Distil
Distil privacy policy
Distil keeps the least it can: what you read, so it can choose what to show you next. This page says exactly what that is, where it lives and how to delete it, in plain English.
At a glance
- No questionnaire and no name needed. You can read as a guest.
- As a guest, Distil keeps a random identifier and your reading activity. Nothing else.
- An account is an email address and a scrambled password. Nothing else.
- No advertising, no third-party analytics, and no selling or sharing of your data.
- Pro payments go to Apple, Google or Stripe. Your card number never reaches us.
- Delete everything from Settings in one tap. It is gone at once.
Who this policy covers
This policy applies to Distil, the reading app for iPhone, Android and the web published by JCR IT Services Pty Ltd, trading as JCR Interactive, in Australia. Distil is a general audience app. It is not directed at children, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 13.
What Distil keeps
If you read as a guest: a random identifier, held in the app so your progress is still there tomorrow. No name, no email address, no phone number.
If you create an account: your email address and a scrambled version of your password that cannot be turned back into the password itself. Signing up keeps the history from your guest reading.
In both cases: which ideas you opened, skipped and saved, roughly how long you spent on each, your daily goal and your time zone. That is what the feed, the topics and your reading persona are built from. Your light or dark theme choice stays on the device.
If you subscribe to Pro on the web: the identifiers Stripe gives us for your customer record and subscription, your plan and its renewal date.
If you subscribe to Pro in the iPhone or Android app: Apple or Google sends us a signed record of the subscription, not your card or payment details. From it we keep which store it was bought through (Apple or Google), the product (monthly or yearly), the store's transaction or purchase id, the expiry date, its status (active, renewing, in grace period, expired, refunded or revoked) and whether it auto-renews. We keep this so Pro can be switched on and off correctly. Apple and Google tell our server automatically about renewals, cancellations and refunds.
We never see or hold your card details, wherever you subscribe.
What it is used for
To choose the next ideas to show you, to keep your daily goal and saved ideas in order, and to bring your reading with you when you sign in on another device. Nothing is used to profile you for advertising, because there is none.
Where it lives
Everything is stored on servers run by JCR in Sydney, Australia. Book covers are fetched by our server from public book catalogues and cached there, so your device only ever talks to us. Recently opened and saved ideas are also cached in the app on your device so they open again without a connection.
Paying for Pro
Reading is free. Pro is an optional subscription that removes the daily limit. In the iPhone app it is paid through Apple, in the Android app through Google Play, and on the web through Stripe. Each one handles the payment under its own privacy policy, and your card number goes to them, never to us. Pro bought in any one place works on the web, iPhone and Android when you are signed in to the same account. You can buy Pro in the apps as a guest; creating an account afterwards carries it over to your other devices. Pro runs to the end of the period you paid for after you cancel.
Sharing an idea
An idea leaves the app only when you choose to share it. The card is drawn as an image on your device and handed to the standard share sheet, and you choose where it goes. Distil itself sends nothing anywhere.
What we never do
No advertising, and no selling or sharing of your data with anyone.
No access to your contacts, photos, camera, microphone or location.
No tracking of what you do on other websites or apps, and no third-party analytics or tracking code.
No emails from us unless you ask for one, such as a receipt or a reply to a question.
Deleting your data
Open Settings and choose Delete my account and data (or Delete my data, as a guest). Your reading history, saved ideas, profile, email address and the record of any Pro subscription are removed immediately and permanently. You can do this whether you are a guest or signed in. If you would rather we did it, email us from the address on the account.
One thing is kept: if the account ever had a subscription, we keep a one-way hash of its email address. The hash cannot be turned back into the email address. It exists only so the web free trial cannot be claimed again by deleting and re-creating the account. Nothing else from the account is kept.
Deleting your account cancels a web (Stripe) subscription automatically, but it does not cancel a subscription bought through Apple or Google. Cancel those in the App Store or Google Play first.
Seeing and correcting your data
The You tab shows the profile Distil has built from your reading, and Saved shows every idea you have kept. Your email address and daily goal are in Settings. If you want a copy of everything we hold about you, or something is wrong, email us and we will sort it out.
Which law applies
JCR IT Services Pty Ltd is an Australian company. It handles personal information under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles.
Changes to this policy
If a future version of Distil changes how it handles data, we will update this page and the date at the top before that version is released.
Contact
Questions about privacy go to a person, not a form: [email protected].
JCR IT Services Pty Ltd, trading as JCR Interactive. ABN 95 163 939 839. Unit G24, 320B Annangrove Road, Rouse Hill NSW 2155, Australia.