Away Messenger

Privacy Policy

Last updated November 4, 2026 · Preview version

Who we are

Away Messenger (awaymessenger.app) is a fan-made nostalgia project run by Two Buds LLC, a company in the United States ("we", "us"). It is not affiliated with AOL, Microsoft or any of the musicians or brands the buddies talk about. You can reach us at contact@awaymessenger.app.

Your account

You sign in with your email address and a one-time code we email you; there's no password. During the preview, only invited email addresses can make an account. We save the following with your account, so it follows you to any device you sign in on:

• your email address;
• your screen name, the name you'd like buddies to call you and where you live (if you gave them; the place doesn't need to be real), your crews and look (Classic or XP), your profile and your saved away messages;
• your chat history with each buddy (the last 200 messages with each);
• short notes buddies keep about things you've told them, so they can remember (for example, "starting a new job Saturday, October 23"), including whether you asked them to keep something secret, and about what they've told you of their own lives, so their stories stay consistent;
• your focus timer history, game settings, best times, scores and wins, and how your buddies' records have changed;
• how many buddy replies your account used each day, for the daily limit;
• if you report a chat (Report a Problem, in an IM window's People menu): the last 20 messages of that chat, the reason you picked and anything you added, so we can look into it;
• what you've bought: your plan, your top-up balance, and a record of each purchase (what it was, the amount and currency, the date, and Stripe's reference for it).

This is stored with Supabase, our database provider, in the United States. Each account can read and change only its own records. We don't read your chats, except when we need to fix a problem you've reported, prevent abuse, or when the law requires it.

Payments

When you buy Away Messenger or a top-up, you pay on Stripe's checkout page. Stripe is the seller of record for these purchases: it collects your payment details and billing address, works out tax, and sends your receipt. Your card or other payment details go to Stripe and never reach us. We give Stripe your account's email address (to fill in checkout and send the receipt) and an account reference, so it can tell us which account bought what; Stripe tells us what was bought, the amount and currency, and whether it's paid. Stripe's privacy policy covers what it does with your information.

What stays on your device

Your browser also keeps a copy of your account's data so the app opens quickly, plus your sign-in (in the browser's local storage, not a cookie). A few settings belong to the device and stay only there: sound on or off, and whether you allowed desktop alerts. Signing out removes this device's copy. If you use a shared computer, sign out when you're done.

Emails

We send sign-in codes, and a confirmation if you join the waitlist, through Resend, which receives your email address and the message. If you join the waitlist without an invite, we keep your email address so we can invite you later. We don't send newsletters or marketing.

When you email us (contact@, help@ or hello@awaymessenger.app), Resend receives the message and keeps a copy, and it's forwarded to our team's inbox so we can reply.

Suggestions

If you send a suggestion from Help, we save it with your account and screen name, and email it to our help address so we can reply to you. We use suggestions only to improve Away Messenger.

Using more than one device

When you're signed in on more than one device at once, your devices send each other short notices through Supabase (which kinds of things changed, and that you're using a device right now) so each one can fetch your latest data. The notices don't contain your messages.

What is sent when a buddy replies

Buddies are AI characters. Each time one replies or messages you, your browser sends our server:

• your sign-in, so we can check your account and count the reply toward your daily limit;
• which buddy it is and which look you're using;
• your recent conversation with that buddy (up to the last 30 messages, with their times);
• your screen name, the name you'd like buddies to call you, where you said you live, and the profile you wrote, if any;
• that buddy's notes about you and about their own story so far, plus notes from their crew (that's how friends "hear" your news). Notes you asked a buddy to keep secret are left out, except that now and then a gossipy buddy "overhears" one, the way friends do;
• your game records and theirs (best times, scores, Hearts games together), so they can talk about them;
• your local time and time zone, so buddies live on the same calendar day you do.

Our server passes this to Anthropic, which runs the Claude AI model that writes the reply, and sends the reply back to you. Our server doesn't keep the request; it logs only technical details, such as which buddy replied, how long the reply was, what it cost and any errors, for running and troubleshooting the service. Anthropic processes the request under its commercial terms and privacy policy, which say it does not use this data to train its models; it may keep it for a limited time for safety and abuse monitoring. See Anthropic's Privacy Policy.

Please don't share sensitive information with buddies, such as passwords, financial details, health information or anyone else's private details.

Other technical information

• Hosting. The site runs on Vercel, whose servers record standard request logs (such as IP address, browser type, the page requested and the time).
• Abuse protection. To stop the AI from being overused, each account has a daily limit of buddy replies, and our server briefly counts recent requests from each IP address, in memory only. We also count, by day, how often an account's messages look like attempts to make a buddy break character, and how often something was taken out of a buddy's reply (like a link or a phone number); the messages themselves aren't saved for this.
• Fonts. Some fonts load from Google Fonts, so Google receives your IP address and browser details when you visit.
• Notifications. If you turn on desktop alerts, the permission is handled by your browser; we don't receive anything.
• Page visits. We count visits with Vercel Web Analytics, which uses no cookies and doesn't follow you to other sites. It records the page, the site that sent you, your browser and device type, and rough location (city and country), and tells visits apart with a code that changes every day, so it can't recognize you later. The page address it sees is cut down to the link code described next; anything else in it is dropped.
• Which link brought you. Links we share (for example on a creator's page) can carry a short code, like awaymessenger.app/?ref=example. Your browser keeps the code for up to 30 days, and if you join the waitlist or make an account, we save it with that, and with any purchase, so we know which links bring people in. It says nothing about you beyond which link you used. When you share a conversation or your screen name from the app, the link carries your screen name (unless you leave it off the picture), so we can count how many people your share brought in; the picture itself is made on your device and isn't uploaded.

What we don't do

• No cookies, no ads, and no tracking across other sites. Our page-visit counts (above) can't identify you.
• We don't sell or share personal information, including for advertising.
• We don't use your chats to train AI models.

Why we use it

Only to provide what you ask for (your account, your buddies replying to you, and your data on every device), to keep the service running and secure, and to prevent abuse. If you're in the EU or UK, our legal bases are performing the service you request and our legitimate interest in running it safely.

How long we keep it

• Your account's data, until you delete it or ask us to delete your account.
• Purchase records, for as long as tax and accounting rules require, even after your account is deleted (they're then no longer linked to it).
• Waitlist email addresses, until you're invited or ask us to remove yours.
• If you were invited, your invited email address and how many free messages it has used, even after your account is deleted, so the free trial isn't started over. Ask us and we'll remove it.
• Suggestions and emails you send us, for as long as they're useful for answering you and improving the app, or until you ask us to delete them.
• Request logs, for the short time our hosting and AI providers keep them.
• Page-visit counts, as Vercel keeps them; they don't identify you. A link code saved with your account goes when your account does.

Deleting your data

• Preferences > Delete my data deletes your account: your sign-in (your email address), profile, chats, buddy notes, game records, reply counts and suggestions, from our servers, this browser and your other open devices, and signs you out. Your invite and the count of free messages it has used are kept, so signing up again doesn't start a new free trial.
• Start Over, in Preferences, deletes your profile, chats and buddy notes and keeps your account, game records and purchases.
• Reset Buddy, in an IM window's People menu, clears that one buddy's chat and notes on every device.
• Sign out, in Preferences, removes this device's copy and keeps your account's.

Records of what you bought are kept for tax and accounting even after your account is deleted, no longer linked to you. If you bought Away Messenger, deleting your account ends it; Start Over is the way to start fresh and keep it. You can also ask us to delete your account by emailing contact@awaymessenger.app from the address you sign in with.

Your rights

You can see and change most of what's saved yourself, in the app, and delete it as described above. Depending on where you live (for example, in the EU, UK or California), you may have rights to access, correct, delete, export or object to the use of your personal information; to exercise them or ask questions, email contact@awaymessenger.app.

Children

Away Messenger is not meant for children under 13, and we don't knowingly collect information from them. If you're under 18, please use it with a parent or guardian's permission. If you believe a child under 13 has an account, email us and we'll delete it.

A note about the AI

Buddies are AI characters, not real people, and they can be wrong. If you're going through something hard, please talk to someone you trust. In the US you can call or text 988 (the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline), or contact your local emergency number.

Where data is processed

Our server, our database and our AI and email providers are in the United States, so your data is stored and processed there.

Changes

We'll update this page when our practices change and change the date at the top. Bigger changes will be noted in the app.