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Mera News

Known gaps

This page lists where Mera falls short of its goals today. Each item is true as of the last update to these docs. If you find something missing, write to contact@mera.news.

Protections still to build

  • Topic separation is not built into the architecture yet. Mera plans to restructure its services so the news service receives topic text with no user identifier, session, device identifier or network address. That isn't done.

Private cloud

  • Attestation is user-triggered and fails open. Ordinary requests encrypt to a key the app hasn't checked. The check runs only when you start it, and a failure blocks nothing.
  • The check is partial. Platform patch level, quoting enclave identity and enclave measurements aren't checked. GPU attestation is checked only in the newest app version, and it doesn't show the GPUs are attached to the secure hardware.
  • You're trusting operators. Private cloud depends on Mera and NEAR AI operating as described.

See Private inference.

What the server can see

  • Your account and your topics, for a moment. Feed requests are authenticated, so both reach the server together. The design is that the pairing is never stored.
  • Which article you opened. Opening an article's detail screen asks the server for related coverage. The request carries the article identifier and your country, language and publication preferences, including those you subscribe to. Opened from World, Search, a shared link or a followed story, the app also fetches the article by identifier. These requests arrive with your session, like every app request. Neither writes anything about you, but this is the closest the app comes to an open event, and it sits right at the edge of Rule 4.
  • What you browse. World and publication pages ask for headlines by country or publication, with your session. Mera keeps no record of this against your account.
  • Typed searches and places. Search and place search send what you type as readable text.
  • Fact-check requests. A quick check sends short search words built on the phone from one claim and the headline. A full check sends the article identifier. Both arrive with your session. Mera stores no link between you and either one.
  • Web search words. They pass through the gateway as readable text, with your session. The gateway doesn't log them or send your identity onward.
  • Safety warnings. If the assistant issues you a warning, the phone sends the server a reason written by the model, in plain text. That reason is stored on an account the assistant blocks, and it can reflect what was said in the chat.

What other hosts can see

  • Card images. Images load directly from the address in the feed, usually the publisher's host or its image service. That host can see your phone's network address when a card loads, even if you never open the article. Blurring images in Settings doesn't stop this.
  • Articles you open. The publisher sees your visit, as with any website.
  • Read on Google Translate. If you choose this route for an article in another language, the page opens through Google, so Google can see which article you read.

What you have to take on trust

  • The server is private. You can't check the claims about what the server stores, and you can't see which code runs on it. See Source and licences.
  • No independent security assessment has been done yet. One is planned.
  • Topics can say more than intended. They're meant to be broad, but a specific one could point to few people. The server doesn't filter them.

Accounts

  • A new phone is a new account. You restore from your own backup, so a lost recovery code means lost data.
  • Android without Google Play isn't supported.
  • Accounts can be connected by store records. App Store and Google Play purchase records can link them.
  • Sign-in needs Apple or Google services. It depends on App Attest and Play Integrity. See Sign-in and devices.

Diagnostics

  • Crash reports carry an opaque account identifier. They're kept for 30 days and hold no facts, topics or reading history.
  • Server error logs can hold an IP address and user agent for failing requests, for 30 days.

On-device

  • On this phone is a beta, on iPhone only. See On-device models.
  • Topic phrases still leave the phone. On this phone moves the AI, not the news request.
  • Chat in Private cloud is an exception to on-device mode. It's your choice, and it's off unless you set it.

Backups

  • Chat history isn't backed up.
  • Nobody can recover a lost recovery code. See Backups.

Publishers

  • The fetcher doesn't read robots.txt. It requests only the published feed URL. To leave Mera, filter the User-Agent or write to Mera. See Crawler and feeds.

Documents that lag behind

  • The Protocol specification. The file in the Mera app repository describes an earlier, longer version. The Mera Protocol is the current one.
  • The app README is out of date. Use these pages and the code instead.