The Signal turns the tech topics you pick into short, AI-generated briefings, and can email you a daily digest. This policy explains what we collect to do that, who helps us process it, and how long we keep it. We don't sell your data, and we don't use it for advertising.
What we collect
- Account details. Sign-in is handled by Clerk. We receive your account ID and email address; Clerk stores your login credentials and session, not us.
- Briefings you generate. The topics you chose, the generated stories (headline, summary, source and source link), the AI model used, and when it was generated — linked to your account ID.
- Usage counters. How many briefings your account generated each day (to enforce the daily limit), plus short-lived request counters keyed by IP address to prevent abuse.
- Daily email settings (only if you subscribe). Your email address, timezone, preferred delivery hour, chosen topics, and delivery status for each email we send.
- Analytics. Vercel Analytics records aggregated page views and basic device information. It does not use cookies to track you across sites.
How we use it
- To sign you in and keep your account secure.
- To generate briefings, show your recent history, and enforce the free daily quota.
- To send the daily digest you scheduled, at the hour and timezone you chose.
- To understand overall usage and keep the service reliable.
Who processes your data
We rely on a small number of service providers, each handling only what it needs:
- Clerk — authentication and account management.
- Convex — our database and backend, where briefings, usage counters and daily email settings are stored.
- Resend — delivers the daily emails; receives your email address and the email content.
- Vercel — hosts the app and provides privacy-friendly analytics.
- Firecrawl and OpenRouter — search the public web and run the AI models that write your briefing. They receive the topics you selected and public article text. We do not send them your name, email address or account ID.
How long we keep it
- Generated briefings are deleted automatically 30 days after they are created.
- Daily usage counters and abuse-prevention counters are short-lived and cleaned up automatically.
- Daily email settings are kept until you unsubscribe or delete your account.
- Account data is kept until you delete your account.
Shared links
Every briefing has a share link. Anyone with that link can view the briefing (its topics and stories — not your name or email) until it expires 30 days after it was generated. Shared pages are excluded from search engines.
Your choices
- Unsubscribe any time using the link at the bottom of every daily email, or from the Daily email page in the app.
- Delete your account: open Settings, go to the Security section of your account profile and choose Delete account. Deleting your account permanently purges your briefings, usage history, daily email subscription and email delivery records.
- Depending on where you live, you may have rights to access, correct, export or delete your data. Contact us and we'll help.
Stored on your device
Some things are kept only in your browser's local storage, not on our servers: your default topics, your autoplay setting, which briefings you've already opened, and the stories you save. You can clear saved stories and reading history in Settings under “Data on this device”, or by clearing your browser's site data.
Cookies
We only use cookies needed to keep you signed in (set by Clerk). We don't use advertising or cross-site tracking cookies.
Children
The Signal is not directed to children under 16, and we don't knowingly collect their data.
Changes
If we change this policy in a meaningful way, we'll update the date above and, where appropriate, let you know by email.
Contact
Questions about privacy? Reply to any daily email, or write to the address listed in the footer of our emails. See also our Terms of Service.