Privacy Policy

Sow is a Bible devotional and journaling app designed to help you grow in faith through daily scripture reading, reflection, and prayer. Your privacy is important to us, and we are committed to protecting your personal information.

Account Information

When you sign in to Sow, we collect:

• Sign in with Apple: Your Apple ID user identifier and email address (if you choose to share it)
• Sign in with Google: Your Google account identifier, email address, and display name

This information is used solely for authentication and to provide a personalized experience.

Devotional Content

Sow stores the following information on your device:

• Devotional Entries: Your personal reflections, prayers, and notes
• Reading Progress: Scripture passages you've read and completion dates
• App Preferences: Bible translation selection and other app settings
• Voice Recordings: Audio recordings of your prayers (stored locally on device)

Analytics Data

To improve the app experience and understand how features are used, we collect anonymous analytics data through PostHog, including:

• Feature Usage Events: Which features you use (e.g., starting a devotional, viewing a chapter, sending a chat message) — we track event names and metadata such as entry type, Bible translation, and step completed, but never the content of your entries
• Device Information: Device model, operating system version, app version, and build number (collected automatically by the analytics SDK)
• Subscription Status: Whether you are a free or Plus user
• Rate Limiting Counts: Anonymous usage counts to enforce daily limits on certain features

We do not track or log the content of your devotional entries, prayers, personal reflections, or chat messages on our analytics servers. We do not track you across other apps or websites. Analytics data is not used for advertising.

Information collected by Sow is used to:

• Authenticate your identity and secure your account
• Provide the devotional experience and track your spiritual growth
• Sync your data across your Apple devices via Apple CloudKit
• Maintain your app preferences and reading history
• Understand feature usage to improve the app experience
• Enforce usage limits to ensure service availability for all users

Your data is stored:

• Locally: On your device using Core Data
• Cloud Sync: Via Apple CloudKit to sync across your devices signed in with the same Apple ID (available to all users)
• Authentication Tokens: Securely stored in your device's Keychain
• Scripture Content: Provided by API.Bible in accordance with their Fair Use Management System (FUMS)

Sow includes an AI chat assistant to help you explore Scripture and deepen your faith. When you use the chat feature:

• What We Send: Your chat messages and conversation context are sent to OpenAI's servers for processing
• What We Don't Send: Your saved devotional entries, prayers, and personal reflections are never sent to AI services unless you explicitly include them in a chat message
• Data Retention: OpenAI processes your messages to generate responses but does not use API data to train their models (per OpenAI's API data usage policy)
• No Persistent Storage: Chat conversations are stored only on your device and are not saved on our servers

The AI assistant is designed to provide Scripture-based guidance and should not be considered a substitute for professional counseling or pastoral care.

Sow offers optional voice prayer recording:

• Microphone Access: Required only if you choose to record voice prayers
• Audio Storage: Voice recordings are stored locally on your device and synced via CloudKit
• Transcription: If you choose to transcribe your recordings, audio is sent to OpenAI's Whisper service for processing

You can deny microphone access and still use all other app features.

We do not sell or transfer your personal information to third parties for marketing or advertising purposes. Your devotional entries and personal data remain private to you.

Data is shared with third-party services only as necessary to provide app functionality, as described below.

Sow uses the following third-party services:

• Apple CloudKit: For syncing data across devices (governed by Apple's Privacy Policy)
• Apple Sign In: For authentication (governed by Apple's Privacy Policy)
• Google Sign In: For authentication (governed by Google's Privacy Policy)
• API.Bible: For scripture content (governed by their privacy policy and FUMS compliance)
• OpenAI: For AI chat responses and voice transcription (governed by OpenAI's Privacy Policy)
• PostHog: For anonymous product analytics and feature usage tracking (governed by PostHog's Privacy Policy). Data is hosted in the United States.
• Cloudflare: Our backend API runs on Cloudflare Workers to securely proxy requests between the app and third-party services (governed by Cloudflare's Privacy Policy)

Your data security is protected by:

• Apple's CloudKit encryption and security measures
• Secure token storage in iOS Keychain
• Local device security (Face ID, Touch ID, device passcode)
• HTTPS encryption for all network communications
• JWT-based authentication for all API requests

Your data is retained as follows:

• Devotional Content: Stored on your device until you delete it or remove the app. iCloud data persists until deleted through iCloud settings.
• Authentication Sessions: Active for 90 days, refreshable with app use
• Rate Limiting Counts: Reset daily
• Analytics Data: Anonymous usage events are retained by PostHog according to their data retention policies. If you opt out of analytics, no further data is collected.

You have the right to:

• Access your data through the app's Archive feature
• Delete individual entries within the app, or delete all local data by uninstalling the app
• Manage or delete iCloud data through your Apple ID > iCloud settings
• Opt out of analytics by toggling off "Share Usage Data" in the app's Profile settings — this immediately stops all analytics collection
• Revoke app access through your Apple ID or Google account settings
• Deny microphone permissions while still using other app features

To request complete account deletion, including any server-side session data, contact us at eden.devotional@gmail.com.

Sow does not sell, rent, or share your personal information with third parties for their marketing or advertising purposes. We do not participate in cross-app or cross-site tracking. We do not respond to Do Not Track browser signals, as our analytics are limited to in-app usage and do not track users across other apps or websites.

Sow does not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. The app is designed for general audiences interested in Bible study and devotional practices. If you believe a child under 13 has provided us with personal information, please contact us.

We may update this privacy policy from time to time. Any changes will be posted on this page with an updated revision date. We encourage you to review this policy periodically.