KiwiSurf
KiwiSurf · Last updated Thu 29 Oct 2026
Privacy
KiwiSurf stores the least it can: your chat ID and the settings you choose. No email unless you sign up on the website, no stored location, no contacts, no ads, no tracking.
Short version
- We keep your chat ID, your settings (spots, level, language, alerts, and your surf setup: days, times, waves, home area, drive limit, favourite beaches), your 👍/👎 votes, and your email only if you signed up on the website. Nothing else about you.
- Your questions go to an AI model so it can write the answer. We do not keep them.
- /stop stops the messages. /forget deletes everything about you in the chat at once; our backups drop it within 14 days, and a website signup expires from the website within 30 days.
- We never sell your data or share it for advertising.
Who we are
KiwiSurf is run by Viral Apps LLC (Wyoming, USA), the controller of your data. Questions or requests: [email protected], or simply write to Kiwi in the chat.
What we keep, why, and for how long
| What | Why | How long |
|---|---|---|
| Chat ID: your Telegram user or group ID. On WhatsApp, SMS or iMessage this is your phone number, because that is the chat ID there. | To send you the forecast and answer you. | Until /forget, or 12 months after /stop. Backups: 14 days more. |
| Settings: spots, surf level, language, quiet-day threshold, spot alerts, private or group chat, sign-up step, dates created and changed. | To make the 06:00 call yours. | Same as the chat ID. |
| Surf setup: the days and times you surf, wave sizes and kind, your home area (an area such as "Cascais", never your exact location: a shared location becomes the nearest area and is dropped at once), how far you drive, favourite beaches, muted spots and which alerts you already got. | To alert you only when a session fits you. | Same as the chat ID. |
| Email: only if you signed up on kiwisurf.app. The website keeps that signup (email, your phone number for a WhatsApp or SMS signup, your answers) until you open Kiwi with it, 30 days at most; we copy only the email to your profile, plus a fingerprint of the link so it works once. | Your KiwiSurf account, so we can find your profile if you change phone or app. No newsletters without asking you first. | Until /forget. The link fingerprint: 30 days. |
| The A/B/C quick replies last shown to you. | So a single letter answers the right question. | Deleted within an hour. |
| In a group roll call: the first names of people who said they're in. | To show the crew who is going. | Deleted within an hour. |
| Your 👍/👎 votes on a spot's forecast (day, spot, hour), under your own user ID, also when you vote in a group. | To tune the 1-10 rating. | 2 years, or until /forget. |
| The questions you type. | To write the answer (sent to the AI model with today's forecast). | Not stored by us. |
| Technical logs: errors and delivery counts, never message text. For SMS: the number each text went to and when. | To keep the service running and the daily text limit. | 30 days. |
What we never collect
Your contacts or photos, or your email unless you sign up on the website. We never store your location: if you share it during /setup, it becomes the nearest area at once and the coordinates are dropped. We do not keep your name either, with one short exception in group roll calls (below). The website sets no cookies and runs no analytics or ad trackers.
Group chats
In a group, Kiwi looks at each message only to see whether it is for Kiwi: it contains the word kiwi, mentions or replies to Kiwi, is a command, or is a single letter answering Kiwi's last question. Every other message is ignored and not stored. The group's settings are stored under the group's chat ID. Two things are stored per person: your 👍/👎 votes, under your own user ID (on WhatsApp, your phone number), and, during a roll call ("who's in?"), the first names of the people who said they're in, deleted within an hour.
Who else handles it
- Telegram (and WhatsApp / Meta once WhatsApp opens, Sendblue, Inc. (USA) for SMS and iMessage) carry the messages, under their own privacy policies.
- Anthropic PBC (USA) writes the answers to free-text questions. It receives the question and the forecast numbers it needs, never your chat ID. The question passes through our own AI gateway, a computer we run in Portugal, which does not log the text.
- Worldstream B.V., Netherlands hosts our server and Hetzner Online GmbH holds our nightly backup, both in the EU.
- Cloudflare, Inc. (USA) hosts kiwisurf.app and keeps a website signup (email, phone, answers) for 30 days at most.
- Apple delivers the iPhone app's notifications (APNs) and takes App Store payments.
Nobody else gets your data. We do not sell it or use it for advertising.
The KiwiSurf iPhone app
The app keeps what it can on your phone. What leaves the phone, and why:
- A random device ID, not linked to your name or email, so the app finds your settings.
- Your push token from Apple (APNs), to send the alerts you turn on.
- Your surf settings: level, wave sizes and kind, home area, the breaks you follow, time windows, how much crowd you accept and your alert settings. Your name stays on the phone.
- Location: only if you allow it, used once on the phone to pick the nearest area. Only the area is sent, never the coordinates.
- Kiwi chat: after you agree in the app, your questions go through our server to Anthropic's Claude, which writes the answer. We do not keep them after answering.
- Purchases: the App Store transaction record, to check your subscription. Apple takes the payment; we never see your card.
- If you bought on the website: a one-time claim token that links that purchase to the app.
The app does not track you across other apps or websites and shows no ads. There is no account or login. To delete everything: in the app, Settings → Forget me deletes this device's record on our server (settings, push token, subscription link) at once and clears the app's data on the phone. You can also email [email protected] and we do it within 30 days.
Legal basis
Sending the forecast you asked for and answering you: performing the service you signed up for (GDPR art. 6(1)(b)). Using votes to improve the rating and keeping short technical logs: our legitimate interest in a forecast that works (art. 6(1)(f)).
Your rights
You can see, correct, delete, restrict, export or object to the use of your data. In the bot: /spots shows and changes your spots, /privacy sums this up, /stop stops messages, /forget deletes everything in the chat (our nightly backups keep it at most 14 more days; a website signup expires within 30 days). For a copy of your data, email [email protected]; we answer within 30 days. You can also complain to the Portuguese data protection authority, CNPD.
Children
KiwiSurf is not meant for children under 13.
Changes
If this notice changes in a way that matters, Kiwi tells you in the chat first.