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.
- 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 each case, the information transmitted is the article content from public RSS feeds, not information about you.
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.
We have no commercial or data-sharing arrangement with any of the providers above beyond the standard terms of service of each API.
4. Anonymous analytics (TelemetryDeck)
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.
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 Facebook / Google / Apple sign-in is required).
- 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.
- Any data from third-party advertising or marketing SDKs. Factual contains no third-party ad SDKs.
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, 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."