Privacy Policy
Effective date: 8 October 2026 (2026-10-08) · Last updated: 16 October 2026 · Version: 2026-10-08
SwipelyNews is run by one independent developer, not a company ("we", "us": it's one person). This policy covers the SwipelyNews app (the "App") and swipelynews.com (the "Website"). It explains what personal data we collect, why, and what you can do about it.
In short
- Adults only (18+). We ask your year of birth once, check it on your phone, and don't store it.
- No account needed. We create an anonymous guest profile. An account (email code, Google or Apple) is optional. We never ask for your name, phone number or a password.
- Your feed is personalised from what you do in the App. You can switch this off at any time (Settings › Your feed › Personalized feed), and the Latest tab is never personalised.
- We're funded by optional rewarded videos from Google AdMob. Your privacy choices decide whether ads are personalised.
- We don't sell your data, and we don't send it to the AI that summarises the news.
- You're in control: download or delete your data in the App at any time.
1. Who runs SwipelyNews
SwipelyNews is run by George Wachira, an independent developer (not a company). Contact: support@swipelynews.com. That person is the controller of your personal data. For privacy requests, use the subject "Privacy request".
2. What we collect and why
We only collect what the Service needs. There are no comments, public profiles or uploads.
Legal bases (Art. 6(1) GDPR):
- contract: to provide the Service under our Terms;
- legitimate interests: see 2.1; you can object at any time;
- consent: you can withdraw it at any time;
- legal obligation.
Your device. Storing or reading information on your device follows the EU ePrivacy rules. We do it with your consent, or where it's strictly necessary for a feature you asked for.
| Data | Why | Legal basis | Kept for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Guest profile: a random user ID | Your saves, reactions, preferences and unlocks | Contract | Until deleted; inactive guests after 13 months |
| Account (optional): email, sign-in method (email code / Google / Apple), language. We don't keep names or profile pictures from Google or Apple. | Password-free sign-in; keeping your data across phones | Contract | Until you delete your account |
| Age check: we keep only "18+ check passed" + the time. We never store your year of birth. If you're under 18, we keep the date you'll turn 18, tied to your device, so the App stays locked. | Adults-only service | Legal obligation; legitimate interests | Pass record: life of the profile. Block date: until that date |
| Terms acceptance: versions, time, platform, app version, device ID, language, country | Proof of what you agreed to | Legitimate interests | While your account exists, then a pseudonymised proof for 3 years |
| Device info: an app-specific device ID, model, OS, app version, language, time zone, country (from your IP address), last active | Running the App; notifications at sensible times; security; the free period | Contract; legitimate interests | 13 months after last use |
| Notification token + a log of notifications sent and opened | Sending notifications you allowed (a few a day at most, never 22:00–08:00 your time) | Consent | Token: until you turn notifications off. Log: 90 days |
| Free-period anchor: a keyed hash of your device ID + the start date | One free period per phone | Legitimate interests (fraud prevention) | 12 months, also after you delete your data |
| Activity: views, finished views, reactions, saves, shares, "Not interested", stories already shown | Showing your saves and reactions; no repeats; story counts; personalising your feed (if switched on) | Contract; legitimate interests (personalisation) | Saves and reactions: until removed. Stories shown: 31 days. Interest scores: 90 days, or deleted when you switch personalisation off |
| Preferences: boosted or hidden topics and countries, outlets you turned off, your settings | Applying your choices | Contract | Until changed or deleted |
| Reports: the reason + optional text | Reviewing problems with stories | Legitimate interests | 12 months after resolution |
| Rewarded videos: free-period end, today's count, unlock time, short-lived anti-fraud counters, a hash of Google's transaction ID | Giving and verifying unlocks | Contract; legitimate interests (fraud prevention) | Counters: ≤ 2 days. Verification: 48 hours |
| Privacy choices: ad-consent choices (stored on your device by Google's consent tool), Do Not Sell or Share, a history of email-consent changes, crash-report and personalisation settings | Respecting and proving your choices | Legal obligation | Until you delete your data |
| Emails: sign-in codes (hashed), failed attempts and lockouts; optional emails only if you opt in | Sign-in; security; optional updates | Contract; legitimate interests; consent | Codes: 24 h after expiry |
| Crash reports (Firebase Crashlytics): technical crash data; never your user ID, email or what you read | Fixing bugs | EEA/UK/Switzerland: consent (off unless you turn it on). Elsewhere: legitimate interests (you can turn it off) | Up to 90 days |
| Data exports ("Download my data") | Giving you your data | Legal obligation | Large files: a link valid 24 hours |
| Support emails to support@ (the App's "Report a problem" email pre-fills device model, OS, language, region, account type and user ID, which you can delete before sending) | Answering you | Contract; legitimate interests | 24 months after the conversation ends |
| Security data: your IP address passes through our servers; we store only your country | Security, rate limiting, local news | Legitimate interests | Error logs: 7 days; IP addresses: not stored |
| Searches | Showing results | Contract | Not stored on our servers (the last 10 stay on your phone) |
| Notices and publisher requests (copyright, illegal content, counter-notices, opt-outs): name, organisation, contact details, the content concerned, statements, our decision | Handling notices; informing the affected publisher where needed | Legal obligation; legitimate interests | 3 years after closing (spam: 6 months) |
| On-device translation (only if you tap Translate): the text never leaves your phone. On Android, Google's ML Kit sends Google diagnostic data (device/app info, performance, errors, an installation ID, the languages). | Translating an article you chose | Contract; Android diagnostics: consent on first use | Not stored by us |
| Settings on your phone only (language, text size, recent searches…) | Making the App work your way | Strictly necessary | Until you clear them or uninstall |
2.1 Legitimate interests
Where we rely on legitimate interests, we've weighed them against your rights. You can object at any time (Art. 21 GDPR); for personalisation, just switch it off.
- Personalized feed: relevant news keeps a free service viable. We use only in-app activity and country, scores expire after 90 days, and there's an off switch and a non-personalised Latest tab.
- Fraud prevention (free-period anchor, counters): only a hashed device ID, for 12 months.
- Age block: only an end date, never your birth year.
- Proof of acceptance, security, reports: minimal data, short retention.
- Ads outside the EEA/UK/Switzerland: funding a free service; opt-outs available.
2.2 No profiles of political opinions or beliefs
We don't infer, record or use your political opinions, religious beliefs or other special categories of data (Art. 9 GDPR).
- Personalisation uses news topics (such as "Politics"), tags (people, places, organisations) and countries. Interest in a topic isn't treated as an opinion.
- Tags that refer to a political party or movement, religion or belief, health, ethnicity, sexual orientation or a trade union never become interests. Older scores for such tags are deleted at your next use of the App, at the latest within 90 days.
- No topics, tags or interests go to our ad partner or anyone else.
2.3 Agreeing to the Terms isn't "consent"
When you start, you confirm that you're 18+, agree to the Terms and have read this policy. That isn't consent to processing. We ask for consent separately, and you can withdraw it as easily as you gave it.
3. How your feed is personalised
For You ranks recent stories by your interests (topics, tags, outlets, countries), the topics you boosted, your country, recency and popularity. It never shows hidden topics or outlets you turned off. This is profiling, but it has no legal or similarly significant effect (Art. 22 GDPR): it only orders news, and every story stays available in Latest, Discover and search. Switch it off in Settings › Your feed › Personalized feed: your interest profile and boosted topics/countries are then deleted, and only recency and local news apply. More: How your feed works.
4. Ads
- Rewarded videos only. The only ads are optional rewarded videos from Google AdMob, which unlock reading time. There are no banners and no sponsored stories.
- Google's role. Google is an independent controller for the data its software collects: advertising ID, IP address, device info, ad interactions. See Google's privacy policy and how Google uses data from apps. We don't receive your advertising ID.
- EEA, UK, Switzerland: Google's consent message asks your choices; change them in Settings › Privacy › Privacy choices. Without consent, ads aren't personalised.
- Elsewhere: ads may be personalised unless:
- you turn on Do Not Sell or Share (US); or
- on iOS, you don't allow tracking.
- Verification. To verify a completed video, Google receives a random ID that changes daily, never your user ID or email.
- No effect on unlocks. Your choices never affect whether you can earn an unlock.
- Report an ad: use the ad's "i" icon or Settings › Support › Report an ad.
5. Adults only
SwipelyNews is for people aged 18 or over, and we don't knowingly collect data from anyone younger.
- How we check. The age check runs on your phone. If you're under 18, the App stays locked on that phone until your 18th birthday, and we keep only that date.
- App-store signals. In some US states, Apple or Google may tell the App your age range. We use it only to keep the App locked for minors.
- Minors found later. If we learn that a user is under 18, we delete their data.
6. Who processes your data
We share data only with service providers that process it for us, under data processing agreements (Art. 28 GDPR) where the provider offers them; with independent services you choose to use; or where the law requires. Our support mailbox (Gmail) is used under Google's standard terms.
| Provider | What for | Where | Safeguard |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cloudflare | Hosting, storage, delivery, security, emails from no-reply@swipelynews.com, forwarding mail sent to our @swipelynews.com addresses to our support mailbox (Email Routing) | Global network; stored files in the EU | EU-US Data Privacy Framework (DPF) + Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) |
| DigitalOcean | Our database servers | Frankfurt, Germany | DPF + SCCs |
| Upstash | Recommendation data | EU (Frankfurt) | DPF + SCCs |
| Google Firebase | Sign-in (runs in the US), notifications, crash reports | Global | Google's data processing terms; DPF + SCCs |
| Google Gemini API | Summarising and translating publishers' articles. No user data. | Global | Google's processor terms |
| Gmail (Google LLC / Google Ireland Ltd) | Our support mailbox: mail to support@ is forwarded and stored here; support and legal correspondence; your name, email address and message | Global | Google's terms of service; DPF + SCCs |
| Mailgun (Mailgun Technologies, Inc., a Sinch company) | Sending our replies from support@; your email address and the message | EU region; US company | DPF + SCCs |
| Usercentrics (Cookiebot) | Website cookie consent | EU | — |
| Google Analytics | Website statistics, only with consent | Global | DPF + SCCs |
Independent services:
- Google AdMob (ads);
- Google Sign-In and Sign in with Apple (if you use them);
- Apple and Google as app stores, notification services and on-device translation providers.
Legal requests and changes of operator. We may disclose data where the law requires it, or to defend legal claims. If the Service is transferred to a new operator, we'll tell you beforehand.
7. International transfers
Our database and stored files are in the EU. Some providers are US companies or work globally. For transfers outside the EU, we rely on the EU-US Data Privacy Framework and/or the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses (Arts. 45–46 GDPR). Ask us for a copy.
8. Retention
The table in section 2 lists each period. In addition:
- Deleting your data: it's erased at once, and the empty record is purged after 30 days.
- Backups: encrypted backups rotate out within 14 days.
- Legal claims: we keep data longer only if the law requires it, or to deal with a legal claim.
9. Your rights
You have the right to:
- access, correct, delete and port your data;
- restrict processing;
- object to processing based on legitimate interests, including personalisation (Art. 21 GDPR);
- withdraw consent at any time;
- complain to the data protection authority in your EU country of residence (Art. 77 GDPR).
| Right | In the App |
|---|---|
| Access / copy | Settings › Privacy › Download my data |
| Delete | Profile › settings gear › Delete account (or Delete my data, at the bottom of Settings). See Delete your account |
| Correct | Settings › Account (email), Settings › App language |
| Object to personalisation | Settings › Your feed › Personalized feed |
| Withdraw ad consent | Settings › Privacy › Privacy choices |
- By email: support@swipelynews.com (subject: "Privacy request").
- Verification: we may need to verify it's you (for accounts, a code to your email).
- Timing: we reply within one month.
- Updated Terms pending: you can still export, delete or withdraw consents.
10. Your choices
- Feed: the Personalized feed switch, "More of this", "Hide", "Not interested", turning outlets off, and Local news.
- Ads: Privacy choices (EEA/UK/CH), Do Not Sell or Share (US), the iOS tracking setting, and the Android advertising ID settings.
- Notifications, crash reports, emails: in Settings. Emails are opt-in, with one-click unsubscribe.
- Global Privacy Control: honoured on the Website.
- Delete everything: Profile › settings gear › Delete account / Delete my data.
11. Security
- Measures: encryption in transit and at rest, password-free sign-in with lockouts, rate limiting, a firewall, least-privilege access with multi-factor authentication, hashed identifiers, and no IP addresses or emails in logs.
- Breaches: if a breach puts your rights at risk, we notify the authority within 72 hours, and we notify you where required.
12. US residents
- What we collect: identifiers, app activity, approximate location (country), and inferences (topic interests), as described above. We collect no sensitive personal information.
- No selling for money. Letting Google AdMob use your advertising ID and ad-interaction data for personalised ads may count as "sharing" under California and other state laws. Opt out with Settings › Privacy › Do Not Sell or Share (the App confirms when your opt-out is honoured), or with Global Privacy Control on the Website. We don't sell or share data of people under 18.
- Your rights: to know, delete, correct, opt out and appeal (reply to our decision with the subject "Appeal"), and not to be discriminated against. Unlocks work the same if you opt out, so we offer no financial incentive for data.
- Requests: in the App, or at support@swipelynews.com. An authorised agent may act for you with proof.
- Do Not Track: browser Do Not Track signals aren't honoured (there's no standard); GPC is.
13. Other countries
UK and Switzerland: you have the same rights as described for the EU. You can complain to the ICO (UK) or the FDPIC (Switzerland).
14. Website and cookies
The Website uses strictly necessary storage (your cookie choice, security) and, only with your consent, Google Analytics. Analytics doesn't load before you consent; there are no advertising cookies. Change your choice under Cookie settings in the footer. Details: Cookie Policy.
15. People in the news
News stories mention people. We summarise published journalism and link the original (Art. 85 GDPR; legitimate interests). If you're named in a story and our summary is wrong or outdated, contact support@swipelynews.com (subject: "Privacy request").
16. Changes
We'll update this policy when needed. For important changes, we tell you in the App and ask you to review them before continuing.
17. Contact
See Who runs SwipelyNews · support@swipelynews.com
All language versions of this policy are equally authoritative. If they differ, the interpretation most favourable to you applies.