Privacy Policy

Last updated: April 26, 2026

The Harold ("Harold," "we," "us," or "our") is an audio news briefing delivered via SMS. We take your privacy seriously. This policy explains what information we collect, why, and how we protect it.

1. Information We Collect

When you subscribe:

Phone number (required for SMS delivery)
Name (optional, used for personalized greeting in Premium)
ZIP code (used for local news and weather)
Content preferences (segments, teams, topics)

When you pay:

Payment is processed by Stripe. We never see or store your card number.
Stripe may collect billing address and payment method details per their own privacy policy.

When you contact us:

Name, email address, and message content from the contact form

Automatically:

Basic server logs (IP address, timestamp, request path) for security and debugging. Logs are retained for 30 days and then deleted.

2. How We Use Your Information

To deliver your daily audio briefing via SMS (Twilio)
To personalize your briefing based on your preferences (Premium only)
To process your subscription payment (Stripe)
To respond to support requests submitted via the contact form
To improve service quality and debug issues

3. SMS Delivery

We use Twilio to deliver SMS messages to your phone. By subscribing, you consent to receive automated SMS messages from The Harold, including your daily briefing link and subscription-related messages (trial reminders, renewal notices). Message frequency: 1–2 messages per day. Standard message and data rates may apply. Text STOP at any time to cancel.

4. Data Sharing

We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information to third parties. We share limited data only with:

Twilio — your phone number, to deliver SMS messages
Stripe — your subscription and payment information, to process billing
Google (Gemini TTS via Vertex AI) — no personal data; only anonymous news scripts are sent for audio generation. Generated audio is automatically watermarked with Google's SynthID to identify it as AI-generated.
xAI / OpenAI — no personal data; only anonymous news scripts are processed

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

5. Advertising

There are no ads in The Harold. Ever. Your data is never used for behavioral advertising or sold to advertising networks.

6. Data Retention

We retain your subscriber data as long as your account is active. After cancellation, we retain your data for up to 90 days for customer service purposes, then delete it. You may request immediate deletion by texting STOP or contacting us.

7. Your Rights

You may request access to, correction of, or deletion of your personal data at any time by using the contact form on our website. We will respond within 30 days.

8. Security

We use industry-standard security practices including encrypted database connections, HTTPS-only serving, and parameterized queries. Payment data is handled entirely by Stripe and never touches our servers.

9. Children's Privacy

The Harold is not intended for children under 13. We do not knowingly collect information from children under 13.

10. Changes to This Policy

We may update this policy from time to time. We'll post the updated version at this URL. Continued use of the service after changes constitutes acceptance.

11. Contact

Questions about this policy? Use the contact form on our homepage.