Privacy guide

Is DeepSeek safe? How to use it privately

It depends on where you use it: DeepSeek's own app and website store what you send in China, keep it as long as you have an account, and may use it to improve DeepSeek's models unless you turn off Improve the model for everyone. DeepSeek's models are also open, so you can run them on your own computer or through another service, and then that service's rules decide what happens to your chats.

Checked against the provider’s own help pages. We make Bearly, which this guide also covers.

Four things people mean by "DeepSeek"

The answer to "is DeepSeek safe?" changes with which of these you mean. This guide covers privacy: who sees what you type and what they keep.

  • The DeepSeek app and website. These are run by Hangzhou DeepSeek Artificial Intelligence Co., Ltd., a company registered in China, and follow DeepSeek's privacy policy. (DeepSeek Privacy Policy)
  • Other apps built on DeepSeek's developer platform. DeepSeek's privacy policy doesn't cover you there; the app you're using is responsible for telling you how it handles your data. (DeepSeek Privacy Policy)
  • The open models. DeepSeek publishes its model weights under the MIT License, so anyone can download and run them. (DeepSeek: Model mechanism and training methods) Open weights don't make a chat private on their own. Whoever runs the model still reads your prompts in order to answer them.
  • The service that runs the model for you. When you use an open DeepSeek model in another app, that app and the company running the model decide what's kept.

If you use the DeepSeek app, step by step

1. Turn off Improve the model for everyone

DeepSeek's terms of use say it may use what you type and what it answers, after de-identifying them, to improve its services, and that you can opt out by turning off Improve the model for everyone. Look for it in the app's settings; DeepSeek's published policies don't say which menu it's in. (DeepSeek Terms of Use, section 4.3)

The privacy policy also lists a right to opt out of having your data used to train DeepSeek's models, which you can ask for by emailing privacy@deepseek.com. (DeepSeek Privacy Policy)

2. Leave sensitive details out

DeepSeek's privacy policy says its service isn't designed to process sensitive personal data, such as health information, religious beliefs, immigration status, or precise location, and asks you not to provide it, about yourself or anyone else. (DeepSeek Privacy Policy)

3. Delete chats you don't need

DeepSeek says you can copy or delete your chat history in your settings. It keeps your account details and what you type for as long as you have an account. If you delete your account, you can't reactivate it or get its content back. (DeepSeek Privacy Policy)

4. Think twice before sharing a chat link

Anyone with a shared link can read the conversation. DeepSeek says that if a shared link is posted publicly, web crawlers may pick it up; it asks crawlers not to, but says the risk can't be entirely eliminated. (DeepSeek Terms of Use, section 1.6)

What these settings don't change

These settings control what DeepSeek trains on and what you keep in your history. They don't change where your messages go or who handles them.

  • DeepSeek processes and stores your data in China. Its privacy policy says it directly collects, processes, and stores your personal data in the People's Republic of China.
  • What you type stays while your account does. DeepSeek keeps your account details and input for as long as you have an account, and can keep data longer for legal reasons, safety and security, or its legitimate business interests.
  • The app collects more than your messages. That includes your device model, operating system, IP address, device identifiers, an approximate location based on your IP address, and logs of the features you use.
  • Other parties can receive it. DeepSeek shares data with service providers and with companies in its corporate group, which help with storage, security, and foundation model training, among other things. It may also share data with law enforcement and public authorities when it believes in good faith that it's necessary, for example to comply with the law or a government request.

All of the above comes from DeepSeek's own privacy policy, last updated February 10, 2026.

Use DeepSeek through Bearly with zero data retention

If you want to use DeepSeek's models without DeepSeek's own app, there's another option: an app that runs them elsewhere, with zero data retention. Bearly is one of those apps. We make it, so weigh this section with that in mind.

Bearly runs its DeepSeek models on other inference providers, not on DeepSeek's own service. It gives you Claude, GPT, Gemini, Grok, and more in one app. With ZDR mode on, every chat model you can pick runs with zero data retention. That means the provider running the model doesn't keep your prompt or the answer once it has finished processing them. Our AI proxy doesn't store your prompts or the answers either. Bearly doesn't train AI models on your chats, has no ads, and doesn't sell your data.

To turn it on:

  1. In Bearly, open your account menu at the bottom of the sidebar and choose App Settings.
  2. Select Privacy & Security.
  3. Turn on Zero Data Retention only.
  4. Start a chat and choose a DeepSeek model from the model picker.

With the setting on, the picker shows only zero-retention models, and automatic fallbacks stay on them too. Each model carries a ZDR badge. The setting belongs to your account, so it follows you to your other devices. (Bearly docs: zero data retention)

What it covers: the models that write chat replies. Web search, image generation, voice, and memory run separately. Web search sends the provider your query, never your name, account, or IP address. Image search runs on a provider that keeps nothing after it answers. Your chats are still saved in your Bearly history so you can come back to them. In the same pane, select Set up end-to-end encryption, and new chats are encrypted on your devices; we store and sync only the locked copies.

Questions people ask

Is DeepSeek safe to use?

For privacy, it depends on how you use it. The DeepSeek app and website store your chats in China, keep them while you have an account, and may use them to improve DeepSeek's models unless you turn that off. DeepSeek's open models can run elsewhere, where a different company's rules apply. This guide doesn't cover answer accuracy or content filtering.

Does DeepSeek store my data in China?

If you use DeepSeek's own app or website, yes. Its privacy policy says it collects, processes, and stores your personal data in the People's Republic of China.

Does DeepSeek train on my chats?

DeepSeek says it may use de-identified chats to improve its services and train its models. Turn off Improve the model for everyone in the app's settings to opt out, and email privacy@deepseek.com about data you've already sent.

Is the open-source DeepSeek model private?

The weights are files; privacy depends on who runs them. On your own computer, your prompts don't need to leave it. In any online service, that service reads your prompts to answer them, and its own policy decides what it keeps.

Can I use DeepSeek without using DeepSeek's servers?

Yes. DeepSeek's models are open, so they also run on people's own computers and with other providers. Bearly runs its DeepSeek models on other inference providers, and with ZDR mode on they run with zero data retention.

Related

Sources

All checked October 27, 2026.

Try ZDR mode on your next question.

Claude, GPT, Gemini, Grok, and more in one app. Turn on Zero Data Retention only in Settings, then pick a model.

How privacy works in Bearly

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