Privacy Policy

Effective July 10, 2026

TOPICAL collects the information needed to operate discussion, voting, messaging, image uploads, account security, and abuse prevention. This policy applies to the TOPICAL website and mobile applications.

Information We Collect

• Account details such as username, email address, password hash, and optional profile fields.
• Content you create, including topics, comments, messages, votes, support requests, and uploaded images.
• Technical data needed for security and operations, such as IP address, session identifiers, rate-limit state, and moderation results.
• Cookies and similar storage used to keep you signed in, prevent fraud, and remember lightweight preferences.

How We Use Information

• Provide the TOPICAL service, including authentication, feeds, comments, voting, direct messages, and uploads.
• Protect the platform against spam, abuse, duplicate submissions, and harmful image content.
• Send transactional emails such as verification, password reset, username recovery, and support responses.
• Maintain service quality, troubleshoot problems, and improve reliability and performance.

Sharing

TOPICAL does not sell personal information. Information may be shared with service providers that support hosting, email delivery, content moderation, analytics, infrastructure, and security, but only as needed to operate the service.

User Content and Visibility

Topics, comments, usernames, profile details you choose to show, and public image uploads can be visible to other users and search engines. Direct messages are intended for the participants in the conversation but are still processed by TOPICAL systems to operate the service and enforce safety rules.

Cookies, Sessions, and Local Storage

TOPICAL uses session cookies and local browser storage for login state, CSRF protection, guest naming, and other basic functionality. If you block these features, some parts of the service may not work.

Retention and Deletion

Data is kept for as long as needed to operate the service, comply with legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce policies. You can request deletion by using the in-app account deletion flow. When an account is deleted, TOPICAL removes the account profile and associated uploaded content from active systems, subject to routine backup and legal retention limits.

Children

TOPICAL is not intended for children under 13, and users under 13 should not create accounts or submit personal information.

Contact

Questions about privacy can be sent through the support form on About TOPICAL.