Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy explains what information Factual collects when you use the app, what we do with it, and the choices and rights you have over it. It is written in plain English; if anything is unclear, please contact us using the details at the bottom.
1. The very short version
- We do not collect your name, email, phone number, location, or any other personal identifier.
- The list of news sources you follow, the articles you save, your reading preferences, and your subscription state all live on your device only. We never see them.
- When you use AI features (digest, summary, fact-check, translation), the article text from public RSS feeds is sent to Google's AI service for processing. No information about you is sent — only the article content you are reading.
- We use a privacy-focused analytics service (TelemetryDeck) to count anonymous events like "the app was launched" or "the paywall was opened" so we can improve the product. These signals carry no personal data and cannot identify you.
- If you installed Factual after seeing one of our ads, the app reports a few aggregated milestones (install, onboarding finished, subscription started) to Meta through Apple's privacy-preserving SKAdNetwork, so we can tell which ads work. This uses no advertising identifier (IDFA), shows no tracking prompt, and cannot identify you.
- Factual can optionally import the YouTube channels you follow — only if you choose to sign in with Google in Settings. This reads just your subscription list, all on your device; the Google sign-in is kept only in your device's secure keychain so you don't re-login each time, and nothing about your YouTube account is ever sent to us. See Section 3.
- Subscriptions are handled by Apple. We never see your payment information.
2. Information stored on your device only
The following data is stored locally on your iPhone or iPad and is never transmitted off your device by Factual:
- The list of RSS feeds you subscribe to and the topics you select during onboarding.
- Articles you save with the bookmark / read-later feature.
- Your chosen translation language and other in-app preferences.
- Your subscription tier (Free or Expert), derived from your verified App Store entitlements.
- Onboarding completion state.
Uninstalling Factual permanently deletes all of this data. There is no separate "delete my account" step because there is no account.
3. Information sent to third parties
Factual uses several third-party APIs to deliver its core features. In most cases, the information transmitted is the article content from public RSS feeds, not information about you. The one exception is the optional YouTube subscription import described at the end of this section: only if you choose to use it does Factual read data about you — specifically, the list of channels you follow — and even then it stays on your device.
Google Gemini (Google AI)
- What is sent: the title and body text of the article you are reading, plus the publication name and URL.
- Why: to generate AI-powered daily digests, article summaries, fact-checking, and translations.
- What is not sent: anything that identifies you personally.
- Google processes this content under the Google AI / Gemini API terms. Google may retain queries for abuse-prevention and product-improvement purposes as described in their terms.
Google Fact Check Tools API
- What is sent: claim text extracted from the article you are fact-checking.
- Why: to retrieve existing fact-checks from IFCN-accredited publishers.
- What is not sent: anything that identifies you personally.
Brave Search API
- What is sent: search queries derived from article claims.
- Why: to surface independent web sources that support or contradict a claim.
- What is not sent: anything that identifies you personally.
YouTube Data API
- What is sent: search queries for media discovery during onboarding (e.g. when you ask the app to find video sources on a topic).
- Why: to populate the source-discovery experience with verified YouTube channels.
- What is not sent: anything that identifies you personally.
Google Sign-In — importing your YouTube subscriptions (optional)
Factual offers an optional feature, found in Settings, that lets you bring the YouTube channels you follow into the app as ordinary RSS sources. You never have to use it, and the rest of the app works fully without it. If — and only if — you tap "Import YouTube subscriptions" and sign in with Google, the following applies:
- What we access: with your consent, a read-only view of your YouTube account (the Google
youtube.readonlyscope), used solely to retrieve the list of channels you are subscribed to — their names, channel IDs, and thumbnails. - Why: to show you that list so you can add some or all of those channels to Factual. Each channel you add becomes a normal RSS source, using YouTube's public channel feed, exactly like any other source in the app.
- What we do with it: the channel list is processed on your device only. For any channel you choose to add, we keep just its public feed address on your device alongside your other subscriptions. We do not transmit your YouTube data to our servers, and we do not store it anywhere off your device.
- Staying signed in: so you don't have to sign in every time you open the import, Factual stores the Google sign-in (a refresh token) in your device's secure keychain. It is used only to refresh your channel list when you reopen the feature, never leaves your device, and is never sent to our servers. Revoking Factual's access in your Google Account invalidates it immediately, and uninstalling the app removes it.
- No sharing, no ads: we do not sell, rent, transfer, or share your YouTube data, and we never use it for advertising or for any purpose other than the import you asked for.
- Removing it: remove any imported channel anytime in Settings → Subscriptions, or by uninstalling the app. Because we keep no token and no server-side copy, there is nothing further on our side to delete. You can also review or revoke Factual's access at any time from your Google Account permissions page.
Factual's use of information received from Google APIs adheres to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including its Limited Use requirements. Your use of YouTube through this feature is also subject to the YouTube Terms of Service, and Google's own handling of your data is governed by the Google Privacy Policy.
We have no commercial or data-sharing arrangement with any of the providers above beyond the standard terms of service of each API.
4. Analytics and advertising measurement
Factual uses TelemetryDeck, an EU-based, privacy-focused analytics service, to collect anonymous usage signals that help us understand how the app is used and where to improve it.
- What is sent: named events such as
Paywall.Opened,Subscription.Started, andArticle.Opened, optionally with non-identifying string parameters (for example, the publication name of an opened article). - What is not sent: any persistent user identifier, IP address, device advertising identifier, location, contact information, or content of articles.
- How it works: TelemetryDeck irreversibly hashes a randomly generated installation token before storing it, so the same device cannot be tracked across reinstalls and individuals cannot be identified across the dataset.
- Where the data lives: TelemetryDeck servers in the European Union. Their own Privacy Policy and GDPR-compliant DPA describe their handling in detail.
- Your control: Factual does not currently offer an in-app analytics opt-out, because the data collected is anonymous by design and cannot be linked back to you. If you would still prefer not to send these signals, you can block the destination domain at the network level or contact us to discuss.
Meta (Facebook SDK) — measuring our own ads
If we promote Factual on Instagram or Facebook, we need to know which ads actually lead to installs and sign-ups — otherwise we would be spending blindly. To measure this, Factual includes Meta's iOS SDK, configured in its most privacy-preserving mode.
- What is sent: a small number of aggregated app events — the app was installed, onboarding was completed, a free trial or subscription was started — reported to Meta primarily through Apple's SKAdNetwork, the system Apple built so advertisers can measure campaigns without tracking individuals. The network request also carries standard technical context (such as app and operating-system version) and your IP address, as any internet request does.
- What is not sent: your IDFA / advertising identifier (its collection is switched off in code), any identifier we assign to you, your name or contact details, the sources you follow, your reading list, or the content of any article.
- No tracking prompt: because we do not read the IDFA and do not link your activity to third-party data, Factual does not show the "Allow tracking" (App Tracking Transparency) prompt, and this data is not used to track you across other companies' apps and websites.
- Where the data lives & your control: Meta processes this measurement data as an independent controller under its own Privacy Policy. You can further limit ad-related processing system-wide in iOS Settings → Privacy & Security (under Tracking and Apple Advertising) and in your Meta account's ad preferences.
5. Subscriptions and payments
Factual offers paid subscriptions (Expert Monthly, Expert Yearly) and a one-time Lifetime purchase. All transactions are processed by Apple through the App Store using StoreKit. Factual never sees your credit card number, billing address, or Apple ID.
What we do receive from Apple is the verified entitlement information indicating whether your purchase is active. This is processed on your device only.
To cancel an auto-renewing subscription, refund a purchase, or otherwise manage your subscription, use Apple's standard interface:
- iOS: Settings → [Your Name] → Subscriptions, or directly from inside Factual's Settings.
- Refund requests: https://reportaproblem.apple.com
6. What we don't collect
To be explicit, Factual does not collect or process any of the following:
- Your name, email address, phone number, or any other personal identifier.
- Your real-name social identity. No account or sign-in is required to use Factual. The only optional exception is signing in with Google to import your YouTube subscriptions (Section 3) — which you can skip entirely; even when used, it reads only your channel list, on your device, and keeps its sign-in only in your device's secure keychain.
- Your precise or coarse location.
- Your contacts, calendar, photos, or other on-device personal data.
- The IDFA (advertising identifier). Factual does not present the App Tracking Transparency prompt because there is nothing to track.
- Advertising SDKs that show you ads or follow you around the web. Factual displays no ads. The single marketing SDK it includes (Meta) is used only to measure our own App Store campaigns through aggregated SKAdNetwork signals — see Section 4 — is configured not to read the IDFA, and never tracks you across other apps or websites.
iOS permissions
Factual is designed to work without asking for sensitive iOS permissions. The app does not prompt you for access to the camera, microphone, photo library, location services, contacts, calendar, reminders, health data, motion data, Bluetooth, local network, or Face ID / Touch ID. If a future feature ever requires one of these, this Privacy Policy will be updated before the request appears in the app.
Crash reports
Factual does not run its own crash-reporting service. If the app crashes, Apple's operating system records a diagnostic report and may share an anonymised, aggregated copy with us through the App Store / TestFlight reporting tool — the same mechanism used by every iOS app. These reports contain stack traces and device model information, never personal data or anything you typed into the app. You can opt out of all such Apple-side diagnostic sharing in Settings → Privacy & Security → Analytics & Improvements → Share iPhone Analytics.
No iCloud sync (yet)
Factual does not store any of your data in iCloud at the moment. Your subscriptions, bookmarks, and preferences live only on the device they were created on. We are evaluating iCloud sync for a future release, in which case this Privacy Policy will be updated with a clear description of what gets synced and how.
7. Children's privacy
Factual is not directed to children under 13. The app's news content is age-rated 12+ in the App Store. We do not knowingly collect any information from children under 13. If you believe a child under 13 has used Factual in a way that involved collecting data, please contact us so we can address the situation.
8. Your rights under GDPR (and similar laws)
If you are located in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, or another jurisdiction with comparable privacy law, you have the following rights:
- Right of access: because all personal data stays on your device, you already have full access — open the app and look.
- Right to erasure ("right to be forgotten"): uninstall Factual. All local data is deleted with the app.
- Right to data portability: because we don't hold a server-side copy of your data, portability is satisfied by the local copy on your device.
- Right to object to processing: for AI features and analytics, you can choose not to use those features.
- Right to lodge a complaint: if you believe Factual is mishandling your data, you may lodge a complaint with your local supervisory authority. In Portugal, this is the Comissão Nacional de Proteção de Dados (CNPD).
The data controller for the limited processing performed by Factual is the developer identified in the contact details below. Google, TelemetryDeck, Meta, and Apple act as independent controllers or processors for the data they receive directly, under their own terms.
9. Changes to this Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time — for example, when we add a new feature or change a third-party service. When we do, we will change the "Last updated" date at the top of this document.
If the changes are material — for example, a new third-party data recipient, or a new category of data collected — we will call them out in the release notes for the App Store update that introduces the change, so you can review the new terms before installing it. Continued use of the app after a material change has shipped means you accept the updated policy; if you don't, please uninstall.
10. Contact
For questions about this Privacy Policy or about the data Factual processes — including any GDPR rights request:
We will respond to privacy-related requests within 30 days, as required by GDPR.
A formal postal address can be provided on request by email — the developer's full trader details are also held by Apple as part of the App Store developer account and surface in the App Store listing under "App Support" / "Developer Information."