Privacy

Linger is a free, open-source app for hanging out with friends. It talks to one place: the server you signed in to, run by a friend of yours, its host. Linger the project runs no servers, has no accounts of its own, and never receives anything about you.

What the app sends, and where

• To your server, and nowhere else: what you write, the files you share, your reactions and poll votes, your name, status and style, where you've read up to, and whether you're around, idle, away or in a room.
• Voice goes to your server, which passes it on to the others in the room. Nothing records it, on the server or anywhere else.
• Updates: the app for computers asks GitHub whether there's a newer version. That request carries nothing about you. The phone app doesn't ask; it updates from its store or from a download you choose.
• Nothing else. No analytics, no telemetry, no crash reports, no advertising, and no tracking of any kind, not even if you opt in, because there's nothing to opt in to.

What your server keeps

Your account lives on the server you signed in to. It keeps your username, display name and a scrambled copy of your password (never the password itself), what you write and share, and your settings. If you're on several servers, each keeps its own account, and none can see another's.

The host can read everything on their server, and voice passes through it. Linger isn't end-to-end encrypted, and says so plainly. Everything travels encrypted between the app and the server, so nobody between can read it, but the server can. That's why you sign in to a server run by somebody you know. If you need protection from the person running your server, use an app built for that, such as Signal.

What's stripped before it's kept

• Photos lose their EXIF data, the place they were taken included.
• Videos and sound files lose their tags, which is where a phone writes the place a video was filmed.
• Links: when a message has a link, your server fetches the page once to show a small card, so the site sees the server, not you or the people reading.

On your phone

• The microphone is used only when you press Record for a voice message, or Join to talk in a room's voice. The phone asks the first time.
• Photos and files are read only when you pick them to share.
• Notifications: the phone app shows none, except one silent bar while you're in voice, which keeps the call going with the phone locked and lets you mute or leave.
• Backups: the app keeps itself out of your phone's cloud backup, so what it stores doesn't go to Apple or Google.

Deleting your account

You can delete your account from inside the app at any time, and choose whether what you wrote goes with it. Deleting your account says how, and what's deleted and what's kept.

Children

Linger isn't meant for children under 13, and nobody under 13 should have an account.

Changes and contact

If this page changes, the date below changes with it, and what changed is in Linger's public history on GitHub. Questions about your account, or about what your server keeps, go to its host. Questions about Linger itself go to hello@linger.im, or to Linger on GitHub.

Last changed 19 October 2026.