Terms of use

qxch.at runs the LQXP server, the open-source software published at github.com/lqxp/lqxp. It lets you create an account, join rooms, add friends, send messages and files, make calls and sync your devices. It is free, has no advertising and does not use your data for anything other than running the service, as the privacy policy explains.

Under European law, qxch.at is a hosting service within the meaning of article 3(g) of the Digital Services Act (Regulation (EU) 2022/2065, the "DSA") and article 6 of French law n° 2004-575 of 21 June 2004 (the "LCEN").

By creating an account or using qxch.at, you accept these terms. If you do not accept them, do not use the public instance. You can always run your own server with your own rules.

You must be at least 13 years old, or older where your country's law requires it (15 in France for consenting to data processing alone, under article 45 of law n° 78-17 of 6 January 1978). Below that age, a parent or guardian must agree.

• Your account is a username, a password and 12 recovery words. Keep the recovery words safe: we cannot reset your password, because we do not know it and have no email to send a reset link to.
• You are responsible for what is done with your account. If someone else gets access to it, change your password and tell us.
• You can delete your account at any time from Settings, Profile, Delete account. Deletion takes effect immediately, as described in the privacy policy.

QxChat is built so that you can speak freely:

• We do not read your messages. Messages are encrypted on your device before they are sent, and the server only passes them along. We cannot read them, so we do not and cannot monitor them.
• We do not monitor. We have no general obligation to monitor what is sent through the service, and we do not do it (article 8 of the DSA, article 6 of the LCEN). There is no automated content scanning and no algorithm deciding what you see.
• We do not censor opinions. Political, religious, artistic or unpopular opinions, criticism, satire and strong language are allowed, including criticism of QxChat itself.
• You stay anonymous. We never ask for your identity, and we only hand over data when the law forces us to, as described in the privacy policy. Because of how QxChat is built, there is very little to hand over.

You may not use qxch.at to:

1. send, store or share content that is illegal under European Union law or French law, in particular child sexual abuse material, incitement to terrorism or terrorism apology, incitement to hatred or violence against people because of who they are, threats, harassment, and content that infringes someone else's intellectual property rights;
2. commit or prepare a criminal offence, including fraud, phishing, the sale of illegal goods, and distributing malware;
3. attack the service or its users: intrusion attempts, denial of service, getting around rate limits or the proof-of-time challenge on a large scale, or automated mass account creation;
4. send spam, meaning large volumes of unsolicited messages or friend requests;
5. pretend to be the QxChat team or another real person in order to deceive.

Security research that follows the security policy is welcome and is not a breach of these terms.

Because messages are end-to-end encrypted, we only learn about a breach of section 5 when someone reports it to us with evidence, or when an authority sends us a lawful order.

Depending on how serious the breach is, we may remove a message or a file stored on the server, close a public room, suspend an account for a limited time, or delete it. We choose the least restrictive measure that ends the problem, and we take into account your rights, in particular freedom of expression (article 14(4) of the DSA).

Automatic protections against abuse, such as rate limits, can slow you down temporarily. They never look at the content of your messages.

When we restrict your account or remove something you posted, we tell you through whatever channel we have to reach you, for example a message in the room concerned, at the latest when the measure takes effect, unless the law or an authority forbids it. We explain what we did, why, which rule or law it is based on, and how you can contest it (article 17 of the DSA).

Anyone can report content they believe is illegal by writing to [email protected] (article 16 of the DSA). Your report should include:

• why you believe the content is illegal;
• where to find it: the room, username, and a screenshot or the message itself;
• your name and email address, except for reports about child sexual abuse material;
• a statement that you believe in good faith that the report is accurate and complete.

We confirm receipt, examine the report carefully and without undue delay, tell you what we decided and how to contest it. We do not use automated tools to decide.

If something you find suggests that a person's life or safety is in danger, we inform the competent authorities as required by article 18 of the DSA. In France, you can also report illegal content to PHAROS.

Knowingly reporting lawful content as illegal in order to have it removed is an offence under French law (article 6 of the LCEN). Repeated clearly unfounded reports may be ignored (article 23 of the DSA).

If you disagree with a decision we made about your account, your content or your report, write to [email protected] within six months. A person who did not take the first decision, where possible, will look at it again, and we will reverse it if it was wrong.

You can also turn to a certified out-of-court dispute settlement body under article 21 of the DSA, or to the courts. In France, the national Digital Services Coordinator is Arcom (arcom.fr).

The single point of contact for users, for authorities of EU member states, for the European Commission and for the European Board for Digital Services is [email protected] (articles 11 and 12 of the DSA). We answer in English or French.

qxch.at is run by volunteers on private hardware. We do our best to keep it online, but we cannot guarantee that it will always be available, fast or free of bugs. We may have to interrupt it for maintenance, updates or reasons outside our control.

Room messages are kept in server memory only and disappear when the server restarts. Your full history is stored on your devices. Keep your own backups of anything that matters to you.

We may stop running the public instance. If we do, we will announce it at least 30 days in advance, except in an emergency, so you can move to another server. The software stays free and open.

The service is provided free of charge, as it is. To the extent permitted by law, we are not liable for indirect damage, loss of data or interruptions of service.

As a hosting service, we are not liable for content posted by users unless, once we actually know it is illegal, we fail to act promptly to remove it or block access to it (article 6 of the DSA, article 6 of the LCEN).

Nothing in these terms limits liability for intentional misconduct or gross negligence, for death or personal injury, or takes away any right you have under the mandatory consumer law of the country where you live.

What you send remains yours. You give us only the permission needed to store and deliver it to the people you send it to, for as long as the service needs it. The QxChat software is under the MIT licence; see the legal notice.

We may update these terms, for example when the law or the service changes. We will publish the new version on this page with its date. For important changes, we will announce them on this page and on the project's Discord at least 30 days before they apply. If you do not agree, you can delete your account before the new version applies.

These terms are governed by French law. If you live in the European Union, you also keep the protection of the mandatory rules of your own country, and you may go to the courts of the place where you live. Before going to court, please write to us: most problems are solved faster that way.

Effective 31 October 2026.