Canonical: https://hideroom.app/editorial-policy Title: Editorial policy Updated: 2026-10-23 # Editorial policy Last updated 23 October 2026 ## The short version - Every guide is written or checked by Zaniar, Hideroom’s founder, and shows the author, the date it was updated and its sources. - AI helps with research and drafting. A person checks every fact against its source and decides what’s published. - Guides are re-checked at least every 180 days, and after each major iOS release. - Spotted a mistake? Email and we’ll correct it within five working days. ## 1. Who writes the guides Guides on hideroom.app are written by [Zaniar](https://hideroom.app/authors/zaniar), Hideroom’s founder, who also checks every one before it’s published. Each guide shows the author, the date it was last updated and, for guides about a phone’s software, the version it was checked against. If a guide has been checked by a second person with relevant expertise, their name and credentials appear on it. We never invent a reviewer. ## 2. How we choose a topic We write about real questions people ask about keeping photos, videos and papers private on their phones. Topics come from what people search for (from Google Search Console and keyword data) and from the questions people send us. We never write a page only to attract traffic, and we don’t publish several pages that answer the same question. ## 3. How we research We start with the makers’ own documentation: Apple, Google, Samsung and other makers’ support pages and guides. Then we read good secondary sources. Steps are followed on a real device or the iOS Simulator at the version named on the guide, and screenshots come from a clean test device, never from anyone’s personal phone. Every fact about another product, such as a menu, a setting, a version or a price, is listed in the guide’s sources with the date we checked it. Sources must open from the UK, so readers here can check them too. ## 4. How AI helps, and what a person always does We use AI tools to help with research and to draft text. A person then checks every factual sentence against its source, fixes or removes anything that doesn’t hold up, and decides whether the guide is published. Each guide says how it was made in one line at the end, and links here. ## 5. How we keep guides current Every guide is fully re-checked at least every 180 days. Guides about iPhone are re-checked within 30 days of each major iOS release (usually each September), and the same applies to Android guides. We only change a guide’s “Updated” date when something a reader would notice changes: a step, a fact, a recommendation or a new section. We never change dates to make a page look fresh. When a guide stops being useful, we improve it, merge it into a better guide (and send its address there), or retire it. ## 6. Corrections If you spot something wrong or out of date, email with the page and what’s wrong. We’ll check it and make the correction within five working days, and the guide’s updated date will show when it changed. ## 7. What we never write Some topics we won’t cover, whatever the search volume: - how to see other people’s private photos or messages; - spyware, stalkerware or ways to monitor someone else’s phone; - fake calculator apps, or other apps that pretend to be something they’re not; - recovery-phrase (“seed phrase”) generators; - anything aimed at children under 16, including hiding things from a parent or carer. Guides about finding hidden photos are written for finding your own, and for knowing what someone with your unlocked phone could see. ## 8. How we write about Hideroom Hideroom hasn’t launched yet. When a guide mentions it, we describe only what version 1 is planned to do, in the future tense, using our product plan and security design as the only sources. We don’t claim features that aren’t built, ratings or downloads we don’t have, or security we can’t show. Whenever recovery words come up, we say plainly that a photo of them is only as safe as the phone, so a paper or metal copy is still wise for larger amounts. Comparisons with other apps follow the same rules: fair, dated and sourced, with real wins for the other app, and no logos or screenshots of it. ## Changes to this page - 23 October 2026: First version.