Privacy Policy

Effective Date: June 23, 2026

BuddhaChat ("we", "us", or "our") is committed to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, and safeguard your information when you use the BuddhaChat mobile application ("App").

1. Information We Collect

Account Information: When you sign in with Apple, we receive your Apple ID identifier and, optionally, your name and email address (if you choose to share them). We also support anonymous accounts that do not require personal information.

Profile Data: Display name and spiritual preferences you provide during onboarding.

Practice Data: Meditation session records, practice statistics, and merit points generated through your use of the App.

Chat Content: Messages you send in community group chats (Dojos) and questions you post in the Q&A feed. AI chat conversations with the Ask feature are transmitted to a third-party AI inference provider (Groq) to generate responses, and are not stored on our servers.

Device Information: Push notification tokens for delivering notifications to your device.

Audio Data: When you use the voice input feature, audio is recorded temporarily on your device and transmitted to our transcription service for speech-to-text conversion. Audio recordings are processed in real-time and are not permanently stored on our servers. The resulting text transcription is used only to populate your input field.

Purchase Information: When you subscribe through in-app purchases, Apple processes and stores your payment information. We receive only a purchase confirmation and subscription status from Apple — we do not collect or store your credit card or payment details. For physical product purchases via PayPal, PayPal processes payment; we receive your shipping address and order confirmation only.

2. How We Use Your Information

• To provide and maintain the App's features (meditation tracking, community chat, AI guidance)
• To personalize your experience based on your spiritual preferences
• To send push notifications you have opted into
• To facilitate community features (Dojo membership, Q&A feeds)
• To process voice input and convert speech to text for the Ask feature
• To manage your subscriptions and deliver premium content
• To fulfill physical product orders placed through PayPal

3. Device Permissions

The App may request the following device permissions:

• Microphone: Used for voice-to-text input in the Ask feature. Audio is recorded only while you actively hold the microphone button, and is transmitted solely for transcription purposes. You can deny or revoke this permission at any time in your device settings.
• Push Notifications: Used to deliver practice reminders and community updates. You can manage notification preferences in your device settings.

4. Third-Party Services

We use the following third-party services:

• Supabase — Authentication and database hosting (data stored in the cloud)
• Stream — Activity feeds and group chat infrastructure
• Expo — Push notification delivery
• Groq — AI inference provider that processes your Ask chat messages to generate spiritual guidance responses, and provides speech-to-text transcription for voice input. Content is processed in real-time and not retained by Groq.
• RevenueCat — Subscription management and purchase validation
• Apple (In-App Purchase) — Payment processing for subscriptions
• PayPal — Payment processing for physical product purchases

5. Data Retention

We retain your data for as long as your account is active. Voice recordings are transient and deleted immediately after transcription. You may delete your account at any time through the App's Profile settings, which will permanently remove all your data from our systems.

6. Data Security

We use industry-standard security measures including encrypted connections (HTTPS/TLS), secure token storage (iOS Keychain via expo-secure-store), and Row-Level Security (RLS) policies on our database to protect your data.

7. Children's Privacy

The App is not intended for children under 13 years of age. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13.

8. Your Rights

You have the right to:

• Access your personal data through the App
• Update your profile information
• Delete your account and all associated data
• Opt out of push notifications through your device settings
• Revoke microphone access through your device settings
• Manage or cancel subscriptions through your Apple ID settings

9. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any changes by posting the new Privacy Policy within the App.

10. Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us at: buddhachat.app@gmail.com