Privacy Policy

Last updated: 6 November 2026

Who we are

Beyond News is a news app that translates and explains the news of the country you have moved to. This policy covers the app and this website.

Beyond News is the data controller for the information described here (the one responsible for how it is handled) and is based in Portugal. You can reach us at hello@beyondnews.ai.

The short version

• We collect what you tell us when you sign up, and how you read, because reading behaviour is what lets the app judge what to explain to you.
• For everyone, we count app opens, sign-ins and setup steps anonymously, and work out statistics such as how many people come back, from records we already need. We only look at these in groups, never at one person.
• If you agree, we also record in more detail how you use the app so we can improve it. This is off unless you say yes, and the data stays in our own database.
• We do not sell your data, show you ads, or track you across other apps.
• Your account and reading data are stored in the European Union.
• Nothing about you is sent to the AI models that write the articles.
• You can export or permanently delete everything from inside the app.

What we collect, and why

Your account

When you sign in with Google or Apple we receive your name, email address, and profile photo. We store your name and photo; your email address stays with our authentication provider and is not copied into our own database.

Why we can do this: it is necessary to perform our contract with you (GDPR Article 6(1)(b)). There is no account without it.

What you tell us about yourself

During setup you choose which country's news you want. In your profile you can optionally add a display name, nationality, date of birth, current location, and preferred reading language.

Why we can do this: contract. You asked for news from a particular place, in a particular language.

How you read

This is the important one, so it is worth being specific. We record which articles you open, how long you spend on them, which paragraphs you linger on, which people, places and organisations you tap, when you tap through from one article to a related one, and which stories you skip.

We collect this because it is the product. Beyond News works by noticing what you already seem to understand and what you do not, and adjusting how much it explains. An app that did not observe how you read would have nothing to calibrate against.

Why we can do this: contract. Personalised explanation is the service you signed up for, not an add-on. You can switch personalisation off in Privacy & Data at any time, and we will stop using your reading behaviour to build your profile.

We also keep a log of which stories the feed showed you and in what order, so we can check and improve how it ranks stories. Why we can do this: our legitimate interest in making the feed work well (Article 6(1)(f)).

How you use the app in detail, if you say yes

Separately from personalisation, the app asks whether you want to "Share detailed usage data". It asks once, during setup (or, if you already have an account, the next time you open the app), and it stays off unless you say yes. You can change your answer at any time in Privacy & Data.

If you say yes, we record how you use the app: when you open it and how long each visit lasts, which screens you view, what you share and save, which features you use, any errors you see, and which version of the app you are running. For each article you open we also record how long you spend reading it and in its explanations, how many explanation panels you open, how far you scroll, and whether you reach the end. Each record notes the app version and whether it came from a test build. We also record two things about your reading that we collect only with this permission: when you swipe through the panel about a person, place or organisation, and when you finish an article. Taps through to a related article are recorded with this permission too, or with personalisation, since they help tailor your feed.

We use this to understand how the app is used and to improve it. It is stored in our own database (Supabase, listed below), no analytics company receives it, and we do not sell it. It is not used to tailor your feed; that is what personalisation, above, is for. Accounts we use ourselves for building and testing the app are left out of the figures.

Why we can do this: your consent (Article 6(1)(a)). If you say no, none of this is recorded, and if you switch it off later, recording stops.

Anonymous app statistics, for everyone

So we can see where people get stuck when they first use the app, it sends us anonymous counts: when it is opened (and whether this is the first time on that device), when the sign-in screen is shown, when someone starts signing in with Apple or Google and whether it succeeds, is cancelled or fails (and at which stage), and each setup step. Each count notes the app version, the major iOS version, the country chosen during setup (once chosen), whether it came from a test build, and, when we are testing a change, which version of the screen was shown.

These counts carry no identifier and are never linked to your account. We add them up by the hour as they arrive, and do not store your IP address with them. Each time the app starts it creates a random number, which it never saves, so we can put the steps of one visit in order; we delete it from our servers within 48 hours. The app keeps two small settings on your device: when it was first opened (reset after 13 months), and your choice for this switch. You can switch these statistics off in Privacy & Data → "Allow anonymous app statistics", or, before you sign in, from the "Privacy" link on the sign-in screen.

Why we can do this: this is audience measurement for our own use that produces anonymous statistics only. We designed it to meet the conditions the Spanish (AEPD) and French (CNIL) data-protection authorities have published for this kind of measurement without consent. Where it involves any personal data, we rely on our legitimate interest in running and improving the app (Article 6(1)(f)).

Statistics we work out for everyone

From records we already need to run the service, we work out statistics about how Beyond News is used: when accounts are created and setup is finished, which days people use the app (from feed and article requests), when they first open an article, and how many come back after one, seven and thirty days. We break these down by sign-up week, the country you live in and your nationality (if you have added them), and the countries whose news you chose. When we test a change by showing different versions of a feature to different groups, which version you were shown is recorded with your account and used in these statistics.

We only look at the results in groups of at least ten people, never use them to make decisions about any individual, and leave out accounts we use for building and testing the app. Detailed reading and journeys are not part of this; they need "Share detailed usage data".

Why we can do this: our legitimate interest in understanding and improving the app (Article 6(1)(f)). You can object at any time by emailing hello@beyondnews.ai, and we will leave your account out of these statistics.

Bookmarks and reports

We store what you bookmark, and any article you report to us together with the comment you write.

Why we can do this: contract for bookmarks; our legitimate interest in fixing bad content for reports.

Crash and error reports

When the app crashes or hits an error, a report goes to Sentry, which processes it inside the EU. These reports do not carry your name, email, account identifier, or IP address. They do include technical context, such as the screen you were on and which parts of our API the app was calling, because without it a crash report is not actionable.

That context includes "breadcrumbs": a short trail of what the app did just before the problem. Breadcrumbs can include the addresses of screens and articles you opened shortly before a crash, so a report may show which article you were reading. The report still carries no account identifier.

Why we can do this: our legitimate interest in the app not being broken (Article 6(1)(f)). You can turn crash reports off in Privacy & Data.

Technical information

Like any app or website, our hosting and content-delivery providers see your IP address and basic request information when your device connects to them. This is how the internet works rather than something we set out to collect, and we do not use it to build a profile of you.

Why we can do this: legitimate interest in operating and securing the service.

How your feed is personalised

Beyond News builds a picture of which subjects, people and places you appear to be familiar with, based on how you read. That picture decides which stories you are shown, in what order, how much background each article includes, and which terms get an explanation attached.

This is automated, and the law calls it profiling, so we want to be plain about its limits. It only shapes what you read. It does not produce any decision with legal or similarly significant consequences for you. We do not use it to set prices, assess you, or make judgements about you that reach outside the app. Nothing about your profile is sold, shared for anyone else's purposes, or used to target advertising.

If you would rather the app did not do this, switch personalisation off in Privacy & Data. The app keeps working; it just stops calibrating to you.

What we don't do

• No advertising. There are no ad networks or advertising identifiers in the app.
• No selling or sharing. We do not sell your data and do not share it with anyone for their own purposes.
• No cross-app tracking. We do not track you across other apps or websites, which is why you never see Apple's tracking permission prompt.
• No third-party analytics. There is no analytics service in the app. The anonymous statistics and the optional usage data described above go to our own database and nowhere else. Apple gives us its own aggregate App Store statistics, such as how many people viewed the app's page and downloaded it, which never identify anyone.
• No push notifications. Not built yet, so no device tokens are collected.
• Nothing about you goes to the AI models. The models that write and summarise articles receive news reports only. Your identity, profile and reading history are never sent to them, and they play no part in personalising your feed. That is ordinary arithmetic on our own servers.

Who else handles your data

We use a small number of service providers, who process data on our instructions and may not use it for anything of their own:

• Supabase: our database and sign-in, hosted in Ireland. Holds your account, profile, bookmarks, reading history, the statistics records described above and, if you share it, your usage data. The anonymous app statistics are stored there too.
• Neo4j Aura: the knowledge graph that tracks which subjects you have encountered, hosted in the EU. It holds only your account identifier and those connections: no name, email or photo.
• Sentry: crash and error reports, processed in the EU.
• Railway: hosts the API your app talks to, in the EU.
• Cloudflare: serves this website and delivers article images.
• Google and Apple: only when you sign in, and only to confirm that you are who you say you are.

Where your data is stored

Your account, profile and reading data are stored in the European Union.

Some of our providers run global networks, so limited technical data, principally your IP address as your device connects, may be handled outside the EU or EEA. Where that happens, the transfer is covered by the European Commission's standard contractual clauses.

Separately, the AI models used to write articles are operated by providers in the United States. As set out above, they receive news content only, never anything about you.

How long we keep it

We would rather tell you what actually happens than describe a schedule we do not run:

• Raw usage and reading events, the individual records made as you use the app and read, are deleted after 13 months.
• Aggregated statistics worked out from those events, such as how many people used the app in a given week, may be kept after the events themselves are deleted. They are totals, not a record of what any one person did.
• Anonymous app statistics are kept as hourly totals for up to 25 months. The short-lived visit numbers used to put steps in order are deleted within 48 hours.
• Which version of a test you were shown is kept for 13 months.
• The activity records behind the statistics we work out for everyone (which days you used the app) are deleted after 13 months. The dates of first-time milestones, such as finishing setup, are kept until you delete your account.
• The log of stories the feed showed you, and in what order, is deleted after 13 months.
• Feed working data, such as the queue of stories lined up for you, is deleted about 7 days after it stops being used.
• Feed sessions, the record of each sitting in your feed, are deleted after 90 days without activity.
• Your account and everything else linked to it, such as your profile, preferences, follows and bookmarks, is kept until you delete your account.
• "Clear history", in Profile → History, lets you start afresh at any time. It removes your reading history, the reading signals and skipped stories we hold, and the knowledge profile built from them. Your follows, bookmarks, any usage data you have shared, the statistics records described above and the log of stories the feed showed you stay.
• Crash reports are kept for as long as Sentry retains them under our plan, and are not linked to your account.
• A record that a deletion happened is kept after you delete your account, containing your account identifier and the date. We keep it so we can show that we honoured the request, and it holds nothing else about you.

Your rights

Under the GDPR you can:

• See what we hold: Privacy & Data → "See what we hold"
• Get a copy to take elsewhere: Privacy & Data → "Export my data"
• Correct anything wrong: Profile → You
• Withdraw your consent to sharing detailed usage data, at any time: Privacy & Data → "Share detailed usage data". We stop collecting it from that moment. What you shared before is kept for the period above, or until you delete your account; you can also email us to have it deleted sooner.
• Delete everything: Privacy & Data → "Delete my account". This is permanent.
• Object to, or restrict, processing we do on legitimate-interest grounds: the crash-report and "Allow anonymous app statistics" switches do this directly, and you can switch personalisation off at any time. To leave your account out of the statistics we work out for everyone, or about anything else, email hello@beyondnews.ai.

"See what we hold" and the export both cover your profile, preferences, reading history, reading signals, feed data, knowledge profile, follows, bookmarks, consent choices, any usage data you have shared, the statistics records we keep about your activity, which versions of any tests you were shown, and any article reports you have written.

You do not have to pay to exercise any of these, and we will respond within one month. If you think we have handled your data badly, please tell us first, but you are entitled to complain directly to a data-protection authority. Ours is the Portuguese CNPD; you may also complain to the authority where you live.

Keeping it safe

Traffic between the app and our servers is encrypted, access to the production databases is restricted, and we keep the number of places your data lives deliberately small. No system is perfectly secure, and we would rather say that than imply otherwise.

Children

Beyond News is not intended for children, and you need to be at least 16 to use it. We do not knowingly collect data from anyone younger. If you believe a child has created an account, email us and we will remove it.

Cookies

This website sets no cookies and runs no analytics or tracking scripts. The app is not a website and does not use cookies either.

Changes to this policy

When this policy changes we update the "last updated" date at the top. If a change materially affects you, we will tell you in the app before it takes effect.

Who is behind Beyond News

Beyond News is run from Portugal by an individual rather than a company. In practice that means your data is looked after by one person rather than passed around a team, and that the same person reads the email address below.

If you need the operator's full name and contact details in writing, whether to exercise a data-protection right or to take a complaint further, just ask and we will provide them.

Contact

For anything at all about your data, including questions, requests and complaints, email hello@beyondnews.ai.