Privacy policy
Campfire and your data
Last updated 22 October 2026
In short: Campfire runs entirely on the host’s phone, keeps nothing after a Campfire ends, and has no accounts or servers. Chat on the local network is not encrypted.
What Campfire collects
Nothing. There are no accounts, analytics, advertising or servers of ours.
While a Campfire is lit
Messages, rooms and files live on the host’s phone, in memory and in the app’s cache, so everyone connected can see them.
When it ends
Every message, room and file is deleted. The cache is also cleared whenever a Campfire starts.
Not encrypted
Browsers only allow encryption on pages with a trusted certificate, which a local network can’t have without warnings. So someone watching the same Wi-Fi could read messages and room passwords, and direct messages pass through the host’s phone. Don’t share anything you wouldn’t say out loud in the room.
Link previews
The host’s phone fetches titles and pictures for links people post. It refuses any address on the local network, so a link can’t be used to look at your router or other devices.
Permissions
What Campfire asks Android for, and why:
| Permission | Why |
|---|---|
| Internet, network & Wi-Fi state | To serve the chat on your Wi-Fi or hotspot and show the address to join. Link previews are fetched from the web when someone posts a link. |
| Keep awake & foreground service | So the Campfire keeps going while the host’s screen is off. |
| Notifications | For the ongoing “Campfire is lit” notification and new messages. |
Children
Campfire isn't aimed at children and collects nothing from anyone.
Changes
If this policy changes, the new version is published here and in the app's source repository, where every change can be seen.
Contact
Questions or concerns: open an issue at github.com/PremPoddar/Campfire/issues, or email prempoddar@yandex.com.