Privacy Policy

The Linked Bible

Effective date: July 2, 2026

The Linked Bible ("the app," "we," "us") is built by The Linked Bible, LLC, a company based in the United States. This policy explains what information the app handles, what stays on your device, what leaves it, and the choices you have. We have tried to write it in plain English.

The short version: The Linked Bible does not show ads, does not use advertising trackers, and does not sell your personal information. You can use the app without an account, and most of what you do stays on your device. If you create an account, connect with your church, or give to your church through the app, this policy explains exactly what each of those adds.

1. Using the app without an account

You never need an account to read and study. Without one, the following is stored only on your phone or tablet and is not uploaded to us or anyone else:

• Your profile name and photo. The photo never leaves your device. (Your first name can accompany a church search or recommendation, described in section 5.)
• Your study data. Highlights, notes, bookmarks, reading history, and reading streaks.
• Your settings. Font, theme, text size, preferred translation, and similar preferences.
• Downloaded content. Bible text, audio, and study content cached so the app works offline.

If you delete the app without ever creating an account, this information is deleted with it. We have no copy.

2. Accounts and sync

You can optionally create an account by signing in with Apple or Google. When you do, we receive and store:

• Your name and email address (or Apple's private relay address if you choose "Hide My Email"), and a sign-in identifier from Apple or Google. We do not receive your Apple or Google password.
• Your synced study data. Your highlights, notes, bookmarks, reading progress, and profile are stored on our servers so they can sync across your devices and survive a lost phone.

Your profile name may appear alongside things you choose to share or contribute inside the app (for example, attribution on content you share with your church community). We do not show your name to anyone in connection with your private study data.

You can delete your account in the app's settings. Deleting your account permanently deletes your synced data from our servers, except where the law requires us to keep something (for example, giving records, described in section 4).

3. Church communities

The Linked Bible lets churches create their own space in the app. If you connect to your church, the app takes on that church's branding and content, and the following applies:

• What your church can see. Connecting shares your profile name with your church, and gives your church's leaders aggregate and individual engagement information about their community, such as reading activity, plan participation, and feature usage within their church space. We show you a clear consent screen before you connect, and connecting is always your choice.
• Which church you connect to says something about your beliefs. We treat your church connection as sensitive information: we ask for your explicit consent before creating it, we use it only to provide the church community features, and we never sell it or share it beyond your church.
• Your church is responsible for its own use of this information. Churches receive it to minister to their congregation. Their use of it outside the app is governed by their own practices, so ask your church leaders if you have questions about how they use it.
• Disconnecting. You can leave a church community at any time in the app. After you disconnect, we stop sharing your activity with that church.

4. Giving

If your church has enabled giving, you can donate to your church through the app:

• Payments are handled by a dedicated third-party payment processor. Your card or bank details go directly to the processor over an encrypted connection. We never see or store your full card number. The processor's own privacy policy applies to the payment itself.
• Donations go to your church, not to us. We are the software; your gift is between you and your church.
• What we and your church keep. Your church receives your name, donation amount, and date so it can thank you and provide giving statements for tax purposes. We keep transaction records (not card numbers) as required for accounting, fraud prevention, and legal compliance, and these are retained even if you later delete your account, because the law requires it.

5. Church search and recommendations

• Search terms. When you search for a church, the search text and your general area (city and state, if you shared it) are included in our usage analytics, along with the first name from your profile if you have set one. We use this to learn which churches people are looking for.
• Recommending your church. If you choose to recommend The Linked Bible to your pastor, the app shows a clearly labeled consent toggle. Only if you turn it on do we receive the details you entered (your name, the church name, the pastor's name, and the church website) so our team can follow up with that church. If you leave it off, we receive nothing from the form.

6. Usage analytics

To understand which features are useful and keep the app working well, the app sends us usage events, for example: the app was opened, a chapter of John was read, the search feature was used, a verse was highlighted.

• Without an account, events are tagged with a random install ID the app makes up the first time it runs. It is not your name, email, advertising ID, or any Apple or Google identifier.
• With an account, your events are associated with your account so we can provide synced features, and, if you have connected to a church, provide your church the community insights described in section 3.
• Events include basic technical context: app version, platform (iOS or Android), and session length. They do not include the text of your notes, your photo, or precise location coordinates.

Analytics data is stored with our hosting provider, Supabase, and used only by us and, where section 3 applies, your church. We do not use third-party advertising or analytics companies (no Google Analytics, no Facebook SDK, no ad networks).

You can turn analytics off in Profile > Privacy & Data. When it is off, the app sends nothing about how you use it, though if you are connected to a church community, features that depend on engagement (like plan participation visible to your group) may be limited.

This website uses the same first-party system: we count anonymous page views, clicks on our own buttons, and the general source of a visit (for example, "came from Facebook"), tagged with a random browser ID stored on your device. No cookies, no third-party analytics or ad networks, and nothing is collected for visitors in the EU/EEA/UK or from browsers that send the Global Privacy Control signal.

7. Location

If you tap the "near me" option in church search, the app asks for permission to use your location while using the app. We convert your coordinates to a general area (like "Austin, Texas") to find churches near you. The app does not track your location in the background, and precise coordinates are not stored in our analytics.

You can decline the permission or revoke it at any time in your device settings. Church search still works by typing a city.

8. Photos

• If you set a profile photo, the app asks for photo library access. Without an account the photo stays on your device; with an account it is stored with your profile so it can sync.
• If you save a verse image you created, the app asks for permission to add it to your photo library.

We never scan, upload, or access your photo library beyond the action you asked for.

9. Content delivery

When the app downloads Bible text, audio, images, or study content, the request reaches our servers and content partners (Supabase, Vercel, American Bible Society's API.Bible, and Faith Comes By Hearing for audio). These requests include your IP address as a technical necessity; we do not use it to identify or profile you. For licensed Bible translations, the app uses a random device ID (made up by the app) so we can enforce fair-usage limits required by the publishers.

10. What we do not do

• We do not sell your personal information.
• We do not share your information with third parties for their marketing.
• We do not show ads or use advertising trackers.
• We do not read or share the content of your private notes.

11. Children

The Linked Bible is suitable for all ages. Accounts, church connections, and giving are intended for users old enough to consent under their local law (13 in the United States, up to 16 in parts of the EU). We do not knowingly collect personal information from children below that age; a child can still read and study without an account, which collects no personal information. If you believe a child has created an account, contact us and we will delete it.

12. Your rights and choices

Wherever you live, and specifically if you are in the European Union, United Kingdom, or California, you can:

• Access or delete your account data: in the app's settings, or by emailing us.
• Turn analytics off: Profile > Privacy & Data, at any time.
• Withdraw your church connection: leave the community in the app; we stop sharing your activity with the church.
• Delete anonymous analytics: your install ID is shown in Privacy & Data; email it to us and we will delete the events associated with it.
• Get a copy of your data: email us and we will provide the personal data we hold about you.
• Complain: EU/UK users may contact their local data protection authority.

Our legal bases under GDPR are: contract (providing accounts, sync, and giving you asked for), explicit consent (analytics, church connections, and church recommendations), and legitimate interest (security, fraud prevention, and fair-usage limits). Where we rely on consent you can withdraw it at any time.

13. Data retention and security

We keep personal data only as long as needed for the purposes above: synced data until you delete your account, analytics only as long as useful for understanding app usage, and giving records for the period required by tax and accounting law. Everything is transmitted over encrypted connections (HTTPS) and stored encrypted at rest with our hosting providers.

14. Users outside the United States

Our servers and service providers are located in the United States, so data described in this policy is transferred to and processed in the United States. By using the app you consent to that transfer. We protect it the same way regardless of where you live.

15. Changes to this policy

If we change this policy, we will update the date at the top and, for meaningful changes, tell you in the app before the change takes effect.

16. Contact

Questions or requests: Support@thelinkedbible.com

The Linked Bible, LLC