Privacy Policy

Lectern Bible is an iPhone app for reading the Bible aloud: you read, and the page follows your voice, verse by verse. This policy says what the app keeps on your iPhone, what it sends, and to whom. It also covers this website.

At a glance

• Your voice stays on your iPhone. Speech is recognized on the device. The sound of your voice and the words the recognizer hears are never recorded, stored or uploaded.
• There is no account. The app never asks for your name, your email address or a sign-in, and we run no server of our own.
• Your reading record is kept on your iPhone, not by us.
• The app sends two things: crash and error reports, and usage statistics that are counted per installation of the app rather than per person. The statistics include which chapter you opened or finished. Neither contains the text on the page, your voice or recognized words.
• No ads. There is no advertising, no advertising identifier and no tracking across other companies’ apps and websites. We do not sell your data.

1. Who we are

Lectern Bible is provided by Darak (sole proprietorship), represented by Sangkwun Kang, in the Republic of Korea. We are responsible for the personal data described in this policy. You can reach us at support@lecternbible.com.

2. What stays on your iPhone

The app keeps these on your iPhone and does not send them to us:

• Your reading record — the chapters you have read aloud to the end (book, chapter, translation, when you finished and how long it took) and, for a chapter you have not finished, the verses you have read so far. Your streak, your progress through the Bible and your place in a reading plan are worked out from this record on the device.
• Your choices — your reading plan, translation, text size and speech recognition setting.

We never receive this record, and the app does not sync it through iCloud. If you have turned on iPhone backups (iCloud Backup or a backup to a computer), iOS may include the app’s data in them; that setting is yours. The usage statistics in section 5 are drawn from some of this activity, as that section describes.

3. The microphone and speech recognition

The app asks for one permission: the microphone. It listens only while a chapter is open for reading aloud, and it stops listening when you pause, finish the chapter or leave the app.

• Your speech is recognized by Apple’s speech recognition running on your iPhone. The audio is processed on the device as you speak and then discarded. It is never saved to a file and never sent to us or to anyone else.
• The recognized words are compared with the verse on the page to move the page forward, and then discarded. They are not stored and not sent anywhere.
• The first time you read aloud, iOS may download the speech recognition model for the text’s language from Apple. That download is made by iOS, under Apple’s privacy policy.

You can refuse the microphone or turn it off later in the iPhone’s Settings. Without it the page cannot follow your voice, but you can still read the text.

4. Crash and error reports (Sentry)

To find and fix what breaks, the app sends diagnostic reports to Sentry, an error-monitoring service run by Functional Software, Inc. A report is sent when the app crashes or stops responding, and for a small number of errors it recovers from, such as a purchase that fails or listening that stops for a reason the app did not expect. The app also reports when a session starts and ends and whether it ended in a crash, which is how we measure the stability of a version.

• What a report contains: the error and where in the code it happened; a short technical trail of what the app was doing just before; your iPhone’s model, iOS version and state (such as free memory and storage, battery level and screen orientation); its language and time zone settings; the app’s version; and a random identifier for this installation of the app.
• What it never contains: the text on the page, your voice, recognized words, screenshots or recordings of the screen. The app has no name or email address of yours to send.
• Like any request over the internet, a report arrives from your IP address. Our Sentry project is set not to store that address. An approximate location (down to the city) worked out from it when the report arrives may remain with the report.
• The installation identifier is not an advertising identifier and is not shared with other apps. It lets reports from one installation be seen together, so these reports are not fully anonymous. It disappears when you delete the app.
• Reports are sent over an encrypted connection and stored on Sentry’s servers in the United States. They are deleted after a limited period under Sentry’s retention rules, and are otherwise handled under Sentry’s privacy policy.

5. Usage statistics (Google Analytics for Firebase)

To learn how well the page follows real voices on real iPhones, where readers stop, and what gets used, the app sends usage events to Google Analytics for Firebase, an analytics service from Google. There are no accounts, so these are counted per installation of the app, not per person.

What the app sends

• Reading — when you open a chapter, finish it, or leave it before the end: the book and chapter (for example, Genesis 1), how many verses the chapter has and how many you read, how many seconds you spent, whether you were picking up a chapter you had begun and at which verse, whether you read aloud or silently, how many of your free chapters you had used, and, if you follow a reading plan, how many days behind it you are.
• Listening — when listening starts (which of Apple’s recognition engines is in use and how many seconds it took to get ready), when it stops unexpectedly (a reason code, such as the microphone being taken by a call), when you tap Resume, and when the app asks you to read a verse again (the verse number).
• Reading plans — which plan you start or stop.
• Purchases — when the purchase screen is shown and what led to it, which product you chose and whether the purchase went through, was cancelled, is pending or failed, and the result of Restore Purchases.
• Your setup — your speech recognition setting, whether the microphone is allowed, your reading plan, your translation, and whether you are reading for free or which product you bought.
• Collected automatically by Google’s software — the first time the app is opened, each session and roughly how long it lasts, which screen is showing, and app updates; your iPhone’s model, iOS version and language setting, the app’s version, and an approximate location (down to the city) worked out from your IP address. It may also record a completed purchase (the product, its price and currency).

What is not included

The text on the page, your voice, the words the recognizer hears, and anything that names you — the app has no name or email address of yours. The events say which chapter you read and for how long, not what was said.

Identifiers

The events carry a random identifier for this installation of the app, and may carry the identifier iOS gives to all apps from one developer on your device (the IDFV). Neither is an advertising identifier, and neither is shared with other companies’ apps. They do let one installation’s activity be followed over time, so this information is not fully anonymous. The app uses the version of Google’s software that cannot read the advertising identifier (IDFA), tells Google not to use the data for advertising, and never shows the “Allow tracking” prompt because it does not track you.

Where it goes and for how long

The events are sent over an encrypted connection and processed on Google’s servers, including in the United States. Event data is deleted automatically after the retention period set on our Google Analytics property, which Google limits to 14 months. Google handles the data under Google’s privacy policy and the Firebase privacy and security notice.

The app has no setting to turn these statistics off. Deleting the app stops them and retires the installation identifier.

6. Purchases

Reading aloud beyond the free chapters is unlocked by a subscription or a one-time purchase. Payment is handled entirely by Apple’s App Store. We never see your card or your Apple Account details; the app only learns from Apple which product is active so it can unlock. Apple handles your purchase under Apple’s privacy policy. What the app records about a purchase for its own statistics is described in section 5.

7. Sharing a chapter you finished

When you finish a chapter you can tap Share. The app then makes a picture with the chapter, the date, your reading time, the number of verses and your streak, and hands it to the iPhone’s share sheet. It goes only where you choose to send it. The app sends it nowhere itself.

8. What we do not do

• We do not show ads or include any advertising software.
• We do not collect an advertising identifier or track you across other companies’ apps and websites.
• We do not sell your personal data or share it for advertising.
• We do not ask for your location, contacts, photos or camera. The only permission the app requests is the microphone.

9. Keeping and deleting data

Your reading record and choices stay on your iPhone until you delete the app; deleting the app deletes them, and there is no copy on our side. Crash and error reports and usage statistics are kept for the periods given in sections 4 and 5.

The identifiers attached to those reports and statistics belong to an installation of the app, not to a person, and the app does not show them to you. So we cannot find your records from your name or email address. Deleting the app stops any further collection and breaks the link to what was collected before.

10. Transfers outside your country

We are in the Republic of Korea, and the companies below process the data described above outside Korea, mainly in the United States. Data is sent over an encrypted connection (HTTPS) at the moment each report or event is made, for the purposes and periods given in the sections named. Each company’s contact details are in its own privacy policy.

The app has no setting that stops these transfers. If you do not want them, the way to refuse is to stop using the app and delete it.

11. Your rights

Depending on where you live — for example under the GDPR in Europe and the United Kingdom, Korea’s Personal Information Protection Act, or California law — you may have the right to ask what data we hold about you, to have it corrected or deleted, to object to or restrict its use, and to complain to your data protection authority. Where the law asks for a legal basis, we rely on our legitimate interest in keeping the app working and improving it.

To use any of these rights, write to support@lecternbible.com. As section 9 explains, what we hold is tied to an installation of the app rather than to you by name, so we may not be able to tell which records are yours; we will tell you what we can do.

12. Children

Lectern Bible is not directed at children under 13 (or the minimum age in your country), and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children. The app asks no one for a name, an age or contact details. If you believe a child has given us personal information, write to us and we will delete it.

13. This website

lecternbible.com sets no cookies and uses no analytics, advertising or tracking software. It has no accounts and no forms, and its fonts are served from the site itself, so opening a page contacts no other company’s servers except our host’s.

The site is hosted by Vercel Inc. As with any website, each request carries your IP address and details about your browser. Vercel processes these to deliver the page and protect the service, and may keep them for a time as operational logs under Vercel’s privacy policy.

If you email us, we use your address and message only to answer you. We keep the message for as long as that takes, and delete it if you ask.

14. Changes to this policy

When this policy changes, we will post the new version on this page and change the date at the top.

15. Contact

Questions about this policy or your data: support@lecternbible.com.