TapVox — Privacy Policy
Last updated: April 26, 2026
TapVox is a peer-to-peer, end-to-end encrypted voice messaging app developed by Thinkers Technology. TapVox is built on a zero-knowledge architecture — we cannot read your messages, and we do not collect your personal information.
Our Core Privacy Principle
TapVox is designed so that no one — including us — can access your voice messages. All messages are encrypted on your device before they leave it, and only the intended recipient can decrypt them.
Information We Do Not Collect
- No user accounts — your identity is a cryptographic keypair generated on your device
- No names, email addresses, or phone numbers stored on our servers
- No message content — all voice messages are end-to-end encrypted
- No contact lists or social graphs
- No location data
- No browsing or usage profiles
- No advertising identifiers
What Stays on Your Device
- Your private key — stored in your device's secure enclave (Keychain/Keystore). Never transmitted.
- Your contacts — stored in an encrypted local database. Never uploaded to any server.
- Your voice messages — stored encrypted on your device. Decrypted only for playback.
- Your nickname — stored locally. Shared only with contacts you pair with directly.
What Our Server Sees
TapVox uses a relay server to facilitate message delivery when both devices aren't online simultaneously. The server handles:
- Signaling — temporary WebRTC connection setup data. Ephemeral, not stored.
- Encrypted mailbox — if your device is offline, encrypted message blobs are stored temporarily (up to 7 days) then automatically deleted. The server cannot decrypt these blobs.
- Push tokens — an opaque device token used to send silent wake-up notifications. Not linked to any identity.
The server never sees: message content, sender identity, recipient identity, your public key in association with any personal information, or any metadata that could build a social graph.
Peer-to-Peer Communication
When both you and your contact are online, messages are sent directly between devices using WebRTC. No server is involved in the message transfer — only the initial connection setup passes through our signaling server.
End-to-End Encryption
TapVox uses libsodium for all cryptographic operations:
- X25519 key exchange for establishing shared secrets
- XChaCha20-Poly1305 authenticated encryption for messages
- Ed25519 signatures for server authentication
- HKDF key derivation for per-message session keys
Encryption keys are generated and managed entirely on your device.
Permissions
TapVox requests the following device permissions:
- Microphone — to record voice messages
- Camera — to scan QR codes for contact pairing
- Bluetooth — for nearby contact discovery and pairing
- Contacts — optional, for phone-number-based mutual discovery (numbers are hashed locally, never sent in plaintext)
- Notifications — to alert you of new messages
Third-Party Services
- Apple Push Notification service (APNs) and Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM) — used to send silent wake-up notifications. No message content is included in push notifications.
TapVox does not use any analytics, advertising, or tracking SDKs.
Data Retention
- Encrypted mailbox blobs: automatically deleted after download or 7 days, whichever comes first
- Push tokens: automatically purged after 30 days of inactivity
- Signaling data: ephemeral, not persisted
- On-device data: persists until you delete the app
Children's Privacy
TapVox does not knowingly collect any personal information from anyone, including children under 13. Since TapVox does not collect personal information, there is no age-specific data to manage.
Changes to This Policy
We may update this policy from time to time. Changes will be posted on this page with an updated date.
Contact
If you have questions about this privacy policy, contact us at don@thinkerstechnology.com.
Open Source
TapVox's server code and encryption implementation are available for inspection. We believe transparency is essential for trust in a privacy-focused application.