Subspace is a messaging app made by Freecomms LLC (“we”, “us”). It lets phones near each other talk over Bluetooth and WiFi with no account, no phone number, and no internet. This page explains what information the app handles, where it goes, and how to remove it. We wrote it in plain language on purpose.
Subspace has no accounts and no ads. We do not sell data. Most of what you do in Subspace never leaves the phones in the room. The only time anything reaches our server is when you turn on the “Mobile data” signal, use the Parental lock email reports, or create a meeting poll.
1What Subspace stores on your phone
Everything below stays on your phone unless a later section says otherwise.
- Your display name (the name you pick when you open Subspace Channels).
- A key pair the app creates on first run. The public half is shared with other Subspace phones so they can check that messages really came from you. The private half never leaves your phone.
- Messages you send and receive, the people you have chatted with, the channels you joined, and channel codes.
- Your settings (signals, mesh, notifications, skins, parental lock).
- If a parent turns on Parental lock: a scrambled form of the parent passphrase (never the passphrase itself) and an activity log of what the app did (see section 5).
Sensitive items are stored encrypted using the hardware security chip. Subspace is excluded from Android cloud backup, so none of this is copied to Google.
“Optimize” in the gear menu erases all of it in three taps.
2What nearby phones can see (Bluetooth and WiFi)
Subspace works by broadcasting to phones within range (about 30 feet over Bluetooth, or the same WiFi network).
- Anyone running Subspace nearby can see your display name and the names of the public channels you are in. That is how the “Nearby” list and “Find channel” work.
- Messages in #open-air and in public channels are broadcast in the open. Any Subspace phone in range can read them. Treat #open-air like talking out loud in a room.
- Private (one to one) messages and group chats are encrypted end to end between the phones involved. Other phones can see that a message was sent, but not what it says.
- Password protected channels are encrypted with the channel code. Only phones that have the code can read them.
- With “Mesh” on, your phone also repeats #open-air messages from other people so they travel further. It does not read or keep them.
We never see any of this traffic. It goes phone to phone.
3The “Mobile data” signal (our relay server)
Mobile data is OFF by default. If you turn it on, messages can travel over the internet through a relay server we run (hosted on Supabase). When it is on, the relay receives and keeps:
- Your display name and your public key, so the name is reserved for your phone and nobody else can post as you.
- A random device token the relay gives your phone. We store only a scrambled version of it.
- The messages you send through the relay, with your display name. Public messages (#open-air, public channels) are readable by the relay. Private messages and group invites are encrypted end to end, so the relay only holds scrambled text it cannot read.
- Rough counts of how many messages each device sends per minute, used only to stop flooding.
Relay messages are deleted after 24 hours. Name reservations expire after 7 days of not being used. The relay does not keep IP addresses in our database; our hosting provider keeps ordinary server logs for a short time to run the service.
4Meeting polls (Schedule a Meetup)
“Schedule a Meetup” creates a meeting poll on our website, app.weusesubspace.com. To make a poll the app sends the website the meeting title, the dates and times you pick, and the email address you type in so the website can send you the organizer link. People who answer the poll give the website the name and availability they type in. Polls and their answers are kept on the website until the organizer deletes them or the meeting date has long passed. The poll web page is shown inside the app.
5Parental lock and email reports
A parent can turn on Parental lock on the phone of their child. Everything in this section is off until a parent sets a passphrase, and stops when the lock is turned off.
On the phone, the app keeps an activity log: when messages were sent or received and with whom, new contacts, channels created or joined, messages held from strangers, and “companion” notes (another Subspace phone stayed nearby for a long time). Message text is included only if the parent ticks “Include message text”.
If the parent enters an email address and chooses reports, the phone sends the following to our relay server (this needs the Mobile data signal):
- The parent email address, the report settings, and the display name of the child.
- The activity log lines, so the server can email them.
- A short “still here” check-in about once an hour.
The server emails the parent (hourly or daily reports, immediate companion alerts, and a note if the phone stops checking in for 3 hours). Emails are sent through Resend, an email delivery service. Activity lines are deleted from the server 7 days after they are reported. Turning Parental lock off, or using Optimize, tells the server to delete the parent email, the settings, and every stored activity line for that phone.
Parental lock is a tool for parents and guardians of their own children. It is not designed for monitoring anyone else.
7Permissions the app asks for, and why
- Bluetooth (scan, advertise, connect): to find and talk to nearby Subspace phones. Android counts Bluetooth scanning as a “nearby devices” permission; Subspace does not use or store your location.
- Nearby WiFi devices: for the optional WiFi mesh.
- Notifications: to tell you about new messages. You choose which kinds in the Notifications screen.
- Internet: only used by Mobile data, meeting polls, parental email reports, the update check, and the PayPal donate button.
Subspace does not ask for your contacts, camera, microphone, photos, or precise location.
8What we do not do
- No accounts, no sign in, no phone number.
- No advertising and no advertising identifiers.
- No analytics or tracking libraries.
- We do not sell, rent, or share personal information with anyone for their own purposes.
9Who else handles data
We use a few service providers purely to run Subspace. They process data on our behalf and under their own privacy terms:
- Supabase: hosts the relay server and database (messages, names, parent settings and activity lines described above).
- Resend: delivers the parental report emails.
- Our website hosting provider: runs weusesubspace.com and app.weusesubspace.com (meeting polls).
- PayPal: handles the optional donation, on the PayPal site.
- Google Play: delivers the app and handles app updates.
10How long we keep things
- On your phone: until you delete it, use Optimize, or uninstall.
- Relay messages: 24 hours.
- Relay name reservations and device tokens: until unused for 7 days.
- Parental activity lines on the server: 7 days after they are reported, or at once when the lock is turned off.
- Parent email and settings: until the lock is turned off.
- Meeting polls: until the organizer deletes them.
11How to delete your data
- Everything on the phone: gear menu, Optimize, tap three times.
- Everything on the relay for your phone: use Optimize (it tells the relay to forget you), or simply stop using Mobile data; messages disappear within 24 hours and your name within 7 days.
- Parental lock data: turn Parental lock off on the phone.
- Meeting polls: delete them from the organizer link.
- Anything else, or if you no longer have the phone: email us at hello@weusesubspace.com and we will delete what we hold.
12Children
Subspace is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. The Parental lock exists so that parents can supervise how a teenager uses the app. If you believe a child under 13 has given us personal information, email us and we will delete it.
13Security
Private messages and group chats are encrypted end to end. Every message is signed so phones can tell who really sent it. Connections to our server use HTTPS. Secrets on the phone are protected by the hardware security chip. No system is perfect; messages sent over Bluetooth and WiFi in the open (#open-air and public channels) can be read by any phone in range, and you should not use them for anything private.
14Your choices
You control every signal. Bluetooth and WiFi can be turned off in the Signals screen, Mobile data is off unless you turn it on, Mesh can be turned off, and notifications can be turned off per type. You can leave any channel and delete any chat.
15Changes to this policy
If we change this policy we will update the date at the top and, for important changes, show a notice in the app.
16Contact
Freecomms LLC
United States
hello@weusesubspace.com