Privacy policy
Last updated: 5 October 2026
Who we are
Sidetext is a Dutch company based in Sint Odiliënberg. We are the data controller for the data processed in the app.
Sidetext
Hoofdstraat 15
6077 AM Sint Odiliënberg
Chamber of Commerce 17185974
VAT NL001683885B97
support@sidetext.eu
What we process
Account data. A username, an email address and your first and last name. A display name, profile photo and header photo are optional. We use your first and last name in email from us to you; if you set a display name, others in the app see that name instead. Your header photo and status text are only visible to accepted contacts.
Messages and attachments. Your messages are stored on our servers so they are available on all your devices. Direct conversations and group conversations are end-to-end encrypted with Housekey: messages and attachments (text, photos, files, voice messages, video, location), reactions and polls can be read only by the people in the conversation, not by us. Calls are end-to-end encrypted too: only the people in the call can hear each other. If you lose your key and your recovery code, we cannot recover those conversations either. Not end-to-end encrypted: GIFs and stickers, which refer to a public catalogue; announcement channels in communities; and public channels, which are public by design. We have technical access to the content of announcement channels, but we do not read it and do not use it for anything else.
Delivery data. To deliver messages we know which accounts share a conversation, when messages are sent and read, and how large they are.
Phone number and contacts. Both are optional; the app works fully without them. You can link your phone number to be findable by people who already have your number in their contacts. We verify the number with a text message code and store exactly one number for you: your own, verified one. Anyone who has your number and shares their own can see that you are on Sidetext; your number is never shown to others. Unlink it and you are no longer findable by your number, immediately.
If you give Sidetext access to your contacts, the app reads only the phone numbers on your device and sends them to our server to check who is on Sidetext. The server compares and forgets: nothing from your address book is stored or logged. Names, email addresses and photos from your contacts never leave your device.
Technical logs. Our server records technical events to resolve faults and prevent abuse, without message content. These logs are deleted automatically after at most 30 days.
Why we process this data
To provide the app: delivering messages, managing your account and resolving faults. The legal basis is the performance of the contract between you and us.
We do not sell your data, do not share it with third parties for commercial purposes and do not show advertisements. We use no analytics services and no crash reporting.
Where your data is held
Our servers are in Europe and fall under European law. Your data is not transferred outside the European Economic Area, except where stated below.
Third party services
Apple and Google. For push notifications. We send only a reference, never message content; your device retrieves the message from us itself. Apple and Google process data about your device in the process, under their own privacy policies.
GatewayAPI. For the text message code when verifying your phone number, only if you use that feature. GatewayAPI (EU, Denmark) processes your number and the code once, at that moment.
Klipy. For GIFs and stickers, only when you use that feature. Your search goes through our servers; the images are loaded by your device directly from Klipy, which sees your IP address at that point.
OpenStreetMap. For maps, only when you share or view a location. The map tiles are loaded by your device directly from OpenStreetMap, which sees your IP address at that point.
How long we keep your data
For as long as your account exists. If you delete your account, we delete your data from our servers. Backups are kept for at most one month; after that, deleted data is permanently gone from those too. Data from text message verifications is kept for at most seven days.
Your rights
You have the right to access your data, to have it corrected or deleted, to object to processing, to request restriction, and to receive your data in a portable format. We cannot access or hand over the content of end-to-end encrypted conversations in that process: it is unreadable to us.
Email support@sidetext.eu to exercise these rights. We respond within one month. If you disagree with how we handle your data, you can lodge a complaint with the Dutch Data Protection Authority (Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens).
Automated decision making
We do not make decisions about you based on automated processing.
Changes
If this policy changes, we update the date at the top. For significant changes we will let you know in the app.