Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

Welcome to My Bible Journey (the app may also appear as “Bible Journey”). We respect your privacy. This privacy policy explains what information we collect, how we use it, who we share it with, and the choices you have when you use our mobile app for iOS and Android and our website, mybiblejourney.co.

2. Information We Collect

2.1 Account Information

When you create an account, we collect:

• Email address
• Password (stored only as a secure hash by our authentication provider, never in plain text)
• Name or display name
• If you sign in with Google or Apple: the name and email address that provider shares with us. With Sign in with Apple this may be a private relay email address.
• Profile settings you choose: age band, role (for example individual or parent), daily reading goal, and preferred Bible translation

2.2 Usage and Device Data

When you use the app or website, we collect:

• The questions and searches you type. On our servers these are stored with your account, the time, your IP address, and your device or browser type, for rate limiting, abuse prevention, and analytics. The mobile app also keeps your recent searches on your device.
• Activity in the app, such as readings, journey days, and games completed, which we use to personalize recommendations
• Your notification preferences and reminder time
• A push notification token and your device platform, but only if you turn on notifications
• Device information (device type, operating system, app version) and your IP address, which our servers receive with every request
• Crash and error diagnostics (see Sentry in Section 4)

2.3 Content You Create

• Private reflections and notes you write on passages
• Prayer journal entries. These are private and are never shown to other users.
• Your progress in guided journeys, and the “journey memory” the app keeps so it can personalize later journeys
• Circle: the friends you connect with, the mood (“soul weather”) you choose to share, any note you add to it, and the nudges you send. Your connections can see your shared mood and note.
• Community interpretations you submit. These are reviewed before they are published publicly. We also keep reports you file about other posts.
• Prayer requests you post to the public prayer wall on our website, with the display name you choose for them
• Messages you send in the Bible-character chat on our website, together with an AI-generated assessment of the mood of those messages
• Coloring pages and other content you ask the app to generate
• Saved verse cards. These are stored only on your device.

2.4 Child Profiles Created by Parents

If you are a parent and create a child profile, we store what you enter (the child's display name, avatar, and whether the profile is for a child or a teen) together with the profile's reading progress and screen-time settings. A child profile has no email address, password, or login of its own. See Section 6.

2.5 Location (Website Only, Optional)

The mobile app does not collect your location (ad providers may infer an approximate location from your IP address; see Google AdMob in Section 4). On our website, the community globe lets you choose to share your location. If you opt in, we store the coordinates your browser provides (which can be precise) or, if those are unavailable, an approximate location derived from your IP address, together with your city, region, and country. Your shared location is shown on a community map that other visitors to the website can see. Opting out hides your location from the map; the last stored location stays linked to your account until you delete your account or ask us to remove it.

2.6 Payment Information

Subscriptions bought in the mobile app are processed by the Apple App Store or Google Play and managed through RevenueCat. We no longer sell subscriptions on our website; earlier website subscriptions were processed by Stripe. We never receive or store your full card number. We receive limited transaction information, such as your plan, subscription status, and purchase and renewal dates. RevenueCat identifies you using your account ID.

2.7 Email Updates

If you sign up for devotional email updates on our blog, we store the email address and name you give us.

3. How We Use Your Information

We use your information to:

• Provide and maintain our services, including your account, journal, journeys, and Circle
• Generate AI responses to the text you submit to AI-powered features (see Section 4)
• Personalize your experience, such as recommended passages, plans, and journeys
• Process and verify your subscription
• Send reminders and Circle notifications you have turned on
• Show advertisements to users of the free plan in the mobile app
• Send you important messages about your account, such as sign-in and password emails
• Find and fix crashes and errors, and improve our app and website
• Prevent fraud and abuse, including rate limiting
• Comply with legal obligations

4. Third-Party Services

We use the following third-party services, which process data on our behalf or as described below:

5. Data Sharing and Disclosure

We do not sell your personal information. We share your data only in these circumstances:

• Service Providers: The third-party services listed above that help us operate the app and website
• Advertising: In the mobile app, Google AdMob receives the device and ad-interaction information described above, including the Android Advertising ID on Android. On iOS no advertising identifier is shared.
• People You Choose: Your Circle connections see the mood and notes you share with them. Approved community interpretations, prayer wall posts, and, if you opt in, your location on the website globe are visible publicly.
• Legal Requirements: When required by law or to protect our rights
• Business Transfers: In the event of a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets
• With Your Consent: When you explicitly agree to share information

6. Children's Privacy

My Bible Journey is intended for people aged 13 and over. Children under 13 cannot create their own account: the age options offered at sign-up begin at 13. A parent or guardian may instead create a child profile for a younger child from their own account (Family & age band in the app). A child profile has no email address, password, or login of its own, and holds only the information described in Section 2.4.

We never show advertisements to child profiles or to accounts marked as a child, and we never use their information for advertising. Accounts marked as a teen receive only non-personalized advertisements. Parents can view the child profiles they created under Family & age band in the app. To change or delete a child profile, email us at support@mybiblejourney.co from the parent account's email address.

If you believe a child under 13 has given us personal information without a parent's involvement, contact us and we will delete it.

7. Data Security

We use these measures to protect your data:

• Encrypted data transmission (HTTPS/TLS) between the app, the website, and our servers
• Passwords stored only as secure hashes
• Row-level security on our database, so each account can reach only its own private data
• Authenticated access to our APIs

No system is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee the security of information sent over the internet.

8. Your Rights

You have the right to:

• Access and copy: Request a copy of your personal data. There is no self-service export, so email us and we will send it to you.
• Correction: Update your profile in the app, or ask us to correct your information
• Deletion: Delete your account and the data linked to it (see below and Section 9)
• Opt-out: Turn off notifications in the app, change your ad choice in You → Account → Ads & consent, opt out of the website globe, or email us to stop devotional email updates

How to Delete Your Account

You can delete your account directly in the mobile app:

1. Open the My Bible Journey app
2. Tap the You tab
3. Under Account, tap "Delete account"
4. Confirm your decision in both confirmation dialogs

You can also request deletion at https://mybiblejourney.co/data-deletion. In-app deletion takes effect immediately and cannot be undone. Section 9 explains what is deleted and the limited data that remains.

Deleting your account does not cancel a subscription. If you subscribed through the App Store or Google Play, cancel it in your App Store or Google Play subscription settings. If you subscribed on our website before website sales ended, contact us and we will cancel it for you.

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at support@mybiblejourney.co.

9. Data Retention

We keep your data while your account is active or as needed to provide the service. When you delete your account, we delete your account and the data linked to it, including your profile, search history stored with your account, private reflections, prayer journal, journey progress and memory, Circle connections and mood shares, activity history, notification settings, push tokens, and any website globe location.

The following data may remain after you delete your account:

• Published posts: Community interpretations and prayer wall posts you published stay visible, but the link to your account is removed. A prayer wall post keeps the display name you chose for it. If you want your posts removed, email us before you delete your account.
• Purchase records: Apple, Google, RevenueCat, and Stripe keep their own records of your purchases under their own policies. Deleting your account does not delete these records.
• Child profiles: If you created child profiles, email us and we will confirm that they have been removed.
• Crash reports: Sentry reports, which are not linked to your name or email, expire on Sentry's retention schedule.
• AI providers: Text already sent to Anthropic or OpenAI is retained by them only as described in Section 4.
• Aggregate search statistics: Search text stored without any link to your account, used to show popular topics.
• Data on your device: Search history and saved verse cards stored on your device remain until you uninstall the app or clear its data.
• Backups: Database backups kept by our hosting provider, which expire on its backup schedule.
• Legal obligations: Data we must keep by law or for fraud prevention, kept only as long as necessary.

10. International Data Transfers

Your data may be transferred to and stored on servers in the United States and other countries where we and our service providers operate. Where the law requires it, we rely on the transfer safeguards our service providers offer for this purpose.

11. Cookies and Tracking

Our website uses cookies and similar browser storage to:

• Keep you signed in
• Remember your preferences

The mobile app stores similar information on your device. Advertising in the mobile app is described under Google AdMob in Section 4. You can disable cookies in your browser settings, but some features may not work properly.

12. Changes to This Policy

We may update this privacy policy from time to time. We will notify you of significant changes by email or through the app. Continued use of the app after changes constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

13. Contact Us

If you have questions about this privacy policy, please contact us:

14. California Privacy Rights

California residents have additional rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA):

• Right to know what personal information is collected
• Right to know if personal information is sold or disclosed
• Right to say no to the sale of personal information (we do not sell data)
• Right to deletion
• Right to non-discrimination for exercising privacy rights

15. GDPR Compliance (European Users)

If you are in the European Economic Area (EEA), you have rights under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR):

• Right to access your personal data
• Right to rectification
• Right to erasure (right to be forgotten)
• Right to restrict processing
• Right to data portability (by email request; see Section 8)
• Right to object to processing
• Right to withdraw consent