Tuoling Privacy Policy

Updated: 4 November 2026　Effective: 4 November 2026

Tuoling is an everyday-life app for Chinese people living and working in Central Asia (Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan). This policy explains in plain words what we collect, why, how we store it, who processes it for us, and how you can control your information.

Until you tap “Agree and continue”, Tuoling collects no personal information and shows no system permission requests.

1. What we collect and why

1. Account. When you sign in with your phone number we collect it to sign you in, recover your account and prevent impersonation. If you sign in with Telegram, we receive your Telegram account ID and phone number. Your nickname, photo and bio are filled in by you and visible to others.

2. What you post and send. Text, photos and videos in posts, second-hand listings, jobs, housing, comments and private messages, plus any contact details you enter. Public posts are visible to all users; private messages only to you and the other person.

3. Location. Only after you allow it, we read your approximate location and work out the nearest city on your phone to show local information. Coordinates are never uploaded to our servers. You can always choose a city by hand instead.

4. Camera, photos and microphone. Used only when you take a photo, pick an image, record a video or hold to talk. Photos, videos and recordings are uploaded only when you tap send.

5. Translation and read-aloud. What you type, photograph or say in the translator is sent to our server and then to our translation provider (DeepSeek) and our speech recognition and text-to-speech provider (Microsoft Azure), only to return the result to you.

6. Notifications. After you sign in, we create a device ID for this phone so we can notify you about messages, comments, new followers and announcements. If your phone supports Google push, a Google push token is used as well.

7. Verification and merchant documents. IDs and business licences you submit for business or creator verification or merchant onboarding are stored encrypted and used only for review.

8. Device and log data. App version, phone brand and model, OS version, IP address, access time, and records of app errors and crashes. Used to keep accounts and servers secure, stop abuse, fix problems and show your country based on IP (country only).

2. What we never do

We do not sell your personal information.
We do not use your information for personalised ads or share it with advertisers.
We do not collect anything before you agree, and we do not ask for a permission before you use the feature that needs it.

3. System permissions

Location: pick your city automatically.
Camera and photos: take and post photos, upload your avatar and documents.
Microphone: hold-to-talk translation.
Notifications: alerts for messages, comments, followers and announcements.
Install apps (Android): install a new version downloaded inside the app.

Each permission is asked for only the first time you use the feature. You can turn any of them off in your phone’s settings; only that feature stops working.

4. Where and how long we keep data

Our servers are in Frankfurt, Germany. Public files such as the installer are delivered through Cloudflare.

Account information and your posts are kept while your account exists. When you delete content or your account, we delete or anonymise the related data unless the law requires us to keep it. The device ID registered for notifications is removed after 60 days of inactivity. Error records and access logs are kept only as long as needed to fix problems and keep the service secure.

IDs, licences and other sensitive documents are stored encrypted and can only be viewed by reviewers.

5. Who processes data for us

To provide the service, some data is processed by these providers, which may use it only as we instruct:

Alibaba Cloud: sends sign-in codes to Chinese phone numbers (phone number).
DeepSeek: translates text (what you translate).
Microsoft Azure: turns hold-to-talk recordings into text (recordings are not kept after recognition) and reads text aloud (what you have read aloud).
Google Firebase: delivers notifications to Android phones (push token and notification content).
Telegram: verifies your account when you choose Telegram sign-in.
Cloudflare: network acceleration (IP address and connection data).

Apart from this, we disclose information to authorities only when the law requires it or to protect the safety of users and the public.

6. Your rights

View and edit: see and change your profile in “Me” and “Settings → Account”.
Delete: delete anything you have posted.
Turn off: notifications in “Settings → Notifications”, permissions in your phone’s settings.
Withdraw consent: in “Settings → Privacy”. You will be signed out, notifications and error reporting stop, and the consent screen comes back. Withdrawal does not affect processing done before it.
Delete your account: “Me → Settings → Account & security → Delete account”. After you apply there is a 15-day cooling-off period; signing in again during that time cancels the deletion. When it ends we delete your account and personal data, except what the law requires us to keep.
Export or erase data: contact us in the app under “Me → Support”; we handle requests within 15 working days.

If you are in the EU or California, you also have the rights your local law gives you — access, correction, deletion, restriction, objection and portability — and can use them the same way.

7. Minors

Tuoling is meant for adults. Users under 18 should use it only with a parent’s or guardian’s consent. If we learn we collected a minor’s data without such consent, we will delete it promptly.

8. Changes

When this policy changes we update this page in the app. For significant changes (new kinds of data, new providers) we will ask you to confirm again the next time you open the app.

9. Contact us

Tuoling is operated by the Tuoling team.

For questions, feedback or complaints, contact us in the app under “Me → Support”.

This policy is available in several languages. If they differ, the Chinese version prevails.