Privacy Policy

Japam exists to help you practice in peace. That intention extends to your data: we collect only what the app needs to work, we never show you ads, and we never sell your information. This page explains, in plain language, what we collect, why, and the choices you always have.

What we collect

When you use Japam, we collect and store:

• Account details — your email address, username, display name and any profile photo or bio you choose to add.
• Preferences — your app language, content language and, if you choose to share them, your country, city, zipcode and phone number. These location fields and the phone number are optional. To save you typing, your country may be pre-filled from your device's language and region settings; you can change or clear it, and you can leave the rest blank.
• Chanting activity — your chant counts, chant score, stars, and the Japam Poojas (schedules) you create. This is what powers your counter, your progress and the leaderboard.
• Things you share — posts, photos, videos, comments, likes, follows and messages you send to other devotees through Japam Social.
• Basic technical logs — brief diagnostic records (such as error events) that help us understand when something in the app or our services is not working. These are used for reliability, not for profiling.

We do not collect your precise device location, your contacts, or anything from other apps on your phone.

How we use it

• To create and secure your account, and to sign you in.
• To run the features you use — your mala counter, poojas, mantra library, social feed, temples and profile.
• To show content in your chosen languages and surface temples relevant to the region you told us about.
• To calculate chant scores, stars and community leaderboards.
• To keep the community safe — reviewing reported posts and enforcing our Terms of Use.
• To fix problems and keep the service reliable.

That is the whole list. We do not use your data for advertising, and we do not build advertising profiles.

Where your data lives

We rely on a small number of service providers to run Japam, each of which processes data on our behalf under its own security and data-protection commitments:

• Supabase — our database, authentication and file storage provider, where your account, preferences, chanting activity and posts are stored.
• Render — hosts the Japam backend API, which handles certain server-side actions (such as account deletion) and generates the brief diagnostic logs described above.

If you choose to sign in with Apple or Google, that sign-in is handled by Apple or Google, and the sign-in event and an identity token pass through that provider under its own privacy policy. Connections between the app and our services are encrypted in transit, and access to production data is limited to what is required to operate Japam.

What we never do

• We do not sell, rent or trade your personal information. Ever.
• We do not show third-party advertising in Japam.
• We do not share your data with third parties, except for the service providers that host and operate the app for us — Supabase (database, authentication and storage) and Render (API hosting and diagnostic logs) — the sign-in provider you choose (Apple or Google), or where the law requires it.

What others can see

Japam is a social space. Your profile, chant score, stars, and the posts you share are visible to other users unless you mark a post as followers-only. Direct messages are visible only to you and the person you are writing with. Please share with the same care you would in any community.

Deleting your account

You can delete your account at any time from inside the app (Profile → Settings → Delete Account). Deletion removes your account and the personal data associated with it — your profile, preferences, chanting history, posts, photos, comments and messages — from our systems. If you prefer, you can also email us and we will delete it for you.

Your rights

Wherever you live, we extend the same rights to you, in the spirit of the GDPR (Europe) and the CCPA/CPRA (California):

• Access — ask for a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
• Correction — fix anything that is inaccurate (most details can be edited directly in the app).
• Deletion — erase your data, in-app or by request.
• Portability — receive your data in a common, machine-readable format.
• Objection and restriction — object to or limit certain processing of your data.
• No discrimination — exercising these rights never affects your ability to use Japam.

Because we do not sell personal information, there is nothing to opt out of under the CCPA's "Do Not Sell or Share" provisions. To exercise any right, email us — we respond within 30 days.

Children

Japam is intended for users aged 13 and older. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child under 13 has created an account, please contact us and we will delete it promptly.

How long we keep data

We keep your data for as long as your account exists. When you delete your account, we remove your personal data from our active systems; short-lived backups and diagnostic logs expire on a rolling basis shortly afterward.

International transfers

Japam is used around the world, and our service providers may store data in regions other than your own. Wherever your data travels, it remains protected by this policy and by our agreements with those providers.

Changes to this policy

If we change this policy in a meaningful way, we will update the effective date above and let you know in the app before the change takes effect.

Contact us

We read every message, and we answer with care. 🙏