Privacy Policy

1. What this policy covers

This policy applies to everything under Chautari Hub—the website at chautarihub.com, the iOS app, and any other platforms we run. It doesn't cover the external news sites, radio stations, or data sources we link to. They each have their own privacy practices.

2. Information we collect

We collect only what we need to make Chautari Hub work well for you. Depending on how you use it, we may receive:

• Account details. If you sign in with Google or email, we get your display name, email address, and a unique identifier. We store that along with your preferences—saved articles, followed sources and topics, language, theme, and province.
• Reading activity. When you're signed in, we track what articles you read, roughly how long you spend on them, and how often you come back. This helps us recommend stories you might actually care about.
• Radio listening. We track which stations you play and how often. This helps us show popular stations and improve the radio experience. We don't record what you listen to in detail—just that you played a station.
• Game stats. Your game progress, streaks, and statistics for Shabda, Crossword, Sudoku, and other games are stored locally on your device. We don't sync game data to our servers unless you're signed in and we add that feature in the future.
• Preferences and feedback. If you hide an article or follow a source, topic, or category, we remember that to shape your feed. You can undo any of these from your account settings.
• Province setting. You can pick your province to see local news. We use this for personalisation—we don't track your GPS or exact location.
• General usage. We track high-level stuff like which categories you browse, how far you scroll, outbound link clicks, searches, and anonymised analytics to see what's working and what's not. This data is aggregated and doesn't identify you personally.
• Server logs. Like most websites, we record IP addresses, browser types, and timestamps. We keep logs briefly for troubleshooting, then discard or anonymise them.
• Device info. On the iOS app, we collect basic device details for push notifications and analytics.
• Messages. If you contact us, we keep your message so we can respond and follow up if needed.

3. How we use information

Short version: we use your data to make Chautari Hub work better for you. We don't sell it or build profiles for third parties.

• Show you the news feed and remember your language, theme, and other preferences.
• Power your "For You" feed by looking at sources and topics you follow, what you've read, articles you've hidden, and your province. The algorithm runs on our servers—your data stays with us.
• Show your saved articles, follows, and reading history in your account.
• Display popular radio stations based on what people listen to.
• Send push notifications about topics you follow (iOS app, if you enable it).
• Keep an eye on our systems and catch issues with news sources or radio streams.
• Spot abuse or unusual activity that could break things for everyone.
• Respond when you contact us with questions or bug reports.

4. Sharing & third parties

• We don't sell your personal information. Your account data is stored securely.
• We use Firebase (run by Google) for sign-in and analytics. Their privacy policy applies to that.
• We use security services to protect against attacks. They may see standard request info to keep things safe.
• When you click a news link, you leave Chautari Hub and go to the publisher's site. Their privacy policy applies there.
• When you play a radio stream, you're connecting to that station's server. We don't control what data the station collects.
• Market data (forex, gold prices, fuel prices) comes from public sources like Nepal Rastra Bank. We fetch and display it—we don't share your info with them.
• If the law requires it, or we need to investigate abuse, we may share limited info with authorities. We push back on requests that are too broad.

5. Cookies, local storage, and app data

On the website: We use cookies and browser storage. When you first visit, we ask what you're okay with:

• Essential cookies. Always on. These keep the site working—your language, theme, login state, cookie preferences. Without them, things break.
• Analytics cookies. Optional. If you say yes, we use Google Analytics to see how people use Chautari Hub. The data is aggregated and doesn't identify you.
• Marketing cookies. Optional. If you consent, we may use cookies for ads and measuring ad performance. We don't sell your data to advertisers.

Game data: Your game stats, streaks, and progress for Shabda, Crossword, and Sudoku are saved in your browser's local storage. If you clear your browser data, you'll lose that progress.

You can change cookie preferences anytime using the "Manage Cookies" link in the footer. Clearing cookies in your browser may sign you out or reset preferences.

On the iOS app: The app stores preferences, cached images, game progress, and login tokens on your device. Delete the app to clear this data.

6. Your choices

You're in control. Here's what you can do:

• Manage follows and saves. Go to your account to remove saved articles or unfollow sources, topics, and categories.
• Unhide articles. Check "Hidden Articles" in your account to see what you've marked as not interested. Unhide anything to bring it back.
• See your reading history. It's in your account. Delete your account to wipe it permanently.
• Change your province. Update or clear it in settings. Clearing it turns off local news.
• Reset game progress. Clear your browser's local storage or delete the app to start fresh with games. There's no way to recover it.
• Skip personalisation. You don't need an account. Without signing in, you see the same feed as everyone else—no tracking, no history.
• Delete your account. In settings, you can delete everything—profile, saves, follows, history, hidden articles. It's permanent.
• Opt out of emails. We only email when you contact us. If we ever start a newsletter, there'll be an unsubscribe link.
• Use browser privacy tools. Block cookies, use private browsing, install extensions—Chautari Hub still works.

7. Keeping your data safe

We encrypt everything in transit, limit who can access our systems, and follow standard security practices. No one can promise perfect security, but we do our best.

8. Policy updates

We may update this policy as we add features. When we do, we'll change the date at the top. For big changes, we'll let you know through the app or website.

9. Contact

Questions about privacy? Email [email protected]. We usually reply within a couple of days.