The Clearcut NewsPrivacy Policy
Last updated: September 2026
Introduction
The Clearcut News ("we", "our", or "us") is committed to protecting your privacy. This policy explains what information we collect, how we use it, and your rights regarding your data.
Information We Collect
• Account information: You can sign in with Google or with Apple. Google gives us your name, email address and profile picture. Apple gives us your name and email address, and only the first time you authorise the app — it never sends a profile picture, and if you choose “Hide My Email” we receive an Apple private relay address rather than your own. You can change the name and photo we hold at any time from Account → Edit profile. • Reading without an account: You can read, watch and listen without signing in. We create an anonymous account on your device so the app works, and it holds no name, email address or phone number. If you sign in later, what you saved as a guest is kept where possible. • Usage data: We collect anonymous analytics about how you use the app (articles read, features used) to improve the experience. • Bookmarks, votes and comments: Your bookmarks, votes, and any comments you post are stored in our database and linked to your account. • Local news area and device location: The local news area is optional. If you choose an area manually or tap “Use my current location”, we store the State, District, Mandal, Village, and a canonical area identifier you confirm as an editable news preference. Location is accessed only after you tap that button; we may use a recent device-cached location or a fresh location to suggest an area. Precise GPS coordinates are not stored in your profile or used for background tracking. • Reporter submission location: If a reporter chooses “Use my location” while submitting a report, we may store the submitted coordinates and accuracy with that report so authorised editors can assess where it was filed. A reporter can instead choose the area manually. • Push notifications: If you allow notifications, we store a device token to deliver alerts for new articles, live updates, and shorts. • Citizen journalist registration: Before you can file news, we ask for four things and store them on your profile: your name, a photograph of you, the area you live in (State, District and Mandal, and optionally Village), and a mobile number. • Phone verification: We verify your mobile number by sending a one-time code by SMS through Google Firebase Authentication, which delivers the message and records the number against your account. We store the verified number and the date it was verified. Editors use it to contact you about a story you have filed. We do not use it for marketing, and we do not share it with other readers. • Where you live: The area you give at registration is stored as your home area. It is separate from your local news preference and from the location attached to any individual report, and it is visible only to you and to authorised editorial staff. We do not store GPS coordinates for it — if you tap “Use my location” we use the fix to suggest an area and then discard the coordinates. • What is public: Your name and photograph are published with every story of yours we publish, and appear alongside your comments. Your phone number, email address and home area are never shown to other readers. • Crash and diagnostic data: We use Firebase Crashlytics and App Check to collect device and crash information to keep the app stable and secure.
How We Use Your Information
• To provide and personalise your news feed. • To remember your preferences (language, theme, reading settings). • To improve the app through anonymous usage analytics and diagnose crashes. • To send push notifications for new articles, live updates, and shorts, if enabled. • To verify that a citizen journalist is a real, contactable person, so an editor can check a story before it runs. • To publish your name and photograph as the byline on stories you file. • To enable reporter and admin features for authorised users.
Data Sharing
We do not sell, trade, or rent your personal information to third parties. Your data may be processed by: • Firebase (Google) — authentication, phone-number verification by SMS, analytics, crash reporting, and push notifications. • Supabase — our database, storing articles, comments, bookmarks, votes, sponsor content, shorts, and news submissions filed by citizen journalists. • Bunny CDN and Bunny Stream — media delivery and video hosting for articles, live updates, and shorts. Your verified phone number and home area are accessible only to authorised editorial staff, and are not shown to other readers.
Reporter Program
To file news you must first register as a citizen journalist, which means giving your name, photograph, home area and a mobile number we verify by SMS. This exists so that a story arriving from outside the newsroom can be attributed to a real, contactable person and checked before it runs. Everything you file goes through editorial review before publication, and your name and photograph are published with it. You can update any of these details at any time from Account → Reporter profile, and you can stop filing news at any time.
Data Retention
Your account data is retained as long as your account is active. Citizen journalist registration details — your name, photograph, home area and verified phone number — are retained while your account remains active, and the byline on a published story is retained as part of the published record. You may request deletion of your data at any time by contacting us, or delete your account from Account → Delete account.
Security
We use industry-standard security measures including Firebase security rules, encrypted connections, and restricted staff access to sensitive information such as verified phone numbers and home areas. However, no method of transmission over the internet is 100% secure.
Children's Privacy
The Clearcut News is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children.
Changes to This Policy
We may update this policy from time to time. We will notify you of significant changes through the app. Continued use of the app after changes constitutes acceptance.
Contact Us
If you have questions about this privacy policy or your data, contact us at: contact@shepherd.games