Privacy Policy
In short. We do not sell your personal data. We do not show ads and we do not share your data with advertisers. Your prayer journal and your Prayer Circle conversations are encrypted on your iPhone before they reach our servers, so we cannot read them.
1. Who we are and what this policy covers
Avela is a Bible, prayer and Prayer Circles app for iPhone, together with the website avelabible.com (together, the "Services"). The Services are operated by individual entrepreneur Illia Tymoshenko (ФОП Тимошенко Ілля), taxpayer number 3366204955, 3 Hoholia St, Dnipro, Ukraine ("Avela", "we", "us"). We are the controller of the personal data described here.
This policy explains what personal data we collect when you use the Services, why we collect it, who we share it with, and the choices and rights you have. "Personal data" means any information that identifies you or can reasonably be linked to you. By using the Services you confirm that you have read this policy. If you do not agree with it, please do not use the Services.
2. Personal data we collect
Data that stays on your iPhone
Much of Avela works without an account. Your reading progress, highlights, bookmarks, notes, collections, settings and journal entries are stored on your device. While they stay only on your device, we do not receive them.
Data you give us
| Category | Examples | Why we use it |
|---|---|---|
| Account data | An identifier from Sign in with Apple, and the name and email address Apple shares with us (Apple may give us a private relay address instead of your real one) | To create your account and let you use Prayer Circles, the Community feed and sync |
| Profile data | Display name and the Christian tradition you choose (Protestant, Catholic or Orthodox) | To show your name to people you pray with and to choose texts that fit your tradition |
| Prayer journal (if you turn on sync) | Your journal entries | To keep your journal across devices. Entries are encrypted on your device; we store only encrypted data and cannot read it |
| Prayer Circle content | Prayer requests, messages and shared verses in a circle | To deliver them to circle members. They are encrypted on your device with keys held by circle members; we cannot read them |
| Community feed content | Posts, replies and "I prayed" marks you publish in the Community feed | To show them to other Avela users. These are not end-to-end encrypted because they are meant to be read by the community and checked for abuse |
| Reports and blocks | Who you reported or blocked and why | To keep the community safe and to act on abuse |
| Support messages | Emails you send to info@avelabible.com | To answer you and fix problems |
Your religious beliefs and the content of your prayers can be sensitive data. We collect them only because you choose to enter them, and we use them only to provide the Services to you. You can delete them at any time.
Data collected automatically
- Subscription status. Purchases are processed by Apple. We receive confirmation of your subscription (product, dates, status), not your card details.
- Notification tokens. If you allow notifications, we store a device token so we can tell you, for example, that someone prayed for you.
- Technical data. Our hosting providers keep short-lived server logs (IP address, time, request) for security and to fix errors.
The app currently has no advertising SDKs and no third-party analytics. If we add analytics to the app, we will update this policy first.
3. Why we use personal data
- To provide the Services: accounts, sync, Prayer Circles, the Community feed, notifications and support (performance of our agreement with you).
- To process and check subscriptions (performance of our agreement with you).
- To keep the Services safe: preventing spam, fraud and abuse, reviewing reports, moderating the Community feed (our legitimate interest and legal obligations).
- To improve the Services using aggregated statistics, including website analytics (your consent where the law requires it, otherwise our legitimate interest).
- To meet legal obligations and enforce our Terms of Use.
- Sensitive data such as prayers and religious affiliation are processed on the basis of your explicit consent, which you give by entering them and can withdraw by deleting them.
We do not use your data for advertising, and we do not make decisions about you that have legal or similarly significant effects based solely on automated processing.
4. Who we share data with
We do not sell or rent personal data. We share it only with:
- Service providers that process data on our behalf under contract: Supabase (database and accounts, servers in Frankfurt, Germany), Cloudflare (website hosting and email routing), Google (website analytics through Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager, and the mailbox where support email is delivered), Apple (Sign in with Apple, payments, push notifications).
- Other users, in the way you choose: circle members see what you post in a circle; Community feed posts are visible to other Avela users.
- Authorities, when required by law or to protect the rights, property or safety of our users, the public or us.
- A successor, if the Services are transferred as part of a sale or reorganisation. We will tell you before your data becomes subject to a different policy.
Some providers are located outside your country, including in the United States. Where required, transfers rely on adequacy decisions or standard contractual clauses.
5. Security and retention
We use encryption in transit, encryption on your device for journal and circle content, access controls on our database and the principle of least privilege. No system is completely secure, so please keep your iPhone and Apple ID protected.
We keep personal data while your account is active. When you delete your account, we delete your account data, encrypted journal copies, circle memberships and Community posts within 30 days, except where we must keep a record by law or to resolve a dispute. Server logs are kept for no more than 30 days. Google Analytics data is kept for 14 months. Data stored only on your iPhone is deleted when you delete it in the app or remove the app.
6. Children
The Services are not intended for children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect their personal data. If you are under the age of majority where you live, use the Services only with the permission of a parent or guardian. If you believe a child has given us personal data, write to us and we will delete it.
7. Your rights and choices
Depending on where you live (including under the GDPR, UK GDPR, Ukrainian law and US state privacy laws), you may have the right to:
- access the personal data we hold about you and receive a copy;
- correct inaccurate data;
- delete your data;
- restrict or object to certain processing;
- withdraw consent at any time, without affecting earlier processing;
- receive your data in a portable format;
- complain to a data protection authority, such as the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights or the authority in your country.
You can delete data on your iPhone from Settings in the app. To use any other right, write to info@avelabible.com from the email linked to your account. We may need to confirm your identity and will answer within 30 days. We will not treat you differently for using your rights. We do not sell or share personal data for cross-context behavioural advertising, so there is nothing to opt out of.
8. Changes to this policy
We may update this policy as the Services change. We will post the new version here with a new effective date and, for material changes, tell you in the app or by email before they take effect.
9. Contact
Individual entrepreneur Illia Tymoshenko (ФОП Тимошенко Ілля)
3 Hoholia St, Dnipro, Ukraine
Email: info@avelabible.com