Article PulsePrivacy Policy
Article Pulse helps you follow new research on PubMed. It is built so that your library stays on your device: there is no Article Pulse account, and we do not run a server that stores your searches, articles or notes.
What stays on your device
Your saved searches, the articles they find, your notes, tags, collections and settings are stored only in the app on your device. We cannot see them.
API keys you enter (NCBI and Zotero) are kept in your device's secure storage (iOS Keychain / Android Keystore). They are never included in backups, and are only sent to the service they belong to.
Notifications about new articles are created on your device. We do not use a push-notification server.
What the app sends, and to whom
To work, the app talks directly to these services. Each receives only what it needs, and your device's IP address is visible to it, as with any internet request.
| Service | What it receives | Why |
|---|---|---|
| PubMed (National Center for Biotechnology Information, US National Library of Medicine) | Your search terms, article IDs (PMIDs), the app's name and our contact email, and your NCBI API key if you added one | To run your searches and fetch article details and abstracts |
| Article Pulse library-access server (libkey-proxy.articlepulseapp.com, run on Cloudflare), which forwards to LibKey (Third Iron) | An article's DOI or PMID and the library you chose in Settings | To show whether your library gives you full-text access. The server only adds our LibKey access key and passes the request on; it does not store your requests. |
| Unpaywall (OurResearch) | An article's DOI and our contact email | To find free, legal versions of articles |
| Zotero (Corporation for Digital Scholarship) – only if you connect it | The articles you choose to add, with their tags and your note, using your Zotero API key | To add articles to your Zotero library |
| Apple App Store / Google Play – only if you subscribe | Your purchase, handled entirely by Apple or Google under your App Store or Google Play account | To take payment and manage your subscription. We never see your payment details. |
| RevenueCat (RevenueCat, Inc.) | A random app ID created on your device (not your name, email or Apple / Google account), your subscription status and purchase receipts, the app version, device model and operating system, and your store country | To check whether you have Pro, including after reinstalling or on a new device |
| Sentry (Functional Software, Inc.) – crash reporting, data stored in the EU | Details of an error or crash: what went wrong in the app's code, the app version, device model and operating-system version, and the app's last few steps before it (for example which kind of button was tapped – without any text from the screen) | To find and fix bugs |
Crash reports are designed to contain no personal information: no name, account or IP address is attached, and search terms, API keys, your library and the articles you look at (titles, DOIs, PubMed IDs) are removed on your device before a report is sent. Crash reports are kept for up to 30 days.
When you open an article, a full-text link or a DOI, it opens in your browser or another app, and that website's own privacy policy applies.
Backups
Backups are files you create and choose where to save (for example Files, iCloud Drive or Google Drive). They contain your searches, articles, notes, tags, collections and settings, but never your API keys. We never receive them.
This website
articlepulseapp.com uses no cookies, analytics or tracking, and loads nothing from other websites. It is hosted by Cloudflare, which, like any web host, briefly processes your IP address to deliver the pages and protect the site.
What we don't do
- No advertising, and no advertising or tracking identifiers
- No usage analytics: we don't track what you search for, read or tap
- We do not sell or share your information
- No account, so we hold no profile about you
Children
Article Pulse is intended for adults working with research literature. It is not directed at children.
Your choices and rights
Everything the app stores is on your device: you can delete any item in the app, or delete the app to remove it all. Crash reports cannot be linked to you, so we cannot identify which (if any) are from your device; they are deleted automatically after 30 days. Subscriptions are managed and cancelled in your App Store or Google Play account. For any privacy question or request, contact us.
Changes
If this policy changes, we will update it here and change the effective date.
Contact
Amit Pancholi, developer of Article Pulse
Email: contact@articlepulseapp.com