Fact Catcher
Privacy

Privacy Policy

Contents · 26 sections

Last updated: 1 November 2026

This privacy policy explains which personal data is processed when you use the Factcatcher iOS app (“the app”), for what purpose, on what legal basis, who receives it and how long it is kept.

1. Controller

The controller responsible for data processing within the meaning of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is:
Philipp Seßler
Vosslerstr. 2
80689 Munich, Germany
Email: [email protected]

You can reach us at this address with any question about data protection and to exercise your rights. No data protection officer has been appointed, because there is no legal obligation to do so.

2. Overview and legal bases

You can use many of the app’s features without an account. You only need an account for features that consume credits. We process personal data only to the extent required for the feature concerned. The legal bases are:

  • Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR – providing the app and the features you use under our terms of service,
  • Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR – our legitimate interests, for example in security, abuse prevention and support,
  • Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR – your consent, for example to usage analytics and crash reports.

Where the app stores information on your device or accesses it, this is permitted without consent under Section 25(2) no. 2 TDDDG (German Telecommunications Digital Services Data Protection Act) insofar as it is strictly necessary for a feature you have expressly requested. In all other cases we ask for your consent under Section 25(1) TDDDG.

For each processing activity below we state its purpose, legal basis and retention period. You are under no obligation to provide us with data. Without the data named in each case, however, you cannot use the feature concerned.

3. Download from the App Store

You obtain the app through the Apple App Store. When you download it, Apple processes data such as your Apple Account information, device data and the time of the download. Apple is independently responsible for this; the Apple Privacy Policy applies. We do not receive any data from this that identifies you personally.

4. Connection to our server

Whenever you use the app, even without an account, it connects to our server at api.factcatcher.app over an encrypted connection (HTTPS) to load podcasts, episodes and flashcards. The following is processed:

  • your IP address and the technical connection data that arises with every internet connection,
  • a fixed app key that is the same for every installation and does not identify you,
  • when checking for a new app version: the platform (iOS) and the app’s version number,
  • if you are signed in: a sign-in token that lets the server attribute your requests to your account.

Our server is operated by a hosting provider in a data centre in Frankfurt am Main (EU). Our server logs neither IP addresses nor the content of individual requests, and IP addresses are not stored in our database. To protect against overload, your IP address is processed only briefly in memory to limit the number of requests. Our server’s logs contain technical events, error messages and, where applicable, our internal identifier for your account; they are transmitted to logging and monitoring providers.

Purpose: providing content and features, operational security and error analysis.

Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR; for logging and overload protection, Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR (our legitimate interest in stable and secure operation).

Retention: The data used for overload protection is discarded after 15 minutes at the latest. Log entries are kept as long as they are needed for error analysis and operational security and are deleted automatically when the retention period configured at the respective provider expires.

5. Podcast search

When you search for podcasts in the app, the app sends your search term together with your device’s country or region setting directly from your device to Apple’s podcast search (iTunes Search API). Apple receives the search term and your IP address and processes this data under its own responsibility in accordance with its Privacy Policy. Our server does not receive your search term in this process.

Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR (providing the search feature you use).

6. Images from third-party servers

The app loads podcast cover images directly from the servers of the respective podcast publishers or their hosting services, and article icons (favicons) directly from the respective website. For technical reasons these providers receive your IP address and ordinary request data (such as the time and device type). We have no influence over their processing. The images are cached on your device (up to about 150 MB) so that they do not have to be reloaded every time.

Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR (our legitimate interest in displaying content to you completely and recognisably).

Retention: The image cache on your device is trimmed automatically once it is full and is deleted together with the app.

7. Importing articles

When you open an article in the app, a browser built into the app loads the page directly from the respective website. The website’s own privacy terms apply to this request. The browser uses its own temporary cookie storage, which is not shared with Safari and is discarded after closing. The app extracts the article text on your device.

When you use an article in the assistant or to generate flashcards, its address (URL), title and extracted text are transmitted to our server (see section 9).

Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR.

8. Account and Sign in with Apple

You need an account for features that consume credits. Sign-in is exclusively via Sign in with Apple. The app receives from Apple an Apple user identifier that uniquely designates your account, and your email address. If you choose “Hide My Email” when you sign in, we receive a forwarding address from Apple instead; Apple forwards emails sent to this address to your own address. The app does not ask Apple for your name.

The app sends the identity token issued by Apple to our server. There we store your Apple user identifier, your email address, an account ID that the app shows in your profile, your notification settings and the features enabled for your account. If Apple transmits a different email address at a later sign-in, we replace the stored one. We do not store your name.

We use your email address exclusively for contract notices, that is, notices about a change to our services, a termination by us, the discontinuation of the app or the transfer of the contract (sections 14, 15 and 17 of the terms of service). We do not use it for advertising. To send them, we use an email delivery service as a processor. The app shows the address that contract notices go to in your profile.

After you sign in, the app stores your sign-in tokens in the iOS Keychain, on this device only and without syncing via iCloud. Our server stores a token for renewing your sign-in, which expires after 90 days at most.

If you have accepted our terms of service, the app sends a record of your acceptance to our server when you sign in and whenever you later accept a new version. It contains the version of the terms of service you accepted, the version of this privacy policy that was shown to you at the time, the time of acceptance according to your device’s clock, the time it reached our server, and the app version. We store these records with your account. A later acceptance is added and does not overwrite earlier records.

Purpose: setting up and maintaining your account, attributing credits and account-bound features; for the email address, sending contract notices; for the acceptance record, proving that our terms of service became part of our contract with you.

Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR; for the acceptance record, Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR (our legitimate interest in being able to prove the conclusion of the contract and its terms).

Retention: account data including your email address and acceptance records until you delete your account; sign-in renewal tokens until they expire, until you sign out or until you delete your account.

9. Assistant and flashcard generation

The assistant lets you ask questions about podcasts, episodes and articles and have flashcards generated. For this, the app transmits to our server:

  • the messages you type,
  • the context you choose, i.e. podcast, episode or article – for articles the URL, title and full extracted text,
  • your requests for flashcards and your decision to accept or reject suggested cards.

Our server keeps the content of a conversation in a short-lived cache. It is deleted automatically 3 hours after the last activity; if we send you a push notification about an answer, this period is extended to at least 24 hours. Your conversation history is also stored locally on your device (see section 14).

To generate answers and flashcards, our server passes the content to our flashcard generation service without your name, your email address or your account identifier, only with a pseudonymous identifier derived from the conversation, which cannot be traced back to your account. From there, Opper Technology AB (Sweden) forwards it to providers of AI models, acting as our processor. We only use models that run in data centres in the EU and do not use your inputs to train AI models. The providers the assistant uses as standard do not store your inputs. If the standard model fails to return a usable answer, a fallback model from Google (Vertex AI, data centre in the EU) answers the request instead. In doing so, Google automatically screens inputs for abuse and may keep suspicious content for a limited period and have it reviewed by its staff. For each request, Opper stores only metadata such as time, model, volume and cost, never the content itself.

To find relevant passages in transcripts, the assistant derives a short search query from your message, which may contain parts of it. This query is used to search for matching transcript passages and to rank them by relevance. Here, too, we use models in the EU via Opper that neither store the search query nor use it for training. They do not receive your name, your email address or your account identifier.

Card proposals from bookmarks: If you ask for card proposals for a bookmark in an episode for which neither we nor the podcast provide a transcript, the app uploads the transcript of this episode made on your device to our server; we store it once per episode with your account, use it only for your own card proposals, never show it to anyone else, and delete it when the podcast leaves your library, when you remove the last bookmark of the episode with proposals, or when you delete your account.

For billing, we store for each assistant answer, linked to your account, the extent of processing, the model used and the cost incurred – no content.

Purpose: answering your requests and generating flashcards, billing in credits.

Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR.

Retention: content in the cache as described above; billing data until you delete your account. For transfers to third countries see section 20.

10. Credits and purchases

For your account we store your credit balance, the individual credit buckets with their validity, and a running transaction history that refers to the respective transactions (such as an assistant answer or unlocking an episode).

Paid purchases are not currently offered. Insofar as they are offered in future, they run through the App Store; Apple is then the seller and handles the payment. We receive only the purchase confirmation we need to credit your account, and no payment data.

Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR.

Retention: until you delete your account, unless statutory retention obligations for purchases require longer storage.

11. Podcasts, follows and imports

  • Library: If you are signed in, we store which podcasts you have subscribed to, how many episodes should be imported automatically, whether you have muted a podcast and which episodes you have unlocked.
  • Curated podcasts: The app transmits which curated podcasts you follow only while the “cards ready” notification is switched on. If you switch it off, this list is deleted from our server and remains only on your device.
  • Your own feeds: If you add the address of an RSS feed, our server fetches that feed. A public podcast imported this way becomes part of our catalogue, together with its episodes, transcripts and flashcards, without any reference to you, and may also be shown to other users.

Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR.

Retention: until you remove the entry or delete your account; catalogue entries without personal reference permanently.

12. Push notifications

After you sign in, the app asks whether it may send you notifications. If you allow this, the app registers a device token of the Apple Push Notification service (APNs) with our server, together with the platform, app identifier and environment. Apple handles delivery.

In the app you can switch three kinds of notification on and off individually: cards are ready, an episode is waiting for credits, and the assistant has replied. We store these settings with your account. Notifications contain no content of your messages, at most the title of a podcast or episode.

Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR (the notification feature you requested); whether notifications are shown at all is up to you through the iOS notification permission, which you can withdraw at any time in the iOS settings.

Retention: The device token is deleted when you sign out, when you delete your account, or when Apple reports it as invalid.

13. iCloud sync

Syncing via iCloud is not active in the current version of the app. Insofar as it is offered and you enable it, the following applies: your data in the app – subscriptions, collections, card states, tags, study units, articles including their text, conversations with the assistant, learning and review history, and study sessions – is stored in your private iCloud database via Apple CloudKit and kept in step across your devices. To trigger a sync, the app uses silent push notifications from Apple.

We have no access to your private iCloud database. Apple processes this data under the iCloud terms you have agreed to with Apple.

Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR (a feature you enabled).

Retention: You can switch syncing off at any time. You can delete the data stored in iCloud in the iOS settings under your Apple Account → iCloud.

14. Storage on your device

For the app to work, it stores on your device:

  • a database in the app’s shared storage area containing your library, your flashcards, your learning history, your conversations with the assistant, articles, tags and, if you are signed in, your profile with account ID and credit balance,
  • settings, such as the appearance, your choices on usage analytics and crash reports, your acceptance of the terms of service with version and time, and an optional first name for the greeting, which stays on the device,
  • your sign-in tokens in the iOS Keychain,
  • the device token for push notifications,
  • the image cache.

Legal basis: Section 25(2) no. 2 TDDDG (strictly necessary for the features you use) and Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR.

Retention: until you delete the data in the app or uninstall the app. This also applies after you sign out or delete your account: your local library stays on the device until you uninstall the app.

15. Usage analytics and crash reports (PostHog)

The app has two separate switches: Usage Analytics and Crash Reporting. Both are off by default. You see them when you first start the app and can change them at any time under Settings → Privacy & Analytics. Without your consent, the analytics service is not started and no data is sent to it.

The provider is PostHog Inc.; the data is processed in PostHog’s EU cloud with hosting in the EU.

  • Usage analytics: a fixed list of usage events, such as screens viewed, use of features like reviews and study sessions, following and unfollowing podcasts, sending a message (not its content), the number of search results (not the search term), sync and connection errors with path and status code, and opening and closing the app.
  • Crash reports: data on crashes and errors, including stack traces.
  • In both cases: app version, device model, operating system version, screen size, language and region, time zone and type of network connection.

The data is attributed via a random device identifier that is not linked to your account, your email address or your name. The data is therefore pseudonymous. There is no recording of your screen sessions, no advertising ID and no tracking across apps.

Whenever you make or change your choice and at least one of the two switches is on afterwards, the app sends a separate event under the same random device identifier containing your current choice for both switches and the version of the consent text. It serves as proof of your consent (Art. 7(1) GDPR) and is therefore also sent if only crash reports are switched on. The legal basis for this is Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR (our legitimate interest in being able to prove your consent). If both switches are off, this event is not sent either.

Legal basis: your consent under Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR and Section 25(1) TDDDG.

Withdrawal: You can withdraw your consent at any time by switching off the respective switch in the settings. From then on, no further data is collected; data already collected but not yet transmitted may still be sent. The lawfulness of the processing carried out up to that point remains unaffected.

Retention: until the retention period configured for our project at PostHog expires, after which the data is deleted automatically.

16. Feedback

You can send us feedback by shaking your device (this can be switched off in the settings) or by opening the feedback form in the settings. The following is transmitted:

  • your message,
  • optionally your email address, if you would like a reply,
  • optionally a screenshot – when you shake the device it is captured automatically, and you can edit or remove it before sending – or a photo you choose through the iOS photo picker (the app does not need access to your photo library for this),
  • if you are signed in, an identifier of your account,
  • the technical identifier of the app’s request (user agent) with the app and system version.

The feedback goes to our server and is created there as an issue in Linear, the issue tracking system of Linear Orbit, Inc. (USA), in which we handle it. For feedback sent without signing in, your IP address is used as a counter key for 48 hours to limit abuse.

Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR (our legitimate interest in support and in improving the app); where your feedback concerns a problem with your account, Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR.

Retention: as long as necessary to handle your request. We delete your feedback on request.

17. Abuse prevention for the welcome credit

New accounts receive a one-time welcome credit. So that it cannot be claimed repeatedly by creating and deleting an account, we store a salted, non-reversible hash of your Apple user identifier on first sign-in and again before an account is deleted, kept separately from your account. It only makes it possible to recognise whether the same Apple account signs in again; no other information can be derived from it.

Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR (our legitimate interest in preventing abuse).

Retention: as long as we grant a welcome credit.

18. Account deletion

You can delete your account in the app at any time. This immediately and irreversibly deletes your account and all data linked to it on our server: profile, email address, sign-in and device tokens, records of your acceptance of the terms of service, credits and transaction history, billing data, subscriptions, followed podcasts, unlocked episodes and the cache of your conversations.

This does not cover:

  • the hash for abuse prevention (section 17),
  • log entries, until they expire at the logging service (section 4),
  • feedback you have already sent; we delete it on request (section 16),
  • catalogue entries without personal reference (section 11),
  • the data on your device, which remains until you uninstall the app (section 14),
  • data in your iCloud, if you used syncing; you delete it in the iOS settings (section 13).

19. Recipients

Personal data is received, in each case only to the extent described above, by:

  • Apple (Apple Inc. or Apple Distribution International Ltd.) – App Store, Sign in with Apple including the forwarding of emails to a hidden address, push notifications, podcast search and, if enabled, iCloud sync,
  • Opper Technology AB (Sweden) and the AI model providers with data centres in the EU that we use through it, plus Google (Vertex AI) for fallback answers – assistant content without name, email address or account identifier,
  • PostHog Inc. (hosting in the EU) – usage analytics and crash reports, only with your consent,
  • Linear Orbit, Inc. (USA) – feedback,
  • an email delivery service as a processor – your email address and the content of contract notices, only for sending them,
  • hosting providers for our server (data centre in Frankfurt am Main) and logging and monitoring providers,
  • the publishers of podcasts and websites whose images and pages the app loads directly (sections 6 and 7), under their own responsibility.

The service providers named here process data on our behalf (Art. 28 GDPR), the AI model providers used through Opper, including Google, as Opper’s sub-processors. This does not apply to Apple or the publishers of podcasts and websites.

We do not sell personal data and do not pass it on for advertising purposes.

20. Transfers to third countries

Some recipients are based in the USA or may process data there, in particular Linear and Apple. Google processes the assistant’s fallback answers in the EU but belongs to a group headquartered in the USA. Such transfers take place on the basis of the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework (adequacy decision under Art. 45 GDPR), where the recipient is certified under it, or of the European Commission’s standard contractual clauses (Art. 46(2)(c) GDPR). You can request a copy of the respective safeguards from us.

21. Permissions

The app only asks for permission to send push notifications and to use the microphone.

The app uses the microphone only when you speak a note on a bookmark: the recording serves only this note, is converted to text on your iPhone, is not stored and does not leave your device.

The app does not use your location, camera or contacts, and it does not access your photo library. It does not ask for permission to track you across apps, because it does not do such tracking.

22. Minimum age

Under our terms of service, the app is intended for people aged 16 and over; at 16 or 17, the consent of a parent or guardian is required.

23. No automated decision-making

No automated decision-making, including profiling, within the meaning of Art. 22 GDPR takes place. Content generated by the assistant is not used to make decisions about you.

24. Your rights

Under the GDPR you have the following rights against us:

  • access to your data (Art. 15),
  • rectification of inaccurate data (Art. 16),
  • erasure (Art. 17),
  • restriction of processing (Art. 18),
  • data portability (Art. 20),
  • withdrawal of consent you have given, with effect for the future (Art. 7(3)).

Right to object (Art. 21 GDPR): Where we process data on the basis of Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR, you may object at any time on grounds relating to your particular situation. We will then no longer process the data unless we can demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds that override your interests, or the processing serves the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims.

An email to [email protected] is enough to exercise your rights.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with a data protection supervisory authority. The authority competent for us is the Bavarian Data Protection Authority (Bayerisches Landesamt für Datenschutzaufsicht, BayLDA), Promenade 18, 91522 Ansbach, Germany, www.lda.bayern.de. You may also contact the supervisory authority where you live.

25. Data security

The app communicates exclusively over encrypted connections (HTTPS/TLS). Sign-in tokens are kept in the iOS Keychain, our server is located in the EU, and access to our systems is restricted to the people who need it for operation.

26. Changes to this privacy policy

We update this privacy policy when the processing changes, for example before paid purchases or iCloud sync become available. The current version is always available in the app under Settings → Legal.