Last updated: October 9, 2026

1. Introduction

Because Spokes is a self-hosted platform, we do not have access to your data, your messages, or your users. The core value of Spokes is absolute privacy and data sovereignty. Everything runs on your own infrastructure.

2. Standalone Applications (iOS, Android & Desktop)

Our standalone client applications (iOS, Android, and Desktop) act solely as clients connecting directly to your self-hosted server. The applications:

Do not collect analytics or any tracking data.
Do not transmit any of your personal data to us or to any third parties.
Route push notifications through Apple (APNs) and Google (FCM) using end-to-end encryption. Your notification content cannot be read by us, Apple, or Google.

Device Permissions (Camera, Microphone, and Storage)

To provide core functionality such as voice and video calls, recording audio messages, and sharing files, our applications request access to your device's Camera, Microphone, and Storage/Photo Library. This data is never sent to our company or any third parties. All audio, video, and file data is transmitted exclusively between your device, the other participants in your call, and your self-hosted server. We do not record, store, or have access to any data captured by your device.

Because we do not collect or store your account data, any requests for account deletion or data removal must be handled directly by your server administrator.

3. Server Telemetry and Licensing

Spokes license activation is completely offline. To understand broad usage trends and monitor for public license leaks, the Spokes server communicates with our central dashboard via two distinct encrypted streams:

License Monitoring: When utilizing the Spokes Push Relay for mobile notifications, your server securely attaches its unique Server ID and license details to outgoing push requests. This data is stripped by the relay and forwarded to our dashboard to provide visibility into license sharing abuse. If a license is leaked and shared egregiously, the owner will be contacted, and the license may be added to a blacklist to deny access to the push notification relay.
Usage Statistics: Periodically, your server sends an anonymous ping containing your server's operating system, Spokes edition, server version, and total active users.

Cryptographic Privacy & Data Isolation:

End-to-End Encrypted Notifications: By default, notification titles, message bodies, and chat metadata are encrypted directly on your server using keys stored in the recipient's hardware keychain (iOS Keychain / Android KeyStore). Neither our Push Relay nor Apple/Google push services can read your notification message contents or channel names.
Asymmetrically Encrypted Telemetry: Anonymous usage statistics are protected with hybrid AES-256-GCM and RSA encryption before transmission, ensuring they can only be received and decrypted by our licensing Dashboard.
Relay Authentication: When using the Push Relay, only cryptographic license metadata and instance identifiers are verified to authorize delivery, without exposing any internal communications or personal user data.

This data contains no Personally Identifiable Information (PII) and cannot be used to read your messages or identify individual users. While License Monitoring is required to use the Spokes Push Relay, you may completely opt out of sending Usage Statistics via your server's settings page.

4. Purchases and Licensing

When you purchase a Spokes license on our website, payment processing is handled securely by LemonSqueezy. When purchasing via our mobile applications, payments are handled by Apple's App Store or Google Play. We do not store your credit card information. We collect and retain your email address solely for the purpose of generating and delivering your cryptographic license file, and for providing customer support.

5. Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us at [email protected].