1. Introduction & Overview

Welcome to Pravah Times (प्रवाह टाइम्स) (“we,” “our,” or “us”). Pravah Times is a dedicated Hindi news and magazine application designed to deliver regional, national, agricultural, sports, and cultural journalism directly to your device via an optimized WordPress REST API backend. We place the highest value on your privacy. This Privacy Policy details how the Pravah Times mobile application handles information. Our architecture is built upon the fundamental principle of data minimization: we do not track you, we do not require account registration, we do not show third-party behavioral advertisements, and we do not collect or sell your personal information. This policy complies with the Google Play Developer Program Policies (User Data Policy), the Information Technology Act, 2000, the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) where applicable.

2. No User Accounts & No Personally Identifiable Information (PII) Collection

The Pravah Times application is accessible to everyone without barriers:

• No Account Required: You are not required to create an account, register, sign in, or link any social media profile to read articles, listen to news, or save bookmarks.
• Zero PII Collection: We do not ask for, capture, process, store, or sell any Personally Identifiable Information (PII), including your name, email address, physical address, mobile phone number, gender, date of birth, or payment card/financial information.
• Zero Location Tracking: The application does not collect, monitor, or track your precise or approximate GPS location.

3. Device Permissions & Transparency

In accordance with Google Play’s permission declaration standards, Pravah Times strictly requests only the minimal technical network permissions necessary to function:

Permissions We Never Request: Pravah Times does NOT request runtime or sensitive permissions. We never request access to your Camera, Microphone (Audio Recording), Contacts, Call Logs, Phone State, SMS, Media/Photos Storage, or Precise/Coarse Geolocation.

4. Local On-Device Data Storage (Sandboxed)

To ensure high performance and offline accessibility in areas with low network connectivity, Pravah Times stores limited technical data exclusively within the application’s local, private sandbox storage using Android Room (SQLite) and SharedPreferences:

• Offline Reading Cache: Recently loaded headlines, excerpts, and article texts are cached locally so you can continue reading when disconnected from the internet.
• Bookmarks & Favorites: Articles marked by you for later reading are indexed purely inside your device’s local database.
• Display Preferences: Your selected typography preferences (such as text size scaling) are retained in local preferences.

Crucial Notice: This local information never leaves your device. It is never synced, backed up to our servers, aggregated, or shared with any third party. You can clear this data at any moment via your phone’s native settings (Settings > Apps > Pravah Times > Storage & Cache > Clear Storage), or by uninstalling the app.

5. Third-Party Integrations & Advertising Policy

Current Status (Ad-Free): The current version of the Pravah Times mobile application does not serve third-party programmatic advertisements, does not include third-party advertising SDKs, and does not collect or track your Google Advertising ID (AAID). Future Advertising Notice: To support independent journalism and operations, future updates of the application may incorporate certified advertising networks (such as Google AdMob) or direct sponsor notices. When implemented, any such network will operate in compliance with Google Play Developer Policies, and users will maintain full control to reset or delete their advertising identifier via Android device settings. External Integrations:

• WordPress REST API: The app queries published editorial feeds over secure HTTPS. No personal user credentials or device identifiers are transmitted to this service.
• Local Text-to-Speech (TTS): Audio narration functions locally on your device using Android’s native speech engine without capturing voice data.
• Native Share Functionality: Sharing news stories invokes Android’s standard share sheet. News links are transmitted only upon your explicit action.

6. Data Security & Encryption

We are dedicated to safeguarding information integrity:

• Encryption in Transit: All communications between the Pravah Times mobile app and our WordPress news backend use modern Transport Layer Security (TLS/HTTPS) protocols to prevent eavesdropping, tampering, or man-in-the-middle (MITM) attacks.
• App Sandbox Isolation: Android’s application sandboxing architecture ensures that no other application installed on your device can access Pravah Times’ offline database or cached settings.

7. Children’s Privacy (COPPA Compliance)

Pravah Times is intended for a general audience (individuals aged 13 and older) seeking news and regional current affairs. The application is not directed toward children under 13 years of age. In compliance with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and the Google Play Families Policy, we do not knowingly solicit or collect any personal information from children under the age of 13. Because our platform operates without accounts or personal information collection, no child-specific data is gathered or stored. If you are a parent or guardian and believe your child has contacted us with personal details, please reach out to our grievance email, and we will promptly delete any correspondence.

8. User Rights & Data Deletion

Because we do not collect personal profiles, store identities on remote databases, or maintain user accounts, there is no remote personal profile data to retrieve, export, or delete on our servers. Self-Service Local Data Deletion: You have full control over the data stored on your phone:

• To remove all cached articles, bookmarks, and reader preferences, navigate on your Android device to: Settings > Apps > Pravah Times > Storage & Cache > Clear Storage / Clear Data.
• Uninstalling the application immediately and permanently removes all sandboxed files from your device.

9. Grievance Officer & Contact Information

In accordance with Rule 11 of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, any questions, feedback, or grievances regarding this Privacy Policy or content may be addressed to our designated Grievance Officer:

We acknowledge grievances within 24 to 48 hours and strive to resolve all inquiries within 15 business days as stipulated by applicable statutory guidelines.

10. हिंदी सारांश (Hindi Summary & Key Highlights)

प्रवाह टाइम्स (Pravah Times) ऐप का उपयोग करते समय आपकी गोपनीयता पूरी तरह से सुरक्षित है। इस नीति के मुख्य बिंदु इस प्रकार हैं:

• कोई खाता या पंजीकरण नहीं: ऐप का उपयोग करने के लिए आपको किसी भी प्रकार के अकाउंट, नाम, ईमेल, फोन नंबर या पासवर्ड की आवश्यकता नहीं है।
• कोई संवेदनशील अनुमति नहीं (Zero Dangerous Permissions): ऐप आपके मोबाइल से लोकेशन (GPS), कैमरा, माइक्रोफोन, कॉन्टैक्ट्स या फाइल्स की कोई भी अनुमति नहीं मांगता।
• लोकल स्टोरेज (Offline Data): आपके पसंदीदा लेख (Bookmarks) और ऑफलाइन खबरें केवल आपके मोबाइल की आंतरिक मेमोरी (Room Database) में सुरक्षित रहती हैं। यह डेटा हमारे सर्वर पर कभी नहीं भेजा जाता।
• विज्ञापन नीति (Current & Future Ads): ऐप के वर्तमान संस्करण में कोई तीसरे पक्ष के विज्ञापन नहीं हैं और न ही कोई विज्ञापन SDK या Google Advertising ID ट्रैक की जाती है। भविष्य में निष्पक्ष पत्रकारिता के संचालन हेतु प्रमाणित विज्ञापन नेटवर्क (जैसे Google AdMob) जोड़े जा सकते हैं, जिसकी सूचना ऐप अपडेट के साथ उपलब्ध कराई जाएगी।
• टेक्स्ट-टू-स्पीच (TTS): ऐप में समाचार सुनने की सुविधा आपके फोन के इन-बिल्ट एंड्रॉयड इंजन का उपयोग करती है, जो आपकी कोई आवाज़ रिकॉर्ड नहीं करती।
• डेटा हटाना: आप अपने फोन की सेटिंग्स में जाकर (Settings > Apps > Pravah Times > Storage > Clear Storage) या ऐप को अनइंस्टॉल करके सारा स्थानीय डेटा कभी भी मिटा सकते हैं।
• संपर्क: किसी भी सुझाव या शिकायत के लिए आप हमें contact@pravahtimes.com पर ईमेल कर सकते हैं।