Privacy Policy

1. Information We Collect

1.1 Information You Provide

• • Email Address: Required for account creation and authentication
• • Password: Encrypted and used solely for account security
• • Profile Preferences: Content style preferences (e.g., concise, detailed, balanced), notification settings, theme/accent color choices

1.2 Usage Data We Automatically Collect

• • Reading Activity: Articles you view, reading time, content styles selected
• • Interaction Events: Login/logout times, password resets, style selector usage, article opens
• • Bookmarks: Articles you save for later reading
• • Notification Data: Push notification delivery status and read receipts
• • Device Information: Push notification tokens for delivering alerts (if you enable notifications)

We do not collect precise geolocation data, IP addresses, device identifiers, or browsing history outside the App.

2. How We Use Your Information

We use the collected information for the following purposes:

• • Account Management: Create and maintain your account, authenticate users, enable password recovery
• • Personalization: Remember your content style preferences and deliver customized article versions
• • Notifications: Send push notifications about breaking news (only if you opt in)
• • Service Improvement: Analyze usage patterns to improve content quality, fix bugs, and enhance user experience
• • Academic Research: Study how people engage with news from multiple perspectives (see Section 3 below)

We do not use your data for advertising, marketing, or selling to third parties.

3. Research Use of Data

Your usage data may be analyzed for research purposes and included in academic publications, presentations, or reports. Before any research use, we:

• • Remove Identifiers: Strip email addresses, user IDs, and any personally identifiable information
• • Aggregate Data: Combine data across multiple users (e.g., "Users in Q1 2025" rather than individual behavior)
• • Generalize Results: Report trends and patterns, not individual actions (e.g., "70% of users preferred balanced style")
• • Apply K-Anonymity: Ensure groups contain at least 5 users to prevent re-identification

No personal information will ever be published or shared in research outputs.

4. Data Sharing and Disclosure

We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information. We share limited data only with the following service providers:

• • Supabase (Database & Authentication): Hosts our database and authentication services. Data is stored on US servers with encryption at rest and in transit. Supabase's privacy policy: supabase.com/privacy
• • Expo (Push Notifications): Delivers push notifications via their service. Only push tokens and notification content are shared. Expo's privacy policy: expo.dev/privacy

We may disclose your information if required by law, court order, or legal process, or to protect our rights, property, or safety.

We do not use third-party analytics services (e.g., Google Analytics), advertising networks, or social media tracking.

5. Data Security

We implement industry-standard security measures to protect your data:

• • Encryption: Data is encrypted in transit (HTTPS/TLS) and at rest (AES-256)
• • Password Security: Passwords are hashed using bcrypt and never stored in plain text
• • Access Controls: Row-level security policies restrict data access to authorized users only
• • Secure Infrastructure: Our database provider (Supabase) maintains SOC 2 Type II certification

However, no method of electronic transmission or storage is 100% secure. While we strive to protect your data, we cannot guarantee absolute security.

6. Data Retention

• • Active Accounts: We retain your data as long as your account is active
• • Deleted Accounts: When you delete your account, we immediately remove your email, push tokens, bookmarks, and profile settings. Usage event data is anonymized within 7 days (user IDs removed, event patterns retained)
• • Anonymized Research Data: De-identified, aggregated data may be retained indefinitely for academic research purposes

7. Your Rights and Choices

You have the following rights regarding your data:

• • Access: View your profile information in the Settings tab
• • Update: Change your email, password, preferences, or notification settings at any time
• • Delete: Permanently delete your account and associated data via Settings → About → Delete Account
• • Opt-Out of Notifications: Disable push notifications in Settings → Notifications
• • Data Portability: Request a copy of your data by emailing hello@news-shift.com

Note: Opting out of research data collection is not possible as usage tracking is integral to the App's functionality. However, all research data is anonymized as described in Section 3.

8. Children's Privacy

NewsShift is intended for users aged 13 and older. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If we discover that a child under 13 has provided us with personal information, we will delete it immediately. If you believe a child has provided us with information, please contact us at hello@news-shift.com.

9. International Users

NewsShift is primarily intended for users in the United States. Your data is stored on servers located in the United States and is governed by U.S. law. If you access the App from outside the U.S., you consent to the transfer of your information to the United States.

10. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of material changes by updating the "Last updated" date at the top of this page and, if appropriate, providing additional notice within the App. Your continued use after changes take effect constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

11. Contact Us

If you have questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or your data, please contact us at: