Guest access security: what guests can and cannot see

Most businesses need to talk to people who are not employees: a plumbing subcontractor, the night cleaning crew, a property manager, a family member of a resident. Adding them to an internal group on a personal messaging app exposes everything else in it. Guest access in C Chat is built around one principle: invite people into the conversation they need, and nothing more.

Short answer: one invitation, one group

A guest in C Chat is someone you invite into a single group rather than into the whole team. Contractors, cleaning staff and clients are the typical cases. They see that group’s messages, files and pinned items, and they can post. They do not see the team’s other groups.

That approach applies the principle of least privilege to everyday chat: each person gets only the access the job requires. If you are new to the concept, the glossary also explains what a guest user is in business software.

How guest security works in C Chat

All content in the group is protected with TLS in transit and AES-256 at rest, under your organization’s own key. For a practical walkthrough, see inviting guests and contractors safely.

Who can see what

• The guest sees the group they were invited into and their own direct messages.
• Team members in that group see everything the guest posts there.
• Team members in other groups do not see the guest’s group unless they are members of it.
• Owners and admins can audit and export the guest’s group, as with any team group.
• The platform accesses content only to moderate reported messages or for legal requirements, and logs that access.

This is a simple form of role-based access control: a role (guest, member, admin, owner) and a group membership decide what each person sees.

What it means for owners, admins and members

Owners and admins should design groups around audiences, not just topics. If a site has both an internal crew and an external vendor, use two groups. The vendor group carries schedules, access instructions and photos of completed work; the internal group carries everything else. This pattern works well for facility vendor coordination and for subcontractor coordination on job sites.

Members should assume a guest reads everything in a shared group. Before posting a client complaint or a staffing issue, check which group you are in.

Organizations with sensitive audiences, such as care homes or charities, can use guest groups for families or volunteers while keeping internal notes separate. See communication for senior care facilities for examples.

Honest limits and caveats

• Invite links travel. A link forwarded to the wrong person can put the group within reach of someone you never meant to invite. Share links directly with the intended guest and remove anyone you do not recognize.
• Guests keep what they saw. Removing a guest stops future access, but photos they saved or screenshots they took stay on their phone.
• Direct messages are open by design. Any C Chat user can message any other, so a guest could message a team member privately. Members can block and report.
• No automatic expiry. C Chat does not remove guests on a date by itself. Put an end date in your own checklist and remove them manually.

Getting started

Open getcchat.com/c, create your team, add a separate group for each external party and invite them with a link or QR code. Check plan limits before you add many guests to one team.