Privacy Policy

Tidings is a local-first RSS reader independently maintained by an individual developer. Reading data and AI credentials remain on your device; the website server handles only the minimum data needed for downloads, trials, licensing, and optional purchases. This policy explains what the app and website handle, and what they do not.

Operator & scope

This policy applies to the Tidings macOS app and the tidings.info website. The individually filed website name is 回到阅读, under ICP filing 陕ICP备2026018279号-1. Tidings is not a company or staffed organization; the individual developer handles privacy requests through the email listed below.

Local-first storage

Your subscriptions, fetched articles, read and starred states, and all app settings are stored on your device by default. There's no default cloud copy of this data, and our servers don't keep it.

How AI features handle data

When you turn on AI features (translation, summaries, AI Radar / daily briefings, asking AI questions, or chatting about an article), the relevant data such as article content is sent directly from your device to the OpenAI-compatible provider you've configured yourself.

• Tidings doesn't proxy these requests, doesn't store their contents along the way, and never uses your data to train any model.
• The app stores your API key locally and uses it to call your chosen provider directly. The credential is sent to that provider to authenticate the request and may associate the request with your provider account, but it is not sent to Tidings developer servers. Protect the key and use only trusted HTTPS endpoints.
• Once data leaves your device, it's handled by the provider you chose under that provider's own terms. Please read and follow their privacy policy and terms of use.

iCloud Sync (optional)

When you intentionally enable iCloud Sync, the app syncs feeds, categories, and non-secret settings through your Apple iCloud account. API keys, custom authentication headers, local file paths, article cache, read state, AI results, and AI Radar history are excluded. Apple handles iCloud data under its own terms. Disabling sync stops future synchronization but does not automatically delete data already written to iCloud; use Apple's iCloud data controls or contact support for guidance.

Trials, activation & website payment

When you start the full 7-day trial, the app sends a randomly generated device public key and its digest to the Tidings license service; this is not a hardware serial number. Activation and lease renewal also process an activation code, license ID, random refresh token, and license state. The server stores only one-way digests of codes and refresh tokens, the device public key/digest, activation times, and necessary audit records. Reading content and AI provider keys never enter the licensing service. Paddle handles website checkout, and Paddle and its payment partners process card, payment-account, or local-wallet details. Tidings stores the order email, Paddle transaction ID, order/refund state, email-delivery state and provider message ID, and an encrypted activation code for delivery, support, fraud prevention, and legal records, but does not store full card or payment-account credentials. After payment confirmation, the transactional email provider Resend processes the recipient address, full activation code, and message content to deliver the email under its own privacy policy.

No third-party ad tracking

Tidings integrates no third-party ad networks and does not track you for advertising across sites or apps.

About this website

This website uses no advertising cookies, third-party analytics SDKs, or download-event tracking. Language selection writes a functional locale cookie for up to one year. Purchase delivery and the private admin console use secure HttpOnly session cookies. To serve pages, prevent code-guessing and login abuse, secure the service, and diagnose failures, infrastructure may process IP address, request time, browser type, and path; rate-limit keys are stored as one-way digests. If you email support, we process your address and message to respond.

Retention & deletion

You control local reading data. Clear Cache removes full-text cache, AI summaries, translations, subtitles, and diagnostic reports; it does not remove subscriptions, read and starred state, or AI Radar history. Removing the app alone may not delete its macOS user data. Trial records prevent repeated trials. Active licenses, device activations, and transaction records are retained as needed to provide licensing, handle refunds or disputes, support users, and meet legal obligations. Purchase-delivery cookies last up to 7 days and admin sessions up to 12 hours. Disabling iCloud Sync does not automatically delete an existing cloud copy.

Security

We use safeguards appropriate to the product and data: the device private key is protected by macOS secure storage; server-issued licenses use Ed25519 signatures and are verified locally; activation codes and refresh tokens are stored only as keyed one-way digests; purchase codes are encrypted; admin sessions use HttpOnly SameSite cookies and necessary audit logs. No method is perfectly secure, so protect your device, activation code, and provider credentials.

Your choices & rights

You may leave AI and iCloud disabled, revoke permission for a provider, delete local data, deactivate the current device in the app, and ask us to access, correct, or delete license, transaction, or support information we hold. Financial, anti-fraud, and legal records may need to be retained. We may verify the checkout email, transaction, or license ownership before acting.

Children

Tidings is not designed for children and can display open-web content from feeds chosen by the user. Users below the age of independent consent where they live should use it with a guardian's permission and guidance, especially when configuring a third-party AI provider or making a payment. Contact us if you believe a minor provided personal information to the developer.

Policy changes

We may update this policy when features, law, or operations change. We will update the date on this page and, where reasonably practical, provide additional notice of material changes.

Contact us

If you have any questions about this policy or how we handle your data, reach us by email: fxapps@163.com.