Privacy Policy

We value your privacy and are committed to protecting your personal data. This Privacy Policy explains how "Abide in Me" collects, uses, protects, and deletes personal information for the Coptic Orthodox Sunday school and youth service management platform.

1. Who We Are

"Abide in Me" is a church service management application developed by individual developer Samwel Kamel to assist Coptic Orthodox churches in organizing, managing, and spiritually nurturing Sunday school and youth ministry members.

2. Information We Collect

We only collect information necessary for church service management, pastoral care, and communication:

• Profile & Account Information: Full triple name, mobile phone number, email address, birth date, residential address, and profile photo.
• Church Affiliation: Assigned local church, region, educational stage / sector, and service role (Priest, Service Admin, Sector Leader, Servant, Served Member).
• Minors' Data (Children under 13): Guardian name, guardian phone number, and verified guardian consent.
• Spiritual Follow-up & Activity Records: Attendance and absence logs (recorded via QR code scanning with timestamps), spiritual exercise points (liturgical mass attendance, confession, Bible and psalm reading, custom spiritual activities), and pastoral visitation / follow-up tasks.
• Device Identifiers: Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM) push token to deliver church announcements and reminders.

3. Purposes of Data Processing

Your information is processed strictly for the following church service purposes:

• Creating and authenticating user accounts and verifying servant/priest roles.
• Tracking meeting attendance via QR scanning and awarding educational encouragement points.
• Organizing pastoral follow-ups and home visitation assignments for servants.
• Delivering service notifications (meeting reminders, absence alerts, task assignments).
• Generating periodic aggregated reports for church leaders and priests to monitor service spiritual engagement.

4. Storage and Data Processing Location

All data is securely hosted on Google Cloud Firebase services in the me-central1 (Doha, Qatar) region, including Firestore Database, Cloud Storage for media files, Cloud Functions, and Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM).

5. Data Access & Sharing Scope

Data is strictly scoped and accessible only to active members of the same local church based on role permissions:

• Priests & Service Admins: Full access to church-wide service data, rosters, and reports.
• Sector Leaders & Servants: Access to members within their assigned sector/class for follow-up and attendance.
• Served Members / Youth: Access only to their personal points, attendance history, reading plans, and general church library.
• Child Phone Protection: Phone numbers of children under 13 are completely hidden from regular members and peers.

6. Children's Privacy (Under 13)

We strictly safeguard children's privacy. Registration for children under 13 requires guardian details (name and phone number) and explicit guardian consent. Data is accessible solely to authorized church servants and priests within the child's local parish.

7. Advertising, Tracking, and Data Sales

• No Advertisements: The application is 100% ad-free.
• No Selling or Renting Data: We never sell, rent, monetize, or trade personal data to third parties.
• No Tracking SDKs: We do not include third-party advertising or commercial behavioral tracking SDKs.
• No Location Tracking: The app does not collect or track device GPS locations.

8. Security Measures

• Encryption in Transit: All communications between the app and cloud servers are encrypted using standard HTTPS/TLS protocols.
• Hashed PIN Protection: User 4-digit PINs are never stored in plain text; they are stored exclusively on the server as salted scrypt hashes.
• In-App Protection: Supports biometric authentication and weekly automatic lock PIN verification.
• Access Rules: Fine-grained Firebase security rules enforce strict multi-tenant church isolation and role-based permissions.

9. Device Permissions

• Camera: Used solely to scan QR codes for meeting attendance.
• Photo Library / Photos: Used only when the user chooses to select and upload a profile photo.
• Notifications: Used to receive meeting updates, absence notifications, and spiritual announcements.

10. Data Retention and Account Deletion

Users have the right to delete their accounts and associated personal data at any time:

• In-App Deletion: Go to Settings > "حذف الحساب" (Delete Account) > Confirm with your 4-digit PIN. All personally identifiable information (name, phone, email, address, birth date, guardian details, profile photo) is soft-deleted immediately.
• Email Request: Send a deletion request to samwel.nagy2@icloud.com from your registered email address with your phone number. Requests are processed within 30 days.

Note: Historical attendance counts and spiritual summary points are retained in an entirely anonymized format linked to an anonymous record ID to maintain church statistical integrity.

For complete deletion details and instructions, visit our Account Deletion Page.

11. Contact Information

For any questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy, please contact:
Samwel Kamel: samwel.nagy2@icloud.com