Last updated: 2026-09-24
I'm Zachary. I built and run StayRelevant, a news reader for iOS, on my own. This page describes what the app's code does with data today. It does not describe anything I plan to build later.
Everything in this section is stored only on your phone, using iOS's own local storage. Three of these things — reading history, appearance setting, and personalisation — are also copied to your own private iCloud account if you turn on iCloud sync, a setting in the app. That copy is covered in "What leaves your phone" below, not repeated here.
The app downloads one shared file with the current news feed from my storage. This is a plain request to a public address; the app doesn't send anything about you beyond what any such request needs (the request method, and, if you've already downloaded the feed before, a technical cache-check value). No search terms, no account, no identifier of any kind.
If you use the feedback form, this is sent to my own private storage: your message, the category you picked, the app version, your OS version, your device model, and the time you sent it. You can also choose to type in a way to reach you — this field is optional and it is free text. You can put an email address, a phone number, a name, or leave it blank; the app does not check the format.
If you leave that field blank, none of the other six fields identifies you. If you fill it in, that's the point of it — it's how I can reply to you. This app does not have a blanket "we collect no identifiers" policy, because that field can carry one if you choose to add it.
The connection the app uses to send feedback can only add a message to my queue. It cannot read, list, or delete anything in it.
If you allow notifications, the app registers with Apple's push service through a notification hub I run on Microsoft Azure. This sends a device token (an id Apple issues to your phone for push delivery) and a random id the app generates itself, so re-registering doesn't create a duplicate entry. Neither value is tied to your name, your Apple ID, or any account — there is no account.
If you turn on iCloud sync, your reading history, your appearance setting, and your personalisation profile are copied to your own private iCloud database. The app's own code describes this as a database Apple provides per Apple account, not a public or shared one, and states that I, as the developer, cannot read it. I have not separately checked that claim against Apple's own CloudKit documentation; it comes from the app's own design comments, not from Apple's published rules.
Tapping an article opens the publisher's own page in an in-app browser (Safari, inside the app). This is a normal visit to that publisher's website, using Safari's own browsing session. The app does not add any tracking value to the link.
The app also contains code that would send your feedback as a plain email instead, if the storage queue above weren't set up. That path only turns on once I finish setting up an email address for it, which has not happened yet — so this path does not run in the app you have today. It's listed here because the code ships inside the app, even though it cannot fire right now.
Two outside companies' systems are involved, both already named above: Apple, for iCloud sync and for delivering push notifications; and Microsoft, whose Azure cloud hosts the feedback storage and the notification hub I use, both inside my own Azure account. Neither company is asked to do anything with this data beyond the specific role described above — no analytics, no advertising, no sharing with anyone else. I do not have any separate agreement with either company about this data beyond their own standard terms for iCloud, push notifications, and Azure.
You can clear your reading history at any time, from the profile screen or the history screen. You can also reset your personalisation profile from the profile screen; that clears both the profile and its supporting cache.
Some settings — your topic choices, your appearance choice, your daily goal, your iCloud sync on/off choice, and a handful of internal one-time flags — are not deleted by anything in the app. They stay on your phone until you delete the app or reset your device. The local copy of the news feed is also not cleared automatically by anything in the app today.
Feedback you send is kept in my Azure storage as plain files, one per day. Nothing in the app's code or in my infrastructure setup deletes these files automatically. They stay until I delete them by hand.
To ask a question about this policy, or to ask me to delete feedback you've sent, email
zacharygoh06056@gmail.com.