1. Introduction
church.chat ("we," "our," or "us") provides a free scheduling and team management application for churches. This Privacy Policy describes how we collect, use, store, protect, and share your personal information when you use our Service, including our integration with Google Calendar and other Google APIs. By using church.chat, you agree to the practices described in this policy.
2. Information We Collect
We collect the following types of information:
- Account and profile information: name, email address, church or organization name, and role within your team.
- Volunteer and scheduling data: availability, serve assignments, service plans, team membership, chat messages related to serving, and event details you create in the app.
- Google account and Calendar data (when you authorize the integration): We request limited access to your Google account via OAuth so we can read and write calendar events that correspond to your serve schedules. We only request the minimum Google Calendar scopes needed for two-way sync of those events. We do not request access to your Gmail, Drive, Contacts, or other Google products.
- Technical and usage data: device/browser type, IP address, log data, and approximate usage metrics needed to operate, secure, and improve the Service.
3. How We Use Your Information
Your information is used solely to:
- Provide, maintain, and operate the church.chat scheduling and team management platform
- Create, update, and remove serve-related events on your Google Calendar when you enable sync
- Send notifications about schedule changes, assignments, and service-related activity
- Authenticate you, prevent abuse, and keep accounts secure
- Improve reliability, performance, and support of the Service
We do not use Google user data for advertising, marketing, credit decisions, or any purpose other than providing the core calendar-sync functionality you requested. We do not sell personal information.
4. Google Calendar Integration & Limited Use
Our app uses Google APIs to enable two-way synchronization between church.chat and your Google Calendar. This lets volunteers see serve assignments in their personal calendar automatically.
- Access is granted only after you explicitly authorize church.chat through Google's OAuth consent screen.
- We only access calendar data necessary to create, update, or remove events that represent your church.chat serve commitments.
- We do not store full copies of your entire Google Calendar. We retain only the identifiers and metadata required to keep church.chat events in sync (for example, event IDs we created and mapping to your assignments).
- You may revoke Google access at any time in your church.chat account settings or via your Google Account permissions page (myaccount.google.com/permissions). After revocation, we stop accessing your Google Calendar and will delete stored Google auth tokens associated with your account.
Google API Services User Data Policy — Limited Use disclosure: church.chat's use and transfer to any other app of information received from Google APIs will adhere to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements. Specifically:
- We only use Google user data to provide or improve user-facing features that are prominent in the requesting application's user interface.
- We do not transfer Google user data to third parties unless it is necessary to provide or improve those features, to comply with applicable law, or as part of a merger/acquisition where the receiving party is bound to the same restrictions—and never for serving advertisements.
- We do not use Google user data for serving ads, including retargeting, personalized, or interest-based advertising.
- We do not allow humans to read Google user data unless we have your affirmative consent for specific messages, it is necessary for security/compliance investigations, or it is required by law—and then only with appropriate access controls.
5. Data Protection Mechanisms for Sensitive Data
We treat account credentials, OAuth tokens, Google Calendar sync data, and personally identifiable volunteer information as sensitive. We protect this data with the following technical and organizational measures:
- Encryption in transit: All traffic between your browser/app, our servers, and Google APIs is protected with TLS (HTTPS). Plain-text transmission of sensitive data is not permitted.
- Encryption at rest: Sensitive data, including OAuth access and refresh tokens and stored personal information, is encrypted at rest using industry-standard encryption provided by our cloud infrastructure (e.g., AES-256 or equivalent managed disk/database encryption).
- Secure token handling: Google OAuth tokens are stored encrypted, accessible only to backend services that perform calendar sync. Tokens are never exposed in client-side code, URLs, or logs. We refresh and rotate tokens according to Google's OAuth best practices and invalidate them when you disconnect Google or delete your account.
- Access controls: Production systems use least-privilege access. Only authorized personnel with a job-related need can access systems that hold user data, and access is authenticated, logged, and periodically reviewed. Administrative access requires strong authentication.
- Network and application security: We use firewalling, private networking where applicable, dependency and vulnerability monitoring, and secure software development practices to reduce the risk of unauthorized access.
- Monitoring and incident response: We monitor for suspicious activity and maintain procedures to investigate, contain, and remediate security incidents. If a breach affecting your personal data occurs, we will notify affected users and regulators as required by applicable law.
- Data minimization: We collect and retain only the Google and personal data needed to operate calendar sync and core scheduling features. We do not scrape or permanently archive unrelated calendar content.
- Employee and contractor safeguards: Personnel who may handle user data are bound by confidentiality obligations and trained on privacy and security expectations.
6. Data Storage, Retention & Deletion
- Where data is stored: Application data is hosted on reputable cloud infrastructure providers with enterprise-grade physical and logical security controls.
- Retention: We retain account, scheduling, and sync-mapping data for as long as your account remains active and as needed to provide the Service. Google OAuth tokens are retained only while the Google integration is connected.
- Deletion: You may request deletion of your account and associated personal data by emailing support@church.chat. Upon a verified request (or when you delete your account in-product), we delete or anonymize personal data and revoke stored Google tokens within a reasonable period, except where we must retain limited records to comply with law, resolve disputes, or enforce our agreements. Calendar events previously written to your Google Calendar remain under your control in Google Calendar and can be removed by you there or by disconnecting sync before deletion where supported.
- Backups: Encrypted backups may temporarily retain residual data for disaster recovery; backup copies age out on a rolling schedule.
7. Data Sharing
We do not sell or rent your personal information. We may share data only in these limited cases:
- Service providers: Trusted processors (such as cloud hosting, email delivery, or error monitoring) that help us operate the Service, under contractual obligations to protect data and use it only on our instructions.
- Google: When you enable Calendar sync, event data is sent to Google Calendar APIs as needed to perform the sync you requested, subject to Google's terms and policies.
- Legal requirements: If required by law, regulation, legal process, or to protect the rights, safety, and security of users or the public.
- Business transfers: In connection with a merger, acquisition, or asset sale, provided the recipient is bound to privacy commitments consistent with this policy.
Google user data is handled in accordance with the Google API Services User Data Policy, including Limited Use, as described in Section 4.
8. Your Rights and Choices
Depending on your location, you may have rights to access, correct, export, or delete your personal data, and to object to or restrict certain processing. You can:
- Update profile and scheduling information in your church.chat account
- Disconnect Google Calendar at any time in account settings or via Google Account permissions
- Request access to or deletion of your data by contacting support@church.chat
We will respond to verified requests within a reasonable timeframe and as required by applicable law.
9. Children's Privacy
church.chat is intended for church staff and adult volunteers. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13 (or the equivalent minimum age in your jurisdiction) without appropriate consent. If you believe a child has provided us personal data, contact us and we will take steps to delete it.
10. International Users
If you access the Service from outside the country where our infrastructure is located, your information may be transferred to and processed in countries that may have different data-protection laws. We apply the safeguards described in this policy regardless of where data is processed.
11. Changes to This Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we make material changes, we will update the "Last updated" date at the top of this page and, where appropriate, provide additional notice in the Service. Continued use of church.chat after changes become effective constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.
12. Contact Us
If you have questions about this Privacy Policy, our data practices, security measures, or wish to exercise your privacy rights, please email us at support@church.chat.