Effective Date: April 3, 2026 | Last Updated: April 6, 2026
Terms of Service Payment & Refund Policy Warrant Canary
This Privacy Policy describes how TIDE VPN ("we," "us," or "our") collects, uses, and protects information when you use our virtual private network service ("Service"), accessible through the Telegram bot @tide_vpnbot and the website tide-vpn.com.
We built TIDE VPN on a foundational principle: your online activity is yours alone.
| Category | Data NOT Collected |
|---|---|
| Network identity | Source IP, assigned VPN IP |
| DNS activity | DNS queries, resolution logs |
| Browsing activity | Websites visited, URLs, history |
| Connection metadata | Timestamps, session duration |
| Traffic content | Bandwidth per-site, per-session transfer details |
| Traffic content | Packet contents, app-layer data |
| Protocol metadata | Protocols used, ports accessed |
Even if a server were physically seized, no VPN traffic data, browsing history, or connection logs would be recoverable. Account and billing data stored in our database would be accessible.
We process your personal data under the following legal bases (GDPR Article 6):
| Data Category | Legal Basis |
|---|---|
| Account data | Contract performance — necessary to provide the Service |
| Payment data | Legal obligation — financial record-keeping requirements |
| Credits data | Legitimate interest — loyalty program operation |
| Aggregate VPN usage | Legitimate interest — loyalty program credits calculation |
| AI support conversations | Contract performance — providing support service |
| Data | Purpose | Retention |
|---|---|---|
| Telegram User ID | Authentication, unique account identifier | Active subscription + 30 days |
| Telegram username | Display name, support identification | Active subscription + 30 days |
| Telegram first name | Personalization | Active subscription + 30 days |
| Email (optional, user-provided) | Account recovery, notifications | Active subscription + 30 days |
| Account creation date | Account management | Active subscription + 30 days |
| Last updated date | Account management | Active subscription + 30 days |
| Trial used flag | Trial eligibility tracking | Active subscription + 30 days |
| Referral code | Referral program | Active subscription + 30 days |
| Referred-by ID | Referral attribution | Active subscription + 30 days |
| Data | Purpose | Retention |
|---|---|---|
| Plan type | Service delivery | Active subscription + 30 days |
| Subscription status | Service delivery | Active subscription + 30 days |
| Start and end dates | Billing period tracking | Active subscription + 30 days |
| VPN credentials (xray_username, xray_uuid) | VPN access provisioning | Active subscription + 30 days |
| Auto-renew preference | Subscription management | Active subscription + 30 days |
| Data | Purpose | Retention |
|---|---|---|
| Payment amount | Billing records | 1 year |
| Currency | Billing records | 1 year |
| Payment provider (Stars / TON) | Transaction routing | 1 year |
| Payment status | Transaction verification | 1 year |
| Provider payment ID | Payment verification, dispute resolution | 1 year |
| Provider metadata | Payment processing | 1 year |
| Transaction timestamps | Financial records | 1 year |
We do NOT collect: wallet addresses, credit cards, bank accounts, billing addresses, or real names.
TIDE Credits is our loyalty program. We track the following data, linked to your Telegram User ID:
| Data | Purpose | Retention |
|---|---|---|
| Credits balance | Loyalty program | Active subscription + 30 days |
| Total credits earned | Loyalty program, airdrop eligibility | Active subscription + 30 days |
| Transaction history (amount, reason, description, date) | Transparency, dispute resolution | Active subscription + 30 days |
To power the TIDE Credits loyalty program, we track aggregate total bytes transferred (upload + download combined) per user, per day. This data is used solely to calculate credits rewards (1 credit per minute of active VPN usage).
| Data | Purpose | Retention |
|---|---|---|
| Total bytes uploaded (aggregate) | Credits calculation, monthly usage reports | Active subscription + 30 days |
| Total bytes downloaded (aggregate) | Credits calculation, monthly usage reports | Active subscription + 30 days |
| Date of usage | Daily aggregation for credits | Active subscription + 30 days |
Important: We track only the total volume of data, not which websites or services you accessed. We do not log destination IPs, domain names, URLs, or any content of your traffic. This aggregate data cannot reveal your browsing activity.
When you use our in-bot AI support feature, your questions and the AI-generated answers are stored to provide conversation context and improve response quality.
| Data | Purpose | Retention |
|---|---|---|
| Support questions | AI response generation, context continuity | 30 days |
| AI responses | Conversation history | 30 days |
| Conversation metadata | Session management | 30 days |
Support conversations are not used for advertising or shared with third parties. You can clear your conversation history at any time via the bot's support menu.
Our Telegram bot logs interaction events (commands, button presses) with user IDs for operational monitoring. These logs are retained for 7 days and are used solely for debugging and service reliability. They do not contain VPN traffic data.
Encryption: VLESS + TLS 1.3 (X25519, AES-256-GCM / ChaCha20-Poly1305). Data at rest: AES-256.
| Service | Purpose | Data Received |
|---|---|---|
| Cloudflare | CDN, WARP exit | IP (standard CDN), encrypted traffic |
| Telegram | Bot platform | Telegram User ID, bot interactions |
| TON Blockchain | Payments | Transaction data (public chain) |
We do not sell, rent, or share your data with any third party for marketing.
We maintain data processing agreements with third-party service providers as required.
Request deletion via @tide_vpnbot.
Contact: @tide_vpnbot (Help → AI Support). Response within 30 days.
Due to our no-logs architecture, we are technically unable to provide VPN usage data, browsing history, or connection records — this data does not exist.
Maximum data we could disclose if legally compelled: whether a Telegram User ID has an account, subscription status, and payment transaction IDs.
We maintain a Warrant Canary, updated quarterly. See tide-vpn.com/warrant-canary.
The Service is not intended for individuals under the age of 16, as stated in our Terms of Service (Section 3). We do not knowingly collect personal data from children under 16. If we become aware that we have collected data from a child under 16, we will take steps to delete that information promptly.
Material changes will be notified through @tide_vpnbot. Continued use constitutes acceptance.
Bot: @tide_vpnbot (Help → AI Support)
Website: tide-vpn.com