The short version
- You never create an account, and we never ask for your name, email address, or phone number.
- We do not track you, build a profile of you, or follow you across other apps and websites.
- We do not sell, rent, or share personal data with anyone. There are no advertising or analytics SDKs in the apps.
- What you save, like, and read is stored on your own device, not on our servers in a way that points back to you.
Reading counts
We count how often articles are opened, finished, liked, and shared, so we can tell which stories are worth writing. Each of those counts is sent as a single message containing nothing but the kind of event and which article it was about, for example "someone finished this article".
There is no device identifier, no session identifier, no advertising identifier, and no account in that message, so the counts cannot be joined back together into one person's reading history, by us or by anyone who obtained the data. This is a deliberate design constraint, not a setting.
Notifications
Notifications are entirely optional, and nothing is pre-selected for you. If you turn them on, Apple gives the app a push token for your device, and we store that token together with the science topics you chose, so we can send you the right stories. That is the only purpose it is ever used for.
A push token identifies a device, not a person, and we do not attach your reading counts, saved articles, or anything else to it. Turning notifications off in the app, or in the system Settings, removes your device from the list. Tokens that Apple reports as no longer valid are deleted automatically.
What stays on your device
Saved articles, likes, your chosen topics, and whether you have completed onboarding are stored locally on your device and are not uploaded, with one exception: your chosen topics are sent with the push token if, and only if, you turn notifications on. Deleting the app removes all of it.
Tips
If you choose to leave a tip, the payment is handled entirely by Apple through the App Store. We never see your card details, your billing address, or your Apple Account. We receive only Apple's confirmation that a purchase succeeded.
Server logs
Like almost every website, our web server writes a standard access log that includes the IP address of each request. These logs exist to keep the site running and to defend against abuse. They are not used to build profiles, are never combined with the reading counts described above, and are automatically deleted after 14 days.
Children
PaperShort is a general-audience science publication. It is not directed at children, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone, at any age.
Other people's websites
Every article links to the original research paper on the publisher's or repository's own site, such as arXiv, PubMed Central, bioRxiv, medRxiv, or PLOS. Once you follow one of those links you are on a site we do not operate, and their privacy practices apply, not ours.
Your rights
We deliberately hold almost nothing that could be traced to you, so for most people there is nothing to request, correct, or delete. If you have turned notifications on, you can remove your device at any time by turning them off. If you would like to ask about any of this, or request deletion of a push token, write to info@papershort.com.
Changes
If this policy changes in a way that affects what we collect, we will update the date at the top of this page. The version you are reading is effective 30 July 2026.