Privacy Policy

The short version

No account needed. No ads. Sign up only if you want your progress backed up

You can read, pray, and lock apps without ever signing up. Signing up with Apple or Google is optional and never in your way. It exists so you can get your reading, XP, streak, and settings back on a new phone. Your prayers never leave your phone unless you turn on prayer backup yourself, and then only as scrambled text we cannot read. We do not sell or share data with advertisers. The app counts a few steps, like finishing setup, without knowing who you are, so we can see where it is hard to use.

What stays on your phone unless you choose to share it

• What you read in the Bible, and your reading spot, unless you sign up and turn on sync
• Your prayers and your prayer history, unless you turn on prayer backup
• Things you type, unless you choose to sync them, share them through Groups and People, or send them to support. Those features are explained below
• Your streaks, XP, rank, mascot looks, unless you sign up and turn on sync
• Your answers during setup, like your name, your age range, your gender, and what you struggle with. The app uses them on your phone, for example to match your daily prayer to your struggles. If you contact support, it also sends your chosen name, region setting and time zone
• Your settings and reminder times, unless you sign up and turn on sync
• The apps you lock. You pick them in Apple's Screen Time system, and Apple gives the app a private code for your choice, not the app names. That code stays on your phone. We never see which apps you picked or when they lock

Reminders are set on your phone. Push notifications from a server only happen for a reply to a support message, a heads-up when a new app version is out, or, if you turn on Groups and People below, a group alert. You can turn any of these off.

When you contact support

Sending a support message sends your message, issue type, any picture or GIF you attach, and a private code for this app installation to our server. A new conversation also sends your chosen name, region setting, time zone, app version, build, iOS version and device model. The region setting is not GPS location. You do not need an account.

Our server stores tickets and messages in our database, stores pictures in private Cloudflare R2 storage, and passes ticket details, messages and pictures to our support team through Telegram. Your support rating and note are sent to the team too. Do not include passwords or private information you do not want the team to read.

If you enable support reply notifications, your device's push token is registered with our server. Account export does not include support records. Deleting an account does not delete these separate support records. Use the feedback form to request a copy or deletion of support records.

Account and backup, if you sign up

Signing up is optional. You can read, pray, and lock apps fully without it, and we never put it in your way. You can sign up with your Apple ID or your Google account. We ask for nothing else, no password to remember.

What signing up sends us, only after you sign up:

• A private, one-way code from Apple or Google that means "this is the same reader," not your name or password
• Your email address, only if Apple or Google hands us a verified one and you have not asked Apple to hide it
• Your reading spot, XP, streak, and settings, only if you turn on sync, so you can get them back on a new phone
• Your prayers, only if you separately turn on prayer backup. Your phone scrambles them first with your own key before sending them. We only ever hold the scrambled text; we cannot read it

We never merge two accounts on our own. If you sign in with Apple on one phone and Google on another, that makes two separate accounts until you choose, while signed in, to link the second one to the first.

Where this lives. Our database runs on Neon, a Postgres hosting company, behind our own server on Fly.io. Apple and Google check your sign-in on their own systems before telling us it is real; we do not see your Apple or Google password.

How long we keep it. We keep it as long as your account exists. If you stop using the app without deleting your account, nothing is deleted automatically. Deleting your account, below, removes it right away.

Get a copy, or delete it. Open Settings in the app, then "Account," to download a copy of your account details, synced progress, encrypted prayer backup, study claims and profile. This download does not include Groups and People records, support tickets or registered devices. Use the feedback form below to request those records. You can also delete your account and its synced data. Deleting asks Apple to forget your sign-in link, if you signed up with Apple.

Your rights. If you are in the European Union or the United Kingdom, you can ask us to give you a copy of your data or delete it under the GDPR; we answer within one month, or up to three months for an unusually large request. If you are in California, you have the same rights under the CCPA, and we answer within 45 days. Use the in-app path above, or the feedback form if you would rather ask us directly.

Groups and People, if you turn it on

Groups and People is a separate, optional thing you turn on from its own tab, after you sign up and agree to its own extra terms. It lets you join a small group, follow people, and show a profile. Nothing here happens until you turn it on.

Your profile, once you make one:

• A name you pick for it. This is separate from the name you typed during setup, which stays on your phone unless you contact support
• An @handle you pick, so friends can find you. It shows under your name, and anyone who can search can look it up. You can change it once every 30 days
• A short bio, your favorite verse, and your church background, if you add them
• A profile photo and a cover photo, if you upload them. We remove hidden location and camera data from a photo before we store it
• The mascot look, wardrobe items, and badges you choose to show on your profile
• Which seasons you have finished, and the month you joined
• Your walk, unless you turn off "Show my walk on my profile": your level, total XP, streak, today's XP, your rank and best rank, how many badges you have earned, up to four badges you pick, and whether you are a Partner. Never what you read, never what you prayed, and never your reading history. Turn it off and we stop showing it to anyone

By default, your profile, and how many people you follow and how many follow you, is visible to people in a group with you, people you follow, and people who follow you. Turn on "discoverable" and anyone can see it.

If a group you run or belong to chooses to be listed, people looking for a group see its name, bio, and size, the photo and name of each of its admins, and how many of its members they follow or are followed by, with up to three of those members by photo and name. So if you are in a listed group, someone you follow, or who follows you, may see that you are in it. Nobody you block, and nobody who blocks you, ever sees you there, and an unlisted group never shows at all. You can be in one group at a time.

A group you join or start:

• Its name and short bio, and the name you show to that group, its role, and when you joined
• Whether it is a reading group or an accountability group. In an accountability group, the only thing it ever learns about your practice each day is whether you read and whether you prayed. Never what you read, never the words of your private prayers. Your streak, XP, and rank show only on your profile, as part of your walk above, and only while you let them
• A bell a groupmate can send you as a nudge to read and pray. We store who sent it and who got it. So a bell only comes while you have something to do, your phone tells us whether a reading task is open right now, until when, and your time zone. Never what the task is or how far you got. No bell can reach you at night
• A cheer, a short line you or a groupmate, or someone you follow each other with, pick from a list to encourage each other, plus a heart or another small reaction on a cheer. We store who sent it, who got it, and which one, never anything you typed by hand
• A prayer request, only if you choose to post one to your group. We store the words you write, who in the group prayed for it, and whether you marked it answered or closed it with an update. Only your group sees it, plus a moderator if someone reports it. It is deleted a day after it fades, 7 days after you post it unless you keep it open, and right away if you delete it. Your private prayers in the app are never sent
• Your requests to join a group, and any invite link you make or use

Also part of Groups and People:

• Who you follow, and who follows you
• Anyone you block, mute, or restrict, and anyone who has blocked, muted, or restricted you
• A report you file: the reason, your note, and a copy of what you reported at that moment, so it can be looked into even if the other person changes or removes it afterward. A report goes straight to our team's private channel through a messaging service, so that service sees the report too. If our team finds a rule was broken, we may limit what an account can do, for a while or longer, and we keep a record of that
• A list of your notifications in the app: bells, cheers, requests to join, people joining your group, and new followers, with who sent each one, which group, when, and whether you have opened it. Nobody you block, and nobody who blocks you, can reach this list
• A push notification when your group rings its bell, someone cheers you on, someone asks to join a group you help run, your own request is accepted, someone joins your group, or someone new follows you. The lock-screen text never names a person or a group; only the app itself does, once you open it. To send these, we store a push id for your phone and the time zone it reports, so a group alert does not wake you at night

How long we keep it. As long as your group or your account exists. If you leave a group, it stops learning anything new about you, but your past join date and past daily read-and-pray checks in that group stay on our server, the same way a group chat keeps old messages after someone leaves it. If you started a group and leave it, another member takes it over so the group keeps going. A report someone else filed about you can outlive your deleted account, with the link to your account removed, so our team can finish looking into it; a report you filed yourself is deleted along with the rest of your account. Deleting your account, above, removes your profile, your photos, and your membership in every group.

What reaches us, and why

This is the full list.

• New Bible study lessons. When you open the app, at most once every six hours, it asks our server, spiritualrot-api.fly.dev, whether new study lessons are ready, and downloads them if they are. The request carries no account, no name, and no id. Like any website, our server sees your IP address, the time, and the basic details every app request carries, such as your iPhone software version. Our host, Fly.io, keeps technical logs of these requests. We use them only to keep the server working.
• Reports and email. If you report a problem with a reading or a prayer, the app opens your Mail app with a message to us. It holds the item's id, the content and app versions, the reason you picked, and your note. We only get it if you send it, and then we also see your email address. We use it only to answer you and fix the app.
• Purchases. Apple handles every payment on its own purchase screen, and the app never asks for your card. We use RevenueCat, a company that keeps track of app subscriptions, to know who is a Partner. When the app opens, and when you buy or restore, it sends RevenueCat a random code made for this app, what you bought and when, your App Store country and currency, your iPhone and iOS version, and the code Apple gives each app maker for your iPhone. RevenueCat checks your purchase with Apple and tells the app whether you are a Partner. The app also checks with Apple, on your phone, whether you are a Partner, so a RevenueCat problem never takes Partner away. This is separate from signing up: what signing up sends us is listed above. Apple gives us sales reports that do not name you. Apple can also send a server notification when a Partner subscription starts, renews, changes, or ends. Those App Store Server Notifications are not currently set up to reach our server, so we are not receiving them now. If that changes, this page changes first. The app does not send tips to our server.
• Which App Store ad brought you. If you found the app through an ad on the App Store, Apple can tell us which ad it was. The app asks Apple for a short-lived code, and RevenueCat trades it with Apple for the ad's name. Apple says this is not tracking, and it never tells us who you are. The app never asks to track you and never reads your iPhone's advertising ID.
• App use counts. The app sends PostHog, a company that counts how apps are used, a short list of steps: the first time the app opens, starting and finishing setup, which setup step you are on (only its number, never what you picked or typed), allowing Screen Time or not, your first read and pray, coming back on day 2 or day 7, seeing the Partner page, picking a plan, starting, finishing, stopping or failing a purchase, and tapping Restore. If we turn on our Partner ask, it also counts seeing or closing a Partner ask and tapping its Partner button. It also counts how the Partner goal card on Today does: whether it was shown or tapped, whether its page was opened, which buttons on that page were tapped (a plan, a tip, Share, or adding or removing your name on the Partner list, but never the name or any amount), and which screen the Partner page was opened from. It also counts which tabs people open and for about how long (a rough range like under 10 seconds, never exact), which parts of the app get used, such as a quick prayer, a saved verse or the locked apps list, which Settings page was opened, and whether you allowed or denied notifications. These are only names from a fixed list, never what you read, pray, type or save. In version 1.0.5 and later you can turn this off any time: open Settings, tap Privacy on this phone, and switch off Share anonymous usage. It is on to start with, it works only in the App Store version, and when it is off the app stops sending these counts and stops linking your purchases to them. Each step comes with a random code made on your phone, the time, the app version, your iPhone model, iOS version, screen size, language and time zone, whether you are on Wi-Fi or cell data, and for purchase steps the plan. It never includes Bible text, your prayers, your notes, your name, your email, or anything you type. We never connect the code to your name or your account. PostHog also works out the country you are in from your internet address, and keeps only the country: not your city, not your street, and not the address itself. The app never asks for your location. Like any website, RevenueCat and PostHog see your internet address when the app talks to them. RevenueCat can also send PostHog your purchase steps under the same random code. We use these counts only to make the app easier to use. Nothing is sold or used for ads.
• Apple's own reports. If you chose to share analytics with app developers in your iPhone's settings, Apple may share crash reports and usage totals with us. Apple does not tell us who you are.

When you share a verse card or export your history, it goes only where you send it. We do not get a copy.

What we do not do

No ads in the app. No tracking across other companies' apps or websites, no advertising ID, and no request to track you. We do not sell your data or share it with advertisers or data brokers.

This website

This website sets no cookies and has no ad trackers. It counts page visits with Vercel Web Analytics. Vercel, which hosts the site, also keeps technical logs, such as IP addresses, to run and protect it. The app's own counts are explained above, under App use counts.

Deleting your data

To erase everything the app keeps on your phone, open Settings in the app, tap "Data and recovery," then "Erase all Spiritualrot data." Deleting the app also removes it. If you signed up, that erase does not touch your account; delete your account and everything synced to our server from Settings, then "Account," then "Delete account." See the Delete my account and data page for the full path either way.

Children

Signing up is optional, and the name and age range asked during setup stay on the phone unless you choose to share them. Contacting support sends the chosen name as described above. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If a child under 13 signs up or emails us, a parent or guardian can ask us to delete that account or email, and we will.

Changes to this policy

If what the app sends changes, this page changes first, and the date at the top moves. We do not backdate a change.

Contact

Questions about this policy can be sent through the feedback form.