Privacy Policy
Last updated: 4 October 2026
User Economics is a news app for people who build software products. This policy explains what we collect when you use the User Economics app for iOS and usereconomics.com (together, the “service”), why we collect it, who processes it for us, and the choices you have. User Economics is published by Sidharth, an individual developer based in India (“we”, “us”), who decides how your information is used and is reachable at privacy@usereconomics.com.
The short version
- You can read User Economics without an account. We then know your device by a random identifier, not by name.
- We use what you read, save and skip to rank your feed. We don’t sell your personal information.
- Stories are written with AI from public sources. Your account details are not used to write stories.
- You can delete your account and its data from Settings in the app at any time.
Information we collect
Information you give us
- Account details when you sign up or log in: email address, name and profile photo, either entered by you or shared by the sign-in provider you choose (for example Apple, Google or LinkedIn). If you use Sign in with Apple and hide your email, we receive a relay address instead.
- What you add: highlights and notes on stories, links you submit to Spotted, votes in weekly questions, reports about stories, and settings such as notification preferences.
- Messages you send us for support.
Information collected as you use the service
- A device identifier: a random token created by the app on first launch, so we can keep your feed and preferences without an account.
- Reading activity: which stories and links were shown to you, which you opened, how far you read and for how long, and what you saved, liked, shared, skipped, hid or marked “see less”. This ranks your feed and tells us which headlines and stories work.
- Podcast listening: plays, pauses and progress, so the app can resume where you stopped.
- Usage and diagnostics: screens viewed, taps on features, app version, device model, operating system, language, approximate location derived from IP address (country or city level), crash reports and performance data.
- Website analytics: on usereconomics.com we record page views and clicks with cookies or similar technologies.
- Marketing attribution: if you arrive from one of our ads or links, we may learn which campaign brought you and whether you installed or opened the app. On iOS, measurement that links your activity with other companies’ apps or websites (“tracking”) only happens if you allow it in the App Tracking Transparency prompt.
What stays on your device
- Motion sensor readings, used only to tilt card shadows as you move your phone. They are never sent to us.
- Your saved stories (the Library). They are removed when you delete the app.
- Share cards you save to Photos. The app asks for permission to add to your library. It cannot read your photos.
- Your theme, typeface and app icon choices.
How we use information
- To provide the service: sign you in, keep your highlights, notes and settings, play podcasts, and send any notifications you turn on.
- To personalise: rank your feed and pick headline variants based on what readers like you open and finish.
- To review and moderate: links you submit are reviewed before they appear in Spotted, and reports help us correct or remove stories.
- To measure and improve: understand which features and stories are used, find and fix bugs, and keep the service fast and reliable.
- To show ads: display ads from Google AdMob in the app, personalised only where you allow it.
- To market User Economics: measure our campaigns and, where you allow it, show you relevant ads for User Economics on other platforms.
- To keep the service safe: prevent abuse, spam and fraud, and comply with law.
Where the GDPR or similar laws apply, we rely on performance of our contract with you (providing the service), our legitimate interests (personalisation, security, improving the service, measuring our marketing), and your consent (tracking for advertising, optional cookies). You can withdraw consent at any time.
How stories are made
Our newsroom uses AI models to research public sources, check facts, write stories, create artwork and narrate podcasts. Those requests contain public news material, not your personal information. Stories link to their sources; summaries can contain mistakes, so check the sources before relying on them.
Who processes information for us
We use service providers that process information on our behalf, under contracts that limit their use of it. Not every provider is active in every version of the service, and we may add providers within these categories.
| Category | Providers |
|---|---|
| Product analytics | PostHog, Firebase, Google Analytics, Mixpanel, Amplitude, Cloudflare |
| Diagnostics and performance | Firebase Crashlytics, PostHog, Sentry, Better Stack |
| Advertising and attribution | Google AdMob, Google Ads, Apple Search Ads, Meta, X, LinkedIn, Reddit, Branch, AppsFlyer, Adjust |
| Communication | Google Workspace, Firebase, Apple Push Notification service, Expo, Resend, Postmark, Loops, Intercom |
| Artificial intelligence | Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, xAI, Mistral, OpenRouter, Vercel, ElevenLabs, Langfuse, PostHog |
| Research and content | Firecrawl, Exa, X |
| Accounts and sign-in | WorkOS, Apple, Google, LinkedIn, GitHub |
| Hosting, storage and delivery | Convex, Cloudflare, Backblaze, Vercel, Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, Apple |
| Payments | Apple, Google, RevenueCat, Stripe |
Our AI providers receive public news material, not your personal information. If we add a feature that sends your personal information to an AI provider, such as asking questions about a story, we’ll tell you which provider receives it and ask for your permission first.
We may also share information to comply with law or protect rights and safety, or as part of a merger, acquisition or sale of assets, in which case this policy continues to apply to it. We do not sell personal information, and we don’t share it for cross-context behavioural advertising unless you allow tracking.
Sponsors and ads
Sponsored cards are labelled “Sponsored”. We show them ourselves, and sponsors don’t receive your personal information. When you tap one, we count the view and tap without identifying you to the sponsor, and the sponsor’s own policy applies on their site.
Ads labelled “Ad” come from Google AdMob. To choose and measure them, Google receives your IP address, device and app information, and how you interact with the ad. Where the law requires it (for example in the EEA and the UK), we ask for your consent first. Google uses your device’s advertising identifier to personalise ads only if you allow tracking in the iOS prompt; otherwise you see non-personalised ads. Google’s use of this information is described at policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites.
International transfers
Our providers operate in several countries, including the United States, the European Union and India. When information moves across borders, we rely on safeguards such as standard contractual clauses where required.
Retention
- Account details, highlights, notes and settings: until you delete them or your account.
- Reading activity used for ranking: kept while your account or device identifier is in use, then aggregated or deleted.
- Analytics, crash reports and logs: kept for the provider’s standard period (typically 12 months or less), in pseudonymous form.
- Links you submit and published reports: kept with the content they relate to; your account link is removed when you delete your account.
Your choices and rights
- Delete your account from Settings → Account in the app. This removes your account, highlights, notes, reactions, votes and personalisation data right away. We delete the analytics and crash records linked to your account from our providers within 30 days. Some records may stay in backups or logs for a short time, or where the law requires.
- Reading without an account: email privacy@usereconomics.com and we’ll delete the data linked to your device.
- Tracking and ads: you can allow or refuse tracking in the iOS prompt, and change it later in iOS Settings → Privacy & Security → Tracking. Refusing doesn’t remove ads; it makes them non-personalised.
- Notifications: turn them off in the app’s settings or in iOS Settings.
- Access, correction, portability, objection and restriction: depending on where you live, you can ask for a copy of your information, correct it, object to some uses, or ask us to limit them. Email privacy@usereconomics.com; we answer within 30 days. You can also complain to your local data protection authority.
- California residents: you have the right to know, delete and correct personal information and to opt out of its sale or sharing. We don’t sell personal information. We won’t treat you differently for using these rights.
- India residents: under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, you can ask for a summary of your information, correct or erase it, nominate someone to act for you, and raise a grievance with us at privacy@usereconomics.com before going to the Data Protection Board of India.
Children
User Economics is for professionals and is not directed to children under 16. We don’t knowingly collect information from them. If you believe a child has given us information, contact us and we’ll delete it.
Security
We encrypt data in transit, restrict access to people who need it, and use providers with strong security practices. No system is perfectly secure, so please tell us at privacy@usereconomics.com if you find a problem.
Changes
We’ll update this page when our practices change and change the date above. For material changes, we’ll also tell you in the app.
Contact
Questions or requests: privacy@usereconomics.com.