Homewood Living Ministries app privacy policy
Effective 9 November 2026. This policy applies to the Homewood Living Ministries mobile app (“the app”) provided by Homewood Living Ministries (“Homewood”, “we”). Our website has its own privacy policy.
What we collect, and why
When you create an account and use the app, we store the following so the app can work:
| Information | Why |
|---|---|
| Email address and password (the password is stored only as a secure hash) | To create your account, sign you in, and send confirmation and password-reset emails |
| Display name and username; optionally a short personal statement and a profile photo | To show your profile in the app |
| Member type (resident, employee or community member), campus and learning level | So we can share announcements and content suited to you |
| Whether you attend a local church, and its name (optional; you may choose “prefer not to say”) | To understand and support the Homewood community. We treat this as sensitive. |
| Records of the privacy promises and Standards of Conduct you agreed to, with the version and time | To keep a record of your consent |
| Which daily devotionals you have marked as read, and when | To show your progress |
| Basic technical records kept by our hosting provider, such as sign-in times and IP addresses | For security and to prevent abuse |
| Your friends, friend requests, the invite codes you create, whether other members can find you, and people you block | So you can connect with people you know. Only you and the other person see a friendship; Homewood staff don’t see friend lists in Homewood’s staff tools. |
| Messages you send to friends | To deliver them. They’re for you and your friend. Homewood staff can’t read them in Homewood’s staff tools; the few people who maintain the server could technically access stored data. If someone reports a message, a copy goes into the report so staff can help, and it stays there even if the message is deleted. |
| Messages you send in group conversations, the groups you’re in, and the invitations you send or receive | To deliver them to the group. Everyone in a group sees your name and what you write there. Homewood staff can’t read them in Homewood’s staff tools; the few people who maintain the server could technically access stored data. If someone reports a message, a copy of that one message goes into the report, and Homewood can remove it or close the group. |
| Reading groups you start or join: the group’s plan and start date, the comments you post on each day, your progress in the group, and whether you share it | So you can read a plan together. Members of the group see your name and your comments, and see which days you’ve completed only if you choose to share. Your progress in a group is kept on Homewood’s server while you’re in it and deleted when you leave. Homewood staff can’t see comments or progress in Homewood’s staff tools, except a comment someone reports; the few people who maintain the server could technically access stored data. |
| Events you register for, any guests you bring, and your place on a waiting list | To hold your place and let the organisers plan. The organisers see the list of who’s coming. |
| Bible-study groups you join, and your place on a waiting list | To hold your place. The group’s leaders and Homewood staff see who has joined. |
| Reports you send about a concern, and their status | So Homewood staff can look into them. Staff who handle reports see them. |
| Privacy requests you send from the app (what the request is about, any details you add, and its status), and a record each time you make a copy of your data and how it ended, as your phone reports it (the date only; not the copy) | So Homewood can act on them. Staff who handle privacy requests see them with your name and account email; you see each request’s status in the app. |
| Whether you’ve opened an announcement | To show which announcements you’ve read. Staff see only how many people opened an announcement. |
| A request to remove a photo from an album | So staff can review it and take the photo down |
| Photos you share to a Homewood album, with the description you write, who took the photo, who is in it, and whether to show your name with it (off unless you choose it) | So the photo can appear in the album. Homewood staff review each photo before anyone else can see it; until then only you and staff who review photos can see it. You can remove a photo you shared at any time. |
| If you turn on backup: a private copy of your journal, highlights, saved verses, Bible-reading days and reading-plan progress | So you don’t lose them with your phone. See “Your private backup” below. |
What stays on your phone
Your journal entries, Bible highlights and notes, saved items, reading progress and app preferences are stored on your phone. They stay only on your phone unless you turn on backup. Read-aloud uses your phone’s built-in voice.
Reminders. If you turn on a daily reminder, or a reminder for an event you’re attending, it is scheduled on your phone. Nothing is sent from our servers, and we don’t receive your reminder choices. Reminders are off until you turn one on, and your phone asks your permission first.
Camera. If you scan a friend’s invite code, the app uses your camera only while the scanner is open, and only after you allow it. It reads the code; no picture is taken or kept.
Photos on your phone. The app opens your photo library only when you choose a profile photo or a photo to share, and only the photo you pick is used.
Your private backup
Backup is off until you turn it on in Settings. With backup on, a private copy of your journal, highlights, saved verses, Bible-reading days and reading-plan progress is kept on Homewood’s secure server, so you don’t lose them with your phone. Homewood staff can’t see it in the app’s staff tools. The few people who maintain the server could technically access it. You can turn backup off at any time and delete the server copy.
What we don’t do
- We don’t sell your personal information or share it for advertising.
- Homewood doesn’t place ads in the app, and doesn’t add analytics or advertising tracking of its own. Videos play inside the app in YouTube’s or Vimeo’s own player; that service may show ads in its player and may use advertising or tracking technologies under its own privacy policy. On Android, the QR-code scanner uses Google’s ML Kit, which sends Google diagnostic and usage information.
- We don’t use your information to track you across other apps or websites.
Who can see your information
- Homewood staff can see your profile (name, username, photo, campus, member type, learning level and what you wrote about yourself), your account status and the agreements you’ve accepted, to support you and keep the community safe. Only staff who need it can see your email address. Staff can’t see anything stored only on your phone.
- Our hosting provider, Supabase, stores the app’s data on our behalf in the United States (Amazon Web Services, US West, Oregon). It processes the data only to provide the service. Sign-in and password-reset emails are sent through Resend, an email delivery service.
- Videos from YouTube or Vimeo play inside the app in that service’s own player; other videos and audio open in the service that hosts them or in your browser. The service’s own privacy policy applies when its player or site is used. YouTube videos play through YouTube API Services. When one plays, YouTube and Google may place or read cookies or similar technologies on your phone, and the Google Privacy Policy (https://policies.google.com/privacy) applies.
- We may disclose information if the law requires it.
Getting a copy of your information
In the app, go to Settings → Get a copy of my data. The app makes one file with a copy of the information the app and Homewood’s server can show you about your account (including your messages and your private backup, if you turned it on) and what the app keeps on your phone. It isn’t everything Homewood holds: the screen and the file list what is left out (for example your password and sign-in details, other people’s private information and Homewood’s internal records). Homewood records that you made a copy and how it ended (saved, shared or downloaded, as your phone reports it), but doesn’t keep the copy. If you can’t use the app, contact us (below) and ask for a copy. We’ll write to the email address on your account to confirm the request, and send the copy to that address only after you reply. Staff can send what Homewood’s records hold about you, but not your journal, private backup, church answers, messages or friends, which staff can’t see in Homewood’s tools.
Keeping and deleting your information
We keep your account information until you delete your account.
To delete your account: in the app, tap your profile picture, then Settings → Delete account. Enter your password, type DELETE, and confirm. When you confirm, your account is deleted from Homewood’s database and you can’t sign in to it again. It can’t be recovered in the app.
What is deleted
- Your account and sign-in
- Your profile, photo, campus and church details
- Photos you shared to Homewood albums, including any still waiting for review
- Your privacy and conduct agreements
- Your record of devotionals you’ve read
- Your journal, highlights, notes and saved items: on this phone, and on Homewood’s server if you turned on backup
- Your reading-plan progress: on this phone, on Homewood’s server if you turned on backup, and in any reading group you were in
- Your event registrations, group memberships, blocks and inbox
- Your friends, friend requests, invite codes, and the messages you sent
- Your comments in reading groups
What stays in our database
- Reports you made, and Homewood’s notes on them, exactly as written, including any names in them.
- Reports other members made about you, and any copy of a message of yours that was reported.
- Privacy requests and account-deletion requests, as written, including any name and contact details given with them.
- Records of actions on your account (for example, that it was deleted), which keep your former account number, an internal code that can connect these records to each other.
- Announcements Homewood sent you, in Homewood’s sent records.
- Messages other people sent you, in their conversation with you (shown to them as “A deleted member”), and messages other members sent in groups you were in.
- Comments other members posted in reading groups you were in, and any copy of a comment of yours that was reported.
- Devotionals and other content Homewood publishes. If any of it names you, ask Homewood to review it.
The link between these records and your account is removed, but what is written in them, and your former account number, can still identify you.
Other copies
- Homewood’s daily database backups keep a copy for 7 days.
- Our hosting provider’s service logs may record your account’s activity, for as long as the provider keeps them.
- Emails Homewood sent you stay in your email inbox.
- Lists or exports that Homewood staff saved before your deletion (for example an event sign-in sheet) stay on their computers until they delete them.
- If you used Homewood on another phone, its copy stays on that phone until you delete the app there.
- Anyone who saved a copy of a photo while it was shared in an album keeps that copy.
If you can no longer sign in, contact us (below) and we will help.
Security
Information is encrypted in transit (HTTPS). Access to stored data is limited by account and by staff role.
Children
The app is intended for adults. It is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect information from them.
Changes
If we make a significant change to this policy, the app will ask you to review and accept the new version.
Contact
Michael Kolias, Homewood Living Ministries, 16107 Elliott Parkway, Williamsport, MD 21795.
Contact us: https://homewoodlivingministries.com/contact-us or mkolias@hmwd.org.