Admin oversight
AChat's admin panel shows chat details, never their messages, except what a reporter chose to send with a report. Every admin change is recorded in an action log that nobody can edit or delete, admins included.
What admins see
- Chats: size, dates and settings only. An encrypted chat lists only its details.
- Reports: about people, rooms and communities. Admins see only what the reporter chose to send, never who sent it.
- Private location history: admins can't open it.
What admins can do
| Action | Effect |
|---|---|
| Remove reported messages | Removes them for everyone in the chat. Only AChat admins can restore them |
| Restrict a room | New people can't open it from a link or join it. Members already in it keep chatting |
| Suspend an account | The person can't sign in or send until an admin lifts it. Their chats are kept, and they can ask for a review through the contact page |
| Grant a plan or allowance | Sets a plan or custom allowances for an account, with its own end date |
| Mark a room for keep forever | Lets a keep-forever grant limited to marked rooms cover that room |
| Set Keep forever for a person | Chooses whether that person can keep rooms forever: Not allowed, Marked rooms only, Any room or Every room, automatically. A reason is required unless the choice is Not allowed. Changing it never shortens a room already kept forever |
| Mark a community Mature | Changes a community's 18+ mark |
| Delete an account on request | For someone who can't sign in, on a request from that account's Google email address |
Admins also confirm bank transfer payments by hand and answer the contact inbox.
For card payments, admins can open or close new card sales, link Polar products to plans and periods, set a plan's yearly price, and set how long a plan is kept after a failed renewal. Closing card sales doesn't end the subscriptions people already have. Each change is in the action log.
Limits admins set
Admins set AChat's limits in the admin panel, such as how long Trash keeps things and how long anonymous room messages last. Two of them bound search on each device: Chats in search, the most chats search covers (pinned first, then the most recent), and Messages in search, the most messages it covers in each chat, newest first. Each field takes only a whole number within its allowed range.
Moderation inside groups and communities
The people who run a space act first. Group admins can remove members and delete any message; community admins handle reports and bans. See Groups & communities.
The action log
Every admin change appears with who made it and when. A Keep forever change shows the setting before and after. Nobody can edit or delete an entry. Chats' device and location history isn't part of this log.
Reviews
If you think a suspension or ban is wrong, ask the AChat team for a review through the contact page. The team makes the final decision, and a review doesn't guarantee any outcome.