Privacy Policy

1. Information We Collect

Information You Provide Directly

• Account Information. When you create an account, we collect your email address. We use magic link authentication — we do not collect or store passwords. You may optionally provide a display name and timezone.
• Share Activity. When you share a Bible study with a friend, we collect the sender name you enter and generate a short link to track whether the recipient opened the study. We do not receive your recipient's phone number; sharing happens through your own messaging app.
• Feedback. If you submit feedback through the app, we collect the search term, your feedback text, and optionally your email address. By submitting feedback, you grant us permission to use it to improve the Service. Feedback is treated as non-confidential.
• Donations. If you make a donation, payment processing is handled by Stripe, Inc. We receive your email address, donation amount, and transaction identifiers. We do not store your credit card number on our servers.
• Newsletter Subscriptions. If you subscribe to our newsletters (Gather or The Daily), we collect your email address and store it in our database. We use Resend to deliver emails.
• Reading With. You may invite friends to read with you by entering their name and email address. If they accept, you and your connected friends can see each other's reading activity — specifically, which studies, Daily devotionals, and course lessons you have each engaged with. This is a binary signal (read or didn't read) — we do not share time-on-page, scroll depth, or other behavioral data with friends. You can control your visibility to friends by removing a connection at any time. Pending invitations expire and are deleted after 14 days.
• Experiences. You may optionally share how the app has impacted you. If you submit an experience, we collect the name, email, and testimony you provide (all optional). Approved experiences may be displayed publicly on the Service. You may request removal at any time.

Information Collected Automatically

• Analytics Data. We use a server-side analytics system that does not load any JavaScript tracking code in your browser. We collect page views, referring URLs, approximate geographic location, device type, and browser type. We use a simple, secure cookie to recognize if you've visited us before. This helps us count unique visitors without knowing who you are personally. The cookie contains no personal information and cannot be used to track you across other websites. If you are signed in, we save your activity so you can see your own history and pick up where you left off. If you are browsing without an account, we only see general trends (like "10 people read about Grief today") without knowing it was you.
• Sensitive Topic Engagement. Our Service helps people explore spiritual and emotionally sensitive topics such as anxiety, doubt, grief, and loneliness. We never use your reading or search activity for advertising. If you are signed in, your activity is saved privately so you can track your own progress. If you are browsing without an account, we only see anonymous trends — for example, that a topic was popular on a given day, not that you specifically read it. We limit internal access to engagement data and treat all spiritual-topic activity as sensitive.
• Engagement Data. We track which sections of a study you viewed (e.g., scripture, questions, action steps) to understand content engagement. For course lessons, we track lesson completion.
• Push Notification Data. If you enable push notifications, we store the technical subscription endpoint and encryption keys required to deliver notifications to your device.
• PWA Usage. If you install our app as a Progressive Web App, we record the first and most recent time you accessed the app in standalone mode.
• Visit Tracking. We count unique days you visit the app to display your engagement history on your account page.
• Crisis Searches. If you search for terms associated with a mental health crisis, we display crisis resources (such as the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline). We log that a crisis search occurred and the search term for safety monitoring purposes, but we do not associate this data with your identity.
• Cookies and Local Storage. We use essential first-party cookies and/or local storage to keep you signed in and enable core features (such as session management). We also use a first-party analytics cookie to recognize returning visitors — it contains no personal information and is only used to count visits. We use short-lived, first-party cookies to support the invite flow (storing an invite code when you click a reading invitation link) and to remember your timezone for email delivery. We do not use cookies for advertising or cross-site tracking.

Information We Do Not Collect

• We do not collect passwords (we use email magic links exclusively).
• We do not use third-party advertising trackers or client-side analytics scripts.

2. How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect to:

• Provide and maintain the Service, including delivering Bible studies and tracking your favorites and completions.
• Process share invitations and notify you when a friend opens a study you shared.
• Process donations and provide tax-deductible receipts.
• Send transactional emails (magic link sign-in, share notifications, donation receipts).
• Send newsletters you have subscribed to (Gather weekly newsletter, The Daily devotional).
• Send push notifications you have opted into (daily reminders, share updates).
• Analyze aggregate usage patterns to improve content and the user experience.
• Facilitate the "Reading With" feature, including matching friends by email address, sending connection notification emails, and personalizing your Daily email with your friends' reading activity.
• Maintain the security and integrity of the Service.

Marketing emails (such as newsletters) may include standard open and click tracking to measure deliverability and engagement. You can unsubscribe from marketing emails at any time. Transactional emails (such as sign-in links and donation receipts) are sent as needed to operate the Service.

3. How We Share Your Information

We do not sell your personal information. We share information only in the following circumstances:

• Service Providers. We use the following third-party services to operate the Service: Supabase (database hosting and authentication), Vercel (website hosting), Stripe (payment processing for donations), and Resend (email delivery). These providers access your data only to perform services on our behalf and are obligated to protect it.
• Share Recipients. When you share a study, the recipient sees the name from your profile in the share message. Recipients do not have access to your email address or account information.
• Reading Friends. If you connect with a friend through the "Reading With" feature, your display name and reading activity (which content you engaged with) are visible to that friend. You can remove any connection at any time.
• Legal Requirements. We may disclose your information if required by law, court order, or governmental authority.

4. Data Retention

• Account Data. We retain your account information for as long as your account is active. You may request deletion at any time.
• Analytics Data. Aggregate analytics events are retained for up to 48 months and then deleted.
• Share Invites. Share invite records (short codes and click counts) are retained to provide ongoing share tracking and sender notifications. You may request deletion of your share history by contacting us at team@friendsfollowingJesus.com.
• Donation Records. Donation records are retained as required for tax and legal compliance.
• Newsletter Subscriptions. Your email is retained until you unsubscribe.
• Reading With Data. Reading activity records are retained while your account is active. If you remove a connection, the activity history between you and that friend is no longer visible. If you delete your account, your Reading With activity data (what was visible to friends) is permanently deleted. General analytics data (such as page views) is retained separately per our analytics retention policy above.

5. Your Rights and Choices

• Account Deletion. You may request deletion of your account and associated data by contacting us at team@friendsfollowingJesus.com.
• Email Unsubscribe. Every marketing email includes an unsubscribe link. You can also manage notification preferences in your account settings. Transactional emails (like sign-in links and receipts) are sent as needed to operate the Service.
• Push Notifications. You can disable push notifications at any time through your account settings or your device's notification settings.
• Data Export. You may request a copy of your personal data by contacting us at team@friendsfollowingJesus.com.
• Additional Rights. Depending on your location, you may have additional rights regarding your personal data, including the right to access, correct, object to processing, restrict processing, or lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority. To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at team@friendsfollowingJesus.com.

6. Security

We implement industry-standard security measures, including:

• Advanced database permissions that ensure your private data (like your favorites or progress) is strictly locked so only you can access it.
• HTTPS encryption for all data in transit.
• Security headers (HSTS, X-Frame-Options, X-Content-Type-Options) on all responses.
• Restricted access to administrative functions through role-based authorization.
• No storage of payment card information on our servers.

7. Children's Privacy

The Service is not directed to children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child under 13 has provided us with personal information, please contact us at team@friendsfollowingJesus.com and we will promptly delete it.

8. International Users

The Service is hosted in the United States. If you access the Service from outside the United States, your information will be transferred to and processed in the United States. Where required, we rely on appropriate safeguards for international transfers (such as standard contractual clauses) or other lawful mechanisms. By using the Service, you understand your information may be processed in the United States.

9. Legal Bases for Processing (Where Applicable)

Where required by law, we process personal data on the following bases: to provide the Service to you (contract), to protect and improve the Service (legitimate interests), and for optional features like newsletters and push notifications (consent, which you may withdraw at any time).

10. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of material changes by posting the updated policy on this page with a new "Last Updated" date. Your continued use of the Service after changes are posted constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

11. Contact Us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us at:

Uncommon Pursuit, through its ministry initiative Friends Following Jesus
Email: team@friendsfollowingJesus.com
Website: friendsfollowingjesus.com