FaithHour Privacy Policy

Last updated September 7, 2026

This policy describes how METAVIBE PTE. LTD. (“we”, “us”) collects and uses information in the FaithHour iOS app. FaithHour is a Catholic news reader and parish helper. It does not have accounts, advertising, or analytics SDKs.

What FaithHour is

FaithHour shows liturgical context for the day, summarizes public RSS/Atom feeds from whitelisted Catholic publishers, and links you to the original article. It can remind you of the Angelus locally, push a morning and evening briefing if you opt in, help you find nearby Catholic churches, and host a parish message board. We store article titles, summaries, and canonical URLs. We do not host full articles, the lectionary, or media files.

Information we collect

We collect only what the features you use need:

• Approximate / precise location (optional). If you tap “Find churches near me,” iOS location is used on the device to search Apple Maps and OpenStreetMap Overpass for nearby Catholic churches. Your coordinates are not sent to FaithHour servers and are never attached to a parish board post. You can search a city name instead and keep location off.
• Device identifier. The app creates a random device ID on first launch and stores it on the device. We receive that ID when you register for briefing push notifications or when you read, post, or delete parish board messages. It lets us send the briefing you asked for and lets you delete your own posts. It is not an advertising identifier.
• Push token (optional). If you turn on “Morning and evening hours,” we send Apple your APNs device token together with the device ID so we can deliver the briefing. Turning the setting off stops future briefing pushes.
• Parish board content. Posts include the text you type, an optional display name (or “Parishioner”), the parish you selected, your device ID, and a timestamp. Other people who open that parish board can read the post.
• Name (optional). A display name you enter during onboarding stays on the device unless you post to a parish board, in which case that name is sent with the post.

Likes, saves, recently read stories, prayer intentions, diocese, rite preference, and reading streak stay on your device. They are used only on-device to rank the stories already in the public feed. We do not upload them.

What we do not collect

• No account, email, or password.
• No payment or purchase data.
• No advertising identifier (IDFA) and no App Tracking Transparency prompt.
• No third-party analytics, crash, or advertising SDKs.
• No precise location on our servers.

How we use information

We use collected information only for app functionality:

• Show nearby churches when you ask.
• Deliver morning and evening briefing notifications you enabled.
• Operate the parish board, including letting you delete your own messages.
• Keep the service secure and remove abusive board posts.

We do not sell personal information. We do not use it for advertising or tracking.

Sharing

• Apple. Map search uses Apple MapKit. Briefing notifications use Apple Push Notification service.
• OpenStreetMap Overpass operators. Nearby-church search may query Overpass with the map area you asked for.
• Other FaithHour users. Parish board messages are visible to people who open that parish in the app.
• Infrastructure. The app talks to our AWS-hosted API (currently in us-east-2) to load news, briefings, and parish boards.
• Legal. We may disclose information if required by law or to protect users and the service.

Publisher sites you open in Safari are governed by those publishers’ own policies. Daily readings open on the USCCB site; FaithHour does not host the lectionary.

Retention

• Device ID and APNs token are kept while briefing push is enabled, and otherwise as needed to operate the board.
• Parish board messages stay until you delete your own post or we remove it for abuse.
• News records are titles, summaries, and canonical links from public feeds, not your personal data.
• On-device preferences remain until you delete the app.

Your choices

• Decline location and search a city instead.
• Leave Angelus and briefing reminders off. Angelus reminders are scheduled only on the device.
• Do not post on a parish board if you do not want a display name or message stored.
• Delete your own board posts in the app.
• Delete the app to remove on-device data (likes, saves, intentions, local profile).

To delete a device ID / push registration or ask us to remove board posts associated with your device, email us at the address below and include the request.

Children

FaithHour is a general-audience Catholic news reader. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children for accounts or marketing. Do not post information that identifies a child on a parish board.

International users

We are a Singapore company. The API is hosted in the United States. If you use FaithHour, your device ID, optional push token, and any parish board posts you submit are processed there.

Changes

If this policy changes, we will update the date above. Continued use of FaithHour after an update means you accept the revised policy.

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