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Privacy Policy

Version 1.0-draft · Effective November 11, 2026 · Last updated November 11, 2026

This document is a draft that is pending owner and legal review. It describes how Research Radar currently works and may be updated before launch.

Effective date: November 11, 2026

This Privacy Policy explains what information the Research Radar iOS app and the website at https://researchradar.karakas.digital ("Research Radar", "we", "us") collect, why, and what choices you have. Research Radar is operated by the operator of Research Radar.

We wrote this policy to match how the app actually works. If something here is unclear, contact us using the details at the end.

The short version

  • You can browse and read research without an account.
  • If you create an account, we use Sign in with Apple. We never see your Apple ID password.
  • We do not sell your personal information, show ads, or track you across other companies' apps and websites.
  • We do not send your personal information to our AI provider. AI summaries are generated from published research metadata only.
  • You can delete your account in the app at any time.

Information we collect

When you use the app without an account

  • Your selected interests are stored on your device. When you request your personalized feed, the interest names are sent to our server with the request so it can choose relevant studies; they are not stored with any identifier.
  • Anonymous, aggregated usage counts (for example, "a paper was opened"). These are stored only as daily totals and contain no device identifier, account identifier, IP address or advertising ID.

When you create an account with Sign in with Apple

  • A unique, app-specific identifier provided by Apple.
  • Your email address, only if you choose to share it with us. If you use Apple's "Hide My Email", we receive a private relay address.
  • Your name, only if you choose to share it.
  • A refresh token issued by Apple, stored encrypted, which we use only to revoke your Sign in with Apple authorization when you delete your account.
  • A session token that keeps you signed in. On your device it is stored in the iOS Keychain; on our server only a hashed version is stored.

Content and preferences linked to your account

  • Interests and topics you follow.
  • Studies you save, and your reading history (which studies you opened and when).
  • The number of Deep Dive explanations you have unlocked in the current month (to apply plan limits).
  • Notification preferences and, if you allow notifications, your device's push notification token (stored encrypted).

Purchases

  • If you subscribe to Research Radar Pro, Apple processes the payment. We never receive your payment card details. We receive and verify signed transaction information from Apple (such as product, purchase and expiration dates, transaction identifiers and renewal status) to determine whether your subscription is active.

When you contact us

  • The name, email address and message you submit through our support or contact forms, and a one-way hashed version of your IP address used for spam prevention.

Technical information

  • Like most online services, our web server temporarily processes IP addresses and request information to deliver the service, prevent abuse and apply rate limits. Server logs are kept for a limited period, typically no longer than 90 days.

How we use information

  • To provide the app: personalized discovery, saved studies, reading history and notifications you asked for.
  • To verify subscriptions and apply Free and Pro plan limits.
  • To respond to support requests, correction requests and privacy inquiries.
  • To keep the service secure, prevent abuse and fix problems.
  • To understand, in aggregate, which features are used so we can improve the app.

We do not use your information for advertising, and we do not build advertising profiles.

AI-generated summaries

Research Radar uses Anthropic's Claude API to write plain-English explanations of research papers. The only information sent to Anthropic is published research metadata and abstracts (for example, a paper's title, abstract, venue and publication date). No account information, reading history or other personal information is sent to Anthropic. Summaries are generated once on our server and shared with all readers.

Service providers we rely on

  • Apple — Sign in with Apple, in-app purchases and subscriptions, and push notification delivery (if enabled).
  • Our hosting provider — stores and runs our servers and databases.
  • Anthropic — generates research summaries from public research metadata (no personal information).
  • OpenAlex — an open scholarly catalog we query for research metadata (no personal information is sent).

We may disclose information if required by law or to protect the rights, safety and security of our users and the service.

How long we keep information

  • Account data (profile, follows, saved studies, reading history, notification settings, device token): until you delete your account, then deleted.
  • Subscription records: when you delete your account, the link between the record and you is removed. De-identified transaction records may be kept as long as needed for accounting, tax, fraud-prevention and dispute purposes.
  • Support and contact messages: up to 24 months, unless a longer period is needed to resolve an issue.
  • Aggregated usage counts: kept indefinitely because they contain no personal information.

Deleting your account

You can delete your account in the app: Profile → Account → Delete Account. Deletion takes effect immediately: we delete your account and the data linked to it as described above and, when available, revoke your Sign in with Apple authorization. You can also request deletion at https://researchradar.karakas.digital/delete-account.

Deleting your account does not cancel an Apple subscription. Manage or cancel subscriptions in iOS Settings → [your name] → Subscriptions.

Your choices and rights

  • Use the app without an account.
  • Turn notifications on or off in the app or in iOS Settings.
  • Clear your reading history in the app.
  • Access, correct or delete your information, or ask a privacy question, by contacting us.

Depending on where you live (for example, California and other U.S. states), you may have rights to know, access, correct and delete personal information, and to opt out of the "sale" or "sharing" of personal information. We do not sell personal information or share it for cross-context behavioral advertising. We will not discriminate against you for exercising your rights.

Security

We use HTTPS for all connections, store sensitive tokens encrypted, keep session tokens in the iOS Keychain, restrict administrative access and limit the data we collect. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, but we work to protect your information.

Children

Research Radar is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has provided us information, contact us and we will delete it.

Changes

If we change this policy, we will update the effective date and, for material changes, notify you in the app. Previous versions are listed at https://researchradar.karakas.digital/legal.

Contact

Privacy questions and requests: https://researchradar.karakas.digital/contact (choose "Privacy") or email support@karakas.digital.