Privacy Policy
Last updated: Jul 5, 20231. Where This Privacy Policy Applies
This Privacy Policy applies to websites, apps, events and other services operated by The Bible Social. For simplicity, we refer to all of these as our “services” in this Privacy Policy. To make it extra clear, we’ve added links to this Privacy Policy on all applicable services.
Some services may require their own unique privacy policy. If a particular service has its own privacy policy, then that policy -- not this Privacy Policy -- applies.
2. Information We Collect
It goes without saying, we can’t help you develop meaningful connections without some information about you, such as basic profile details and the types of people you’d like to meet. We also collect information generated as you use our services, for example access logs, as well as information from third parties, like when you access our services through a social media account. If you want additional info, we go into more detail below.
(1) Information you give us
1) Your user contributions. The Bible Social allows users to publish, distribute, and display certain content (we refer to that as “posted” and the content as “posts”). Posts may be made on public areas of The Bible Social, websites, and social media accounts you access through The Bible Social, or transmitted to other users of The Bible Social or third parties you choose to connect with on The Bible Social or other platforms or services. For example, this would include commenting on a friend’s post or creating and sharing a Verse Image. The Bible Social also allows you to create certain content to be maintained in your account, such as a Note or Bookmark of a Bible verse, some of which you can also post to provide to others. We will call all of the content created by you, whether or not posted, “User Contributions.” Your User Contributions are processed by us to facilitate your ability to create, use, store, and distribute the User Contribution as you choose. We will associate your User Contributions with your account as long as you opt not to delete them. Please keep in mind that if you disclose personal information in a public manner, whether through collaborative postings, social media, message boards, or other public online forums, this information may be collected and used by others. User Contributions are posted and transmitted at your own risk. We cannot control the actions of other Users or third parties with whom you choose to share your User Contributions. Therefore, we cannot and do not guarantee that your shared User Contributions will not be viewed by or used in an unauthorized manner, nor do we accept any liability associated with your User Contributions.
2) Donations and giving. If you choose to provide a voluntary donation through The Bible Social or a third-party website linked to The Bible Social, then and only then will you be prompted and required to provide credit card, bank account, and other payment information necessary to process the transaction. We will collect the designation for your donation, if you provide one, as well as personal information such as your name, address, country, phone number, and/or email address to ensure that your donation is used for the purpose you request and to provide you with an “Annual Giving Statement” that itemizes your donation(s) for tax purposes or your personal use. We will not store or otherwise process financial information provided to us online for the purposes of donating. As of the date of this Policy, we use Stripe or PayPal to process your online donation payments. For information on how these third parties process your information, please refer to their privacy policies, which may be found here: https://stripe.com/privacy; https://www.paypal.com/us/webapps/mpp/ua/privacy-full.
3) Communications from you to us. We collect information about you when you send, receive, or engage with messages from us, including when you submit personal information or requests by emailing https://thebiblesocial.com or through the website https://thebiblesocial.com. We retain and use those communications to process your inquiries, respond to your requests, and improve The Bible Social and our services. If you are a Member, we will keep your communications to us in association with your account for as long as your Membership is active.
(2) Information we receive from others
In addition to the information you provide us directly, we receive information about you from others, including:
Other Users Other users may provide information about you as they use our services. For instance, we may collect information about you from other users if they contact us about you. Social Media You may be able to use your social media login (such as Facebook Login) to create and log into your The Bible Social account. This saves you from having to remember yet another user name and password and allows you to share some information from your social media account with us. Other Partners We may receive info about you from our partners, for instance where The Bible Social ads are published on a partner’s websites and platforms (in which case they may pass along details on a campaign’s success).
(3) Information collected when you use our services
When you use our services, we collect information about which features you’ve used, how you’ve used them and the devices you use to access our services. See below for more details:
Usage Information We collect information about your activity on our services, for instance how you use them (e.g., date and time you logged in, features you’ve been using, searches, clicks and pages which have been shown to you, referring webpage address, advertising that you click on) and how you interact with other users (e.g., users you connect and interact with, time and date of your exchanges, number of messages you send and receive). Device information We collect information from and about the device(s) you use to access our services, including: hardware and software information such as IP address, device ID and type, device-specific and apps settings and characteristics, app crashes, advertising IDs (such as Google’s AAID and Apple's IDFA, both of which are randomly generated numbers that you can reset by going into your device's settings), browser type, version and language, operating system, time zones, identifiers associated with cookies or other technologies that may uniquely identify your device or browser (e.g., IMEI/UDID and MAC address); information on your wireless and mobile network connection, like your service provider and signal strength; information on device sensors such as accelerometers, gyroscopes and compasses. Other information with your consent If you give us permission, we can collect your precise geolocation (latitude and longitude) through various means, depending on the service and device you’re using, including GPS, Bluetooth or Wi-Fi connections. The collection of your geolocation may occur in the background even when you aren’t using the services if the permission you gave us expressly permits such collection. If you decline permission for us to collect your geolocation, we will not collect it. Similarly, if you consent, we may collect your photos and videos (for instance, if you want to publish a photo, video or streaming on the services).
3. Cookies and Other Similar Data Collection Technologies
Like most providers of online services, we use cookies to provide, secure and improve our services, including by remembering your preferences, recognizing you when you visit our website and personalizing and tailoring ads to your interests. To accomplish these purposes, we also may link information from cookies with other personal information we hold about you.
There are several cookie management options available to you. Please note that changes you make to your cookie preferences may make browsing our website a less satisfying experience. In some cases, you may even find yourself unable to use all or part of our site.
Some web browsers (including Safari, Internet Explorer, Firefox and Chrome) have a “Do Not Track” (“DNT”) feature that tells a website that a user does not want to have his or her online activity tracked. If a website that responds to a DNT signal receives a DNT signal, the browser can block that website from collecting certain information about the browser’s user. Not all browsers offer a DNT option and DNT signals are not yet uniform. For this reason, many businesses, including The Bible Social, do not currently respond to DNT signals.
4. How We Use Information
We use data that we collect about you and that you provide as well as the inferences we make from that information as follows:
- To provide, support, and personalize The Bible Social and the The Bible Social functionality you request;
- To create, maintain, customize, and secure your The Bible Social account, if any;
- To process your requests and respond to your inquiries;
- To provide information on other products or services;
- To maintain the safety, security, and integrity of The Bible Social and the infrastructure that facilitates use of The Bible Social;
- For development and internal analysis;
- To fulfill any other purpose for which you provide it;
- To carry out our obligations and enforce our rights, including those under this Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use;
- As described in this Privacy Policy;
- In any other way we may describe when you provide the information; and
- For any other purpose with your consent
5. Membership
We use the personal information you provide to create and maintain your Membership account. We also use this information to authorize and authenticate your access to your account. We store this information and information pertaining to your use of The Bible Social (including User Contributions) in connection with your Membership account for so long as you are a Member. For example, your first and last name and email address will be stored and used by us in connection with your account name or auto-generated account ID to authenticate you as the correct user of your account. We will also store your User Contributions in association with your Member account to allow you to access, re-access, post, and otherwise utilize your User Contributions as you choose.
6. Friends
The Bible Social will allow you to communicate and connect with other The Bible Social users to share Bible verses, User Contributions, and other content. It is your choice whether to communicate or connect with another member and to share your information or User Contributions. To facilitate your connections with other The Bible Social Members, you will be given the choice of whether to share with us the contact information stored on your device. You do not have to share this information to use The Bible Social or to connect with any particular Member. If you decide to share this information with us, it will only be used to try and associate your contacts with other The Bible Social Members to create potential The Bible Social connections and will only be stored by us for so long as you have a The Bible Social Member account. When you grant access to your contacts on your device for the purpose of friend suggestions, notification of when a contact joins, or sending an invite to The Bible Social, that information is stored on our servers in a hashed format for the purpose of offering you this functionality.
7. Features related to your location.
Some The Bible Social features use your precise location, if you choose to share it, to provide or suggest content and information, like helping you to check-in to an event or suggesting content from organizations nearby. We will call these “location-based features”. To use or access location-based features, you will be provided the option to share your precise location with us and, if you choose to do so, we will use that information solely to provide location-based features, personalize your experience with The Bible Social and internally analyze and develop our products and services. After you first grant us this permission, we will assume we have your consent to process your location in this way until you revoke or limit your permission. You may choose to revoke or limit your permissions for location sharing through the settings of your device. If you choose not to share your precise location, some location-related features may still allow for limited functionality (for example, you may still manually search for events around you), but other such features may not be accessible to you. You will still be able to access and use non-location dependent features of The Bible Social. We share your specific location only with your consent. If you choose to make certain location-related information viewable to your friends or the public, you give explicit consent for us to share that information with the audience you specify. You may change this permission at any time in your app settings.
8. The Bible Social content.
We collect the manner in which you use The Bible Social and its content, such as your prayer requests, the Bible chapters and Bible plans that you access, and the language in which you choose to utilize that content. We also collect and store the User Contributions you create, such as bookmarks, highlights, and notes. We process this information to allow you to access and use content you create or wish to access through each The Bible Social session. You will have the choice of whether to download certain The Bible Social content and User Contributions to your device. You will have the choice of whether to allow The Bible Social access to your device’s storage to add and modify this downloaded content. Access to the storage of your device is only used by The Bible Social for downloading this requested content to your device. It is your choice whether to create, access, or store The Bible Social information and content. If you do, we will store it in association with your Membership account. We may use information about your use of The Bible Social and the inferences we make from that use to provide recommendations to you of other The Bible Social content. For example, based upon a Bible Plan you complete, we may suggest additional Bible Plans to you. You may opt out of receiving these recommendations by email, as discussed below.
9. TBS Cash Reward Program
To be eligible for the TBS Cash Reward program, you must:
- Be at least 18 years old.
- Have a valid PayPal account.
- Agree to these terms and conditions.
You can request to cash out your rewards once you have accumulated at least $50 in your TBS account. You can only cash out once per month, and the maximum amount you can cash out per month is $500.
To cash out your rewards, you need to provide us with your PayPal account information. We will process your cash out request within 7 business days and send your rewards to your PayPal account. You are responsible for any fees or taxes associated with your PayPal account or your cash rewards.
TBS reserves the right to modify, suspend, or terminate the TBS Cash Reward program at any time, for any reason, without prior notice. TBS also reserves the right to withhold, deduct, or cancel any cash rewards that are earned in violation of these terms or any other policies of TBS.
By participating in the TBS Cash Reward program, you agree to comply with these terms and all applicable laws and regulations. You also agree to indemnify and hold harmless TBS and its affiliates from any claims, damages, or liabilities arising from your participation in the program.
10. Communications from us to you.
We communicate with you through push notification, email, or in-app messages. If we communicate to you with email, you may generally unsubscribe to these messages via the unsubscribe link in the emails providing these messages. You can also tailor your notification settings at any time within the settings menu of the The Bible Social App or by visiting https://thebiblesocial.com/settings.
11. Analytics and performance.
We internally analyze the personal data available to us and the use of The Bible Social content, as well as the inferences we make from that data, to provide and update The Bible Social, communicate with you and process information as discussed in this Policy, and for internal analytics such as to observe social, economic, and geographic trends as they pertain to The Bible Social content. In some cases, we work with trusted third parties to perform this research, under controls that are designed to protect your privacy, as discussed below. We may disclose use of The Bible Social content in an aggregated manner with de-identified and anonymized information that does not disclose any particular user or that user’s personally-identifying information. For example, we may use your data to generate statistics about overall usage of The Bible Social worldwide or in specific geographic regions or at specific events or locations. We also use de-identified and aggregate user data to market The Bible Social, including communications that promote The Bible Social Membership and network growth, such as celebrating the total number of The Bible Social installs. When you see stats we share publicly such as global The Bible Social engagement, we make sure to analyze and publish the data in an aggregated form, protecting your privacy and keeping your identity and personal information confidential. We use data, including user provided personal information, aggregations of user data, data collected through the use of The Bible Social, public feedback, and information inferred from this data to conduct internal research and development in order to provide a better overall The Bible Social experience, measure the performance of The Bible Social, and increase the use of The Bible Social and its features. This is done by making changes to The Bible Social that are generally available, as well as sending users messages through The Bible Social suggesting The Bible Social functionality and content.
12. Sensitive Data
By downloading and using The Bible Social, we do not assume that you are of any particular religious affiliation or are expressing to us any particular religious belief; we merely assume that you are interested in the content we provide. We do not require that users provide information about such beliefs or provide any other sensitive data such as race, ethnicity, philosophical beliefs, or physical or mental health to use The Bible Social or create or maintain a The Bible Social Member account.
Some features available through The Bible Social utilize personal information that may reflect your religious or philosophical beliefs. Before we collect or process this information for such features, we will obtain your explicit consent. In addition to these features, you have control over the content of certain things you create, share, and store through The Bible Social, and if you provide us with sensitive information with any content you create, share, and store, we will assume we have your consent to process that information.
We will not sell your sensitive personal information, but we may need to share it with third-party service providers that enable us to provide certain app features, and those service providers are required to keep your personal information confidential and only use it to provide us with their services. We will process the sensitive information we collect and inferences we make about the same in accordance with our Privacy Policy and for the purpose of allowing and facilitating your use of those specific app features, to personalize your user experience, to suggest other content and services, and internally to improve our services. If you choose to provide any sensitive information to us, we may use that information with other non-sensitive information you provide to create a more personalized The Bible Social experience for you and to perform the services and actions you request, such as sharing or storing content you create. In any event, Sugar Life Co. Limited will only process sensitive data you provide to us for Sugar Life Co. Limited’s legitimate activities on your behalf and solely in accordance with the terms of this policy and any additional requests you make about the information. We will also maintain your information subject to appropriate safeguards discussed in this policy and otherwise provided by Sugar Life Co. Limited.
You have the right to withdraw your consent to our collection and processing of your sensitive personal information by turning off and ceasing to use The Bible Social features that use this information or by contacting us via email at support@thebiblesocial.com; however, withdrawing your consent may hinder our ability to provide certain functionality.
13. How We Share Information
Since our goal is to help you make meaningful connections, the main sharing of users’ information is, of course, with other users. We also share some users’ information with service providers and partners who assist us in operating the services.
With other users
You share information with other users when you voluntarily disclose information on the service (including your public profile). Please be careful with your information and make sure that the content you share is stuff that you’re comfortable being publicly viewable since neither you nor we can control what others do with your information once you share it.
If you choose to limit the audience for all or part of your profile or for certain content or information about you, then it will be visible according to your settings.
With our service providers and partners
We use third parties to help us operate and improve our services. These third parties assist us with various tasks, including data hosting and maintenance, analytics, customer care, marketing, advertising, payment processing and security operations.
We may also share information with partners who distribute and assist us in advertising our services. For instance, we may share limited information on you in hashed, non-human readable form to advertising partners.
We follow a strict vetting process prior to engaging any service provider or working with any partner. All of our service providers and partners must agree to strict confidentiality obligations.
For corporate transactions
We may transfer your information if we are involved, whether in whole or in part, in a merger, sale, acquisition, divestiture, restructuring, reorganization, dissolution, bankruptcy or other change of ownership or control.
When required by law
We may disclose your information if reasonably necessary: (i) to comply with a legal process, such as a court order, subpoena or search warrant, government / law enforcement investigation or other legal requirements; (ii) to assist in the prevention or detection of crime (subject in each case to applicable law); or (iii) to protect the safety of any person.
To enforce legal rights
We may also share information: (i) if disclosure would mitigate our liability in an actual or threatened lawsuit; (ii) as necessary to protect our legal rights and legal rights of our users, business partners or other interested parties; (iii) to enforce our agreements with you; and (iv) to investigate, prevent, or take other actions regarding illegal activities, suspected fraud or other wrongdoing.
With your consent or at your request
We may ask for your consent to share your information with third parties. In any such case, we will make it clear why we want to share the information.
We may use and share non-personal information (meaning information that, by itself, does not identify who you are such as device information, general demographics, general behavioral data, geolocation in de-identified form), as well as personal information in hashed, non-human readable form, under any of the above circumstances. We may combine this information with additional non-personal information or personal information in hashed, non-human readable form collected from other sources.
14. Your Rights
We want you to be in control of your information, so we have provided you with the following tools:
Access / Update tools in the service. Tools and account settings that help you to access, rectify or delete information that you provided to us and that’s associated with your account directly within the service. If you have any question on those tools and settings, please contact our customer team for help at support@thebiblesocial.com.
Device permissions. Mobile platforms have permission systems for specific types of device data and notifications, such as phone book and location services as well as push notifications. You can change your settings on your device to either consent to or oppose the collection of the corresponding information or the display of the corresponding notifications. Of course, if you do that, certain services may lose full functionality.
Deletion. You can delete your account by using the corresponding functionality directly on the service.
We want you to be aware of your privacy rights. Here are a few key points to remember:
Reviewing your information. Applicable privacy laws may give you the right to review the personal information we keep about you (depending on the jurisdiction, this may be called right of access, right of portability or variations of those terms). You can request a copy of your personal information by contacting us at support@thebiblesocial.com.
Updating your information. If you believe that the information we hold about you is inaccurate or that we are no longer entitled to use it and want to request its rectification, deletion or object to its processing, please contact us at support@thebiblesocial.com.
For your protection and the protection of all of our users, we may ask you to provide proof of identity before we can answer the above requests.
Keep in mind, we may reject requests for certain reasons, including if the request is unlawful or if it may infringe on trade secrets or intellectual property or the privacy of another user. If you wish to receive information relating to another user, such as a copy of any messages you received from him or her through our service, the other user will have to contact our Privacy Officer to provide their written consent before the information is released.
Also, we may not be able to accommodate certain requests to object to the processing of personal information, notably where such requests would not allow us to provide our service to you anymore. For instance, we cannot provide our service if we do not have your date of birth.
Uninstallation. You can stop all information collection by an app by uninstalling it using the standard uninstallation process for your device. If you uninstall the app from your mobile device, the unique identifier associated with your device will continue to be stored. If you re-install the application on the same mobile device, we will be able to re-associate this identifier to your previous transactions and activities.
Accountability. In certain countries, including in the European Union, you have a right to lodge a complaint with the appropriate data protection authority if you have concerns about how we process your personal information. The data protection authority you can lodge a complaint with notably may be that of your habitual residence, where you work or where we are established.
15. Residents of California
If you are a California resident, you can request a notice disclosing the categories of personal information about you that we have shared with third parties for their direct marketing purposes during the preceding calendar year. To request this notice, please submit your request at support@thebiblesocial.com. Please allow 30 days for a response. For your protection and the protection of all of our users, we may ask you to provide proof of identity before we can answer such a request.
16. How We Protect Your Information
We work hard to protect you from unauthorized access to or alteration, disclosure or destruction of your personal information. As with all technology companies, although we take steps to secure your information, we do not promise, and you should not expect, that your personal information will always remain secure.
We regularly monitor our systems for possible vulnerabilities and attacks and regularly review our information collection, storage and processing practices to update our physical, technical and organizational security measures.
We may suspend your use of all or part of the services without notice if we suspect or detect any breach of security. If you believe that your account or information is no longer secure, please notify us immediately at support@thebiblesocial.com.
17. How Long We Retain Your Information
We keep your personal information only as long as we need it for legitimate business purposes and as permitted by applicable law. To protect the safety and security of our users on and off our services, we implement a safety retention window of three months following account deletion. During this period, account information will be retained although the account will of course not be visible on the services anymore.
In practice, we delete or anonymize your information upon deletion of your account (following the safety retention window) or after two years of continuous inactivity, unless:
we must keep it to comply with applicable law (for instance, some “traffic data” is kept for one year to comply with statutory data retention obligations);
we must keep it to evidence our compliance with applicable law (for instance, records of consents to our Terms, Privacy Policy and other similar consents are kept for five years);
there is an outstanding issue, claim or dispute requiring us to keep the relevant information until it is resolved; or
the information must be kept for our legitimate business interests, such as fraud prevention and enhancing users' safety and security. For example, information may need to be kept to prevent a user who was banned for unsafe behavior or security incidents from opening a new account.
Keep in mind that even though our systems are designed to carry out data deletion processes according to the above guidelines, we cannot promise that all data will be deleted within a specific timeframe due to technical constraints.
18. Children's Privacy
Our services are restricted to users who are 12 years of age or older. We do not permit users under the age of 12 on our platform and we do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under the age of 12. If you suspect that a user is under the age of 12, please use the reporting mechanism available through the service.
19. Privacy Policy Changes
Because we’re always looking for new and innovative ways to help you build meaningful connections, this policy may change over time. We will notify you before any material changes take effect so that you have time to review the changes.
20. How to Contact Us
If you have questions about this Privacy Policy, you can contact us at support@thebiblesocial.com.