Lideta Mekaneyesus Church
Privacy Policy
For the LMY Church app (com.lidetachurch.app) on Android, iOS and the web.
Effective 5 September 2026 · Last updated 5 September 2026
Lideta Mekaneyesus Church (“the Church”, “we”, “us”) publishes the LMY Church app so that members of the congregation can follow church news, read the Bible, join Bible-study groups and grow together. This policy explains what personal data the app handles, why, who else sees it, and what you can ask us to do about it. It applies to the app on every platform we ship it to.
The short version
- You can browse most of the app as a guest, without giving us a name, email or phone number.
- If you create an account, we keep only what the app needs: your sign-in identifier, your profile, and what you post or save inside the app.
- We do not sell your data, and we do not show third-party advertising.
- You can ask us to delete your account and its data at any time — see Delete your account.
1. Who is responsible
The data controller is Lideta Mekaneyesus Church, Ethiopia. For any privacy question or request, contact melkatole1@gmail.com. We answer privacy requests within 30 days.
2. Information we collect
2.1 Account and sign-in information
The app offers four ways in, and each one gives us a different, minimal set of details:
| Sign-in method | What we receive |
|---|---|
| Guest (anonymous) | An anonymous account identifier only. No name, email or phone number. |
| Email & password | Your email address. Your password is handled by Google Firebase Authentication and is never visible to us. |
| Google Sign-In | Your Google account email, display name and profile photo URL, as released to us by Google. |
| Phone number (SMS code) | Your phone number, and the one-time code used to verify it. |
A guest account can later be upgraded to a full account; when that happens the anonymous account and its saved progress are linked to your new sign-in identifier.
2.2 Profile information you choose to add
In your profile you may optionally add or change: your display name, profile photo, cover photo, date of birth, gender, preferred language and app theme. All of these are optional; the app works without them. Date of birth and gender are used only to personalise the app (for example age-appropriate group suggestions and greetings) and are never used for advertising.
2.3 Content you create in the app
- Bible-study group messages — text, replies, mentions, and any images, documents, videos or voice notes you attach, together with the time you sent them and your account identifier.
- Requests to join a group, and your membership of the groups you belong to.
- Study and reading activity — bookmarks and highlights you save, daily-verse reads and your reading streak, and quiz attempts and scores.
- Presence — while you have a group open, the app records that you are online in it, so other members can see who is present. This is deleted when you disconnect.
2.4 Device and technical information
- Push notification tokens. If you allow notifications, we store the notification token issued by Google (FCM) or Apple (APNs), a random device identifier generated by the app, your platform (Android, iOS, web) and the app version, so that we can send announcements to the right device.
- Crash diagnostics. Firebase Crashlytics collects crash reports and stack traces, with the device model, operating system version and app version, so we can fix faults.
- Usage analytics. Firebase Analytics records aggregate, in-app events such as screens opened, along with a resettable app-instance identifier and approximate (country-level) location derived from the network address. We use this only to understand which parts of the app are useful.
- Connection and language settings, stored on your device so the app opens the way you left it.
2.5 Device permissions the app asks for
| Permission | Why the app asks |
|---|---|
| Notifications | To deliver church announcements, event reminders and group messages. Optional. |
| Microphone | Only while you are recording a voice note to send in a group. Nothing is recorded in the background. |
| Photos, media and files | Only to let you pick a profile photo or an attachment, and to save downloaded books and audio for offline use. |
| Camera (if you use it) | Only to take a photo you choose to attach or set as your profile picture. |
| Internet, network state, vibration, wake lock | To load content, warn you when you are offline, and play audio and notifications correctly. |
The app does not collect precise GPS location, your contacts, your SMS messages, or your call history.
3. Why we use your information
- To create and secure your account and keep you signed in.
- To show you church news, events, the daily verse, Bible content, sermons and worship materials.
- To let you take part in Bible-study groups and to deliver your messages to the other members.
- To save your progress — bookmarks, streaks and quiz results — across your devices.
- To send notifications you have asked for.
- To diagnose crashes, prevent abuse of the service, and improve the app.
Where the law of your country requires a legal basis, ours is: performance of our agreement with you (running the account and the app), your consent (notifications, optional profile details, microphone and photo access), and our legitimate interest in keeping the service working and safe.
4. Who your information is shared with
We do not sell personal data, we do not share it with data brokers, and we do not use it for third-party advertising. It is shared only in these situations:
- Other members, where you intend it: your display name and profile photo, and anything you post inside a Bible-study group, are visible to the other members of that group and to the group's leaders.
- Google Firebase (Google LLC / Google Ireland Ltd) — Authentication, Cloud Firestore, Realtime Database, Cloud Storage, Cloud Messaging, Crashlytics and Analytics. Firebase hosts the app's data and processes it on our behalf. See Firebase privacy.
- Our administration backend, hosted on Vercel, which handles phone sign-in and notification delivery on our behalf.
- GeezSMS, our SMS provider in Ethiopia, which receives your phone number solely to deliver your one-time sign-in code.
- Church administrators, who manage content, groups and membership.
- Authorities, if we are legally obliged to disclose information, or where disclosure is necessary to protect someone's safety.
These providers operate servers outside Ethiopia, including in the United States and the European Union, so your information may be transferred and stored abroad under their standard data-protection terms.
5. How long we keep it
- Account and profile data — while your account exists, and deleted within 30 days of a deletion request.
- Group messages and attachments — kept as part of the group's record. When your account is deleted, your messages are removed or detached from your name, as described on the deletion page.
- Notification tokens — until you turn notifications off, sign out, or the token expires.
- Crash and analytics data — retained by Firebase on its standard schedule (crash reports up to 90 days; analytics events up to 14 months).
- Guest accounts — kept while the app stays installed; removing the app ends the guest session.
6. Security
Traffic between the app and our servers is encrypted with HTTPS/TLS. Passwords are stored and verified by Firebase Authentication and are never held by us. Access to the administration backend is restricted to authorised church staff. No system is perfectly secure, so please use a strong, unique password and tell us at once if you believe your account has been misused.
7. Your rights and choices
- Access and correction — view and edit your profile in the app at any time.
- Deletion — request removal of your account and its data; see Delete your account.
- A copy of your data — ask us and we will send you the data held about your account.
- Notifications — turn them off in the app or in your device settings.
- Analytics — you may reset or clear the advertising/app-instance identifier in your device settings.
- Complaints — if you are in a country with a data-protection authority, you may complain to it.
To exercise any of these, write to melkatole1@gmail.com from the address or phone number on the account.
8. Children
The app is written for a general church audience and is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal data from a child under 13 without a parent's or guardian's involvement. Where a young person takes part in a youth Bible-study group, their parent or guardian may contact us at melkatole1@gmail.com to review or delete their data, and we will act on that request.
9. Changes to this policy
If we change this policy we will update the date at the top of this page, and for significant changes we will announce it in the app. Continuing to use the app after a change means you accept the updated policy.
10. Contact
Lideta Mekaneyesus Church — LMY Church app
Email: melkatole1@gmail.com