Privacy Policy for Sift News

Effective Date: August 5, 2026

        Our Commitment to Privacy: Sift News is built with a Zero-Ad and Local-First architecture. Your reading history, keyword radar traps, and personal settings remain entirely on your device and are never harvested or sent to intermediary third-party servers.
    

1. Information We Collect

Sift News operates locally on your device using a local SQLite database. We do not require account registration or collect personally identifiable information (PII). Specifically:

Reading History & Saved Articles: Stored strictly in your local device database.
News Radar Traps: Keyword traps and alerts are processed and stored locally.
Optional Gemini API Key: If you choose to provide a personal Gemini API Key (BYOK) for advanced cloud analysis, the key is stored securely in encrypted local storage and sent directly to Google Gemini APIs only when you invoke analysis. We do not store or log your API key on external servers.

2. How We Use Information

All local data is used solely to provide core application features:

Filtering clickbait and calculating high-signal (SNR) summaries.
Triggering keyword match alerts via local background workers.
Maintaining your reading queue and audio digest preferences.

3. Data Security

Because your reading data and bookmarks reside locally on your device (SQLite), you maintain full ownership and control. You can clear all data at any time through the app settings or by uninstalling the application.

4. Third-Party Services

Sift News connects to standard public RSS feeds and news publishers over encrypted HTTPS. When you open original articles, you view them either via In-App Browser or external browser under the respective publisher's privacy policy.

5. Changes to This Policy

We may update our Privacy Policy from time to time. Any changes will be posted within this document with an updated effective date.