Kavach ("we", "our", "the app") is an AI-powered fraud and spam detection application for Android, developed by Kavach Protect, registered in India. Kavach protects users from scam calls, SMS phishing, digital arrest fraud, UPI collect scams, robocalls, and cross-platform fraud pivot attacks.
This Privacy Policy explains what information Kavach collects, how it is used, where it is stored, and what rights you have as a user. This policy applies to the Kavach Android application, the backend services that support it, and the public tools available at kavachprotect.com.
Kavach processes personal data in accordance with:
| What we do NOT collect | Why |
|---|---|
| The audio content of your calls | Technically impossible — Android does not allow third-party apps to record call audio |
| The full text of your SMS messages stored on our servers | SMS text is analysed on your device; only anonymised risk signals are sent to our servers |
| Your contact list | Kavach never reads, uploads, or analyses your address book |
| Your location | No location data is collected at any time |
| Your browsing history | Kavach has no access to your browser |
| Biometric data | Not collected |
| Financial account numbers or payment details | Not collected |
| Content of banking app screens | Kavach draws a warning overlay but never reads the content of banking apps |
What: A one-way cryptographic hash (SHA-256) of your device identifier (Android ID). This hash cannot be reversed to identify your device or you.
Why: To issue you a secure authentication token (JWT) so your device can retrieve the fraud blacklist and sync updates.
Stored: On our servers (Railway cloud hosting). Retained for the lifetime of the app installation or until you uninstall the app.
What: When a call arrives, Kavach logs: a one-way hash of the incoming phone number (not the number itself), the call decision (BLOCKED / ALLOWED / WARNING), the fraud category code, the threat score (0–1), and timestamp. We do NOT log the actual phone number in plain text, call duration, or any audio.
Stored: On your device (encrypted SQLCipher). A summary is sent to our servers for blacklist learning. Retained for 90 days on your device, 30 days on servers.
What: For ambiguous SMS messages, Kavach sends the SMS text (without sender identity), a detected language code, and the rule-based risk score to our AI classification server.
What we do NOT send: Your name, the sender's phone number, or any other identifying information.
Stored: SMS text sent to the AI server is not retained after classification. Results stored on your device for 90 days.
What: If you add a guardian, we store a one-way hash of the guardian's phone number, their display name, verification status, and their Firebase Cloud Messaging token.
SOS alerts: If you tap the SOS button during a suspicious call, Kavach immediately sends a push notification to all your verified guardians. No audio or call content is transmitted.
Remote call termination (premium): Premium subscribers who are designated as a family guardian may request that Kavach end an active call on a family member's device. This action requires verified guardian relationship via OTP and an active suspicious call. The request is logged with a timestamp.
Stored: On our servers. Retained until you remove the guardian or uninstall the app.
What: When a guardian is added, we send a 6-digit OTP to their WhatsApp number via MSG91. MSG91 receives the guardian's phone number and OTP only.
Stored: The OTP is stored in Redis with a 5-minute expiry and deleted immediately after successful verification.
Kavach downloads a list of known fraud phone number hashes (SHA-256) from our servers. If you tap "This is a scam", you may optionally submit an anonymised hash of the caller's number, a fraud category tag, and a short script description. This information cannot be traced back to your device or identity.
Public reputation lookup: Anyone may query the fraud reputation of a phone number at kavachprotect.com/check. The phone number is converted to a SHA-256 hash in your browser before being sent to our servers — we never receive the plaintext number. This service is rate-limited to prevent bulk enumeration.
If the app crashes, Android may collect a crash report through Google Play Services. We do not use any additional crash reporting SDK. See Google's privacy policy at policies.google.com/privacy.
What: If you purchase a premium subscription, your payment is processed entirely by Google Play. Kavach never receives your payment card details. We receive from Google only your subscription status (active/cancelled), your subscription tier, and an anonymised purchase token.
Stored: On our servers. Retained for the duration of your subscription and deleted within 30 days of cancellation.
| Service | Purpose | What they receive | Privacy policy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Google Firebase (FCM) | Push notifications | Guardian FCM token, notification payload | policies.google.com/privacy |
| Google Gemini API | SMS fraud classification | Anonymous SMS text, language code | ai.google.dev/terms |
| MSG91 | WhatsApp OTP delivery | Guardian phone number, OTP | msg91.com/privacy |
| Google Play Billing | Subscription payments | Payment processed by Google; we receive only subscription status and purchase token | policies.google.com/privacy |
| Railway | Backend hosting | All server-stored data described above | railway.app/legal/privacy |
| Neon (PostgreSQL) | Database hosting | Hashed device IDs, hashed phone numbers, guardian data | neon.tech/privacy |
| Upstash (Redis) | OTP storage, velocity counters | OTPs (TTL 5 min), anonymised spam report counts | upstash.com/privacy |
We do not sell your data to any third party. We do not use your data for advertising.
We are working toward full data localisation within India in compliance with the DPDP Act 2023.
Kavach is not directed at children under 13 years of age. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children under 13. If you believe your child has provided personal data to Kavach, please contact us and we will delete it promptly.
9.1 Right to access: Request a summary of the personal data we hold about your device and guardian relationships.
9.2 Right to correction: Request correction of inaccurate personal data.
9.3 Right to erasure: Request deletion of your data by uninstalling Kavach and emailing us. We will complete deletion within 30 days.
9.4 Right to grievance redressal: If you are unsatisfied with how we handle your data, you may lodge a complaint with the Data Protection Board of India.
9.5 Right to withdraw consent: You may withdraw consent at any time by uninstalling the app.
To exercise any right, contact us at: privacy@kavachprotect.com
Required to analyse incoming SMS messages for fraud patterns. All analysis happens on your device. SMS text is sent to our AI server only when on-device rules cannot determine if the message is safe or fraudulent. The sender's phone number is never sent to our servers.
Required for two purposes: (1) IVR Turing Test — Kavach plays a spoken math challenge and listens for a DTMF tone response to distinguish humans from robocall bots. (2) AI Counter-Interrogation (premium) — when you tap "AI Takeover", Kavach's bot speaks to the suspicious caller and listens to their response on speaker mode. No audio is ever recorded or stored. Processing is real-time and discarded immediately.
Required by Android's Call Screening Service to access call details (incoming number) during the screening decision. No call state data is stored beyond the hashed number and decision outcome.
Required to display safety warnings when Kavach detects you may be opening a banking or payment app shortly after a suspicious call ended. Kavach never reads the content of any app it draws over — it only detects that a banking app has been opened based on the app's package name.
Required to: (1) Monitor notifications from banking and UPI apps to detect potential fraud (UPI Guardian feature). (2) Detect if you open WhatsApp, Telegram, or other video call apps while on a suspicious phone call (Cross-platform Pivot Detector). Kavach never reads the content of notifications — only the source app name.
Required for the Remote Call Drop feature (premium). When a verified guardian requests to end a call on your device during a suspected fraud call, Kavach uses this permission to terminate the call. This action is only possible when you have added the guardian, they have verified their consent via OTP, and a suspicious call is currently active.
We may update this policy as Kavach adds new features. We will notify you of material changes through an in-app notification. The "Last updated" date at the top of this policy will reflect any changes.
Data Fiduciary: Kavach Protect, Hyderabad, Telangana, India
Privacy enquiries: privacy@kavachprotect.com
General support: support@kavachprotect.com
This privacy policy was drafted to comply with India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (DPDP Act), the Information Technology Rules, 2011, and, where applicable, the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).