Privacy Policy
Pulse is a South African news summary app. This policy explains what information the app handles, why, and the choices you have. It is written to comply with the Protection of Personal Information Act, 2013 (POPIA).
What we collect
If you use Pulse without signing in, we collect no personal information — the feed is served anonymously.
If you create an account:
| Information | Why |
|---|---|
| Email address and sign-in credentials | Creating and securing your account. Handled by Clerk, our authentication provider; Pulse itself stores only your account identifier and email address. |
| Nickname (optional) | Displayed to you in your profile. |
| Topic interests you pick | Tilting your feed toward what you care about. |
| Stories you save or like | Your saved list, and like counts shown on stories. |
| Public profile (display name, handle and optional bio) | Identifying comments you choose to publish. Your handle and display name are visible to other readers beside those comments. |
| Comments, comment likes, reports and blocks | Hosting article conversations and keeping them safe. Comments are public; reports are visible only to Pulse moderators. |
| A push token and device platform, only if you enable notifications | Delivering the morning briefing and breaking-news alerts you asked for. |
We do not collect your location, contacts, or browsing history outside the app. Pulse contains no advertising. Firebase Analytics automatically collects basic app-use, device and app-installation information to measure screens viewed and feature use. Pulse does not send Firebase your comment text, headlines, searches, email address or account identifier.
Who processes it
Your information is processed by service providers acting on our instructions:
- Clerk — account creation and sign-in.
- Supabase — our database (hosted in the EU).
- Railway — application hosting (EU region).
- Google Firebase Analytics — aggregated app-use measurement.
- Expo, with Google (FCM) and Apple (APNs) — push notification delivery, only if you enable notifications.
Because these providers operate outside South Africa, your information is transferred internationally under POPIA section 72, to providers bound by contractual protections at least equivalent to POPIA.
We do not sell your information, and we do not share it with anyone for marketing.
News summaries
Story summaries in Pulse are generated with AI from publicly published news articles and reviewed processes described in the app. Your personal information is never sent to AI systems.
How long we keep it
For as long as you have an account. Delete your account in the app (Profile → Delete account) and everything listed above — profile, interests, saved stories, reactions and push tokens — is erased immediately and permanently. Sign-in records held by Clerk are deleted with your Clerk account at the same time. Full details, including how to request deletion if you cannot sign in, are on the account deletion page.
Your rights under POPIA
- Ask what personal information we hold about you.
- Ask for corrections.
- Delete your account and data yourself, in the app, without asking.
- Object to processing, or withdraw consent for notifications at any time (Profile → Notifications, or your device settings).
- Complain to the Information Regulator (South Africa): inforegulator.org.za.
Children
Pulse is general news and is not directed at children. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children without a competent person's consent.
Security
Connections to Pulse are encrypted (TLS). Access to the database is restricted to the operator. No system is perfectly secure, but we hold as little about you as the product allows.
Changes
If our data practices change, this policy changes with them and the effective date above is updated. Material changes will be flagged in the app.
Contact
Responsible party: Pulse (South Africa).
Questions or requests: morethikatleho@gmail.com