Privacy Policy

We collect information in two ways: information you voluntarily provide to us, and information collected automatically when you use the Service.

1.1 Information You Provide Directly

When you register for an account or use features of the app, you may provide:

• Full name
• Email address
• Mobile phone number
• Password (stored as a one-way cryptographic hash — we never store or transmit your plain-text password)
• Profile photograph (optional, uploaded at your discretion)
• Comments or feedback you submit within the app

1.2 Information Collected Automatically

When you access the Service, certain information is recorded automatically, including:

• Articles viewed, searched, and saved to your Favorites
• Science categories and topics you browse
• App version, device model, and operating system version (used solely for bug diagnosis and compatibility)
• General usage patterns to improve content recommendations

We use the information we collect for the following purposes:

• Account creation and management — to register and authenticate your account
• Service delivery — to provide personalised news feeds, bookmarks, and reading history
• Communications — to send one-time passwords (OTPs) for password reset, and transactional notifications related to your account
• Support — to respond to your enquiries and resolve technical issues
• Service improvement — to analyse usage patterns, identify bugs, and improve features
• Legal compliance — to fulfil obligations under applicable law

We do not share your personal information with outside parties except in the following limited circumstances:

• Hosting and infrastructure providers — our servers and email delivery services are operated by trusted third-party vendors who process data strictly on our behalf, bound by confidentiality obligations, and are not permitted to use your data for their own purposes.
• Legal obligations — we may disclose information if required to do so by law, regulation, court order, or lawful request from a governmental authority.
• Protection of rights — we may disclose information where necessary to investigate, prevent, or address fraud, security threats, or violations of our Terms of Service.
• Business transfers — if GScience Research News is acquired by or merged with another organisation, your information may be transferred as part of that transaction. We will notify you via in-app notice or email before your information becomes subject to a different privacy policy.
• With your consent — in any other circumstance, we will share your information only with your explicit prior consent.

Your data is stored on secured servers protected by industry-standard technical and organisational measures, including:

• HTTPS encryption for all data transmitted between the app and our servers
• Bcrypt password hashing — your password is never stored in a readable form
• Access controls restricting database access to authorised personnel only
• Regular security reviews of our infrastructure

Favorites and locally cached content are stored on your own device and are not transmitted to our servers unless you are signed in to a GScience account.

GScience may request permission to send push notifications to alert you about breaking science news, category updates, and account-related messages.

You can opt out of push notifications at any time through your device settings (iOS: Settings → Notifications → GScience; Android: Settings → Apps → GScience → Notifications). Disabling notifications does not affect your ability to use the app.

We retain your personal information for as long as your account remains active and for a reasonable period thereafter to fulfil the purposes described in this policy, unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law.

If you request deletion of your account, we will delete or anonymise your personal information within 30 days of receiving your request, except where retention is required to comply with legal obligations, resolve disputes, or enforce our agreements.

Aggregated, anonymised usage statistics that cannot identify you may be retained indefinitely for service improvement purposes.

Subject to applicable law, you have the following rights regarding your personal information:

• Right of Access — request a copy of the personal data we hold about you
• Right of Correction — update or correct inaccurate information; you can do this directly via the Profile section in the app
• Right of Erasure — request deletion of your account and associated personal data
• Right to Data Portability — receive your data in a structured, machine-readable format
• Right to Object — object to certain processing activities, including direct marketing
• Right to Withdraw Consent — where processing is based on your consent, you may withdraw it at any time without affecting the lawfulness of prior processing

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at kksarat@gmail.com. We will respond to your request within 30 days.

The Service is not directed at children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from any person under 13 years of age. If you are a parent or guardian and believe your child has provided personal information to us without your consent, please contact us immediately at kksarat@gmail.com and we will take prompt steps to delete such information from our systems.

The app may display links to external news sources, research institutions, and websites. This Privacy Policy applies solely to the GScience application. We are not responsible for the content or privacy practices of any third-party websites, and we encourage you to review the privacy policies of any sites you visit.

The app is distributed through the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. Apple and Google may collect certain device and usage information in accordance with their own privacy policies, which are independent of ours.

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, technology, legal requirements, or other factors. When we make changes, we will update the "Last Revised" date at the top of this page.

For material changes — changes that significantly affect how we collect, use, or disclose your personal information — we will provide advance notice through the app and/or by email to the address associated with your account.

Your continued use of the Service after the effective date of a revised policy constitutes your acceptance of the revised policy. If you do not agree to the revised policy, please discontinue use of the Service and delete your account.

If you have any questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or your personal data, please contact us: