Privacy Policy
This policy explains what information the Spotlight60 Android app (package com.kishan.spotlight60, "the app") handles, why, who else receives it, and the choices you have. Spotlight60 is run by Kishan Singh, an individual developer based in Jaipur, Rajasthan, India ("we", "us"). If you have a question, write to [email protected].
- You can read the app without an account. Without one, we do not collect your name, email or phone number.
- Creating an account is optional. If you do, we store the details you type in (name, email, optional mobile number, gender, age group, country).
- Translation and the natural voice run on your phone. Story text is not sent to us or to a translation server for this.
- We use Google Firebase for accounts, push notifications and anonymous usage statistics.
- There are no ads in the app. We do not use your advertising ID and we do not sell your information.
- You can ask us to delete your account and its data at any time.
1. Information we handle
a. If you create an account (optional)
The Create Account screen asks for:
- Full name
- Email address
- Mobile number (optional)
- Gender, age group and country, each picked from a list
These are saved in Google Firebase together with a random account ID and a random key that identifies this install of the app (used to link the account to push notifications). Your account gets a random password that is never shown, stored by us or sent anywhere. You can skip this screen and use every reading feature without an account.
b. Push notifications
To send news alerts, Firebase Cloud Messaging gives your installation a push token, which we store in Firebase. The token identifies the app on your device, not you personally. It is not linked to your name unless you create an account. You can turn alerts off in the app (About › New story alerts) or in your phone's settings. The app also checks the news feeds itself every so often to alert you to new stories. That check runs on your phone and sends nothing about you to us.
c. Usage statistics
The app uses Google Analytics for Firebase to understand which features people use. We log these events:
- Swiping to a story
- Sharing a story
- Playing a story's video or audio
- Opening a story's link (Read More)
- Tapping or dismissing a notification
Each event includes the story's ID, its title and its category. Firebase also collects standard technical details on its own:
- An app-instance ID
- Device model, operating system and app version
- Language and approximate country or region (worked out from your IP address)
- First-open and session times
We switch off collection of the advertising ID and ad personalization (see section 8). We do not use these statistics to identify you.
d. Information we do not collect
We do not collect:
- Your precise location
- Your contacts, photos, files, camera or microphone
- Your call logs or SMS
- Payment details
The app does not ask for permission to read any of these.
2. Stored only on your phone
The following stay in the app's private storage on your device and are not sent to us:
- Your settings: app language, theme, chosen category, voice, notifications and quiet hours
- Stories you save for later
- What you type into story search
- Recently loaded stories and pictures (a cache, so the app opens quickly and works briefly offline)
- Pictures created when you share a story (handed to the app you choose in Android's share sheet)
- Downloaded language and voice models (see section 3)
Android's own backup (if you have it turned on) may copy the app's settings and saved stories to your Google account so they come back on a new phone. Google handles that backup under its own privacy policy. Uninstalling the app or clearing its storage removes everything listed above.
3. Services that receive information
| Service | What it is used for | What it receives |
|---|---|---|
| Google Firebase Authentication and Realtime Database | Optional accounts and the push-token list | The account details in section 1a, random IDs, push token |
| Firebase Cloud Messaging | Delivering news alerts | Push token, device and app details |
| Google Analytics for Firebase | Anonymous usage statistics | The events and technical details in section 1c |
| Google ML Kit Translation | Translating stories into Hindi on your phone | Only a one-time download of the language model from Google. The text is translated on the device and is not sent to Google. |
| Hugging Face | Downloading the optional better Hindi translation model (IndicTrans2, about 352 MB), only when you choose to download it | A normal file download (your IP address and device details, as with any download). Translation then runs on your phone. |
| GitHub | Downloading the optional natural voice for Read Aloud, only when you choose to download it | A normal file download, as above. Speech is then made on your phone. |
| Your phone's text-to-speech engine | Read Aloud when the natural voice isn't downloaded | The story text, handled by the speech engine installed on your phone (for example Google or Samsung) under its own policy |
Google's privacy policy: policies.google.com/privacy. How Firebase handles data: firebase.google.com/support/privacy.
4. News publishers and links
Spotlight60 shows short excerpts and headlines from the public news feeds of publishers. Each story credits its source and links to the original article.
- Feeds and pictures. To fetch feeds, pictures and logos, your phone connects directly to the publisher's servers (and to services they use, such as YouTube for video thumbnails). Those servers see your IP address and normal browser-style request details, as when you visit their websites.
- Read More, videos and links. These open the publisher's website in a browser tab inside the app, or open the YouTube, Spotify or SoundCloud app. From then on the publisher's or that app's own privacy policy and cookies apply. We do not control those sites and are not responsible for their practices.
- Sharing. When you share a story, Android's share sheet sends the text, link and picture to the app you choose. We don't see what you share or who you share it with.
5. How we use information
- To run the app: load stories, translate them, read them aloud and remember your settings.
- To create and manage your account if you sign up.
- To send the news alerts you allow.
- To understand which features are used and fix problems, using statistics combined across users.
- To answer messages you send us.
- To meet legal duties, enforce our Terms of Use and protect the app and its users.
We do not use your information for automated decisions that have legal or similarly significant effects on you.
6. Legal basis and consent
We process account details because you give them to us when you choose to sign up (consent). We send notifications because you allow them. Usage statistics and security are based on our legitimate interest in running and improving a free app. You can withdraw consent at any time by turning off notifications or asking us to delete your account. Withdrawing doesn't affect processing that already happened. Where India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 applies, we act as the Data Fiduciary for your account data.
7. Sharing and selling
We do not sell, rent or trade your personal information. We share it only:
- with the service providers in section 3, who process it for us;
- when the law requires it, for example a valid order from a court or government authority;
- to protect the rights, safety or property of users, the public or us; or
- if Spotlight60 is transferred to a new owner, who must then follow this policy or tell you about changes first.
8. Ads and advertising ID
The app shows no ads today. It does not request the Android advertising ID, and the advertising-ID and ad-personalization features of Firebase are switched off. Future versions may show ads as separate cards between stories, and may offer an optional subscription that removes them. If that happens we will update this policy before the change reaches you, explain what the ad provider receives and give you any choices the law requires.
9. App permissions
- Internet and network state. To load stories and know when you're offline.
- Notifications. To show news alerts and download progress. Android 13 and newer ask you first.
- Foreground service (data sync). Keeps an optional model download running, with a progress notification, when you leave the app.
- Run at startup, wake lock, Google Play services messages. Added by Firebase and Android's WorkManager, so alerts and background checks keep working after a restart.
10. How long we keep data
- Account details: until you ask us to delete them, or until we close the service.
- Push tokens: until they stop working (for example after you uninstall) or you delete your account.
- Analytics events: kept by Google Analytics for at most 14 months, then deleted automatically.
- Emails you send us: for as long as needed to answer, and at most 2 years.
We may keep a minimal record longer where the law requires it.
11. Deleting your data
To delete your account and the data linked to it, follow the steps on our Delete account page. In short, email us from the address you signed up with. We delete the account, its profile and its push token within 30 days and confirm by email. To remove everything stored on your phone, uninstall the app or clear its storage in Android settings. To remove only the advanced translation model, use About › Better Hindi translation › Remove.
12. Your rights
Depending on where you live, you can ask us to:
- tell you what personal data we hold about you and give you a copy;
- correct or complete it;
- delete it;
- withdraw consent, or object to or restrict some processing;
- name someone to exercise your rights if you die or become unable to (a right under India's DPDP Act).
Users in the European Economic Area and the UK have these rights under the GDPR. California residents have similar rights under the CCPA/CPRA, and we do not sell or "share" personal information as those laws define it. Write to us using the details in section 17. We will reply within 30 days and will not treat you differently for using your rights. You may also complain to your local data-protection authority, or in India to the Data Protection Board of India.
13. Children
The app is a general entertainment-news app and is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children under 13. Accounts are meant for people aged 18 or over. Anyone younger may create one only with a parent's or guardian's consent. If you believe a child has given us personal data, contact us and we will delete it.
14. Security
Connections to our services use encryption (HTTPS/TLS). Account data is held in Google Firebase with access limited by security rules. No password is stored in the app. No method of storage or transmission is completely secure, but we take reasonable steps to protect your information. If a breach affects your personal data, we will notify you and the authorities as the law requires.
15. Where data is stored
Google stores Firebase data on servers that may be outside your country, including in the United States. Google protects such transfers with safeguards such as standard contractual clauses. By using the app you understand that your information may be processed in those countries, subject to this policy and applicable law.
16. Changes to this policy
We will post any change on this page and update the "Last updated" date. If a change materially affects how we use your personal data, we will tell you in the app before it takes effect, and ask for consent where the law requires it.
17. Contact and grievance officer
For privacy questions, requests or complaints, contact:
Kishan Singh, Founder, Spotlight60. He is also the Grievance Officer under India's Information Technology Act, 2000 and its Rules.
Email: [email protected] (subject line "Spotlight60 privacy")
We acknowledge complaints within 24 hours and aim to resolve them within 15 days.