Frequently Asked Questions

Compass offers three tiers:

• Basic (Free): Access to core news features including AI Summaries
• Pro: Unlocks additional AI tools, all games, unlimited bookmarks and collections, magazine mode, source preferences, and more
• Premium: Everything in Pro, plus Deep Dive, Fact Check, Diverse Perspectives, Audio Summaries, Daily Briefing podcast, and priority support

Current prices for your region are shown on the subscription screen. Annual plans are available at a discount (~16% off). All subscriptions are managed through RevenueCat and can be purchased in-app.

Navigate to Profile > Account & Security. You'll see your current tier and available upgrade options. Tap on your desired tier and follow the in-app purchase flow. Changes take effect immediately after purchase confirmation.

Your data is preserved when downgrading, but access to higher-tier features becomes restricted:

• AI tools beyond your tier become unavailable
• Bookmarks and collections beyond Basic limits become read-only
• Premium-only features like Daily Briefing podcast and Audio Summaries become unavailable
• Your reading history and preferences remain intact

We may offer free trial periods — check the subscription screen for current promotions. Basic tier users can access AI Summaries for free to get a feel for the AI experience.

Basic tier users see ads to support the free experience. Upgrading to Pro or Premium removes all ads entirely.

You can manage your ad preferences on Basic in Profile > Account & Security > Manage Ad Preferences.

Compass offers eight AI-powered reading tools, unlocked progressively by tier:

Basic:

• Summary: Quick overview of the article's main points

Pro (includes Basic):

• Key Takeaways: Bullet-point list of critical insights
• Quick Analysis: Fast contextual analysis of the article
• Explain Simply: Article explained in plain, accessible language

Premium (includes Pro):

• Deep Dive Report: Comprehensive analysis with context and implications
• Fact Check: Verification of key claims with source citations
• Diverse Perspectives: Analysis of how different viewpoints approach the topic
• Audio Summary: Audio version of the article summary

The Daily Briefing podcast is a personalised podcast that summarises the day's top stories based on your interests. It's available exclusively on Premium.

To set it up:

1. Go to Profile > Daily Briefing
2. Choose your preferred delivery time and briefing style
3. Enable the notification to be alerted when your briefing is ready

Past briefings are saved and can be accessed any time from the Daily Briefing section.

This feature analyzes how different ideological viewpoints (progressive, conservative, libertarian, etc.) might interpret the article's topic. It includes:

• Different framing approaches
• Varied policy solutions
• Contrasting value priorities
• Common ground areas

This helps you understand the full spectrum of opinions on complex issues. Available on Premium.

To respect publisher licensing, Compass keeps AI summaries and other AI tools turned off for articles from paywalled and metered sources (e.g. The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times).

This is a deliberate policy choice — independent journalism is expensive to produce, and we don't want our AI features to substitute for reading the original work or bypass a publisher's subscription. You can still read the article in full by tapping it to open the publisher's site.

If you'd prefer not to see these articles in your feed at all, you can hide them in Profile > Source Preferences.

Your feed is personalized using a preference scoring system based on:

• Topics you follow: Higher scores for followed topics
• Regions you follow: Geographic relevance
• Sources you prefer: Publisher preference signals
• Reading history: Articles similar to what you've read
• Engagement patterns: Time spent reading, bookmarking behaviour

You can view and adjust source preferences in Profile > Source Preferences (Pro/Premium).

Compass displays political bias ratings from Media Bias Fact Check (MBFC), showing sources on a spectrum:

• Left: Progressive/liberal-leaning sources
• Left-Center: Moderate left-leaning
• Center / Least Biased: Minimal political bias
• Pro-Science: Science-focused sources with minimal political bias
• Right-Center: Moderate right-leaning
• Right: Conservative-leaning sources

Ratings appear on article cards and source pages. You can filter by bias level in Profile > Source Preferences.

Yes! Navigate to Profile > Source Preferences and toggle "Hide Paywalled Sources" or "Hide Metered Sources." This filters out articles from sources that require paid subscriptions.

Source Preferences is available to Pro and Premium subscribers.

• Basic: Up to 20 topics and sources combined
• Pro: Unlimited
• Premium: Unlimited

On Basic, once you reach the limit you'll need to unfollow existing items before adding new ones, or upgrade your subscription.

Your feed balances personalization with discovery to prevent "filter bubbles." Even with personalization enabled, you'll see some content from outside your usual interests — including trending stories and breaking news.

To refine what you see, follow more topics and sources that interest you, and engage with articles (read, bookmark, skip). The algorithm learns from your behaviour over time.

The Following feed is a dedicated tab that shows articles exclusively from the topics, sources, and categories you follow — with no discovery content mixed in.

To use it, follow at least one topic or source from the Discover tab. The Following tab will appear automatically once you have followed content.

You can manage everything you follow from Profile > Following.

Compass can notify you about breaking news and your Daily Briefing.

To manage notifications, go to Profile > Notifications. From there you can:

• Enable or disable breaking news alerts
• Set an importance threshold to control how major a story needs to be
• Limit alerts to topics and sources you follow
• Configure quiet hours
• Enable Daily Briefing notifications (Premium)

Make sure to allow notifications for Compass in your device settings.

• Bookmarks: Articles you intentionally save for later. Organised into Collections.
• Read History: Automatic log of every article you've opened, useful for checking your past read activity and personalisation.

Both are private and sync across devices when signed in.

• Basic: Up to 50 bookmarks, up to 3 Collections
• Pro: Unlimited bookmarks and Collections
• Premium: Unlimited bookmarks and Collections

If you downgrade from Pro/Premium, existing bookmarks remain accessible but you can't add new ones beyond the Basic limit.

Open any article and tap the speaker icon. TTS will read the article aloud using your device's voice synthesis.

TTS Controls:

• Play/Pause
• Stop

You can adjust voice pitch in Settings > Accessibility > Audio.

TTS is available on all tiers at no additional cost.

Editor's Picks is a curated reading experience that presents articles in a full-screen, magazine-style layout — one article at a time, with large imagery and a distraction-free reading environment.

It's available to Pro and Premium subscribers. Look for the Editor's Picks option in the feed view controls.

Compass includes five news-themed games, available to Pro and Premium subscribers:

• News Word: A daily word puzzle based on current headlines
• Chess Puzzles: Daily chess puzzles with a news twist
• Zen Match: A tile-matching game with a calming design
• Timeline: Order news events in chronological sequence
• Sudoku: Classic number puzzle with a daily challenge

Access games from the Games tab in the main navigation. Pro subscribers can also access up to 30 days of past puzzles from the game archive.

Basic users can play Sudoku and Zen Match for free.

You can add personal notes to any article while reading it. Notes are private and only visible to you.

To add a note, open an article and look for the notes icon in the article action bar. Your notes are saved to your account and sync across devices.

Notes are available to Pro and Premium subscribers.

According to our privacy policy, we collect:

Account Data: Email, authentication tokens (if signed in) Usage Data: Articles read, AI interactions, time spent reading Preferences: Followed topics/sources, bias filters, reading themes Device Data: Platform type, app version (for technical support)

We do NOT collect:

• Browsing history outside the app
• Location data (beyond optional region selection)
• Contact lists or personal photos
• Financial data (handled securely by RevenueCat)

For full details, see our Privacy Policy in Profile > Privacy Policy.

Yes. Your reading history is:

• Stored locally and in your account when signed in
• Never shared with third parties
• Not visible to other users
• Used only for personalising YOUR feed

Yes! You can use Compass anonymously with Basic tier features. However, without an account:

• Your data won't sync across devices
• You can't access cloud features (bookmarks sync, AI cache)
• You can't upgrade to Pro or Premium

Anonymous usage still respects all privacy protections.

You can request a full export of your Compass data at any time.

1. Go to Profile > Account & Security > Export My Data
2. Tap "Request Export"
3. Your data will be compiled and sent to your registered email address

The export includes your reading history, bookmarks, collections, notes, preferences, and account information. You can view past export requests from the export history screen.

1. Navigate to Profile > Account & Security
2. Scroll to "Delete Account"
3. Confirm deletion

This permanently removes:

• Your account and authentication credentials
• All cloud-stored preferences and history
• Bookmarks and Collections
• AI interaction history
• Active subscriptions (cancellation processed automatically)

This action cannot be undone. Local cached data is cleared on next app launch.

Quick Fixes:

1. Force close and restart the app
2. Check for app updates in the App Store/Play Store
3. Restart your device
4. Clear app cache: Settings > Storage Management

If issues persist, contact us via Profile > Help & Support > Contact Us and include your device model, OS version, and steps to reproduce the issue.