How Frendko keeps a chat temporary
Frendko is built around one idea: a conversation between two people should be able to end completely. This page explains what the product actually does with your chat — the timer, the purge, and the small amount of anonymous data that stays behind.
What's in place today
The countdown starts only when the second person joins: 10 minutes to begin with, extendable by the room creator in 10-minute blocks. An unused invite code expires on its own after 1 hour.
When a chat ends — by the timer, by expiry, or because either person pressed End chat — the messages and the room row are hard-deleted, then read back to confirm the deletion. You see a receipt with the message count and a verified timestamp.
A room holds exactly one creator and one guest. Once the guest seat is claimed the code stops working, and reading a room's messages requires the participant token issued at create or join time.
Room codes are randomly generated and join attempts are rate limited. Three consecutive wrong codes lock that source out for 30 minutes.
Rate limiting compares a salted hash instead of a readable address, and no raw IP address or user agent is written to the database. Nothing links a room back to a person.
Operational statistics record counts, durations, extensions and a 2-letter country code — never message content, codes, or participant identifiers. They are what remains after a room is purged.
The life of a chat, step by step
- 01
You create a room. Frendko generates a unique 6-digit code and an invite link, and issues you a participant token held only in your browser session.
- 02
You share the code with one person. The room sits idle for at most 1 hour before it expires and is removed.
- 03
They join with the code. The guest seat is claimed atomically, the code stops accepting anyone else, and the 10-minute countdown starts — synchronised to server time for both of you.
- 04
You talk. Messages are stored server-side only so the other side can load them, and are readable only with a valid participant token.
- 05
The chat ends. Timer expiry, invite expiry, or either person pressing End chat triggers the same purge: delete messages, delete the room, read back to verify, log the outcome, show the receipt.
Platform and shared responsibility
Frendko runs on managed cloud hosting with a managed Postgres database, served over HTTPS. Those platform capabilities are provided by our infrastructure vendors; they are not a certification of Frendko itself.
Frendko can protect a room, not the people in it. Share your code with only the person you intend to talk to, treat anything the other participant copies or screenshots as outside our control, and don't use Frendko for information you are legally required to retain or to protect with a certified system.
Security questions we get asked
- How long is a Frendko chat kept on the server?
- Only for the life of the room. A chat starts with 10 minutes once the second person joins, and the creator can add 10-minute extensions. An invite that is never used expires after 1 hour. Nothing is designed to outlive the room.
- What happens to my messages when the chat ends?
- When the timer runs out or either person ends the chat, Frendko deletes the messages and the room record from the database, then reads back to confirm nothing remains and shows you a purge receipt with the number of messages deleted and a verified timestamp.
- Does Frendko store my IP address?
- No. Frendko does not store raw IP addresses or message content in its analytics. Join-attempt rate limiting uses a salted hash rather than a readable address, and usage statistics keep only a 2-letter country code.
- Can a third person join or read my chat room?
- No. Each room holds exactly two participants. Once the guest seat is claimed, further join attempts with that code are rejected, and access to messages requires the participant token issued when you created or joined the room.
- What stops someone from guessing my room code?
- Codes are randomly generated and rate limited. Three consecutive incorrect codes from the same source trigger a 30-minute lockout.
- Is Frendko end-to-end encrypted?
- Frendko does not claim end-to-end encryption. Traffic is protected in transit by HTTPS and messages live on the server only until the room is purged. If you need cryptographic end-to-end guarantees, use a tool built specifically for that.
Reporting a problem
Found a vulnerability or something that looks wrong with a purge? Email security@frendko.com with the details. Please don't include chat content in your report — and because rooms are purged, we can't recover a conversation after it ends.