 2 (identifiers, account details, your content and activity on Katkee, approximate area if you turned it on, and device information), from you and your use of Katkee, for the purposes in section 3. We don't sell your personal information or share it for cross-context behavioural advertising, and we don't use sensitive personal information to infer things about you. You have the right to know, correct and delete your data, and to opt out of sale or sharing (which we don't do). You can use an authorised agent.

Other countries

Data protection laws elsewhere (for example Brazil's LGPD, Canada's PIPEDA, Singapore's PDPA, Australia's Privacy Act, Japan's APPI and South Korea's PIPA) give similar rights: to know what we hold, to correct or delete it, and to complain to your regulator. Write to privacy@katkee.com and we'll help.

9. Katkee is for adults (18 and older)

Katkee is only for people 18 and older. That's true in every country, even where the law would allow younger people to sign up. Under India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023, anyone under 18 is a child, and we don't knowingly collect personal data from children anywhere.

  • When you create an account, we ask for your date of birth. If it shows you're under 18, we don't create the account and keep nothing you entered. If you started with Google or a phone number, that verified sign-in is deleted at once.
  • If we learn that an account belongs to someone under 18, we delete it.
  • To tell us about an account that may belong to someone under 18, report it in the app (reason: May be under 18) or write to grievance@katkee.com.

10. Changes to this policy

We'll update the "Last updated" date above and, for material changes, notify you in the app before they take effect.

11. Contact

Katkee is operated by Rahul Katakdhond, a sole proprietorship registered in India.