Lantern

Privacy Policy

Last updated 11 November 2026. This is the same policy as in the app (Settings, Privacy Policy).

In short

Lantern has no accounts, no analytics and no tracking. Your feeds, stories, reading history and settings stay on your phone. The free version shows ads from Google, which receives some device information to show them. Lantern+ has no ads.

What stays on your phone

The feeds you add, their stories and articles, what you read, save, dismiss and rate, how Lantern ranks your stories, and your settings. None of it is sent to us; we have no server.

Your location

For dark mode by sunset (part of Lantern+), Lantern asks for your approximate location, when you turn Lantern+ or dark mode by sunset on, and works out sunrise and sunset on your phone. The location is never sent anywhere. Without it, dark mode runs from 7 pm to 7 am.

The sites you follow

To fetch your feeds and their articles, Lantern connects to those sites directly, like a web browser does. They can see your IP address and that Lantern asked for the page, as with any visit. Each site's own privacy policy applies.

Ads (free version only)

The free version shows a few ads from Google AdMob, marked "Sponsored". They are not personalised and Lantern does not ask to track you. To show them, measure them and prevent fraud, Google receives information such as your device type and settings, device identifiers that aren't used for tracking, your IP address (which suggests a rough location), how you interact with the ads, and diagnostic and performance data from its ad code. In the European Economic Area, the UK and Switzerland, Google asks for your consent first; you can change it in Settings, Privacy choices for ads. How Google uses information from apps that use its services.

Purchases

Lantern+ is bought and managed through Apple. We never see your payment details. Apple tells Lantern only whether this Apple Account has Lantern+.

Children

Lantern is not directed at children under 13.

Changes

If this policy changes, the new version appears here and in the app with a new date.

Contact

Questions about privacy: