Privacy Policy

Shankhnad News
Last updated: 29 June 2026

This Privacy Policy describes how Shankhnad News (“we”, “us”, “our”)
collects, uses, and protects your information when you use the Shankhnad
News website (shankhnadnews.com)
and our mobile application (together, the “Services”). By using the
Services, you agree to the practices described here.

1. Information we collect

Shankhnad News does not require you to create an account or sign
in. You can read news, e-paper editions, short videos, and live TV
without giving us any personal information.

1.1 Information you choose to give us

Feedback — if you use the app’s Send feedback option, we collect the name and email address you enter (required, so we can identify your report and reply to you), an optional mobile number, the message you write and the category you pick (bug / suggestion / other), and basic technical details — your app version and your device model & operating-system version — to help us reproduce and fix the issue. We use these details only to respond to and act on your feedback; we do not sell them or use them for advertising. Sending feedback is entirely optional — you can use the app without it.
Grievances — if you contact our Grievance Officer to lodge a grievance (see our Grievance Redressal section), the details you include — such as your name, a contact detail (email or phone) so we can respond, and a description of the grievance — are used only to handle your grievance, as required by India’s IT Rules 2021.

1.2 Information collected automatically

Website server logs & cookies — when you visit the website we, like most sites, record standard technical data (IP address, browser type, pages viewed) and use cookies necessary for the site to function and to remember your preferences.
Device push token — if you allow notifications in the app, we receive a Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM) token to send breaking-news alerts and, if you opt in, daily e-paper edition alerts. It does not identify you personally.
Search queries (app) — when you use in-app search, the words you type are sent to our servers to find matching articles, and (for searches typed in English / Latin letters) to Google’s transliteration service (Google Input Tools) to convert them into Gujarati so they match our mostly-Gujarati content. We don’t store your searches or link them to you.
App preferences — theme, text size, and notification settings, stored locally on your device.
Crash & performance diagnostics (app) — we receive anonymous crash and performance reports (device model, OS version, app version, and the error/stack-trace details — never your identity) via Sentry to help us find and fix bugs and performance issues.
Advertising identifier (app) — the in-app Shorts feed displays ads served by Google AdMob. We request non-personalised ads: AdMob accesses your device’s resettable advertising ID and limited ad-related signals (such as device type and ad interactions) to deliver, limit, measure, and prevent fraud in those ads, but does not use them to build a cross-app interest profile about you. You can reset this ID at any time in your device settings (on Android: Settings → Google → Ads).

1.3 What we do NOT collect

Any account identifier, name, phone number, or email to use the Services.
Your contact list, photos, or files.
Precise (GPS) location.
Your browsing history outside our Services, or information from other apps on your device.

2. How we use your information

Send notifications — deliver breaking-news alerts and, if you opt in separately, daily e-paper edition alerts via FCM (disable either anytime in Settings → Notifications).
Respond to feedback and grievances — contact you about, and act on, anything you submit.
Maintain the Services — keep the website and app running, diagnose issues, prevent abuse, and improve performance (including standard website logs and cookies).
Show ads — display advertisements in the app’s Shorts feed through Google AdMob (see the sharing table below).

We do not sell your personal information. Ads in the Shorts feed are served by Google AdMob. We request non-personalised ads, so AdMob uses your device’s advertising ID only to deliver, limit, measure, and prevent fraud in those ads — not to build a cross-app interest profile. You can reset that advertising ID in your device settings at any time.

3. How we share your information

We share data with the following third-party services strictly to provide the Services:

Service	What’s shared	Purpose
Firebase / Google (firebase.google.com)	Your FCM push token	To deliver push notifications
Google Input Tools (inputtools.google.com)	The search text you type (English / romanized queries)	To transliterate it into Gujarati so it matches our Gujarati articles
Our servers (cloud-hosted)	Feedback content + search queries you submit	To run the backend API and handle your request
Sentry (sentry.io)	Anonymous crash & performance diagnostics (device model, OS version, app version, error/stack-trace details)	To find and fix crashes and performance issues
Google AdMob (admob.google.com)	Your device’s advertising ID and ad-interaction data	To serve, limit, measure, and prevent fraud in the ads shown in the app’s Shorts feed

We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information with any other parties. For how Google uses data from apps that use its services, see Google’s “How Google uses information from sites or apps that use our services”.

4. Data retention

Feedback and grievance records are retained for as long as needed to handle and document your request (grievances are kept in line with our record-keeping obligations under the IT Rules 2021).
Published news content is retained for at least 60 days as required by Rule 19 of the IT Rules 2021, after which it may be removed automatically.
Push tokens are refreshed by the device; stale tokens are discarded when delivery fails.
Backups may retain a copy for up to 30 days before final deletion.

5. Your rights

Because we do not hold an account for you, there is very little personal
data to manage. If you have any question about information you sent us
through feedback or a grievance, you can contact us using the details
below.

6. Children’s privacy

The Services are intended for users aged 13 and above. We do not knowingly
collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child
has provided us such information, contact us and we will delete it.

7. Security

We protect your data with HTTPS for all communication, restricted and
securely-hashed credentials for backend access, and server-side input
validation on every endpoint. No
system is perfectly secure; if we discover a breach affecting your data, we
will notify you and the relevant authorities as required by Indian law
(IT Act 2000, DPDP Act 2023).

8. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. The “Last updated” date will
change, and for material changes we will provide notice. Continued use of
the Services means you accept the updated policy.

9. Grievance Officer

In accordance with the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and
Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, complaints about content or about
this policy may be addressed to our Grievance Officer. See the
Grievance Redressal section
of our Terms & Conditions for the full mechanism and timelines
(acknowledgement within 24 hours, resolution within 15 days).