Last updated: October 29, 2026.
Hey, Abu is a small messaging app that translates between English and Chinese so families can talk. It is not a commercial product and has no ads. It is run by its developer ("we").
When you join, we store:
You sign up with just a name and a language. We do not collect your phone number, email address, contacts, location, or any advertising or analytics data. We only receive the photos and videos you choose to share and the previews of links you send.
Messages and account information are stored on our server, which runs on Cloudflare (Workers and Durable Objects) in North America. Only we (the people who run the server) can access it; Cloudflare hosts it under its own privacy policy: https://www.cloudflare.com/privacypolicy/ Your phone also keeps a copy of recent messages so the app works offline.
Messages are translated on your own device with Apple's built-in Translation feature. Our server never translates messages and never sends them to a translation service. When it can, your phone translates your message before sending it, and that translation is stored with the message so everyone in the chat reads the same words; otherwise each reader's phone translates it. The first time you use translation, iOS may ask to download language files from Apple. After that, translation works on your phone.
When you send a voice message, your iPhone turns the speech into text with Apple's speech recognition, so the reader's phone can translate it. This happens on your phone when it supports your language offline; otherwise Apple processes the audio under its own privacy policy. The text is sent along with the recording. If a voice message arrives without text, the reader can tap Translate: their iPhone then turns the recording into text the same way, and keeps that text on their phone.
When you open a photo, your iPhone reads any words in it with Apple's built-in text recognition, so it can offer to translate them. Reading and translating the words happen on your phone, and nothing about them is sent to us.
When you send a message with a web link, your iPhone looks up the page's title and picture, the way Messages does, and sends them with your message. The website sees that visit like any other. People reading your message get the preview from our server, so their phones don't visit the page unless they tap the link.
When you're not using the app, we send a notification through Apple Push Notification service (APNs). By default the notification shows the sender's name and the original message text, so that text passes through Apple's servers to reach your phone. The server owner can turn this off so notifications only say "New message". Apple handles push notifications under its own privacy policy: https://www.apple.com/legal/privacy/
We do not sell, rent, or share your information with anyone. Besides Cloudflare, which hosts the server, and Apple's push service, described above, no third party receives your data. There are no ads, trackers, or analytics in the app.
You can block anyone. You'll stop seeing their messages everywhere, including group chats. You can report a person or a message from inside the app. Reports go to us. We review them within 24 hours and can remove the person from the app.
Uninstalling the app does not delete your account. Use "Delete my account" first, or contact us.
Hey, Abu is meant for families. We do not knowingly collect information from children under 13 without a parent's involvement.
If this policy changes, we'll update this page and note the date at the top.
Use the feedback email shown for Hey, Abu in TestFlight or the App Store, or report a problem from inside the app.