Privacy Policy

Effective and last updated: July 16, 2026

This Privacy Policy explains how otter.news handles information when you use the otter.news website, mobile app, widgets, backend services, and support channels (collectively, the “Service”).

Privacy at a glance

• You do not need an otter.news account to use the app.
• We do not sell personal information.
• We do not use your data for cross-app tracking or targeted advertising.
• Reading statistics, search activity, and personalization signals are primarily processed on your device. The limited diagnostics and optional features described below may transmit related categories or settings off the device.
• Some app data is automatically backed up through your Apple iCloud account when iCloud is available.

Information stored on your device

The app stores information needed to work and remember your choices, including selected categories, followed and muted sources, blocked and followed keywords, imported feed addresses, bookmarks, offline article copies, display and reader settings, cached stories and images, reading counts and streaks, notification preferences, and game progress.

Search queries and detailed reading history are used locally to search, rank, and personalize the app. We do not operate an account-based profile of your reading history.

Information you choose to provide

• Local news. If you enter a U.S. ZIP code, the app sends it to Zippopotam.us to resolve a city, state, and approximate coordinates. The resolved location is stored on your device and in the iCloud backup described below. If local-news feeds return no results, the city and state—not the ZIP code or coordinates—may be included in a diagnostic report so we can identify broken markets. The app does not request your device’s GPS location.
• Custom feeds. When you add an RSS or Atom address, the app may contact that website directly to discover or retrieve the feed. The address is stored on your device and may be included in your iCloud backup.
• Sleeper connection. If you connect a Sleeper username, it is sent directly to Sleeper’s public API to retrieve the associated user, league, and roster information. Connection details are stored on your device and may be included in your iCloud backup.
• Support. If you email us, we receive your email address and whatever information you include in the message.

iCloud backup and widgets

On Apple devices, otter.news uses Apple’s iCloud key-value storage to automatically save app settings and selected content. Depending on the features you use, this backup can include category and source choices, followed or blocked keywords, bookmarks, custom feed addresses, local news location, Sleeper connection details, appearance and reader settings, feature preferences, and game state. Widget story data is also shared through the app’s Apple container so the widget can display current stories.

Apple processes iCloud data under your Apple account and Apple’s terms and privacy policy. otter.news does not receive your Apple ID or iCloud credentials. You can manage iCloud in your device’s Apple ID settings.

App and website network data

When the app requests the otter.news feed service, the request can include the selected language, category, and whether the request is a foreground or background refresh. Our infrastructure and hosting providers may process standard request information such as IP address, request time, URL, response status, user agent, and similar security or operational logs. We do not send an otter.news account identifier because the app does not use accounts.

The website host may process the same kinds of standard request and server-log information when you visit otter.news.

Publishers, web views, and images

otter.news displays RSS content and links to third-party publishers. When you open a publisher page, load a direct feed, or load an image, your device may connect to that publisher or its content-delivery provider. Those parties may receive your IP address, user agent, cookie information, and request details under their own policies.

To resize and cache thumbnails, an image URL and requested dimensions may be sent through our Cloudflare worker and the wsrv.nl image service. These providers may process standard request logs. The proxy request concerns a publisher image and is not labeled with an otter.news user account.

Crash reports and diagnostics

We use Sentry to find crashes, errors, and content-quality failures. Reports can include stack traces, app version, operating-system and device details, performance or memory context, and a short trail of app events such as app start, feed refresh, notification state, and the category or source involved in an article open. As noted above, a local news failure may include city and state.

Sentry is configured not to send default personally identifying information, and otter.news does not assign a user account ID to Sentry events. Sentry and network providers may still process an IP address or other technical information when receiving a report.

Notifications

If notifications are enabled, Apple Push Notification service and Firebase Cloud Messaging process a device or installation identifier, notification topic subscription, message payload, and delivery diagnostics to deliver alerts. otter.news uses topic-based breaking-news delivery and does not maintain its own database of individual push tokens. You can turn breaking-news alerts off in the app and manage all notification permission in system settings.

Translation and AI-assisted features

otter.news uses the Google Gemini API to create translations and, for public feed content, may create summaries, briefings, or content groupings. When you request translation of an article body, the text segments are sent to the otter.news backend and then to Google for processing. We do not attach your name, email address, Apple ID, or an otter.news account ID to that request.

Translated article text may be stored in a content-addressed cache in Google Cloud Storage and reused for other readers who request the same article and language. The cache key is based on the content and language, not a user identity. AI output can be inaccurate; the original publisher content remains the authoritative source.

How we use information

• Provide feeds, reader features, personalization, widgets, translations, and notifications.
• Save and restore your choices across your Apple devices.
• Operate, secure, debug, monitor, and improve the Service.
• Respond to support, privacy, and legal requests.
• Prevent abuse and comply with applicable law.

Service providers and sharing

We share information only as needed to provide the Service, operate our infrastructure, respond to your request, protect the Service or others, complete a business transfer, or comply with law. Providers can include Apple (iCloud and push delivery), Google (Cloud Run, Cloud Storage, Firebase Cloud Messaging, and Gemini), Sentry (diagnostics), Cloudflare and wsrv.nl (images), Hostinger (website hosting), GitHub (configuration delivery), Zippopotam.us (optional ZIP lookup), Sleeper (optional fantasy connection), and third-party news publishers.

We do not sell personal information or share it for cross-context behavioral advertising. We do not use third-party advertising SDKs in the main app feed. Publisher pages opened in a web view or browser may contain advertising governed by the publisher’s own policy.

Retention

• On-device data remains until you remove it with an available app control, clear the app’s data, or delete the app.
• iCloud data remains under your Apple account until it is overwritten, removed through Apple’s controls, or no longer retained by Apple.
• Support correspondence is kept as long as reasonably needed to answer the request, maintain records, and meet legal obligations.
• Diagnostic reports and server logs are kept according to our current project and provider retention settings, and only as long as reasonably needed for reliability, security, abuse prevention, and legal compliance.
• Content-addressed translation caches may remain until the cache is rotated, deleted, or no longer needed to provide the translation feature. They are not keyed to an otter.news user account.

Your choices and rights

You can:

• Remove bookmarks, custom feeds, local news, filters, and a Sleeper connection in the app.
• Turn off breaking-news alerts and manage notification permission in system settings.
• Manage or disable iCloud through your Apple ID and device settings.
• Delete the app to remove its local data.
• Contact us to request access, correction, or deletion of information we control.

Depending on where you live, you may have additional rights to access, correct, delete, restrict, or object to processing, or to receive a copy of personal information. Because otter.news does not use accounts, we may be unable to associate anonymous logs or content-addressed caches with a particular person. We may need to verify a request before acting.

Security

We use reasonable administrative and technical measures designed to protect information. No storage or transmission method is completely secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security.

Children

The Service is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has provided personal information, contact us so we can review and delete it where appropriate.

International processing

otter.news is operated from the United States. Information may be processed in the United States and other countries where our providers operate, which may have different data-protection laws from your home country.

Changes to this Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy as the Service changes. We will post the revised version here and update the effective date. If a change is material, we may also provide notice in the app or by another appropriate method.

Contact

Questions, privacy requests, or complaints may be sent to privacy@otter.news.