What Data Does PeerFlow Store, and What Does It Never Keep?

A messenger or a file tool can claim to be private in one line. Judging whether it is takes a clearer picture of what it actually keeps. This article gives a plain account of what PeerFlow's server holds, what stays on your own devices, and what is never stored at all. For the formal terms, the privacy page is the authoritative source; this is the friendly version.

The short answer

PeerFlow tries to keep as little as possible. Your conversations, your files and your meetings do not live on its server. What the server needs to run an account is limited to the account itself, the list of people you have connected with, and encrypted messages that are waiting for someone to come online.

What the server holds

• Your account details: your email address, display name, username and the short line about you that you may add.
• Your contacts: the connections you have made with other people, so that you appear in each other's lists.
• Encrypted messages in transit: a message for someone who is offline waits on the server in encrypted form, which the server cannot read, and is deleted after delivery. See how offline messages work.
• Notification details: the information the system needs to send an alert to your phone or browser.
• Temporary meeting information: a meeting's link and state exist while it is in use and for a day after the last person leaves, then are forgotten.
• Sign-in codes: a one-time code is valid for a few minutes.
• Ordinary technical logs, as any web service keeps, for running and protecting the service.

What stays only on your devices

• Your chat history, encrypted, on your own device. A backup in your PeerFlow folder is under your control. See chat history backup.
• Your encryption keys, which are what make the history and the messages unreadable to anyone else.
• Files you have received, in your PeerFlow folder.
• Recordings and screenshots, saved on the device of the person who made them.
• Your permissions and settings.

What is never stored on the server

What the server can see

Any service that introduces devices to each other learns a few things: that an account is online, that two accounts exchanged introduction messages, and roughly when. A relay, when it is used, sees that two addresses exchange a certain amount of encrypted data. It cannot see what is in it. Read how messages travel and STUN, TURN and ICE for the details.

What the other person can see

Privacy is also about the people you talk to. A contact sees your display name, username and the line about you. In a direct connection the other device learns network information, as in any direct connection. In a remote session, the other person sees only what you share and can do only what you allow, and you can stop it at any time. Read remote desktop privacy.

What you can do to keep more private

1. Use a username, not your real name, if you do not want to be found by it.
2. Share only with people you trust, and confirm by another channel for sensitive exchanges.
3. Look after your device, since your history lives there: lock it and keep it updated.
4. Make your own encrypted backup, and store it somewhere safe.
5. Review permissions in the checklist, as described in permissions PeerFlow asks for.

Honest limits

No service can promise perfection. If someone has access to your unlocked device, they can read what you can read. If a person you chat with forwards a message, you cannot stop them. And a server, however minimal, is still a server: it must be run and secured by people, and rules in the country where it runs apply to it. The aim is to hold less, so there is less to lose.

Try it and check for yourself

Read the security page and the privacy page, then install the Android or Windows app and look at the permissions list to see exactly what it asks for.