Phonet

Privacy Policy

Effective date: 26 October 2026

This policy explains how the Phonet app for iPhone, iPad and Mac (the “App”) and the Phonet service (the “Service”) handle information. They are provided by GLOBERINT PTE. LTD., Singapore 048762 (“we”, “us”). Contact: [email protected].

In short: to connect calls we keep your device’s account, its Phonet number, a record of the calls it makes and receives and how well they worked. The voice of a call passes through our server encrypted and is never recorded. There is no sign-up, no advertising and no tracking, and we do not sell anything about you.

1. Your account and number

On first launch the App asks our server for an account. The server creates a random login and password (stored in your device’s Keychain and never shown) and assigns an Phonet number. With it we store:

  • the platform (iOS or macOS), the App version and the IP address the request came from;
  • the region set on your device, which gives the country code of your number;
  • the public key of Apple’s App Attest and the environment it was issued in, which prove the request came from the genuine App on a real Apple device.

To give one number per device, the App sends Apple a DeviceCheck token, and our server sets a flag for the device with Apple. Apple keeps this flag (two bits per device for our developer account) even if the App is deleted; it holds no other information, and neither we nor Apple learn who you are from it. To reset it, write to us.

2. Calls

  • Connecting calls. While the App is connected, our server knows the network address of your device so it can deliver calls to it.
  • Incoming calls. To ring your device when the App is closed, the App gives our server its Apple push token, and our server asks Apple’s push service to wake the App for a call.
  • Voice. The audio of every call is relayed through our media server, so neither side sees the other’s network address. Between the App and our server it is encrypted (TLS for signalling, SRTP for voice). We do not record, listen to or store the audio of calls. Calls to SIP addresses of other services leave our network and are handled by those services under their own rules.
  • Call records. For each call we keep the caller and callee addresses or numbers, the time, the result (answered, missed, busy, rejected), a call identifier and the caller’s IP address. We use them to run the Service, to resolve problems and to stop abuse.
  • Your number is shown to the people you call, as caller ID. Your login is never shown.
  • Your country. Our server works out the country your device is in from the public IP addresses it connects from, using the DB-IP database (IP Geolocation by DB-IP): the country where it was on most days of the last 30. Until then it is the region set on your device when the number was issued. The people you call and the people who call you see this country with its flag on the call screen. You cannot set it yourself, as it helps people recognise calls from unexpected places; our team may correct it when it is wrong. We keep each address with the day it was seen for 90 days.

3. Name and photo (optional)

You can give your number a name and a photo; the people you call and the people who look up your number in the App see them. Before they are shown, our own language model, running on our servers, checks them automatically, and the decision with its reason is kept. A photo is re-encoded on our server without its metadata (such as location) and, once approved, stored by our content delivery provider, BunnyWay d.o.o. (bunny.net), which serves it to the App. You can remove your name and photo at any time. People whose identity we have checked get a “Verified” mark on their photo, set by us, never by the person.

4. Call quality

When a call ends, the App sends us what it measured: the time and length of the call, the codec, delay, jitter, packet loss and a quality score, whether you were on Wi-Fi or a mobile network, the model of your device, the system and App versions and the region set on it; our server adds the IP address the report came from. Sometimes the App asks you to rate a call and what went wrong; your answer is kept with the same report. We use this to find and fix the routes and networks where calls work badly.

Connection problems. The App also sends us what got in the way of calls: failed connections and registrations, dropped and failed calls, network changes and the error messages it showed, with the time, the type of network (Wi-Fi or mobile), the way it reached our server, the model of your device and the system and App versions; our server adds the IP address the report came from. We use this only to find and fix problems with calls.

Help. When you write to us from Help in the App, we keep your messages, up to three screenshots you attach (re-encoded on our server without their metadata) and the place in the App where you opened Help. If you leave “Attach recent connection problems” on, our support also sees your recent problem reports and call quality. Our own language model, running on our servers, reads the conversation and may answer first; people from the Phonet team read every conversation and answer too. Each answer shows whether it came from the assistant (AI) or from the team.

5. Who can call you, reports and kids mode

  • Incoming filter. The level you choose (everyone, people with a name, with a name and photo, or only your contacts), the numbers you add to My Contacts and the numbers you block are kept on our server, because the server decides before a call reaches your device. Calls the filter stops are listed for you with the caller’s number and time.
  • Reports. When you report a call we keep who reported, the number, the call, the reason and your words. We use reports to protect people from fraud and abuse, and may limit a number that several people report.
  • Kids mode. We keep that a number belongs to a child, its parents’ numbers and the numbers the parents allow. If you agree to share it, Apple tells the App only an age range of the person signed in on the device and whether it was confirmed, never the birth date; we keep only how the child’s number was set up.
  • Looks like a child. If Apple tells the App that the age on the device is under the age of majority, if our moderation is sure a name or photo is a child’s, or if someone reports a number as a child’s, we keep that sign with its source and date. Until an adult age is confirmed (by Apple or by an identity check), only contacts and people the number called can reach it, and the directory is closed; calls out work as usual. You can ask us to review it.

6. The directory (optional)

The directory is off until you turn it on, and only adults can be in it: Apple’s checked age range or an identity check confirms the age. While you are in it, other people in the directory can find you by a word and see only what you switched on: your name (first or full), photo, age, gender, a few words about you and links to your pages, the languages you speak, that you are looking for a date, and a phone number and email you added yourself. Your country is always shown. Your words and links are checked by our language model before they are shown. You choose who may reach you through the directory, how many a day and at what hours; we count the calls, messages and searches of people who use the directory to keep these limits and to stop anyone collecting data. People who are not in the directory, in the App or on phonet.org/people, learn only how many people a search finds. You can leave the directory at any moment, and what you showed is hidden at once.

7. Messages (inMess)

Messages travel through our server to the person you write to. When their device is not connected, the server keeps the message for up to 7 days and delivers it when the device connects, then deletes it; meanwhile it sends the device a notification with your name or number, the address of your approved photo and the text of the message, which passes through Apple’s push service. Your conversations are kept on your device. The incoming filter, blocks and kids mode apply to messages as to calls.

8. Email (optional)

You can add an email address in Settings to recover your number if you reinstall the App or erase your device. We send it a verification code and, when you ask, a recovery code. We use the address for nothing else. You can replace it with another address in Settings, or ask us to remove it.

9. On your device

Your recent calls and the names you give to numbers are kept on your device only. The App writes a technical log on the device (connection state, call events, errors); it is not sent to us. When you call through Phonet, iOS shows the call in the Recents of the Phone app, as it does for other calling apps; iOS may sync those Recents through your iCloud account.

10. Permissions

  • Microphone: to carry your voice in a call.
  • Notifications and calls: to ring for incoming calls on the lock screen (CallKit).
  • Camera: only when you take a photo for your profile.
  • Notifications: to show messages that arrive while the App is closed.
  • Contacts: only when you ask to take your name and photo from a contact card; on the iPhone you pick the card yourself and the App does not read your contacts.

11. Where and how long

Our servers are operated by us and are located in the United States and Canada. The account and number are kept while the account exists. Call records, calls stopped by your incoming filter and call quality reports are kept for 90 days and then deleted automatically. You can delete the calls stopped by your filter at any time, and the calls and messages on your devices whenever you like. Server logs are kept for 14 days. When an account is deleted, its number is released and its email address and push token are deleted.

12. Sharing

We do not sell, rent or share personal information, and we do not use it for advertising or tracking. Apple receives what is needed for App Attest, DeviceCheck and push notifications, and our content delivery provider stores and serves approved profile photos. We may disclose information where the law requires it.

13. Children

Children may use the App in kids mode, set up by a parent on the child’s device and linked to the parent’s number: the child can talk only to the parents, the people they allow and other children. We collect from a child’s number only what the App needs to connect such calls. Without kids mode the App is not directed to children under 13, or under 16 where local law sets that age.

14. Your rights

Depending on where you live (for example under the EU and UK GDPR, the Singapore Personal Data Protection Act or the California Consumer Privacy Act) you may have rights to access, correct or delete personal data and to object to its processing. To use them, or to delete your account and number, write to [email protected].

15. Changes

We will publish any change to this policy on this page with a new effective date. Significant changes will also be announced in the App.

16. Contact

GLOBERINT PTE. LTD., Singapore 048762 · [email protected]