Starline App Privacy Notice
星线软件技术（四川）有限责任公司
Effective 21 October 2026

Learn how the Starline app processes information for accounts, chats, calls, location sharing, and local memories, and how to manage and delete that information.

01 Scope and how to contact us

The entity responsible for processing personal information is 星线软件技术（四川）有限责任公司 (“Starline” or “we”). This notice applies to the iOS and Android versions of the Starline app and the associated account and chat services. The app’s filing number is 蜀ICP备2026057076号-4A. Xingqi and other independent products are covered by their own notices where their processing activities differ.

This notice was updated on 21 October 2026. Available features may differ between systems, devices and versions. Processing needed for a feature takes place only when you actually use that feature. For supplementary rules on the website and unified account, see Privacy Notice and Starline Account Terms.

Personal information rights requests, account deletion requests, privacy inquiries, and complaints are accepted through the WeCom channel shown on this privacy website’s “Contact Starline” page. First explain the type of request and provide information that allows us to identify the relevant account. Do not provide passwords, SMS verification codes, or identity documents unrelated to your request.

02 Overview of features and information processing

Local features such as memories, personal tasks, and website bookmarks can be used without signing in. Using only these local features does not upload your memories, tasks, or bookmarks to Starline’s servers. Online features such as registration, sign-in, chats, Updates, calls, and location sharing require the relevant account or a network connection.

We process information to the extent needed to provide the features you choose, maintain security, handle requests, and fulfil legal obligations. Optional camera, microphone, and location permissions may be refused or withdrawn. Refusing a permission affects only the features that depend on it. The current version does not provide personalised advertising or use advertising identifiers for cross-app advertising tracking.

Text, images, files, and locations you send, publish, or export may contain sensitive personal information about you or others. Before sending, check the recipients and audience settings. Obtain any necessary authorisation for information about other people.

03 Signing in and profile information

Registration, verification, and sign-in are handled through Starline accounts and involve mobile numbers, email addresses, verification codes, passwords in a form that cannot be directly reversed, account identifiers, verification status, and sign-in sessions. Through system web authorisation, the app receives your account identifier, display name, authorised email address or mobile number, and their verification status to identify the account and connect to online services. Your account password is not displayed to other users as chat profile information.

You may choose to enter a nickname, biography, and contact details on your profile card. Card information is shown to users within the audience you select. A mobile number entered manually on a card serves a different purpose from the number used for registration verification. Do not put information you want to keep private in public or shareable card fields.

To provide friend searches, friend requests, groups, and blocking features, the server stores in-app friend identifiers, request status, group memberships, and blocking relationships. When finding users by verified mobile number, the server uses protected matching values. “Contacts” here refers to friends and group relationships within the app. The current version does not read your device’s address book.

Available sign-in methods depend on the options actually shown on the Starline account page. If you choose a third-party service such as WeChat or Alipay, its provider processes the sign-in request according to the authorisation page. Starline receives the account identifiers and information allowed by that authorisation. Using the app does not authorise a third-party sign-in service you have not selected.

04 Chats, files, and message deletion

When you send a private or group chat message, the server processes sender and recipient identifiers, group and conversation relationships, message text, the images, videos, or files you select, file types, sending times, and read status. This is used to deliver, retain, and display content in the relevant conversations. Recipients can save, forward, or otherwise copy content they receive.

Chat content is currently stored and processed by Starline’s chat service to provide message and attachment features. Network transmission and some data are protected by security measures, but this does not mean that all chat content is end-to-end encrypted. Registering a device’s encryption public key is not treated in this notice as a guarantee that only the sender and recipient can read every message.

“Delete message” and “Delete conversation” primarily change the history visible to you. They do not mean that content saved by recipients, content visible to other members, or original server records is deleted at the same time. Signing out, removing a friend, or uninstalling the app does not automatically delete server records either. To request deletion of your personal data on the server, use the contact page to submit a data deletion or account deletion request.

Reporting and blocking features process the subject of a report, identifiers for relevant content, the reason for the report, and information needed for verification, to address inappropriate content and protect users. We do not use the reporting feature as a way to publicly disclose a reporter’s full personal information.

05 Updates and audience settings

When you publish an Update, the server stores the text, photos, or videos you submit, the author identifier, publication time, and selected audience list. It also processes likes, comments, and reports so the content can be displayed and managed for your chosen audience. Check the audience before publishing. People allowed to view the content may still take screenshots or save it themselves.

When an author deletes an Update they posted, the service deletes that post and associated records, such as its media and comments. Hiding someone else’s post changes only what you see and does not delete the author’s original content. Temporary media uploads that have not been published and are older than 24 hours are included in cleanup. Published content does not expire automatically under this temporary upload rule.

06 Audio and video calls and incoming call notifications

When you make or answer an audio or video call, the app uses the microphone and, if you choose, the camera. It processes audio and video streams, call participant identifiers, room identifiers, connection tokens, IP addresses, and necessary connection quality information to establish and maintain the call. Audio and video are transmitted through media services configured by Starline and between call participants.

The server retains the call initiator, participants, conversation or group, call type, start and end times, status, and reason for ending, to support incoming calls, call status, and call history. The current version does not offer audio recording, video recording, or speech transcription. The app does not control recordings made separately by other participants using their own devices.

Incoming calls while the iOS app is in the background use Apple PushKit/APNs and CallKit. Starline registers device identifiers and VoIP push tokens associated with your sign-in session. It sends Apple the caller or group name, call identifier, and call type needed to display an incoming call. The corresponding push registration is removed when you sign out, actively unregister, or Apple confirms that the token is invalid. Once a sign-in session expires, that session is no longer selected for incoming call notifications. You can manage the relevant permissions in system settings.

07 One-time location messages and live location sharing

When you choose to send a one-time location, the app processes the selected place name and coordinates and sends them as a chat message to the relevant conversation. That location is retained under the chat history rules; ending live sharing later does not automatically delete it. When you search for nearby places or display a map, the system’s map service processes the coordinates, search terms, and network information needed for that map request. Precise location is sensitive personal information. Share it only with people you trust.

When you choose to enable live location sharing, the app updates the relevant conversation with your coordinates, location accuracy, sharing start time, and update time. Versions that need it use background location to continue sharing when you switch to another app or lock the screen. Sharing that has not been ended may resume when you reopen the app. Moving the app to the background alone does not end sharing.

For each user in the relevant conversation, the live sharing service retains the latest active coordinates and replaces the previous coordinates with each new update. The relevant active sharing data is removed when sharing is actively ended, the relevant group membership ends, or a related friend or blocking relationship changes. You can end sharing using the sharing control, or withdraw location or background location permissions in system settings to stop further location collection. These actions do not automatically remove one-time location messages already sent or copies saved separately by other users.

08 City landmark stickers

The first slot in the chat sticker panel can recommend building images from a bundled set of 44 cities. You can select a city manually or refresh the result; the selected city does not prove that you are actually there. This feature is currently available only as a development preview, and the supporting production chat backend has not been deployed. Updating this notice does not mean that the feature has been enabled for public use or that an app store submission has been completed.

City recommendations use a single foreground system location request. On iOS, permission to access location while the App is in use is requested if a location permission choice has not yet been made. On Android, approximate location permission is requested when you select the device location option; where the relevant permission already exists, location may be obtained when you open or refresh the panel. This feature does not request background location or start live location sharing. Actual accuracy depends on the system and existing permissions. The city-level accuracy requested on iOS does not guarantee that only approximate coordinates are received.

The App converts a location into a city using CLGeocoder on iOS or the system Geocoder on Android. Android first reduces the precision of the coordinates. System reverse geocoding services may use a network connection to process coordinates and the information needed for the request, under the relevant provider’s rules. For this sticker feature, the App does not upload raw latitude and longitude to Starline’s chat interfaces or attach personal location coordinates to the bundled building PNG images. This does not mean that coordinates never leave the device.

Where there is no reusable result, the client may also request IP-based city identification from Starline’s chat service, potentially in parallel with device location. The server infers a city from the connection’s IP address using a local offline ip2region database. It does not send the IP address to third parties for this lookup or separately persist city lookup results. If you refuse or withdraw location permission, you can still use IP-based city identification or select a city manually. IP-based or system identification may be inaccurate or fail to match a supported city; you can change the selection yourself.

The identified city, country or region code, source and manual selection are used for city recommendations in the App’s process memory, with a ten-minute window for reuse or refresh. They are not scheduled for deletion after ten minutes. Closing the panel does not clear an existing selection. Clearing session state on iOS resets the city selection; signing out on Android does not actively clear its temporary cache separated by account. This window does not apply to prepared sticker media, sent messages or server records and must not be taken to mean that these are deleted at the same time.

When you prepare or send a sticker, Starline receives the selected city identifier (cityId). It saves and reuses the corresponding bundled PNG, a filename that identifies the city and associated records for your account. When sending, it also saves the association between the message and its media. Prepared media may remain even if the message is not subsequently sent successfully. Deleting messages from your own view or clearing a conversation does not delete the images on the server. The relevant chat recipients can view and save the image and identify or infer the selected city from the building or filename. This is not precise location sharing, and it does not guarantee that the city remains undisclosed. To request deletion of information on the server, use the official contact channels.

09 Local memories, recognition, and export

Memory text, structured fields, images, and files are stored locally in the app and protected with on-device encryption such as AES-GCM. iOS keys are protected by this device’s Keychain, and Android keys by the system Keystore. Memories are not currently uploaded to Starline’s servers or automatically synced to the cloud through a Starline account. System backups, device migration, and backups you make remain subject to the relevant system settings and service rules.

Local search and classification take place on the device. On supported iOS devices, when you choose to use smart organisation, the app calls the on-device system model to process the selected memory text. The amount of text selected at one time is limited. The app does not send this recognition request to a Starline recognition server. This smart feature may be unavailable on unsupported devices or operating systems.

When you select “Save to memories” in a chat, the selected text is copied to local memories after you confirm. This does not automatically save the entire chat, its attachments, or live location, and does not change the retention rules for the original chat history. When you delete a local memory, the app removes its index and associated attachments. Copies saved elsewhere must be managed separately.

Exporting memories requires sign-in identity verification as shown on the page. The app then creates a plaintext JSON file locally containing the text and original attachments, and passes it to the system’s sharing or file-saving feature. Identity verification does not automatically upload the export to Starline’s servers. Plaintext exports no longer have the protection of the app’s original encrypted storage. Keep them secure and check the receiving app. The app cleans up its own temporary export files; you are responsible for copies you save, send, or back up.

Loss of a key stored only on this device, removal of app data by the operating system, or damage to the device may make memories unrecoverable. Deleting your account does not clear local memories. If you no longer wish to keep them, delete them separately on the device and also deal with any exported copies.

10 Tasks, bookmarks, and the built-in browser

Personal tasks, task completion status, website bookmarks, recent visits, and some interface preferences are stored locally on your device to support the workspace and browsing features. The number of recent visits retained is limited. You can delete items within the relevant feature. These items are not currently synced automatically to the cloud through your Starline account.

When you open a website, link, or third-party page, your device sends requests directly to that website. The website receives the IP address and browser information needed for access, along with any content you choose to submit, and may store its own cookies. A web session in the built-in browser may differ from a temporary session used on an account authorisation page. Clearing Starline chat history does not clear third-party website accounts or data. Read an external service’s privacy rules before using it.

11 System permissions and how to withdraw them

Camera: access is requested only when needed for actions such as scanning, taking photos or videos, or starting a video call. Refusing camera access affects those features, but not local memories or text features that do not require a camera. After you choose to scan a QR code or select a QR code image, a recognized URL may open directly in the built-in browser. Opening it sends a request from your device to that website.

Microphone: used for voice and video calls you make or answer. You can mute yourself during a call or withdraw microphone permission in system settings. Without permission, your voice cannot be transmitted.

Location and background location: used for places you select, nearby searches, live location sharing or city building sticker recommendations. See “City landmark stickers” for the rules on foreground location, IP-based city identification and manual selection for these stickers. You can choose the accuracy and permission scope allowed by your system. Continuous background location updates are used only for live sharing you have enabled. Ending sharing and withdrawing system permissions are separate actions; you can do either or both as needed.

Photos and files: system pickers access only the items you choose, for sending, posting, importing, or exporting. Selecting some items does not authorise access to all photos and files on your device. When you export to another app, the recipient you select handles that content.

Notifications and background operation: these support message and incoming call alerts, calls, and location sharing you have enabled. Android versions may use notification and location foreground service permissions. You can manage system-controlled permissions, such as notifications, camera, microphone, and location, on the Starline app’s permissions page in Settings. Withdrawing a permission does not retrospectively delete information already processed lawfully.

12 Third-party services and components

Tencent Cloud infrastructure and email services (Tencent Cloud Computing (Beijing) Co., Ltd.): these provide server, storage, network, and delivery services for Starline’s own websites, accounts, and verification emails. They process recipient email addresses, verification emails, IP addresses, request information, and hosted service data as needed to provide those services. See Tencent Cloud Privacy Policy. Alibaba Cloud SMS (Alibaba Cloud Computing Co., Ltd.): during mobile number verification, this service processes the recipient’s mobile number, verification SMS, and delivery status. See Alibaba Cloud Privacy Commitment. These verification services are connected through Starline’s servers; they do not mean that the app reads your device’s SMS inbox.

Third-party web sign-in authorisation: WeChat is provided by Shenzhen Tencent Computer Systems Company Limited, and Alipay by Alipay (China) Network Technology Co., Ltd. and its relevant service entities. Only when you choose the service and complete authorisation does the platform process that request. Starline receives the authorised platform account identifier and information expressly permitted on the page, to sign in to or link a Starline account. The app does not embed these platforms’ payment SDKs and does not read your payment statements through this process. See WeChat Privacy Protection Guidelines and Alipay Privacy Policy portal.

Apple system services (iOS): Apple Inc. and its affiliates provide PushKit/APNs incoming call notifications, the CallKit call interface, MapKit maps and place searches, system photo and file pickers, Keychain, and on-device models on supported devices. Depending on the features you use, these services process push tokens, information needed to present incoming calls, map requests, or data needed for system operations. On-device model processing should be distinguished from Apple’s other system services. See Apple Privacy Policy for details.

Location and reverse geocoding for city stickers: iOS uses Apple’s Core Location and CLGeocoder system services. Android uses the system LocationManager and Geocoder; the actual service provider depends on the device’s system. These services may process location coordinates and the information needed for the request over a network and must not be treated as entirely offline. Starline’s server-side ip2region lookup reads an offline database on its own servers; it does not send users’ IP addresses to the project’s authors as part of that lookup. See “City landmark stickers” for permissions, choices and what recipients can see.

LiveKit audio and video components (iOS and Android; provided by LiveKit Incorporated): these components establish audio and video connections and process the necessary microphone and camera streams, participant and room identifiers, connection credentials, and connection quality information. Media is received by call participants and the media servers providing that connection. Using this open-source component does not, by itself, mean that calls are hosted on LiveKit Cloud. See LiveKit Privacy Policy for the component provider’s public policy, and “Audio and video calls and incoming call notifications” in this notice for Starline’s call processing.

Google ML Kit barcode scanning (Android only; Google LLC and its affiliates): this component recognizes QR codes and barcodes on the device. Input images and recognition results are processed on the device. According to its official documentation, the component may send performance and usage metrics to Google and request models, fixes, or compatibility information. It does not upload scanned images to Google. See ML Kit Terms and Privacy and Google Privacy Policy for the relevant data processing rules.

Android CameraX is used for the camera view, and ZXing is used to generate QR codes. Local cryptographic components on iOS and Android handle device keys and encryption operations. Using these local components does not mean that we provide the text of your memories or scanned images to the component authors. Any necessary network activity by the system or a component is governed by the disclosures in this section and the relevant provider’s rules.

Third-party sign-in services, system share destinations, and external websites that you choose process necessary information only for the relevant action and in accordance with your authorisation or choices. We require providers processing personal information on our behalf to follow the agreed purposes, scope, and security requirements, and to provide protection at least as strong as this notice and applicable law require. Before changing recipients, processing purposes, or matters requiring separate consent by law, we will notify you and complete the applicable procedures.

13 Sharing, public disclosure, and cross-border transfers

Apart from the chat recipients, Update audiences, location-sharing participants, and export recipients you choose, and the necessary providers described above, we do not sell your personal information for advertising or marketing. Before transferring or publicly disclosing personal information, we will notify you and obtain any necessary authorisation as required by law. Where the law imposes other obligations or procedures, those requirements apply.

Personal information collected and generated by Starline in its operations in China is stored by Starline in China. The account service and Starline’s own websites currently use Tencent Cloud servers in China. Apple or Google system services, third-party websites, sign-in services, and file-sharing destinations that you choose may process information in other countries or regions under their own rules. The domestic storage described in this notice is not a guarantee about where these independent services process data.

If Starline provides legally protected personal information to an overseas recipient, we will first explain the recipient, purposes, methods, information types, and how to exercise your rights. We will complete any assessment, contract, certification, separate consent, or other procedures required by law. Reading this notice does not serve as blanket authorisation replacing those procedures.

14 Retention, deletion, and security

Local memories, tasks, bookmarks, and preferences are retained until you delete the relevant items or clear app data. Device system data, files you export, and backup copies must be managed separately. Deletion within the app does not guarantee irreversible physical erasure from the device’s storage medium.

Account information is retained while your account exists. After your account deletion request has been identity-verified and necessary processing completed, the information will, in principle, be deleted or anonymised within 30 days. If continued retention is required by law or there are matters that must still be addressed lawfully, we will explain the scope and restrict use. Signing out, revoking sign-in authorisation, or uninstalling the app does not automatically initiate account deletion.

Ordinary chat messages, attachments, published Updates, and call metadata are retained while the relevant service relationship continues and as needed to provide history features. There is currently no uniform mechanism that automatically deletes them after a fixed number of days. Deleting an individual chat message affects only the history visible to you. Deletion of an Update by its author, ending live location sharing, and cleanup of temporary media follow the rules in the preceding sections. To request further deletion of server data or restrictions on its processing, use the formal contact channel. We will verify and handle the request. We cannot delete copies that other people independently retain lawfully.

See Privacy Notice for the retention rules covering account sessions, security records, verification codes, and website operations. Operational, security, and fault logs for chat and media connections are processed as needed to maintain services, investigate problems, and meet legal obligations. There is currently no uniform automatic deletion schedule for all logs and backups. You may request access, deletion, or restrictions on processing. We will examine the specific information, its necessity, and applicable law before responding. Account deletion does not mean that every copy is erased immediately.

We use measures such as transmission protection, access controls, password protection, device keys, and local encryption, and restrict access to service data according to permissions. When continued processing is no longer necessary, we delete or anonymise the information. Information temporarily retained by law is restricted to necessary uses. If a personal information security incident occurs, we will take remedial action and meet legal notification and reporting requirements. No security measure eliminates every risk. Protect your device, sign-in credentials, and plaintext export files.

15 Access, correction, withdrawal, and account deletion

On the relevant pages, you can view and change editable information, manage friends and blocked users, delete local memories, tasks, and bookmarks, or end location sharing. You can withdraw camera, microphone, photo, notification, and location permissions in system settings, and revoke sessions or app authorisations on the account security page. Withdrawing consent does not affect processing already carried out on the basis of valid consent before withdrawal.

You may also request, in accordance with the law, access to, copies of, correction of, supplementation of, or deletion of personal information; restriction of or objection to certain processing; explanations of processing rules; or deletion of your account. Use the WeCom channel shown on this privacy website’s contact page and state your request type, account, and a way to reply. We verify only the identity information needed to handle the request. We do not ask for passwords or verification codes.

Account deletion requests are currently handled manually through the formal channel described above. Signing out in the app does not delete your account. We will explain the services linked to the account, any outstanding matters, and the expected handling and outcome. For information that cannot immediately be deleted under applicable law, we will explain the legal basis and restrict its use. If a request cannot be fulfilled directly, we will explain why and describe any applicable further steps.

If you disagree with how we handle your request, you may ask for a review through our contact channel. You may also, in accordance with the law, complain or report to authorities responsible for personal information protection, or seek a remedy from a people’s court with jurisdiction. Exercising your personal information rights will not, by itself, result in unreasonable differential treatment.

16 Protecting minors

The Starline app is not designed specifically for children. Minors should use it under a guardian’s guidance and avoid sending or publicly disclosing sensitive information about themselves or others. The current product has no separate children’s service or guardian consent process. Users under fourteen should not register or submit personal information on their own.

If a guardian discovers that a child under fourteen has provided personal information without valid authorisation, they may request verification, deletion of the information, or account deletion through the contact page. We will verify and take appropriate action in accordance with the law. Any necessary processing of children’s personal information will follow special protection and guardian consent requirements.

17 Changes to this notice

If features, processing purposes, data types, recipients, or other important matters change, we will update this notice, show the date, and provide reasonable notice of material changes affecting personal rights and interests. Where the law requires renewed or separate consent, we will complete those procedures. Updating a webpage does not replace your valid authorisation. You can save this notice using this page’s text download or print feature.

Starline Account Terms: https://legal.thestarline.cn/en-GB/account-terms.html
Tencent Cloud Privacy Policy: https://cloud.tencent.com/document/product/301/11470
Alibaba Cloud Privacy Commitment: https://security.aliyun.com/trust-center/privacy
WeChat Privacy Protection Guidelines: https://weixin.qq.com/cgi-bin/readtemplate?t=weixin_agreement&s=privacy
Alipay Privacy Policy portal: https://render.alipay.com/p/c/17qjvbnlkcw0
Apple Privacy Policy: https://www.apple.com/legal/privacy/szh/
LiveKit Privacy Policy: https://livekit.com/legal/privacy-policy
ML Kit Terms and Privacy: https://developers.google.com/ml-kit/terms
Google Privacy Policy: https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=zh-CN

https://privacy.thestarline.cn/en-GB/contact.html
蜀ICP备2026057076号-1