Privacy Policy

Last updated: 2026-09-08

KOINews is a reader for trending lists. Reading needs no account, and while you are not signed in we store nothing about you on our servers.

The information below exists only once you register an account. We list the fields we actually store rather than saying something vague like "account information", so that you can check it item by item.

1. What the server stores once you register

These live on our own server (bus.koinews.top) and exist only to make the app work.

• Username — What you chose when registering. Used to sign you in and shown in the app.
• Password — Stored only as a PBKDF2-HMAC-SHA-256 hash with a random salt. The plaintext is never stored and cannot be recovered from the hash.
• Email address — Optional, and only if you choose to add one. Recorded and nothing more — we send no mail to it.
• Points and last check-in date — What the daily check-in needs. The date is the calendar date on your own device.
• Saved articles — The address, title and summary of what you saved, so your list is there on any device you sign in on.
• Account id and timestamps — A randomly generated internal id, plus when the account was created and last changed. Used to identify the record itself.

2. What stays on your device

These never leave your phone and disappear when you uninstall the app.

• Session token — Kept on the device after signing in, valid for 60 days. Cleared when you sign out or delete your account.
• Sources you follow — On your device only; never uploaded.
• Backend address — The address you configure in the app; on your device only.

3. What we do not collect

• No analytics or crash-reporting SDK of any kind
• No advertising identifier (IDFA), and no tracking across apps or websites
• No location
• No contacts, photos, microphone or camera
• No device identifiers and no IP-based location profiling
• Nothing is sold or shared with any third party

4. What happens when you read an article

Tapping an entry opens the site the content actually lives on — Weibo, Zhihu, Baidu and so on — in an in-app browser. That page belongs to another company and is operated by them: it sets its own cookies and runs its own analytics and tracking, none of which is under KOINews' control and none of which we can make promises about on their behalf.

KOINews itself does not store, republish or alter any article. It shows the headlines and heat figures those platforms publish openly. The content belongs to them and to their authors.

5. Your choices

• Don't register — Following and browsing work in full, and the server holds no record of you.
• Don't add an email — The suggestion can simply be dismissed; nothing depends on it.
• Delete your account — One step inside the app. Username, password, email, points, check-in history and every saved article are permanently deleted and cannot be recovered. Delete account

6. Retention

Account data is kept until you delete the account. Deletion is immediate and irreversible; we keep no copy for "restoring" an account.

7. Children

KOINews is not directed at children under 13 and does not knowingly collect information from them.

8. Changes to this policy

If what the app or the server collects changes, this page is updated to match and the date at the top changes with it.

9. Contact

Questions about privacy: email inter000999@icloud.com.