Legal
Privacy policy
Last updated: 9 October 2026
Nodz is in open beta. This document describes how the service works today; it may still be refined, and we will announce material changes here before they apply.
1. Who is responsible
The controller for personal data processed by Nodz is DevBiz, WALSTRAAT, 8020 OOSTKAMP, BELGIUM (registration number KBO 1022.925.574). For anything about privacy, email privacy@nodz.im.
2. The short version
- An account needs only a username and a password. We never ask for a phone number, email address, real name or date of birth.
- Messages, attachments, contact lists and your private keys are encrypted on your device. We cannot read them, and we cannot hand them over to anyone in readable form.
- We do not use advertising, analytics, tracking cookies or third-party scripts, and we never sell data.
- We keep the remaining data to the minimum the service needs, and delete it as soon as possible.
3. What we process, why, and for how long
| Data | Purpose | Legal basis (GDPR) | Retention |
|---|---|---|---|
| Username, password verifier (Argon2id hash, never the password itself), public identity key, discoverability setting, creation date (day only), and which version of the terms of use you accepted and on which day | Providing your account | Art. 6(1)(b) contract | Until you delete your account; then everything is removed at once, except the username, which is kept on its own as a retired name so nobody can register it and impersonate you (Art. 6(1)(f)). |
| Public key log entry: a hash of your username, your public identity key, the date | Letting everyone check that the key they are given for you is the one published for your username, so a substituted key cannot go unnoticed | Art. 6(1)(f) legitimate interest in the security of everyone's conversations | Permanent: the log can only grow, which is what makes it trustworthy. It contains no other data, and only someone who already knows your username and key can look it up. |
| Device identifiers, date added and date last active (day only), hashes of session tokens | Signing you in and letting you manage your devices | Art. 6(1)(b) | Sessions expire after 30 days. Devices remain until you remove them or delete your account. |
| Recovery verifier and your encrypted identity backup | Account recovery without email | Art. 6(1)(b) | Until you create a new recovery code or delete your account. We cannot decrypt the backup. |
| Device public keys, device certificates, single-use MLS key packages | Letting others start encrypted conversations with you | Art. 6(1)(b) | Key packages are deleted when used; the rest until the device is removed. |
| Encrypted files you send (unreadable to us: encrypted on your device; we never learn the name, type or who it is for) | Delivering files in conversations | Art. 6(1)(b) | 30 days, then deleted automatically. |
| Encrypted message envelopes (unreadable to us) | Delivering messages, including to offline devices | Art. 6(1)(b) | Deleted when delivered; undelivered envelopes after at most 30 days. |
| IP address and connection times | Transmitting data; protecting the service against abuse | Art. 6(1)(f) legitimate interest in security | Not written to access logs. Abuse limits use pseudonymous counters that become unlinkable within 48 hours. |
| Technical error logs (no IP addresses, usernames or message data) | Keeping the service working | Art. 6(1)(f) | 14 days |
| Emails you send us | Answering your question or report | Art. 6(1)(f), or (b) where it concerns your account | Up to 1 year after the matter is closed |
| Donations: amount, date, payment method and, depending on the method, payer name and account details as shown to us by Mollie | Processing the donation; bookkeeping | Art. 6(1)(b), and (c) for legal bookkeeping duties | 10 years (Belgian accounting and tax law). Donations are never linked to a Nodz account. |
4. What we do not do
We do not profile you, make automated decisions about you that have legal or similarly significant effects (Art. 22 GDPR), show advertising, use analytics, or sell or rent data.
5. Cookies and storage on your device
This website sets no cookies. The Nodz app uses a single, strictly necessary session cookie to keep you signed in; it needs no consent. Your encryption keys and settings are stored in your browser's local storage (IndexedDB) on your own device; they are never sent to us in readable form. You can remove them at any time in Settings → This browser.
6. Who else receives data
- Hosting: DevBiz operates the servers in Belgium as our processor under a data processing agreement.
- Payments: donations are processed by Mollie B.V., Amsterdam, the Netherlands, which acts as an independent controller for payment data. See Mollie's privacy statement on mollie.com.
We do not transfer personal data outside the European Economic Area. We only disclose data to authorities where the law requires it, and then only what we have: we cannot provide message content, contact lists or keys, because we do not hold them in readable form.
7. Security
Messages use the Messaging Layer Security standard (RFC 9420). Passwords are hashed with Argon2id. Connections use TLS. Databases are not reachable from the internet. Details are on our security page.
8. Your rights
You have the right to access, rectify and erase your data, to restrict or object to processing, and to data portability. In the app you can download your data (Settings → Your data) and delete your account at any time. Because we hold no email address or phone number, we verify requests through your signed-in account; if you cannot sign in, your recovery code proves that the account is yours. You can also write to privacy@nodz.im. We reply within one month.
You may lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority, for example the Belgian Data Protection Authority (Gegevensbeschermingsautoriteit / Autorité de protection des données) (https://www.dataprotectionauthority.be).
9. Minimum age
Nodz is intended for people aged 16 or older.
10. Changes
If we change this policy, we will publish the new version here with a new date. Significant changes will be announced in the app before they take effect.
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