Back to Hollow

Terms of Use

Hollow

Last Updated: May 9, 2026

These Terms of Use ("Terms") govern your access to and use of the Hollow application and related services ("Services") provided by AnonListen ("we", "us", "our"). By using Hollow, you agree to these Terms.

1. What Hollow is

Hollow is a distributed, end-to-end encrypted communication application. Messages, calls, and files are encrypted on your device and can only be decrypted by the intended recipients. We operate relay infrastructure to facilitate connections between peers, but we do not store, access, or process the content of your communications.

2. Who can use Hollow

You must be at least 13 years old (or the applicable age of majority in your jurisdiction, whichever is higher) to use Hollow.

3. Your account

Your Hollow account is a cryptographic keypair generated on your device. You are responsible for safeguarding your recovery phrase (BIP-39 mnemonic). We cannot recover your account if you lose your recovery phrase — there is no "forgot password" mechanism because we do not have access to your credentials.

4. Acceptable use

You agree to use Hollow only for lawful purposes. You agree not to use Hollow to:

  • Engage in any activity that violates applicable law
  • Distribute child sexual abuse material (CSAM) or exploit minors
  • Coordinate, promote, or glorify terrorism or violent extremism
  • Engage in targeted harassment, stalking, or threats of violence
  • Distribute malware or harmful software
  • Attempt to compromise Hollow's relay infrastructure or other users' devices
  • Use automated means to create accounts or send messages in bulk

5. Content and conduct

You own the content you create and share through Hollow. We do not claim any rights to your content.

Because Hollow uses end-to-end encryption, we cannot access, review, moderate, or remove the content of your messages, calls, or files. Our Services have been designed using a privacy-by-design approach, which means it is technically impossible for us to analyze or monitor the content you create, send, or receive through Hollow.

Individual Hollow servers are created and managed by their owners. Server owners may set their own rules and moderate their own communities. We are not responsible for the moderation practices of individual server owners.

If you become aware of any use of Hollow that violates these Terms, you may report it to us at privacy@anonlisten.com.

6. Software ownership and your rights

Hollow is open-source software. The client application and core library are licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License v3.0 (AGPL-3.0). The relay server is licensed under the MIT License. The full license texts are available in the source repository.

For commercial use without AGPL obligations (proprietary modifications, embedding, or enterprise deployments), a separate commercial license is available — contact collab@anonlisten.com.

The Hollow name, trademarks, logos, and associated branding are the property of AnonListen (Vitalii Rovinskyi) and are not covered by the open-source licenses.

You own your copy of Hollow. Once you download Hollow, it is yours. We cannot remotely disable, lock, or revoke your installed copy of the application. Your data, your keys, and your messages belong to you — not to us.

7. Privacy

Your privacy is fundamental to Hollow's design. Please review our Privacy Policy for details on what data exists and how it is handled.

In summary: we cannot access the content of your communications, we do not collect telemetry or analytics, and we do not require any personally identifying information to create an account.

8. Service availability

Hollow is provided on an "as is" and "as available" basis. We may interrupt Services for maintenance, upgrades, or security updates; modify, suspend, or discontinue any part of the Services at any time; or update the application to improve functionality or security. We will make reasonable efforts to maintain service availability but do not guarantee uninterrupted access.

9. Disclaimers

The Services are provided "as is" and "as available" without warranties of any kind. We disclaim all warranties, including merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement.

You use Hollow at your own risk. You are solely responsible for the content you create, send, and receive, and for compliance with all applicable laws in your jurisdiction.

10. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, AnonListen and its affiliates, officers, employees, and agents will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or any loss of profits or revenue, whether incurred directly or indirectly, or any loss of data, use, goodwill, or other intangible losses, arising from:

  • Your use of or inability to use the Services
  • Any unauthorized access to or alteration of your data or transmissions
  • Any conduct or content of any third party using the Services
  • Any content obtained from or through the Services

Our aggregate liability for all claims relating to the Services shall not exceed ten euros (€10).

11. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless AnonListen from any claims, damages, losses, liabilities, costs, and expenses (including reasonable legal fees) arising from your use of the Services or your violation of these Terms.

12. Stopping use

You may stop using Hollow at any time by deleting the application from your device. This removes all locally stored data. No account deletion request is needed — there is no account on our servers to delete.

13. Governing law and disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of the European Union and the Republic of Poland, without regard to conflict of law principles. Any disputes arising from these Terms or your use of the Services shall be resolved exclusively in the competent courts of Poland.

14. Mere conduit status

Hollow's relay infrastructure operates as a "mere conduit" within the meaning of the EU Digital Services Act (Article 4). The relay does not initiate transmissions, does not select receivers, and does not select or modify the information contained in transmissions. All content passing through the relay is end-to-end encrypted and opaque to us.

15. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. Changes will be posted with an updated "Last updated" date. Material changes will be communicated through the application. Your continued use of Hollow after changes constitutes acceptance of the updated Terms.

16. Severability

If any provision of these Terms is found to be unenforceable or invalid, that provision will be limited or eliminated to the minimum extent necessary, and the remaining provisions will remain in full force and effect.

17. Entire agreement

These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy, constitute the entire agreement between you and AnonListen regarding your use of the Services.

Contact

Questions about these terms? Reach out at privacy@anonlisten.com

Your software. Your data. Your keys. Yours.