Zivo Review: Privacy-First Due Diligence for a General AI Friend

This is a buyer-side privacy review, not a product demo. Zivo is described by its operator, Edra Labs LLP, as a general AI conversational companion with text and voice chat. The point of this review is to establish what the documentation actually commits to before a cautious adult hands over conversations, voice recordings and personal context. It is explicitly not evidence that Zivo is, or markets itself as, an erotic girlfriend product. Nothing below is based on a paid subscription, a long-term trial or a test account; every factual statement is attributed to the developer's published terms, privacy policy or store listing, and every judgement is editorial advice. Before any signup decision, note Privacy section 9: the Services are not offered to, or intended for, people located in the EEA or UK; do not sign up there or attempt a bypass.

The method: reading paperwork as a buyer, not a tester

The evidence base is narrow and deliberately so. The operator's privacy policy is dated September 28, 2026; the terms of use are dated August 18, 2026; the store listing identity (com.friend.android by Edra Labs on Google Play) corroborates that the app and the policy belong to the same publisher. The saved Play evidence was captured on October 18, 2026; the complete legal sources used for this factual review were captured on October 23, 2026. This review does not claim hands-on use, does not quote the policy at length, and does not treat vendor language as independent verification. Where the documents say something the operator controls, that is a described practice. Where they say something an auditor would need to confirm, this review flags the gap rather than filling it.

That method matters because companion apps attract two kinds of buyer: people curious about a general AI friend, and people looking for something more intimate. Zivo's own terms describe an entertainment and general-informational chatbot that is not a therapist, not an emergency service and not a professional adviser. A buyer should evaluate it on those terms, not on a category assumption borrowed from other products.

What Zivo stores about you, according to the policy

The privacy policy separates data you provide from data collected automatically. On the provided side, Zivo collects account details (name, email, password or sign-in identifier), profile details volunteered during onboarding such as date of birth, pronouns, preferred address and context about people and situations in your life, plus the content you send: messages, audio, images and the memories the system derives to keep continuity between sessions. The policy says subscriptions are billed through Apple App Store and Google Play, with purchase/subscription status and entitlements passed to Zivo; this review did not inspect checkout or establish whether other payment paths exist. Support messages, reports and survey responses are also collected.

On the automatic side, the policy lists inferred general location from IP address, device and software details including advertising identifiers and push tokens, usage information such as screens viewed and timestamps, and cookie or SDK data from analytics and advertising partners. The breadth is ordinary for a consumer app; the sensitivity is not, because the content field includes whatever personal detail a user chooses to type into a companion chat.

Memories and voice: the parts that outlive a single chat

Two features deserve separate attention. First, derived memories. The policy says Zivo creates memories from conversations so the companion can maintain continuity across sessions. The policy treats those derived memories separately from conversation messages, without specifying their technical format or accuracy. A buyer should treat memories as a distinct data class: they are generated by the service, they may be more revealing than any single message, and they are one of the categories the deletion section addresses.

Second, voice. When voice conversation is used, the policy says speech is captured, transcribed and the transcription kept as part of the conversation. Dictation is also captured and converted to text. Importantly, the operator states it does not use voice to identify the user or create a voiceprint. That is a meaningful limitation as written, but it is still a vendor statement. A voice recording remains sensitive content, and the transcription inherits the sensitivity of whatever was said.

Model improvement: Zivo's own opt-out versus third-party providers

This is where careless reviews go wrong. The policy describes two different processing relationships. Zivo may use shared content to improve its AI models and safety systems after steps to reduce personal information. Section 3 allows an email opt-out that stops new content from training Zivo's models, but does not promise to undo earlier training; feedback and other improvements, including search, recommendations and safety systems, can continue. Separately, Zivo says it uses third-party large language models to generate responses, and states that those AI providers do not train on the content transmitted to them. These are not the same promise. One is Zivo's own model improvement with an email opt-out for new content, not a documented in-app switch; the other is the operator's assurance about external processors, whose limited abuse-monitoring retention is also described in section 7. A buyer who wants minimal model training should exercise the Zivo opt-out and should not assume it also governs every processor in the chain. Nor should the third-party assurance be read as covering Zivo's own improvement use. Terms section 12 also grants a broad, perpetual, irrevocable user-content licence for operating and promoting the service; this review does not treat training opt-out as cancelling that clause or resolve its legal interaction with deletion commitments.

Retention and deletion: 90 days, with named exceptions

The deletion language is specific. The policy says that when an account is deleted, related account information, conversations and memories are deleted within 90 days, subject to exceptions for legal obligations, disputes, enforcing the Terms, and preventing fraud and abuse; aggregated or de-identified information no longer reasonably linkable to you may also be retained. Advertising and attribution event data is described as retained for up to 24 months; this is a separate category, not a 24-month retention claim about every chat. Two conclusions follow. First, deletion is a process over a window, not an instant eraser. Second, some records can survive the window for defined reasons. A buyer should plan around the window, not against it, and should not expect a guaranteed same-day wipe. This review makes no claim about erasure having been tested.

Section 9 excludes EEA and UK individuals

The privacy policy's Section 9 states that the Services are not offered to, or intended for, individuals located in the European Economic Area or the United Kingdom. That is the single most consequential eligibility fact for European readers, and it belongs near the top of any decision, not buried in a footnote. This review does not advise bypassing that exclusion, using a workaround, or misrepresenting location. If you are located in the EEA or UK, do not treat Zivo as available or attempt a bypass; this service restriction does not establish that privacy rights or commitments disappear. Anyone who tells you otherwise is giving you advice the documents do not support.

Encryption and security: a safeguard claim, not a proof

The documentation presents encryption as a vendor safeguard. It is not presented here as audited, certified or end-to-end encryption, and this review does not convert a safeguard statement into a security guarantee. Buyers should read any encryption language as an operational claim by the operator. The same caution applies to the policy's general security posture: reasonable measures are described, not independently verified. For a companion product, that distinction matters because the threat model includes not only hackers but also internal access, processor access and retention windows.

Age, contract and store signals

The terms require users to be at least 18 and state that the service is for adults. The Google Play listing, however, carries an Everyone rating. That mismatch is a buyer-facing signal: store ratings are not a substitute for the contractual age gate, and a cautious adult should rely on the terms. The operator also reserves the right to verify age and to suspend accounts it reasonably believes belong to ineligible users. The terms place disputes in individual arbitration seated in Mumbai with a class-action waiver, subject to an opt-out described in the terms. Buyers should read that clause before subscribing, because it shapes what recourse looks like.

Decision table: what the documents support

Pros and cons for a privacy-first buyer

Pros. The operator publishes a dated privacy policy and terms that name the data classes, the deletion window and the exceptions. The policy distinguishes Zivo's own model improvement from third-party provider handling, which is more precise than many companion apps. It states no voiceprint is created, and it names the 18+ requirement in the contract. The Google Play listing corroborates publisher identity.

Cons. The EEA/UK exclusion is a hard stop for a large group of readers. The 90-day deletion window and 24-month advertising-event retention mean data can outlive a user's decision to leave. Encryption is a safeguard claim, not an audited or end-to-end proof. The Everyone store rating sits awkwardly beside an 18+ contract. And none of this has been tested by this review; it is documentation only.

Precise questions to ask before subscribing

Ask the operator, in writing, and keep the answer: The policy names OpenAI, Anthropic, AssemblyAI and Cartesia as AI providers, with AssemblyAI handling speech-to-text and Cartesia spoken output. Ask which provider receives each data category and whether a complete subprocessor list is available. Does the Zivo model-improvement opt-out cover safety-system training as well as product models? What exactly is retained for the 24-month advertising-event window, and is it linked to an account identifier? Does the 90-day deletion clock start at request or at confirmation? Which legal, dispute or fraud exceptions have actually been invoked, and how would a user be told? For EEA/UK readers, the prior question is service availability: section 9 says Zivo is not offered to or intended for people located there, so do not sign up or work around it. A hypothetical example: a buyer might set an entertainment budget and then discover that the service can change; that is a reason to read the modification clause, not evidence of consumables, a current price or an unlimited plan. Current subscription prices, limits, renewal and cancellation mechanics remain unverified here.

How to weigh sponsored alternatives without confusion

This page may include labeled sponsorships for other AI companion products. Those are not downloads of Zivo, not trials of Zivo, and not endorsements by Edra Labs. Each alternative has its own terms, its own retention policy and its own eligibility rules, and this review makes no feature or pricing claims about them. If you click through, check the alternative's age requirements and regional scope, and whether it offers a training opt-out or states a deletion window before you create an account. The useful comparison is document-to-document, not screenshot-to-screenshot.

FAQ

Is Zivo an erotic girlfriend app? The documentation describes a general AI conversational companion for entertainment and general information. The terms explicitly disclaim professional advice and state the service is not a human. Nothing in the reviewed documents supports describing it as an erotic girlfriend product, and this review does not.

Does Zivo train on my conversations? The policy permits Zivo-model improvement and offers an email opt-out that stops training on new content, not past training or all safety/service uses. It separately states third-party AI providers do not train on transmitted content and retain it only for limited abuse monitoring under their agreements. These are distinct operator statements, not an independent audit.

What happens to my memories and voice recordings when I delete my account? The policy says account information, conversations and memories are deleted within 90 days, with exceptions for legal obligations, disputes, Terms enforcement, and fraud and abuse; unlinked aggregated or de-identified information may also remain. Voice transcriptions are part of conversations, but this does not establish a separate raw-audio deletion schedule. Advertising and attribution events may be kept up to 24 months. This review has not tested deletion.

Is Zivo encrypted end-to-end? The documents present encryption as a safeguard. They do not present it as audited, certified or end-to-end encryption, and this review does not upgrade a safeguard claim into proof.

Can I use Zivo in the EEA or UK? The privacy policy's Section 9 says the Services are not offered to, or intended for, people located in the EEA or UK. This review does not advise bypassing that exclusion. Do not sign up from those regions or attempt to bypass the stated service restriction.

Why does Google Play say Everyone if the terms say 18+? Store ratings and contractual eligibility are different things. The terms require 18+ and reserve the right to verify age; the store rating does not override the contract. Rely on the terms.

Actionable decision

If you are outside the EEA and UK, are 18 or older, and want a general AI friend rather than an erotic product, Zivo is a defensible candidate on documentation grounds, provided you exercise the model-improvement opt-out, avoid speaking identifying details aloud, and accept that the stated deletion deadline is within 90 days for named account data, with retention exceptions and no independently tested erasure guarantee. If you are in the EEA or UK, the documented exclusion is a stop sign: do not bypass it, and do not let a sponsored alternative's marketing blur the line. If your priority is audited security or guaranteed immediate erasure, the documents do not supply either, and you should treat those as unmet requirements. The next step is not to subscribe; it is to ask the subprocessor and retention questions above and keep the answers.