Phil Headlines

Phil Headlines is a news headline reader for iPhone and iPad, made by PATCELL SOFTWARE COMPANY LIMITED (“Patcell”). It shows the headlines, a short excerpt and the photo that Philippine publishers publish in their public RSS feeds, and opens the publisher's own web page for the full story. Stories belong to their publishers; Patcell does not write or edit news, and Phil Headlines is not affiliated with the publishers it links to. This policy describes what the app does with information. It applies to Phil Headlines only; other Patcell apps have their own policies.

Summary

Phil Headlines has no account and no sign-in, and it never asks for your age. Patcell does not run a server for the app and does not use analytics or tracking of its own; Patcell does not sell personal information. Your reading settings, your own RSS feeds and your saved stories stay on your device. The app shows non-personalized Google AdMob ads inside the news list, as described below. An optional one-time purchase, Remove Ads, removes those ads.

News feeds and publishers' websites

The app downloads news feeds directly from each publisher's website; there is no Patcell server in between. When it does, the publisher (and its hosting or content-delivery provider) receives the normal request information, such as your IP address and the device and app type in the user agent, and handles it under its own policies.

When you open a story, the publisher's web page is shown inside the app with Apple's Safari View. It works like any website in Safari: the publisher's cookies, ads and privacy policy apply. Reader view is an optional setting.

RSS feeds you add

In Sources → Add RSS feed you can paste the link of any RSS feed. The app checks the link by downloading the feed directly from that address, names it after the feed's own title and then reads it like the other sources. The links you add are stored only on your device; they are not sent to Patcell. The website behind a feed you add receives the normal request information described above and its own policies apply; Patcell does not review or control feeds you add. You can delete a feed with a swipe in the Sources tab.

Home Screen widget

If you add the Phil Headlines widget to your Home Screen, the widget downloads the same public news feeds directly from the publishers (about every 30 minutes), in the same way as the app; there is no Patcell server in between and the widget shows no ads. It keeps its last list of headlines on your device so it still shows something without a connection. Tapping a story opens it in the app.

Data on your device

To work, the app saves on your device: the sources you chose, the RSS feeds you added, your saved stories (headline, excerpt, link and photo address), the Reader view setting, the links of stories you have opened (so they are shown dimmed), the time of the last update, the widget's last list of headlines, a cache of recent headlines and photos, whether Remove Ads is unlocked, and the Patcell promotion list with its pictures and simple counters (how often a game was shown, games you said you have). This information stays on your device; Patcell cannot access it.

Uninstalling the app removes it. Your device's own backup service may keep or restore app data according to your Apple backup settings.

Advertising

The app uses the Google Mobile Ads SDK (AdMob). Native ads appear inside the news list, one after every 8 stories, and are clearly labelled “Ad”. Ads are never full-screen and never shown when the app launches.

Every ad request asks for non-personalized ads and is limited to a General (G) content rating. The app does not ask for Apple's tracking permission and does not use the IDFA. Google's SDK may still process network information such as IP address (and approximate location derived from it), app and device information, ad views and interactions, and diagnostic data to deliver and measure ads and prevent fraud. The app uses Google's User Messaging Platform (UMP) only to check whether your region requires ad consent. In the EEA, the UK and Switzerland the app shows no Google ads and no consent message (at most a promotion for one of Patcell's own apps, described below, which sends no data); elsewhere it shows the non-personalized ads described here. The app does not track you. If you tap an ad, the advertiser's service and policy apply. See how Google uses information from apps that use its services.

Promotions for other Patcell games and apps

Some of the ad places in the news list may show a game or app made by Patcell instead of a Google ad (labelled “Ad · From Patcell”, never more than once a day), and Settings has a “More from Patcell” list. Only Patcell games and apps suitable for the app's age rating are shown. On iPhone and iPad the app does not check which apps are installed; you can tap “I already have this game” to stop seeing one. Tapping the store button opens that app's page in the App Store inside Phil Headlines, with a campaign tag that names the promotion and contains no personal data. Remove Ads turns these promotions in the news list off too; the More from Patcell list stays available.

Updated promotion list. The list of Patcell games and apps that can be promoted, with their pictures and short texts, may be refreshed from patcell.com (about once a day, without a new app version). This is a plain download of a public file signed by Patcell: no account, identifier or personal data is sent. Like any web request, the website host (Cloudflare) receives the device's IP address to deliver the file; Patcell does not use it to identify anyone. The app also checks, on the device only, which of these games and apps are sold in your country (the App Store country, or your time zone and language settings) so it does not show one you cannot download; this is not sent anywhere. Without a connection the app keeps using the list it already has.

In-app purchase: Remove Ads

Phil Headlines offers one optional, one-time purchase, Remove Ads (USD 0.99 price tier; the local price is shown by the App Store). Remove Ads removes the ads in the news list. The payment is processed by Apple through the App Store; Patcell never receives your payment details. The purchase is verified on your device with Apple's StoreKit; no account and no other purchase service is used. You can restore the purchase in Settings → Restore purchase, using the same Apple ID.

Permissions and children

The app does not request access to your contacts, photos, camera, microphone or location, and it does not ask for a name or age. Phil Headlines is rated 12+ on the App Store because news stories may cover serious topics; the app is not directed at children.

Future versions

If a future version changes how data is handled (for example a new purchase or online feature), we will update this page, the date above and the App Store privacy disclosure before that version is released.

Contact and your choices

Privacy questions: [email protected]. If you email us, we receive your email address and what you choose to send, and use it only to reply to you. Please do not send passwords or payment details. Depending on where you live, you may have additional rights, including contacting a data protection authority.

Third parties and this website

Google provides AdMob and UMP under Google's own terms and privacy policy. Apple provides the App Store, StoreKit and Safari View and processes payments under Apple's own terms and privacy policy. News publishers and the websites of feeds you add provide their feeds and websites under their own policies. When you visit this page, Cloudflare, Patcell's website delivery and security provider, processes request information such as IP address and browser information. See Cloudflare's privacy policy.