Reader privacy

You can read Almag without an account. Here is how the reader uses data.

Anonymous readership measurements

We use PostHog, hosted in the United States, to measure visits, referring websites, pages opened, reading formats, story-page progress, shares and successful comment or reaction actions. This helps us understand which issues people enjoy and where the reader can improve.

Analytics run without a persistent tracking cookie or browser identifier. PostHog groups activity using a short-lived daily hash derived from request information, including IP address and browser information. This means reader counts are estimates and do not identify returning people across days.

We do not record your screen, capture what you type, or send comment text, names, email addresses or sign-in codes to analytics. URLs are stripped of query parameters and fragments before collection. Analytics are not linked to your signed-in account.

Your choice

If you change this setting, we store only your preference in this browser. We also respect browser Do Not Track and Global Privacy Control signals.

Your reading app and device notifications

As a guest, your last reading place and format are stored locally on this device. When you sign in, your reading position, format, illustration preference, finished issues and saved series are stored privately with your account in Neon so you can continue across devices. Your history is not visible to other readers. A temporary account-specific copy in this browser tab helps retry interrupted saves; signing out clears it. You choose whether to import an earlier guest bookmark into your account.

Your chosen display name and avatar appear in the community. You can update your profile and reading preferences in your account, and edit or delete your own comments in My comments. Deleted comments leave the public conversation; moderation records may be retained. Contact us to request removal of your account and reading data.

The app stores a small offline welcome page; opening comic issues still requires an internet connection. Private account pages and API responses are never saved by the service worker.

Device notifications are optional and separate from email updates. Only after you choose to allow them do we store your browser’s push subscription address, encryption keys, consent version and subscription dates in Neon. These let us send new-issue alerts and occasional Almag announcements through your browser’s push provider. We do not connect the subscription to your email or reader account.

You can turn off device notifications from the Reading app page or your browser’s site settings. Turning them off in Afroverse removes the subscription and its delivery records; expired subscriptions are removed when the push provider reports them. We retain announcement history and use short-lived hashed network identifiers to limit abusive requests. Anonymous analytics measure app installation choices, notification consent actions and visits from alerts, respecting the privacy choices above.

Optional reading challenges

Joining challenges is a separate choice after signing in. We store your participation preference, quiz answers, attempt dates and scores, and earned badges in Neon with your reader account. Your finished-issue records let you collect reading milestones; they do not prove comprehension. Three quiz submissions are available each day, resetting at 00:00 UTC.

Your identity, answers, reading history and badges are private. The community goal displays only the combined number of participating readers who have earned its badge. Pausing challenges removes your contribution from that total and keeps your records privately so you can resume. We retain these records while your account exists; contact us to request removal. The challenges page and quiz answers are excluded from analytics. Participation does not sign you up for emails or device notifications.

Character conversations · adults 18+ beta

Character chat is optional. Your messages, recent conversation context, a short topic summary and approved story information are sent to OpenAI to generate and moderate replies. Do not share sensitive personal information. Replies are imagined, can be inaccurate and are separate from Almag canon.

Guest conversations remain in this browser tab as encrypted temporary context, valid for up to 24 hours. A necessary cookie identifies the guest session for 30 days. Encrypted response recovery data may remain on our server for up to 24 hours to handle interrupted requests. We keep daily hashed network identifiers and request metadata to enforce message and spending limits. Clearing cookies does not bypass the network allowance.

Your 18+ chat confirmation is saved to your account so you do not need to repeat it on another device. We store the confirmation version and when you accepted it, not your date of birth. Earlier readers with a saved chat retain their previous confirmation without an invented acceptance date.

For signed-in readers, conversation messages and a short topic summary are stored privately in Neon so you can resume across devices. You can start new conversations or delete a conversation and its memory in Chat. Inactive conversations expire after 90 days; expired records are cleaned up when chat is used. A guest conversation is imported only after you choose to carry it into sign-in and confirm saving it in your account. The encrypted transfer is temporarily held in this tab’s session storage.

Chat pages and message contents are excluded from PostHog analytics and session recording. Publishers see aggregate usage, cost estimates and errors, not a browser of private conversations. If you report a reply, only that reply, the preceding message and your report reason are shared for publisher review and retained for up to 30 days. Deleting the conversation does not remove an already submitted report. Cost and abuse metadata can remain through the following calendar month; it does not contain your message text.

We request that OpenAI does not store Responses API conversation state. This does not eliminate provider abuse-monitoring retention: OpenAI may retain API content for up to 30 days by default, or longer where required for safety or legal reasons. API data is not used to train OpenAI models by default. See OpenAI’s data controls. Contact us for account-wide deletion requests.

Comments and reactions

Signing in to comment or react uses Neon Auth. Necessary sign-in cookies keep your session active. Comments, public display names, reactions and moderation records are stored in our Neon database. Comments and reaction totals are visible to other readers; your sign-in email is not shown in the conversation.

Shop orders

Purchases require a verified account. We store your account reference, contact email, selected size, delivery address, agreed prices, payment references and fulfilment history in Neon. Whop receives the details necessary to calculate tax and process payment; card details go directly to Whop’s secure payment form and are not stored by Afroverse. Printful receives the recipient and product details needed to make and deliver your order. Resend sends receipts and dispatch updates.

Only you and authorized publishers can access your order details. Checkout and order pages are excluded from analytics. We retain order records for accounting, returns, dispute handling and legal obligations. You can contact us to request access or deletion; some transaction records may need to be retained. Purchases never subscribe you to marketing emails. Publisher sandbox tests are kept separate from live orders and never trigger Printful fulfilment.

Almag email updates

Joining the mailing list is optional and separate from signing in. We store your email address, signup location, consent wording version and subscription dates in our Neon database. You join the list only after confirming your email. Resend delivers confirmation and welcome emails and manages the confirmed subscriber list for issue announcements and occasional behind-the-scenes updates.

Every welcome email and newsletter provides an unsubscribe link. Unsubscribing does not delete your reader account. We retain subscription and opt-out records to respect your preference; you can contact us to request removal of your data. Hashed email and network identifiers are used to limit abusive requests, and old rate-limit records are periodically removed.

We measure signup form views, submissions, confirmed subscriptions, unsubscribe actions and visits through our email links using the same anonymous analytics and privacy choices described above. Your email address and confirmation or unsubscribe token are never sent to analytics. We do not use email open-tracking pixels in confirmation or welcome messages.

For questions about your data, contact hello@afroverse.net.