Privacy Policy

Scripture Voyage is built to be private by design. This policy explains, in plain language, what we collect, why, who it's shared with, and the control you have. Scripture Voyage is run by an independent individual operator ("we", "us"), who is the data controller for your information. You can reach us any time at hello@scripturevoyage.com.

Your reading reveals your faith — we treat it that way. The chapters you read and the plans you follow can reveal religious beliefs, which is sensitive personal information. We collect it only to provide the app to you, never to profile or advertise to you, and we don't share it with anyone except as you direct or as plainly described below.

What we collect

• Account — your email address, display name, and the credentials used to sign you in (a password hash and/or a passkey). We never store passwords in plain text.
• Reading activity — the chapters and passages you log, when you read them, and your progress through reading plans ("voyages"). Together this is your coverage map.
• Preferences — settings such as your time zone and preferred Bible translation.
• Connections — friend and companion relationships you create, the invitations you send or accept, and the voyages you choose to share.
• Operational data — minimal server and error logs (including IP address), plus error reports and performance timings, needed to run the service securely and diagnose problems (see "Error monitoring and feature rollouts" below).

Reading without an account

You can open the reader and read, search, and follow cross references without an account. When you do:

• We keep no reading history for you. There's no account to attach it to, so the server stores nothing about which chapters you read.
• Your browser remembers a few things on your device: the translation you chose, in a cookie named sv_t that holds only that translation's short name; and, in local storage, the last chapter you opened and your reader settings (such as text size), so the reader picks up where you left off. The reader also keeps the list of books and translations on this device so it can open offline. If you download a Bible, your browser keeps its text and the cross references too; removing a download deletes its text. Usage beacons for chapters read offline wait on the device until you're back online. Clearing your browser's site data removes all of these.
• Your IP address appears in our ordinary server logs, as it does for every visitor (see "Operational data" above). When your browser sends usage beacons for chapters you read offline (below), it's also held in memory for up to an hour, to cap how many one address can send.
• Error monitoring works the same anonymous way described below. Without an account there's nothing to derive a feature-rollout code from, so LaunchDarkly receives none.
• The Bible API's usage beacon ("FUMS") is sent for each chapter shown, exactly as for an account, and carries no identity either way. For a chapter you read offline, your browser keeps the beacon and sends it when you're back online.

What we don't do

• We don't sell or rent your information, ever.
• We don't run third-party advertising, and we don't profile you to target ads.
• We use no analytics or advertising trackers: no Google Analytics, Facebook pixels, session recordings, or click tracking. Display fonts are self-hosted. The one outside script is our error and performance monitor, described below.

Cookies & local storage

We use only what's strictly necessary: a secure cookie to keep you signed in (or, without an account, one that remembers your chosen translation), and your browser's local storage to remember preferences like light/dark theme. Our error monitor keeps a random id in session storage, which your browser clears when you close the tab, so errors from one visit can be grouped together. We don't use advertising or analytics cookies, so there's no cookie-consent banner to click through.

Error monitoring and feature rollouts

We use LaunchDarkly to see when the app breaks or slows down. Our server sends it timings for each request (labelled by page type, such as "reader", not the full address), warnings, and error reports. Your browser sends it errors, page-load speed, and the addresses and timings of the app's own requests. Those addresses, and the page address sent with errors and page-load speed, can name the passage you have open or words you searched for.

The browser side runs anonymously: it doesn't know who you are, and every visitor looks the same to it. We don't send your name or email. An error report may include your account's internal id, a random string, so we can help if you tell us about a problem. We don't record your screen, your clicks, or your notes.

We also use LaunchDarkly to roll out new features gradually, so some people see a change before others. For that it receives a scrambled code derived from your account. The code keeps you in the same group on every device, but LaunchDarkly can't turn it back into your account. It also receives whether you're an administrator of the app. It doesn't receive your name, email, or anything about your reading.

Scripture text & a note on the Bible API

Bible text is provided by API.Bible, a service of the American Bible Society. To show you a chapter, our server (not your browser) requests that passage from API.Bible or serves it from its cache. For certain copyrighted translations, the providers require a usage-tracking beacon ("FUMS") to be recorded for each chapter shown — our server sends this on your behalf. That beacon conveys which passage and translation were displayed; it does not include your name, email, or account identity. Public-domain translations (such as KJV and WEB) carry no such tracking. We cache chapter text to minimize these requests.

Who else processes your data

We rely on a small number of service providers ("sub-processors") to run the app:

• Hosting — Amazon Web Services (AWS Lightsail), where the app and database run.
• Email delivery — our transactional email provider, used to send sign-in and account emails.
• Bible text — API.Bible (American Bible Society), as described above.
• Error and performance monitoring, feature rollouts — LaunchDarkly, as described above.

These providers process data only to deliver their service to us. The app and database are hosted in the United States; if you're outside the US, your information is processed there.

Sharing with friends and companions

Your reading data is private to you by default. It becomes visible to another person only when you choose to — by becoming companions on a shared voyage. You can decline or end those connections, and doing so stops future sharing.

Why we're allowed to process this (legal basis)

Where laws like the GDPR apply, we rely on: performance of our agreement with you (to provide the features you ask for), your consent for sensitive religious-belief data — given when you choose to use the app and log your reading, and withdrawable by deleting that data or your account — and our legitimate interest in keeping the service secure and working.

How long we keep it

We keep your data for as long as your account is active. When you delete your account, we remove your personal reading history and account details from active systems, with limited residual copies in encrypted backups that age out on a rolling basis.

Your rights

You can ask us to access, correct, export, or delete your data, and to restrict or object to certain processing. Because the data is sensitive, we'd rather honor these quickly than make you fight for them — email hello@scripturevoyage.com and we'll respond. Depending on where you live, you may also have the right to complain to a data protection authority.

Security

Connections are encrypted with HTTPS, credentials are hashed, and the database is not exposed to the public internet. No system is perfectly secure, but we work to keep your information safe and to limit what we hold in the first place.

Children

Scripture Voyage isn't directed to children under 13, and we don't knowingly collect their personal information. If you believe a child has given us data, contact us and we'll delete it.

Changes

We may update this policy as the app evolves. Significant changes will be reflected in the "last updated" date above, and we'll make a reasonable effort to notify you of material changes.

Contact

Questions, requests, or concerns about privacy? Email hello@scripturevoyage.com.