Privacy Policy

Last updated: October 21, 2026

Word Ministries ("we", "our", or "us") operates the Word Ministries mobile apps (iPhone, iPad and Android) and website (the "Service"). This page informs you of our policies regarding the collection, use, and disclosure of personal data when you use our Service.

You can read the Bible, listen to narration and watch teachings without creating an account. An account is only needed to sync your study data and to contribute content.

In short: we show no ads and we do not sell your data. Signing in is optional, and you can delete your account from inside the app. Some Bible text, maps and fonts are loaded straight from other companies' servers, and those companies can see your IP address when that happens. Everything that does this is listed under Requests that go straight from your device.

Information We Collect

We collect only what the features you use require:

• Account data: If you sign in with Google or Apple, we receive your name, email address, and (for Google) profile picture. If you use Sign in with Apple you can choose to hide your email, in which case we receive Apple's private relay address instead. This is used to identify your account.
• Study data: Your highlights, notes, bookmarks, reading history and reading-plan progress. These are saved on your device and, if you are signed in, synced to your account.
• Notification data: If you allow notifications, we store a device token (Firebase Cloud Messaging) and your notification preferences so we can tell you about new teachings.
• Usage and performance data: We use Firebase Analytics and Firebase Performance to collect usage statistics (such as screens viewed), app version, device model, operating system and app-performance measurements. This helps us find and fix problems. It is not used to identify you personally.
• Contributor data: If you apply to be a contributor, we store your contributor profile and the pictures and text you submit, together with review decisions.
• Feedback and messages: Anything you send us through the in-app contact or feedback forms.
• iPhone app sign-up (optional): If you leave your email to hear when WORD is on the App Store, we store that email, your language, the page and share link you came from, whether you asked to join the beta and how the invitation is going, and the time you agreed. If you ask to join the iPhone beta, we give your email to Apple so Apple can email you a TestFlight invitation. To limit abuse we count sign-ups per network address for a few hours, using a scrambled form of the address that is deleted automatically.
• Location (optional): In the iPhone and Android apps, if you allow it, the app uses your approximate location (about city level) to show local weather in the home header. We do not store it on our servers. To get the weather, your device sends those coordinates to OpenWeatherMap, and your phone's built-in map service (Apple or Google) turns them into a city name. If you do not allow location, if it is unavailable, or if you use the website (which never asks for your location), the app instead asks ipapi.co for an approximate location from your IP address, and sends the coordinates ipapi.co returns to OpenWeatherMap.
• Bible text, search and audio requests: When you read a Bible version, search it or play narration, the app asks for the passage, search words or recording you chose. See Where Bible text and audio come from for who receives these requests. Our servers' logs record the IP address and what was requested for some of them (ESV, API.Bible and Bible Brain text and search requests).
• Photos: The app asks for photo library access to save a verse picture when you choose Save Image. Administrators also use it to choose pictures to upload; ordinary readers cannot upload.

How We Use Your Information

• To provide and maintain the Service, including syncing your study data across devices
• To send teaching notifications you have chosen to receive
• To display local weather
• To review and credit contributor submissions
• To understand how the app is used and to improve its stability and speed
• To authenticate administrative users
• To tell you when the WORD iPhone app is available and, if you asked, to invite you to the iPhone beta

Data Storage

Your data is stored securely using Google Firebase infrastructure, which is hosted in the United States. Firebase complies with industry-standard security practices including encryption at rest and in transit.

Where Bible text and audio come from

Different Bibles and recordings reach the app in different ways.

Through our servers. For these, your device talks only to us. The company that supplies the text or audio receives the request from our server, so it does not receive your IP address or your device details:

• ESV text and ESV search, from Crossway's ESV API.
• API.Bible: NIV, NLT, NKJV and the Kirundi Bible, and searching them.
• Bible Brain (Faith Comes By Hearing): the text of some Bibles, and recorded narration. Audio is streamed to you through our servers.
• KJV narration recorded by Firefighters for Christ, streamed to you through our servers.

Our servers do receive your IP address and the passage, search words or recording you asked for, and our server logs (on Google Cloud) record the IP address and the request for ESV, API.Bible and Bible Brain text and search requests. We also keep a copy of chapters from API.Bible and Bible Brain in our database so the provider is not asked again for the same chapter. Those copies are not tied to you or your account.

Requests that go straight from your device

For the following, your phone or browser contacts the company directly. We do not see these requests, and the company receives your IP address and what was asked for:

• YouVersion Platform (api.youversion.com): the text of the Malagasy Bible 1865 and the Ibibio Contemporary Bible 2025. Your device asks YouVersion for the chapter you are reading and sends our YouVersion app key with the request. YouVersion therefore receives your IP address and the chapters you request. The app keeps this text in memory only; it is not saved on our servers or in the app's offline store.
• bible.helloao.org (Free Use Bible API): the text of some public-domain and openly licensed Bibles, and the cross-references and commentaries in the Study panel.
• OpenWeatherMap receives your approximate coordinates, and ipapi.co receives your IP address when your location is not used (see Location above).
• Digital Atlas of the Roman Empire (dh.gu.se, University of Gothenburg): the map pictures (tiles) shown when you open the Places map in Study. It receives the map areas you view.
• Google Fonts: the apps download some fonts from Google when they are first needed.
• Google connectivity check: the iPhone and Android apps send a small request to Google (connectivitycheck.gstatic.com) to find out whether you are online.
• YouTube: teaching videos play in YouTube's privacy-enhanced player (youtube-nocookie.com), and video thumbnails load from YouTube's image servers. They are subject to Google's and YouTube's privacy policies.
• Google Analytics: the website loads Google's tag (Google Tag Manager) to count visits. The apps use Firebase Analytics, described above.

Other Third-Party Services

We also use these services to run the Service. Each has its own privacy policy.

• Google Firebase: Authentication, database, file storage, cloud functions, notifications (Cloud Messaging), analytics, performance monitoring and app integrity checks (App Check).
• Google Sign-In and Sign in with Apple: Optional account authentication.
• Apple and Google map services: your phone's built-in geocoder turns coordinates into a city name for the weather.
• OpenAI: study notes are written by AI. When you open study notes for a verse that has none yet, the app sends the verse reference and text to our server, which asks OpenAI to write them. The notes are labelled as AI-generated, are saved, and are shown to everyone who opens that verse. Your account details are not sent. For NIV, NLT, NKJV and the YouVersion Bibles, the KJV text is sent instead of the text you are reading.
• Fish Audio: when you play narration of a Picture Verse that has not been recorded yet, our server sends the verse text to Fish Audio to make the audio, which is then saved and reused. To limit abuse, narration requests are counted per network address using a scrambled form of the address.
• Google Cast: If you cast to a TV, Cast discovers devices on your local Wi-Fi network.
• Apple TestFlight: If you ask to join the iPhone beta, your email is shared with Apple to send you the invitation.
• Email delivery: If you left your email to hear when WORD is on the App Store, the one email telling you so is sent through our email provider, which receives your email address for that purpose only.

Data Sharing

We do not sell, trade, or rent your personal information, and we show no ads. The services under "Other Third-Party Services" process data on our behalf to run the Service. The companies under "Requests that go straight from your device" receive your IP address directly when your device contacts them. We also share data where required by law. Contributor pictures you submit and we approve are published in the app and may show the contributor name you chose.

Children's Privacy

The Service is intended for users aged 13 and over and is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has given us personal information, contact us and we will delete it.

Your Rights

You have the right to:

• Access the personal data we hold about you
• Correct your data
• Delete your account and associated data (see below)
• Turn off notifications in the app's notification settings or your device settings
• Revoke location access through your device settings

Delete Your Account

You can delete your account in two ways:

• In the app: open the account menu, choose Delete account and confirm.
• Without the app: follow the steps on our Delete your account page, or email sean@gam.co.za from the address on your account.

Deleting your account removes your account, study data, notification tokens and contributor profile. The Delete your account page lists what is removed and what we may keep.

Data Retention

We keep your account data for as long as your account is active. When you ask us to delete your account, we remove your data within 30 days, except for the limited records described on the Delete your account page. Analytics data is retained for the period set in Firebase Analytics and is not linked to your name or email. Our server logs, which record IP addresses with some Bible text requests, are kept for the period set in our Google Cloud logging settings. We keep iPhone sign-up emails until we have told you the app is on the App Store, then delete them within 90 days. To be removed sooner, email us.

Security

We take the security of your data seriously and use industry-standard measures to protect it. However, no method of transmission over the Internet is 100% secure.

Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any changes by posting the new Privacy Policy on this page and updating the "Last updated" date.

Contact Us

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

• Email: sean@gam.co.za
• Website: word-ministries.com
• Android app: Google Play — Word Ministries

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