Privacy Policy: Verse Gardens

Last updated: January 1, 2026 Effective date: January 1, 2026 App: Verse Gardens (Android) Provider / data controller: Verse Gardens ("we", "us", "our") Contact: versegardens@gmail.com

Verse Gardens is a daily Bible-verse and prayer app for Android. This Privacy Policy explains what data the app processes, why, who it is shared with, and the choices and rights you have. We built Verse Gardens to be privacy-first: there are no user accounts and no login, we run no custom server or backend, and most of your data never leaves your device.

Please read this together with our Terms of Service and our Google Play Data Safety summary.

1. Summary (the short version)

No account, no login, no Verse Gardens server. We never ask for your name, email, or a password.
Your prayers stay on your device. Prayer titles and text, the optional voice-prayer transcript, your bookmarks, and your streak/"garden" progress are stored only on your phone. We cannot read them.
Voice prayer is transcribed fully on-device. If you turn on voice prayer, speech-to-text runs entirely on your device. The audio is deleted immediately after transcription and is never uploaded.
We use a few standard third-party service providers to run the app: privacy-respecting analytics, crash reporting (off until you consent), advertising for non-subscribers (with a consent prompt where required), and subscription management. They receive only limited, non-identifying usage and diagnostic data, never your prayer content.
We never sell your data, and we do not use it for advertising profiling beyond what is needed to show ads.
Subscribers see no ads.
You are in control: you can delete your data in the app and by uninstalling, manage your ad-consent choice, and opt out of crash reporting.

2. Who we are

Verse Gardens is an independent app. For any privacy question, request, or complaint, contact us at versegardens@gmail.com. We are the data controller for the limited data described below.

3. The data we process, and what stays on your device

3.1 Data that stays on your device only (we never receive it)

The following is created by you and stored locally on your device, in the app's private, app-only storage. It is not sent to Verse Gardens, and we have no ability to access it:

Prayer titles and prayer text (what you write in a prayer).
Prayer voice transcript, if you enable voice prayer, the spoken words are converted to text on-device; see Section 4.
"God's answer" / reflection notes you add to a prayer.
Bookmarks (saved verses and saved prayers) and verse highlight notes.
Streak, "garden", and progress data (which days you prayed, blooms, answered-prayer counts).
Your settings (theme, reminder time, background-music choice, lock-screen verse, voice-prayer default, and similar preferences).

This local data may be included in your device's Android Auto Backup (Section 6), which is a Google-operated backup to your own Google account, not to us.

3.2 Data shared with the services that run the app

To operate, improve, monetize, and keep the app stable, the app relies on a small number of third-party service providers. They receive only the limited categories below. None of them receive your prayer content, transcript, reflection text, names, or email.

Data	What it is	Purpose	Shared with	Required / optional
Usage analytics	Limited, non-identifying statistics about how the app is used (for example, which features are opened), tied to an anonymous identifier. Never the text you wrote.	Understand and improve the app	A third-party analytics provider	Optional (consent-gated where required)
Crash & diagnostic data	Crash reports and basic app/device information, tied to an anonymous identifier (not your account or advertising ID).	Detect and fix crashes and bugs	A crash-reporting service	Optional, off by default until you consent
Advertising data	For non-subscribers, your device's advertising ID and standard ad-request signals. Subject to your consent (Section 5).	Show and measure ads that keep the app free	A third-party advertising network	Required to show ads to free users; subscribers see none
Purchase / subscription data	An anonymous identifier and your Plus subscription status. No name, email, or card data (the app store handles payment).	Unlock Plus and restore purchases across your devices	A subscription-management service and Google Play	Required if you subscribe
Notifications	Whether notifications are allowed, and that a reminder fired.	Deliver your daily verse reminder and streak nudges	On-device; analytics records only that it fired	Optional (you control notifications)

Each provider keeps this data for its own retention period (typically a number of months for analytics and crash data); aggregated, anonymized statistics may be kept longer. Subscription records persist while your subscription exists so purchases can be restored.

We do not collect: your name, email address (unless you choose to email us, see 3.3), phone number, contacts, precise or coarse location, photos/media/files, health data, SMS/call logs, or biometric identifiers. The app has no login, so there are no credentials.

3.3 If you contact us

If you email versegardens@gmail.com (for example, to ask a question or send feedback), we receive your email address and whatever you write, and we use it only to respond to you. In the app, a "Send feedback" action may open your email app pre-addressed to us; the message content is not logged by the app, and analytics records only that you tapped the feedback action.

4. Voice prayer (speech-to-text): fully on-device

Voice prayer is optional and off by default. If you turn it on and grant the microphone permission:

Speech-to-text runs entirely on your device using an on-device speech-to-text engine. The required language model is downloaded to your device once, on first use.
Your audio is never uploaded. It is processed locally and deleted immediately after it is transcribed. The app does not keep recordings.
The resulting transcript text is stored only on your device (in no-backup app storage while a session is in progress, then saved with the prayer locally). It is never sent to Verse Gardens and never included in analytics or crash reports.
If you deny the microphone permission, the app simply runs in silent mode (no microphone, no service).

You can revoke the microphone permission at any time in Android Settings.

5. Advertising and your consent

Verse Gardens is free, supported in part by ads shown to non-subscribers. Plus subscribers see no ads at all. We do not show ads on prayer screens, the share card, onboarding, the paywall, or the splash screen, and we never show ads in the first few days after install.

Ads are served by a third-party advertising network. To request and measure ads, it may use your device's advertising ID.
Where required (for example in the EEA, UK, and Switzerland), the app shows a consent form before personalized ads are served, so you can consent to or decline data use for advertising and, where applicable, choose non-personalized ads.
You can change or withdraw your ad-consent choice at any time from the app's settings (which re-opens the consent options), and you can reset or limit your advertising ID in Android Settings.

The advertising provider handles advertising data under its own policy (Section 8).

6. Backup: Android Auto Backup (to your Google account, not ours)

Your on-device data (prayers, bookmarks, streak/garden, settings) may be backed up via Android Auto Backup, a feature operated by Google:

The backup goes to your own Google account / Google Drive, not to any Verse Gardens server.
It is encrypted in transit, and on Android 9+ it is encrypted at rest using your device lock credentials, so Google cannot read it and neither can we.
It restores automatically when you reinstall or set up a new device with the same Google account.
You can turn Android backup off in your device settings, and the app marks scratch/temporary files (such as in-progress voice-prayer logs and audio) as excluded from backup.

We do not control Google's backup service; see Google's policies (Section 8).

7. Legal bases, analytics, and your choices

7.1 Why we are allowed to process this data (GDPR/UK GDPR)

Where the EU/UK GDPR applies, we rely on:

Legitimate interests, running, securing, and improving the app (e.g. crash diagnostics after you consent, aggregate usage analytics), balanced against your privacy.
Consent, for advertising data where consent is required (collected via the in-app consent form) and for crash reporting (which is off until you opt in). You may withdraw consent at any time.
Performance of a contract, processing your purchase/subscription so we can provide Plus.

7.2 Crash reporting is off until you consent

Crash reporting is disabled by default. Nothing is sent until you enable it (for example via a settings toggle). You can turn it off again at any time, which stops further uploads.

7.3 Analytics choices

Analytics is designed to never identify you: only limited, non-identifying usage statistics leave the device, tied to an anonymous identifier, never your prayer content, name, or email. Where required by law, analytics is gated behind your consent. You can also limit analytics through your device controls and by your ad-consent choice.

8. Third parties and their policies

We share data only with the third-party service providers strictly needed to run Verse Gardens. We do not sell your personal data, and we do not share it for cross-context behavioral advertising beyond the ad function described above.

We use providers in the following categories, each of which processes data under its own privacy policy:

Analytics, to understand how the app is used.
Crash reporting / diagnostics, off until you consent.
Advertising, ads for non-subscribers.
Subscription management, to process and restore your Plus subscription.
Platform services provided by Google as part of Android and Google Play (the app store, in-app billing, and your own device backup): https://policies.google.com/privacy

To ask which specific providers we currently use, contact versegardens@gmail.com. These companies act as our processors/service providers (or, for their own platform purposes, as independent controllers) and handle data under their own policies.

9. Data retention and deletion

On-device data (prayers, transcript, bookmarks, streak/garden, settings) is kept on your device until you delete it. Because there is no account or server, deleting your data means deleting it on the device:
- Use the in-app "Delete my data" action (in Settings) to erase your prayers and local data, and/or
- Uninstall the app, which removes its local data from the device.
- To also remove the device backup, turn off / delete the app's data in your Google account backup settings.
Analytics, crash, ad, and subscription data held by the providers is retained per their own policies (typically a number of months for analytics and crash data); aggregated/anonymized statistics may be kept longer. Subscription records persist while your subscription exists so purchases can be restored.

To exercise a deletion or access request involving these providers, contact versegardens@gmail.com and we will help route it (and act on what is within our control).

10. Your rights

Depending on where you live (e.g. EEA/UK under GDPR, California under CCPA/CPRA, and similar laws), you may have the right to:

Access the data we hold about you and obtain a copy.
Delete your data (see Section 9, for on-device data you can do this yourself in-app/by uninstalling).
Correct inaccurate data.
Object to or restrict certain processing, and withdraw consent (e.g. ad consent, crash reporting) at any time.
Data portability where applicable. You can export your prayers from the app (for example as a PDF), and your data already lives on your device.
Opt out of "sale"/"sharing" for advertising, we do not sell data; for advertising you can decline via the in-app consent prompt and your device advertising-ID controls.
Not be discriminated against for exercising these rights.

To make a request, email versegardens@gmail.com. Because we hold little to no directly identifying information about you, we may ask for the limited details needed to act on a request (for example, for a purchase issue, your Google Play order ID). EEA/UK users may also lodge a complaint with their local data protection authority.

11. Children's privacy

Verse Gardens is a general-audience app and is not directed to children under 13 (or the equivalent minimum age in your country). We do not knowingly collect personal data from children. If you believe a child has provided personal data to us, contact versegardens@gmail.com and we will take appropriate steps.

12. International data transfers

The providers we use may process data in countries other than yours, including the United States. Where required, such transfers rely on appropriate safeguards (such as the EU Standard Contractual Clauses) under the providers' own programs. See their policies (Section 8).

13. Security

We minimize risk by minimizing data: there is no account, no Verse Gardens server, and your sensitive content stays on your device. On-device data sits in the app's private storage; backups are encrypted by Android (Section 6); data sent to providers is transmitted over encrypted (HTTPS/TLS) connections. No method of storage or transmission is 100% secure, but we design the app to keep your most personal data local to you.

14. Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy as the app evolves or the law changes. We will update the "Last updated" date above and, for material changes, provide a more prominent notice (for example, in the app or on the listing). Continued use after an update means you accept the revised policy.

15. Contact

Verse Gardens Email: versegardens@gmail.com

If you have any question about this policy or your data, please reach out, we read every message.