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Privacy Policy

HelixNews ("we", "us") is a news discovery platform: we link to stories published by other news publishers. We collect as little as we can. This policy explains what we collect, why, and what you can do about it.

The short version

  • You can read HelixNews without an account. We don't run third-party analytics, tracking pixels or ad networks.
  • We count visits our own way, without cookies: page views as hourly totals, and visitors with a code that changes every day and can't be traced back to you. You can opt out anytime with "Privacy choices" at the bottom of every page.
  • Click counts are anonymous totals per story per hour. We don't record who clicked.
  • The optional "What made you click?" survey is anonymous.
  • If you create an account, we keep your username, a scrambled (hashed) form of your password, your email address only if you add one, and your credit history. No email is needed to sign up.
  • Payments are handled by Stripe or PayPal. We never see your card details.

What we collect

When you read the site

  • Anonymous click counts. When you click a headline, we add one to that story's count for the current hour, along with where on the page it was (for example, "lead story"). We don't store your IP address, a cookie ID or anything else that identifies you with the click.
  • Visits (page views). When you open a page, we add one to that page's count for the hour, with the site you came from (its domain only, like "google.com", never the full address or search terms), whether your screen is phone-, tablet- or desktop-sized, and your browser's name (like "Firefox", no version). If you came from a campaign link, we note the campaign name.
  • Unique visitors. To count how many different people visit each day, we combine your IP address and browser details with a random value that we replace every day, and keep only a one-way code made from them. The daily value is deleted the next day, so codes can't be linked across days or traced back to you. The codes themselves are deleted after two days, and we never store your IP address. If you opt out, or your browser sends Do Not Track or Global Privacy Control, your browser doesn't send us page views at all.
  • Followed topics. The topics you follow are kept in your browser (and on your account if you're signed in). To show their headlines, your browser sends the topics with the request; we don't store them with the request or log them.
  • Alerts for followed topics (optional). If you turn alerts on, your browser gives us an address at its push service (Google, Mozilla, Apple or Microsoft, depending on the browser) and keys to encrypt alerts with, and we store them with the topics you follow, which stories we've already alerted you about, and how many alerts we've sent today. We use them only to send those alerts; the site's editors see only totals (how many browsers have alerts on, how many alerts were sent) and topics that at least 3 browsers follow, never who follows what. Alerts go through your browser's push service, encrypted so it can't read them. Turning alerts off (on the Following page or in Settings) deletes all of it; so does the push service telling us the address no longer works.
  • Readers right now. While a page is open and on screen, your browser tells us about every 30 seconds that it's still there, with a random code made up for that browser tab (it disappears when you close the tab) and the kind of page (for example "front page" or which story). We use this only to show how many people are reading right now; it's kept in memory, never written to disk, and forgotten about a minute after you leave. We don't store your IP address or a cookie with it. The number is shown to readers only when at least 5 people are reading, so it can't point to anyone. If you opt out of visit counting, or your browser sends Do Not Track or Global Privacy Control, your browser doesn't send this either.
  • Ad statistics. Our sponsor slots count how many times each ad is shown and clicked, as hourly totals. Nothing about you is recorded.
  • Survey answers. If you answer the optional "What made you click?" questions, we store your answers with the headline you clicked. We don't store your IP address, cookies or account with them. Please don't put personal information in free-text answers.
  • Server operation. Like any website, our servers receive your IP address and browser details to deliver pages. We don't keep access logs of them. We use your IP address briefly to limit abuse (for example, too many requests at once).

When you chat with the news

  • Your message, plus the last few messages of the conversation for context, is sent to the AI model that writes the answer (see "Service providers" below). We don't log or store your messages. For a conversation's first question only, a one-way fingerprint of it and the answer are cached for up to one day so repeat questions are answered faster.
  • The conversation itself is kept only in your browser tab (session storage). It's gone when you close the tab or click "New chat", and we never receive it except as context with your next message. Each story you ask about has its own conversation, kept the same way.
  • When you ask about a specific story, our server reads the publishers' articles about it. Publishers don't receive your IP address or anything about you, and which story you asked about isn't recorded.
  • To enforce the free daily allowance, we count questions per day against a random ID kept in a cookie on your device and against a scrambled form of your network address that changes every day and can't be turned back into the address. These counters are deleted after 7 days.

If you create an account

  • Your username and a password, stored only as a one-way scrambled form (hash) that can't be turned back into the password. The same goes for your recovery code.
  • Passkeys, if you add them: only the public half of the key and a name for it (like "Safari on iPhone"). Your fingerprint, face or PIN never leaves your device.
  • Your email address, only if you choose to add one. It's used to send sign-in links. We don't send newsletters or marketing.
  • Your credit balance and history: purchases, monthly plan credits, questions asked and refunds, with dates.
  • Your settings: the front-page sections you've turned off, your theme (light, dark or matching your device), text size, and whether to show feedback questions and "new since your last visit" marks, so they follow you to other devices.
  • Your saved stories: the headline, link and outlet of each story you save, and when you saved it.
  • Your followed topics (the words you follow, like "Nvidia"), so they follow you to other devices.
  • Payments. For each purchase we keep the product, amount, currency, status and the payment provider's reference number. Card and bank details go directly to Stripe or PayPal; we never receive them.

Cookies and browser storage

We only use cookies that the site needs to work. There are no advertising or analytics cookies.

  • sr_dev: a random device ID used only to count free chat questions. It lasts up to 1 year.
  • sr_reader: keeps you signed in to your account. It lasts 30 days, or until you sign out.
  • sr_admin: keeps our editors signed in to the dashboard. Readers never receive it.
  • nh_hide: remembers which front-page sections you've turned off (for example "sports,culture"), so the page arrives without them. It contains no personal information and isn't logged. If you're signed in, the same choice is also saved to your account so it follows you to other devices. It lasts up to 1 year and is removed when you show all sections again.
  • nh_theme: remembers your theme choice ("light" or "dark") so pages appear that way from the start. It isn't set when you match your device's setting. It lasts up to 1 year.
  • nh_survey: set to "off" if you've turned off the occasional "Did it live up to the headline?" question. It lasts up to 1 year.
  • nh_text: remembers your text size if you've changed it. It lasts up to 1 year.
  • nh_dots: set to "off" if you've turned off marks on headlines that are new since your last visit. It lasts up to 1 year.

If you're signed in, these choices are also saved to your account, like your sections. You can change all of these on the Settings page.

  • Browser storage: remembers locally, on your device only, your visit-counting choice (opted out or accepted); the random code for the current tab used to count readers right now (gone when you close the tab); the topics you follow; when the survey was last shown, so we don't ask too often; when you were last here, so headlines that are new since then can be marked; and the stories you've saved. If you install the site as an app, your device also keeps copies of pages you've visited and their images so they open offline; you can clear them like any site data in your browser's settings. Your current chat is kept in the tab until you close it. Nothing in it is sent to us, except chat context with your next message and, if you're signed in, the stories you save.

News photos are fetched by our server and served from our own domain, so publishers' image servers don't receive your IP address when you view our pages. When you click a headline, you go to the publisher's own site, which has its own privacy policy.

Service providers

We share data only with providers that help us run the site, and only what they need:

  • Stripe and PayPal process payments, under their own privacy policies.
  • An email delivery service (such as Resend, Postmark or SendGrid) sends sign-in links to your email address, if you've added one.
  • An AI model provider generates chat answers and AI Insights. It receives your messages (with recent conversation context), public headlines and, for story chat, the text of the published articles being discussed. Survey comments may be analyzed in summary form after emails, phone numbers and links are removed. When we use OpenRouter, we ask it to route only to providers that don't store or train on this data.
  • Our hosting provider stores our database and servers.

We don't sell or rent personal information, and we don't share it for advertising.

How long we keep it

  • Stories and anonymous click counts: about 30 days for stories; click totals are kept as aggregate statistics.
  • Daily question counters: 7 days. Cached answers: 1 day. Article text read for story chat: 48 hours.
  • Daily visitor codes: 2 days; the random value they're made with: 1 day. Page-view totals (anonymous): about 13 months.
  • Sign-in links expire after 20 minutes and are deleted afterwards. Expired sign-in sessions are deleted.
  • Account and payment records: for as long as your account exists, and longer where the law requires us to keep transaction records.

Your choices and rights

  • You can opt out of visit counting with "Privacy choices" at the bottom of any page, or by turning on Global Privacy Control or Do Not Track in your browser.
  • You can read the site without an account and decline the survey.
  • You can block cookies in your browser. The site still works, but you'll only get the free daily questions available to visitors.
  • You can ask us to access, correct, export or delete your account data by emailing the contact address on our About page. Deleting your account removes your email address and unused credits. We may keep payment records the law requires.
  • Depending on where you live (for example under the GDPR or US state privacy laws), you may have further rights, including the right to complain to a data protection authority.

Children

HelixNews isn't directed at children under 13, and accounts are for people 16 and older. We don't knowingly collect personal information from children.

Changes

If we change this policy, we'll update the date at the top of this page. For significant changes, we may also notify account holders by email.

Contact

HelixNews is operated by the operators of HelixNews. Questions about privacy: the contact address on our About page.