Catholic AI — Privacy Policy

1. About This Policy

This policy applies to the Catholic AI mobile application published by Appfide Private Limited ("Appfide," "we," "us," or "our"), a company incorporated under the laws of India with its registered office at XXI/152 Panadans, Cochin University Post, Ernakulam – 682022, Kerala, India.

It sits alongside our company-wide Privacy Policy, which continues to govern our website and our other apps. Where the two differ, this app-specific policy prevails for Catholic AI. Sections of the company policy that describe accounts, sign-in, profile data and web payment processing do not apply to Catholic AI, because the app has none of those things.

2. No Account, No Sign-In

Catholic AI does not have user accounts. You do not register, sign in, or give us your name, email address or phone number to use the app. We therefore hold no profile about you, and nothing you do in the app is attached to an identity.

3. Your Questions and Answers

When you ask a question, the text of that question is sent over an encrypted connection to our servers so that an answer can be generated and returned to you.

• We do not store them. Appfide does not retain your questions or the answers on our servers. They are processed only for as long as it takes to produce your answer.
• They are not linked to you. Questions are not associated with an account, a name, or an advertising identifier.
• A copy stays on your device. Your question history is saved locally on your device (and in your own private iCloud account, if you have iCloud enabled for the app) so that you can revisit past answers. You can delete any saved answer at any time from within the app.

4. Answers Are Generated by AI

Answers in Catholic AI are produced using artificial intelligence. To generate them, your question is shared with a third-party AI provider that acts as our processor under a data processing agreement. Under the terms that govern our use of that provider:

• Your questions are not used to train AI models. Data sent through the provider's business interface is excluded from model training by default.
• The provider may retain the content for up to 30 days solely to monitor for abuse and misuse of its service, after which it is deleted — unless a longer period is required by law.
• The provider is contractually bound to protect the content to a standard equivalent to that described in this policy, and may not use it for its own purposes.

Answers are generated automatically and may be incomplete or mistaken. Catholic AI is a companion for learning and reflection, not an official publication of the Holy See or of any diocese, and not a substitute for your parish priest. Every answer carries a Report button so you can flag one that is wrong or inappropriate; reports reach us by email and include the question and answer you are reporting.

5. Religious Belief Information

Catholic AI is a religious app, and the questions you ask can reveal your religious beliefs. Under the EU and UK General Data Protection Regulation this is a special category of personal data (Article 9), and comparable protections apply under India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023.

We process this information only on the basis of your explicit consent, which you give by choosing to submit a question, and only for the single purpose of answering it. We do not use it to profile you, to target advertising, or for any secondary purpose, and we do not sell it. You can withdraw your consent at any time by not submitting further questions and by deleting your saved history in the app.

6. Confession Tracker

The Confession Tracker is deliberately built so that we never see anything about your confessions.

• The content of a confession is never recorded, transmitted or stored — not by the app, and not by us. The app has no field in which to write one.
• Only the date you choose to record is saved, so the app can show how long it has been and remind you. That date is stored on your device only and is never sent to our servers.
• Access is protected by a passcode you set, which is stored on your device as a hashed value in the iOS Keychain. We cannot recover or read it.
• Reminders are scheduled locally on your device. You can erase all confession data from within the app at any time.

7. Daily Content

The Daily tab requests the day's verse, saints and Mass readings from our servers. These requests include your device's time-zone offset so the correct day is returned. They do not include an identifier for you.

8. Analytics, Crash Reporting and Advertising

Catholic AI includes Firebase (Analytics, Crashlytics, Performance Monitoring and Cloud Messaging) and the Meta (Facebook) SDK. These collect device and usage information such as device model, operating system version, app events, screens viewed, crash logs and performance metrics. This data is not linked to an account, because the app has none.

On iOS, the app asks for your permission through Apple's App Tracking Transparency prompt before any advertising identifier (IDFA) is used to measure advertising. If you decline, no advertising identifier is collected. You can change this at any time in Settings > Privacy & Security > Tracking.

Your questions, answers and confession data are never shared with analytics or advertising partners.

9. Subscriptions

Catholic AI Premium is an auto-renewing subscription sold through the Apple App Store. Apple processes the payment; we never receive your card details. We receive and store the transaction identifier and subscription status needed to unlock premium features and to verify that a subscription is genuine. You can manage or cancel a subscription at any time in your App Store account settings.

10. Data Retention

• Questions and answers: not retained by Appfide; up to 30 days by our AI processor for abuse monitoring only.
• Question history and confession dates: kept on your device until you delete them or remove the app.
• Subscription records: retained as long as required for financial and tax compliance.
• Analytics and crash data: as described in our company Privacy Policy.

11. Your Rights

Because Catholic AI holds no account and no identifiable profile, most of your data is already under your direct control: deleting a saved answer, erasing your confession data, or removing the app deletes it outright, and we hold no copy to return or erase.

Where you are entitled under applicable law to access, correct, erase, restrict or object to processing, to data portability, or to withdraw consent, contact us at [email protected]. We respond within 30 days, or sooner where the law requires it.

12. Children

Catholic AI is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal data from them. If you believe a child has provided us with personal data, contact [email protected] and we will delete it promptly.

13. International Transfers

Your information may be processed in countries other than your own, including India, the United States and the European Union, where our servers and processors operate. We rely on appropriate safeguards, including standard contractual clauses and data processing agreements, to protect it.

14. Changes

We may update this policy from time to time. Material changes will be posted here with a revised "Last updated" date.

15. Contact

Privacy enquiries: [email protected]
App support: [email protected]
Appfide Private Limited, XXI/152 Panadans, Cochin University Post, Ernakulam – 682022, Kerala, India.

See also our Terms & Conditions and Refund Policy.