Privacy Policy

1 Introduction

Welcome to Judah News ("we", "our", or "us"), an application created and maintained by Core Tech Studios. We respect your privacy and are committed to protecting the personal data you share with us.

This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your personal information when you use the Judah News mobile application and our associated web services (collectively, the "Services"). By registering or using our Services, you consent to the practices described in this policy.

2 Data We Collect

We collect information you provide directly to us as well as data generated during your usage of the application:

• Account Information: When you register an account, we collect your name, email address, and authentication credentials (passwords are securely hashed and never stored in plain text). You may also optionally provide a profile avatar and bio.
• Messages & Communications: We store and deliver real-time messages, media attachments, and conversation threads that you exchange with other registered users.
• User-Generated Content: Any status updates, posts, photos, videos, and comments you publish to the community feed.
• Device & Diagnostic Information: Operating system version, device model, unique device identifiers, IP address, connection status, crash logs, and app performance diagnostics to ensure stability.
• Device Permissions: With your permission, we request access to your device's Camera and Photo Gallery (strictly to let you capture or upload profile avatars and message attachments) and Push Notifications (to deliver incoming message alerts).

3 How We Use Your Data

Your information is processed for specific and legitimate purposes:

• Authentication & Security: Verifying your identity, preventing spam, and keeping your account secure.
• Real-time Messaging: Delivering instant 1-to-1 chats, presence indicators, and message receipts.
• News & Feed Delivery: Curating real-time breaking news headlines from trusted global RSS publishers and presenting community posts.
• Notifications: Sending you push notifications when you receive new messages or important account updates.
• Customer Support: Responding to user inquiries, resolving technical issues, and investigating bug reports.

4 Third-Party Services

To operate our cloud infrastructure reliably, we partner with industry-leading service providers:

• Google Firebase: Used for secure user authentication (Firebase Auth), real-time database storage (Cloud Firestore), media asset hosting (Firebase Cloud Storage), and notification routing (Firebase Cloud Messaging). All data is processed under Google's enterprise-grade privacy and security standards.
• Public News Publishers: External RSS feeds from established news agencies are aggregated to display public headlines. No personal user information is ever transmitted to external publishers.

We do not sell, rent, or monetize your personal information to data brokers or third-party advertisers.

5 Data Security

We implement strict administrative, technical, and physical security measures to safeguard your information:

• Encryption in Transit: All communications between the app and our backend servers are encrypted using modern Transport Layer Security (TLS/HTTPS).
• Access Control: Database security rules restrict access to private messages, personal account data, and photos strictly to authorized conversation participants.
• Infrastructure Protection: All databases and storage buckets are hosted in Google Cloud's highly secure, monitored data centers.

6 Account Deletion & Data Retention

You have complete ownership and control over your data. You can permanently delete your account and all associated records at any time:

• In-App Deletion: Open the Judah News app, go to Settings & Activity, and tap Delete Account. Follow the prompt to permanently remove your profile, login credentials, and conversations.
• Web Deletion Portal: You can also submit an automated deletion request via our web page at judahnewsapp.com/delete-account.

Upon account deletion, all personal profile records, posts, uploaded media, chat history, and notification logs are permanently purged from our production databases.

7 Your Privacy Rights

Under applicable privacy frameworks (including GDPR in Europe and CCPA in California), you have the right to:

• Access: Request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
• Correction: Update or modify your profile information directly in the Edit Profile settings.
• Erasure: Request the deletion of your personal account data at any time.
• Permission Management: Revoke permissions for Camera, Photos, or Notifications at any time through your device settings.

8 Children’s Privacy

Judah News is not directed to children under 13 years of age (or under 16 in the EEA). We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If we discover that a child has created an account, we will take immediate steps to delete the account and associated records.

9 Contact Us

If you have any questions, feedback, or data requests regarding this Privacy Policy, please contact our support team:

judahnews@yahoo.com

Core Tech Studios — Judah News Support