Create your pet
Legal

Privacy Policy

What we collect, why, and what you can do about it. Written to be read, not skimmed past.

Last updated

Who we are

Chatmello is operated by:

Chatmello
Email: support@chatmello.com

This policy covers chatmello.com, the Chatmello dashboard, and the Chatmello script that customers add to their websites.

Two kinds of people, two roles

  • Account holders (people who sign up to use Chatmello): we decide how your data is used, so we're responsible for it.
  • Visitors of our customers' websites: the website owner decides to use Chatmello and is responsible for telling their visitors. We process that data on the owner's behalf, only to provide the service.

What we collect from account holders

  • Account: your email address and a securely hashed password, or your Google account email if you sign in with Google.
  • Your sites: the website addresses you enter, your pet designs and settings, and pictures you upload.
  • Billing: if you subscribe, payments are handled by Stripe. We store your Stripe customer and subscription IDs and your plan, not your card details.
  • Website analytics on chatmello.com: we use Google Analytics to understand how our own site and dashboard are used (pages viewed, buttons clicked, sign-ups). For signed-in users we send a random account ID (not your email), your plan and how many sites you have.
  • Support: emails you send us.
  • Emails we send you: a welcome email, password reset links you ask for, a weekly summary of your pets' views, clicks and chats, a note when a pet first goes live, and up to two setup tips if your pet isn't on your site yet. Turn these off in Account or with the link in any summary.

What the Chatmello script collects on our customers' websites

When a pet is shown on a website, the script sends us usage events: pet shown, pet clicked, chat opened, chat tool missing. Each event records only the event type, which chat tool was found, the website's host and the page path, and the time. It doesn't record what visitors type or read, doesn't build visitor profiles, and sets no cookies (it uses the browser's session storage only to remember it already greeted the visitor during that visit). IP addresses are used briefly, in memory, to block abuse, and are not stored. Details: How Chatmello handles data.

Conversations happen inside the website's own chat tool (for example Intercom or Zendesk) under that tool's privacy terms. Chatmello doesn't see them.

Why we use it

  • To provide the service: run your account, show your pet on your website, and show you your stats (performance of our contract with you).
  • To take payments and keep billing records (contract and legal obligations).
  • To keep the service secure and prevent abuse (legitimate interests).
  • To understand and improve our own website and product, using Google Analytics (legitimate interests, or your consent where the law requires it).

Cookies on chatmello.com

  • Sign-in cookie (chatmello_session): keeps you logged in for up to 30 days. Necessary.
  • A short-lived cookie (about a minute) that passes an analytics event from the server to the next page, such as a completed sign-up.
  • Google Analytics cookies (such as _ga): measure visits to our site. Set only if you choose Accept analytics in the cookie banner. Until then, Google Analytics runs without cookies. Change your choice anytime with Cookie settings at the bottom of every page; it is stored in your browser.

The Chatmello script on customers' websites sets no cookies.

Who we share it with

Only the service providers we need to run Chatmello, each handling data for us:

  • Vercel (hosting) and Supabase (database)
  • Stripe (payments)
  • Resend (sending account emails)
  • Sentry (error reports, stored in the EU; they can include the page address and the error message)
  • Google (Google Analytics on our site, and Google sign-in if you use it)
  • Cloudflare (domain and email forwarding)

We don't sell personal data and don't share it for advertising. These providers may process data outside your country; they use standard safeguards for international transfers.

How long we keep it

  • Account and site data: while your account exists. Deleting a site deletes its stats; deleting your account deletes everything in it right away.
  • Uploaded pictures: deleted automatically 30 days after no site uses them.
  • Billing records: as long as tax and accounting law requires.
  • Google Analytics data: according to the retention period set in Google Analytics.

Your rights

You can download a copy of your data and delete your account yourself, any time, from Account in the dashboard. You can also ask us to correct your data, or object to analytics: write to support@chatmello.com; we'll answer within 30 days. You can also complain to your local data protection authority.

If you're a visitor of a website that uses Chatmello, please contact that website's owner first; we'll help them answer your request.

Security

Passwords are stored as salted hashes, connections use HTTPS, and access to customer data is limited to running the service. To report a security issue, email support@chatmello.com.

Children

Chatmello is a business service and isn't meant for children under 16.

Changes

If we change this policy, we'll update the date above, and tell account holders by email about significant changes.