Viska Privacy Policy

Viska ("Viska", the "Service") is developed and operated by Avdalyan Tech LLC ("Avdalyan Tech", "we", "us"), a U.S. limited liability company. This policy explains what information Viska collects, why, and what control you have over it.

Viska is an end-to-end encrypted messenger. Our guiding principle is that we should collect as little as possible, and be unable to read your private messages at all. The sections below explain exactly where that principle applies and where it has necessary exceptions (like public channels and content you actively report).

1. Information we collect

Account & device information

Creating a Viska account does not require a phone number or email address. Instead, your account is a cryptographic identity created on your device. We store:

• A device identifier generated on your device
• Public encryption keys used to establish encrypted sessions with other users
• An optional username, if you choose to set one and make yourself discoverable to other users
• The date your account was created

Message content

One-to-one and group messages are end-to-end encrypted on your device before they ever reach our servers. Our server only ever sees an opaque, encrypted "envelope" — it cannot decrypt or read your message content. Encrypted messages are held only long enough to be delivered to the recipient device and are then deleted; if a message can never be decrypted by the recipient (for example after a lost device), it is deleted as undeliverable rather than kept indefinitely.

Media attachments

Photos, videos, and files you send are encrypted on your device before upload. Our storage provider holds only encrypted bytes it cannot read; the decryption key travels only inside the encrypted message sent to the recipient.

Channels (public broadcast feature)

Channels are a public broadcast feature and are not end-to-end encrypted. If you create or post to a channel, the channel's title, description, posts, and media are stored in plaintext and are visible to anyone who follows that channel. Do not post anything to a channel that you would not want to be public.

Reports

If you report a message or user for violating our Community Guidelines, the content you are reporting (already decrypted on your device) is sent to us along with your stated reason, so we can review it. This is the one situation, outside of channels, where message content you choose to share becomes visible to us.

Account recovery backups

If you choose to enable account recovery, a backup of your account data is encrypted on your device using a recovery code that only you have. We store only the resulting ciphertext and cannot read it, and the backup is not linked to your device identity in our systems.

Technical & log data

Like any online service, our infrastructure necessarily processes IP addresses and standard request metadata (timestamps, endpoint called, response codes) to operate, secure, and rate-limit the service. This is handled by our infrastructure providers as part of normal operation and is not compiled into a profile about you.

Push notification tokens

Viska can optionally register a device token with Apple to wake the app for new messages. This capability is not currently active in the shipping app; when it is enabled, the token is used solely to request a silent wake-up and is never used for marketing.

2. What we don't do

• We do not sell your data to anyone.
• We do not show ads or use advertising trackers.
• We cannot read your one-to-one or group message content — it is end-to-end encrypted and we do not hold the keys.
• We do not require a phone number, email, or real name to use Viska.

3. Why we process this information

We process account and device data to provide the service itself (delivering your messages, syncing your channels, letting you recover your account) — this is necessary to perform our contract with you as a user of Viska. We process technical/log data and reports based on our legitimate interest in keeping the service secure, reliable, and free of abuse. Optional features (channels, account backup, discoverable usernames) are processed based on your choice to use them.

4. Where your data is stored

Our primary database runs on infrastructure located in Stockholm, Sweden (EU). Encrypted media attachments are stored with a globally-distributed object storage provider, which may replicate encrypted data across multiple regions for reliability — because this data is encrypted before it ever reaches our storage provider, it is not readable regardless of where it is physically stored.

5. Data retention

• Encrypted messages are deleted from our servers once delivered (or once confirmed undeliverable).
• Account data (device identifier, keys, username) is deleted immediately when you delete your account from within the app.
• Reports are retained as needed for moderation and legal compliance purposes.
• Encrypted media attachments you send are deleted from storage when you delete your account. Until then, they may persist in storage after delivery, referenced only by an unguessable identifier.

6. Your rights

Depending on where you live, you may have rights to access, correct, delete, restrict, or receive a copy of your personal data, and to object to certain processing. You can delete your account and its associated data at any time directly from Viska's settings. For anything else, contact us at hello@avdalyan.world. If you are in the EU/EEA, you also have the right to lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority (in Sweden, the Integritetsskyddsmyndigheten (IMY)).

7. Children

Viska is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect data from children under that age. If you believe a child has created an account, contact us and we will delete it.

8. Third-party service providers

We use cloud hosting and object storage providers to operate Viska, and Apple for optional push notification delivery. These providers process data on our behalf under their own security commitments and do not have the ability to read your encrypted message content.

9. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as Viska changes. We will update the "Last updated" date above, and post material changes within the app.

10. Contact

Avdalyan Tech LLC — hello@avdalyan.world