TG Connect User Agreement

General

TG Connect does not transfer any user data or device information to anyone, and uses the Telegram API, so for more details, please read the Telegram Privacy Policy.

Our client’s open source code is available at GitLab to comply with the Telegram API terms of use and the GNU GPL licenses.

• Android - https://gitlab.com/tg-connect/TGConnect-Android
• iOS - https://gitlab.com/tg-connect/TGConnect-iOS
• Desktop - https://gitlab.com/tg-connect/TGConnect-Desktop

Using the mobile application “TG Connect” (hereinafter referred to as the Application), which is a branch project (fork) of the Telegram messenger, which operates on the basis of its open API, has additional functionality and design elements, the user (hereinafter referred to as the User) accepts this agreement (hereinafter referred to as the Agreement) regulating the rules for using the Application, the procedure for purchasing paid services in the Application, the responsibility of the parties and other relations related to the use of the Application.

The developer and copyright holder of the Application is AKG TECHNOLOGIES LLC (Company Incorporated in Russian Federation under the Law of Russian Federation, hereinafter the Rightholder), however, the Application is based on the Telegram API, operates through servers and services owned by Telegram, thus the exclusive right of the Rightholder applies to the results of intellectual activity and equated to them means of individualization, not affected by the terms of use of the API "Telegram".

Due to the feature of the Application and the direct relationship with the servers and the Telegram equipment, the User accepts as a fact, and the Rightholder responsibly declares that it does not store, does not intend to store in the future, and does not process the personal data of the Application Users. All personal information of Users is transmitted and processed on servers and equipment of Telegram.

1. Terms and Definitions

1.1. According to the text of the Agreement, as well as in connection with the relationship between the Rightholder and the Application User, the following terms and definitions apply:

1.1.1. User - a capable adult physical person (or legal representative of a minor), who has passed the registration procedure in the Application, has civil law and capacity, is able, in accordance with the legislation, to acquire rights and bear obligations on its behalf and act as a party to the Agreement.

1.1.2. Store - application store “App Store” or “Google Play Market” or “RuStore” (depending on the device of the User), through which the User installed and launched the Application on his device.

1.2. Other terms used in the Agreement and / or in relations arising from it are subject to interpretation in accordance with the legislation of Russian Federation, and in the absence of their interpretation in the legislation in accordance with the customs of business and scientific doctrine.

2. General Provisions

2.1. When using the Application, the User undertakes to comply with the Agreement, with all its integral parts, including the current legislation and international agreements, the rules of the Shops, other legal acts interrelated with the functioning of the Application.

2.2. The Rightholder has the right, without the consent of the User, to involve third parties to fulfill the obligations under the Agreement, while remaining responsible for their actions to the User.

2.3. The User undertakes to timely and independently familiarize himself with the current version of the Agreement. In case of disagreement of the User with the current edition of the Agreement, the User is obliged to stop using the Application.

2.4. The User undertakes not to use possible errors of the software part of the Application in order to gain an advantage over other Users. The User undertakes to immediately report all errors he has identified in the Application to the Rightholder.

2.5. The User is responsible for the security of his account in the Application, and is obliged to take measures independently to ensure its security.

2.6. The Rightholder is not responsible for possible loss or damage to data, as well as other consequences of any nature that may occur due to a violation of the Agreement by the User, as well as the terms of use of the Telegram.

2.7. The User acknowledges and agrees that he should independently assess all risks associated with the use of the Application, including an assessment of the reliability, completeness or usefulness of the information contained in the Application.

3. Legal Ground for Processing Your Personal Data

We process your personal data on the ground that such processing is necessary to further our legitimate interests (including: (1) providing effective and innovative Services to our users; and (2) to detect, prevent or otherwise address fraud or security issues in respect of our provision of Services), unless those interests are overridden by your interest or fundamental rights and freedoms that require protections of personal data.

4. What Personal Data We Use

4.1. Basic Account Data

Telegram is a communication service. You provide your mobile number and basic account data (which may include profile name, profile picture and about information) to create a Telegram account.

To make it easier for your contacts and other people to reach you and recognize who you are, the screen name you choose, your profile pictures, and your username (https://telegram.org/faq#usernames-and-t-me) (should you choose to set one) on Telegram are always public.

We don't want to know your real name, gender, age or what you like. We do not require your screen name to be your real name. Note that users who have you in their contacts will see you by the name they saved and not by your screen name. This way your mother can have the public name 'Johnny Depp' while appearing as 'Mom' to you and as 'Boss' to her underlings at work (or the other way around, depending on how these relationships are structured).

4.2. Your E-mail Address

When you enable 2-step-verification for your account or store documents using the Telegram Passport feature, you can opt to set up a password recovery email. This address will only be used to send you a password recovery code if you forget it. That's right: no marketing or “we miss you” bullshit.

4.3. Your Messages

4.3.1. Cloud Chats

Telegram is a cloud service. We store messages, photos, videos and documents from your cloud chats on our servers so that you can access your data from any of your devices anytime without having to rely on third-party backups. All data is stored heavily encrypted and the encryption keys in each case are stored in several other data centers in different jurisdictions. This way local engineers or physical intruders cannot get access to user data.

4.3.2. Secret Chats

Secret chats use end-to-end encryption. This means that all data is encrypted with a key that only you and the recipient know. There is no wayfor us or anybody else without direct access to your device to learn what content is being sent in those messages. We do not store your secret chats on our servers. We also do not keep any logs for messages in secret chats, so after a short period of time we no longer know who or when you messaged via secret chats. For the same reasons secret chats are not available in the cloud — you can only access those messages from the device they were sent to or from.

4.3.3. Media in Secret Chats

When you send photos, videos or files via secret chats, before being uploaded, each item is encrypted with a separate key, not known to the server. This key and the file’s location are then encrypted again, this time with the secret chat’s key — and sent to your recipient. They can then download and decipher the file. This means that the file is technically on one of Telegram’s servers, but it looks like a piece of random indecipherable garbage to everyone except for you and the recipient. We don’t know what this random data stands for and we have no idea which particular chat it belongs to. We periodically purge this random data from our servers to save disk space.

4.3.4. Public Chats

In addition to private messages, Telegram also supports public channels and public groups. All public chats are cloud chats (see section 4.3.1 above). Like everything on Telegram, the data you post in public communities is encrypted, both in storage and in transit — but everything you post in public will be accessible to everyone.

4.3.5. Phone Number and Contacts

Telegram uses phone numbers as unique identifiers so that it is easy for you to switch from SMS and other messaging apps and retain your social graph. We ask your permission before syncing your contacts.

We store your up-to-date contacts in order to notify you as soon as one of your contacts signs up for Telegram and to properly display names in notifications. We only need the number and name (first and last) for this to work and store no other data about your contacts.

Our automatic algorithms can also use anonymized sets of phone numbers to calculate the average number of potential contacts an unregistered phone number may have on Telegram. When you open the 'Invite friends' interface, we display the resulting statistics next to your contacts to give you an idea of who could benefit most from joining Telegram.

You can always stop syncing contacts or delete them from our servers in Settings > Privacy & Security > Data Settings.

If you are using Android, Telegram will ask you for permission to access your phone call logs (READ_CALL_LOG). If you grant this permission, Telegram will be able verify your account by transmitting a phone call instead of asking you to enter a code. Telegram uses this permission only to confirm receipt of the confirmation call by verifying the number in the call log.

4.3.6. Cookies

The only cookies we use are those to operate and provide our Services on the web. We do not use cookies for profiling or advertising. The cookies we use are small text files that allow us to provide and customize our Services, and in doing so provide you with an enhanced user experience. Your browser should allow you to control these cookies, including whether or not to accept them and how to remove them. You may choose to block cookies with your web browser, however, if you do disable these cookies you will not be able to log in to Telegram Web.

4.3.7. Location Data

If you share a location in a chat, this location data is treated like other messages in cloud or secret chats respectively.

If you share your Live Location in any chat or turn on ’Make Myself Visible’ in People Nearby, Telegram will use your data to display your location to those users with whom you are sharing it, even when the app is closed – for as long as you keep these optional features activated.

5. Keeping Your Personal Data Safe

5.1. Storing Data

If you signed up for Telegram from the UK or the EEA, your data is stored in data centers in the Netherlands. These are third-party provided data centers in which Telegram rents a designated space. However, the servers and networks that sit inside these data centers and on which your personal data is stored are owned by Telegram. As such, we do not share your personal data with such data centers. All data is stored heavily encrypted so that local Telegram engineers or physical intruders cannot get access.

5.2. End-to-End Encrypted Data

Your messages, media and files from secret chats (see section 4.3.2 above), as well as the contents of your calls and the data you store in your Telegram Passport (https://telegram.org/blog/passport) are processed only on your device and on the device of your recipient. Before this data reaches our servers, it is encrypted with a key known only to you and the recipient. While Telegram servers will handle this end-to-end encrypted data to deliver it to the recipient – or store it in the case of Telegram Passport data, we have no ways of deciphering the actual information. In this case, we neither store nor process your personal data, rather we store and process random sequences of symbols that have no meaning without the keys which we don’t have.

5.3. Retention

Unless stated otherwise in this Privacy Policy, the personal data that you provide us will only be stored for as long as it is necessary for us to fulfill our obligations in respect of the provision of the Services.

6. Processing Your Personal Data

6.1. Our Services

Telegram is a cloud service. We will process your data to deliver your cloud chat history, including messages, media and files, to any devices of your choosing without a need for you to use third-party backups or cloud storage.

6.2. Safety and Security

Telegram supports massive communities which we have to police against abuse and Terms of Service violations. Telegram also has more than 400 million (https://telegram.org/blog/400-million/ru?ln=a) users which makes it a lucrative target for spammers. To improve the security of your account, as well as to prevent spam (https://telegram.org/faq_spam), abuse, and other violations of our Terms of Service, we may collect metadata such as your IP address, devices and Telegram apps you've used, history of username changes, etc. If collected, this metadata can be kept for 12 months maximum.

6.3. Spam and Abuse

To prevent phishing, spam and other kinds of abuse and violations of Telegram’s Terms of Service, our moderators may check messages that were reported to them by their recipients. If a spam report on a message you sent is confirmed by our moderators, your account may be limited from contacting strangers – temporarily or permanently. You can send an appeal using @Spambot. In case of more serious violations, your account may be banned. We may also use automated algorithms to analyze messages in cloud chats to stop spam and phishing.

6.4. Cross-Device Functionality

We may also store some aggregated metadata to create Telegram features (see section 6.5 below) that work across all your devices.

6.5. Advanced features

We may use some aggregated data about how you use Telegram to build useful features. For example, when you open the Search menu, Telegram displays the people you are more likely to message in a box at the top of the screen. To do this, we calculate a rating that shows which people you message frequently. A similar rating is calculated for inline bots so that the app can suggest the bots you are most likely to use in the attachment menu (or when you start a new message with “@”). To turn this feature off and delete the relevant data, go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Data Settings and disable “Suggest Frequent Contacts”.

6.6. No Ads

Unlike other services, we don't use your data for ad targeting or other commercial purposes. Telegram only stores the information it needs to function as a secure and feature-rich cloud service.

7. Who Your Personal Data May Be Shared With

7.1. Other Telegram Users

Other users of our Services with whom you choose to communicate with and share certain information, who may be located outside the EEA. Note that by entering into the Terms of Service and choosing to communicate with such other users of Telegram, you are instructing us to transfer your personal data, on your behalf, to those users in accordance with this Privacy Policy. We employ all appropriate technical and organizational measures (including encryption of your personal data) to ensure a level of security for your personal data that is appropriate to the risk.

7.2. Telegram’s Group Companies

We may share your personal data with: (1) our parent company, Telegram Group Inc, located in the British Virgin Islands; and (2) Telegram FZ-LLC, a group member located in Dubai, to help provide, improve and support our Services. We will implement appropriate safeguards to protect the security and integrity of that personal data. This will take the form of standard contract clauses approved by the European Commission in an agreement between us and our relevant group companies.

7.3. Law Enforcement Authorities

If Telegram receives a court order that confirms you're a terror suspect, we may disclose your IP address and phone number to the relevant authorities. So far, this has never happened. When it does, we will include it in a semiannual transparency report published at: https://t.me/transparency.

8. Your Rights Regarding The Personal Data You Provide to Us

8.1. Your Rights

Under applicable data protection legislation, in certain circumstances, you have rights concerning your personal data. You have a right to: (1)request a copy of all your personal data that we store and to transmit that copy to another data controller; (2) delete (see section 9 below) or amend your personal data; (3) restrict, or object to, the processing of your personal data; (4) correct any inaccurate or incomplete personal data we hold on you; and (5) lodge a complaint with national data protection authorities regarding our processing of your personal data.

8.2. Data Settings

You can control how your data is used (e.g., delete synced contacts) in Settings > Privacy & Security > Data Settings (using one of our mobile apps). Sadly, if you're generally not OK with Telegram's modest requirements, it won't be possible for us to provide you with our Services. You can delete your Telegram account by proceeding to the deactivation page (https://my.telegram.org/auth?to=delete). 

9. Deleting Data

9.1. Accounts

If you would like to delete your account, you can do this on the deactivation page (https://my.telegram.org/auth?to=delete). Deleting your account removes all messages, media, contacts and every other piece of data you store in the Telegram cloud. This action must be confirmed via your Telegram account and cannot be undone.

9.2. Messages

In secret chats, deleting a message always instructs the app on the other end to delete it too. In cloud chats, you can choose to delete a message for all participants within at least 48 hours after sending. Otherwise, deleting a message will delete it from your message history. This means that a copy will stay on the server as part of your partner's message history. As soon as your partner deletes it too, it's gone forever. As of version 5.5 (https://telegram.org/blog/unsend-privacy-emoji), any party can choose to delete any messages in one-on-one chats, both sent and received, for both sides. There is no time limit. Any party can also opt to clear the entire chat history for both parties, in which case the apps will be instructed to remove all messages in that chat, however many of them are still retained by either of the participants. In supergroups (https://telegram.org/blog/supergroups) and channels, deleting a message removes it for all participants. Note that deleted messages and original versions of edited messages from supergroups are stored for 48 hours after deletion in order to be shown in the admins log (https://telegram.org/blog/adminrevolution#recent-admin-actions).

9.3. Self-Destructing Messages

Messages in Secret Chats can be ordered to self-destruct (https://telegram.org/faq#q-how-do-self-destructing-messages-work). As soon as such a message is read (https://telegram.org/faq#q-what-do-the-green-checksmean) (2 checks appear), the countdown starts. When the timer expires, both devices participating in a secret chat are instructed to delete the message (photo, video, etc.). Media with short timers (less than a minute) are shown with blurred previews. The timer is triggered when they are viewed.

9.4. Account Self-Destruction

By default, if you stop using Telegram and do not come online for at least 6 months, your account will be deleted along with all messages, media, contacts and every other piece of data you store in the Telegram cloud. You can go to Settings to change the exact period after which your inactive account will self-destruct.

10. Registration in Application

10.1. After downloading the Application to his device from the Store, the User installs the Application, launches it and goes through the registration procedure in the Application.

10.2. In order to complete the registration, after installing the Application from the Store, the User needs to associate his device with the Telegram database, for which he needs to perform one of the following actions:

10.2.1. Enter the code that came to any active “Telegram” of the User (both the mobile application and the stationary version for the personal computer);

10.2.2. Enter the code from the SMS message.

10.3. Registration and entry into the Application is carried out using the Telegram service. The service of registration and authorization of the User in the Application works exclusively with the help of the equipment and servers of Telegram.

10.4. The User is obliged to immediately notify the Rightholder of any case of unauthorized (not permitted by the User) access to the User account and / or any violation (suspicion of violation) of the confidentiality of their means of access to the account in the Application. The Rightholder is not responsible for possible loss or damage to data, as well as other consequences of any nature that may occur due to a violation of the provisions of the Agreement by the User.

11. Link to Telegram

11.1. The Application is developed on the basis of the Telegram API, accessible via the https://core.telegram.org/api link, which has open source code. The peculiarity of the Application is that all the functional features of the “Telegram” are saved in it, as well as new ones that are not included in the “Telegram”.

11.2. It is impossible to access the User’s personal information through the equipment and / or the Rightholder’s server, since the entire User’s information is stored on its device and on the Telegram equipment.

11.3. All cloud storage used in the Application belongs to the “Telegram”, the entire history of correspondence, contacts, files, media of the User is stored in his account and is displayed both in the Application and in the “Telegram”. This, in fact, is a single database.

12. Simple Electronic Signature

12.1. By virtue of the Law on Electronic Signature, a simple electronic signature is an electronic signature, which, by using codes, passwords or other means, confirms the fact that an electronic signature has been generated by a certain person. Thus, any actions of the User using the login and password to his account in the Store and / or to the account in the Application confirm the fact of the formation of a simple electronic signature directly by the User.

12.2. Electronic documents and messages signed with a simple electronic signature are recognized as equivalent documents on paper, signed with a handwritten signature.

12.3. The user undertakes to respect the confidentiality of his electronic signature and bears full responsibility for its safety and individual use, independently choosing the method of their storage and restricting access to it.

13. Limitation to Liability

13.1. The User understands and unconditionally agrees that he uses the Rightholder's services under the Agreement solely at his own risk and that the services are provided to the User on an “as is” and “as available” basis, namely the Rightholder does not declare or guarantee that:

• services will meet the requirements of the User;
• services will be provided continuously, timely, safely and without errors;
• any information received by the User as a result of using the services will be full-time and reliable;
• defects in the work or functionality of any software as part of the Application will be corrected in the expected time of the User.

13.2. The User also understands and agrees that all the Application’s services are provided “as is” and that the Rightholder is not responsible for any delays, malfunctions, incorrect or untimely delivery, deletion or failure of any user personal or other information.

13.3. The copyright holder of "Telegram" is responsible for the quality of communication services presented in the Application.

13.4. Access to downloaded malware in the Application.

13.5. The Rightholder is not responsible for the loss of User data.

13.6. The User agrees that the Application meets its requirements.

13.7. The Rightholder or his representatives are not responsible before Users or before third parties, for any indirect, incidental, unintentional damages, including enhanced outcomes or lost data, harmful conditions, value or business reputation arising in connection with the use of the Application, all usable that can be achieved with it.

14. Final Provisions

14.1. All disagreements or disputes that may arise between the parties to the Agreement should be resolved in the pretrial order through negotiations, the sending of claim letters. The deadline for responding to a claim is 10 (ten) business days. Claims of the User are accepted and considered by the Rightsholder only in writing.

14.2. If agreement for any reason is not reached during the pre-trial settlement, the dispute arising from the Agreement shall be considered on the basis of Russian Federation international arbitration law.

14.3. The law of Russian Federation applies to the relations of the parties under the Agreement. Acceptance of the Agreement by a foreign User means that the text of the Agreement is understandable to him and does not need translation. If necessary, the translation of foreign users undertake to translate into the language they need on their own and at their own expense.

Requisites of the Rightholder