Last updated: 21 October 2026
This policy explains what information the Pencil News app ("the app") collects, why, who it is shared with, and the choices you have. Pencil News is provided by Triage Technologies Pte. Ltd. ("we", "us").
Pencil News is built to need as little about you as possible. There is no sign-up, and we never ask for your name, email address, phone number, contacts, location, camera or photos.
1. What stays on your phone
These are stored only on your device and are never sent to us:
- The stories and videos you save
- Which stories you have read
- Your reading and display settings (such as text size and sound)
Deleting the app deletes all of this.
2. What we collect, and why
An anonymous ID
When you first open the app, it quietly creates an anonymous account so your settings and alerts work. It is a random identifier, not linked to your name, email or phone number.
Your topics, edition and time zone
The topics you pick, your edition (English or Urdu) and your phone's time zone are stored with that anonymous ID, so the daily briefing is about what you chose, in your language, and arrives at the right time of day.
Notifications
If you allow notifications, we store a notification token (an address Apple or Google gives your phone for delivering notifications), along with whether the phone is iPhone or Android. We use it only to send the alerts and briefings you turned on. Turning notifications off in your phone's settings stops them.
App usage (analytics)
We use Google Firebase Analytics to understand how the app is used: for example, which screens and topics are opened, which stories and videos are opened and for how long, and what is saved. This is linked to a random app-instance ID, not to your identity. We use it to improve the app and the news selection. We have switched off the use of this analytics data for advertising.
Crash reports
We use Google Firebase Crashlytics to receive a report when the app crashes: the device model, operating system version and technical details of the crash. We use it only to fix bugs.
3. Advertising
The app is free and shows ads from Google AdMob: in the news feed, between videos, inside some articles, and occasionally between screens.
- Your choice on iPhone: Apple asks whether the app may track you. If you allow it, Google may use your device's advertising identifier to show more relevant ads. If you decline, you still see ads, but they are not personalised using that identifier.
- Consent where the law requires it: in regions such as the European Economic Area and the UK, Google's consent form asks for your choice before ads are personalised. You can change it later.
- What Google may collect for ads: your device's advertising identifier (if allowed), IP address, device and app information, and approximate location derived from the IP address. Google processes this under its own policy: How Google uses information from sites or apps that use its services.
- What you read is never shared with advertisers. We do not give AdMob or any advertiser your reading activity, saved stories or chosen topics.
4. Videos and publishers' websites
- Videos and live TV play through YouTube's own embedded player. When a video plays, YouTube (Google) may collect information under Google's Privacy Policy.
- Stories from some newsrooms open the newsroom's own website inside the app. That website's own privacy policy applies to what it collects.
5. Who processes your information
We do not sell your information. We share it only with the service providers that run parts of the app for us:
- Supabase: hosts our server: the anonymous ID, topics, edition, time zone and notification token
- Google Firebase (Analytics, Crashlytics, Cloud Messaging): usage analytics, crash reports, notification delivery on Android
- Google AdMob: ads
- Apple Push Notification service: notification delivery on iPhone
- YouTube: playing videos and live TV
These providers may store data on servers outside Pakistan. We may also disclose information if the law requires it.
6. How long we keep it
- Your anonymous ID, topics, edition, time zone and notification token: until you ask us to delete them, or until the token stops working.
- Analytics and crash reports: kept by Google for a limited period under our Firebase settings, then deleted automatically.
- Data on your phone: until you delete it or the app.
7. Your choices and rights
- Ads: change tracking at any time in your iPhone's Settings → Privacy & Security → Tracking. On Android, reset or delete your advertising ID in your phone's settings.
- Notifications: turn them off in the app's settings or your phone's settings.
- Delete your data: email us at the address below and we will delete your anonymous account and everything stored with it. Deleting the app removes everything stored on your phone.
- Access or correct: you can ask us what we hold about you, or to correct it. Depending on where you live, you may also have the right to object to or restrict processing, or to complain to your data protection authority.
8. Children
Pencil News is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect information from them. If you believe a child has used the app and want their data deleted, contact us.
9. Security
Information is sent over encrypted connections, and access to our server is restricted. No method of storage or transmission is completely secure, but we work to protect your information.
10. Changes to this policy
If we change this policy, we will update the date at the top and, for significant changes, tell you in the app.
11. Contact us
Triage Technologies Pte. Ltd.
National Incubation Center, Street 6, Sector H-9/1, Islamabad, Pakistan
Email: danish@pencil.pk
Phone: +92 334 3191094
