Pen & Verse Privacy Policy
Summary
Pen & Verse does not send any personal information to us. Your record of the verses you have written, your highlights and notes, and the handwriting you trace in the app stay on your device. There is no account, no server of ours, no ads, no analytics and no tracking. If your phone’s backup is on, the app’s data can be part of your own Google or iCloud backup, which we can’t see (see “Backups” below). The app connects to the App Store or Google Play only for the purchase. On Android, Google’s Play Billing library may send diagnostic information to Google when it connects (see “In-app purchase” below).
What we collect
The app collects nothing. There is no sign-up or login in it. No analytics or advertising software is in the app, and it makes no network requests to us.
If you gave us your email address on the Pen & Verse page at danorie.com to hear about the launch, that signup is covered by the danorie.com privacy policy, not by this one.
What is stored on your device
- Which verses you have marked as written, and on which days, for each book and each monthly plan
- Your streak
- Highlights: the book, chapter and verse, the color, which letters you colored (their positions in the verse, not the Bible text itself) and when you last changed it
- Notes: the book, chapter and verse, the note you wrote (up to 2,000 characters) and when you last changed it
- Trace: the pen strokes you write for each line of a verse (where they are, their width and color), the page’s style and writing size, and your last pen settings (writing size, color, whether the tools are folded)
- Swipe to read: the last verse you were on, so you can pick up there (one line, replaced each time)
- Listening settings: the voice, the reading mode (verse by verse or continuous) and the sleep timer
- Whether everything is open, and whether a purchase still needs to be finished; on Android, also the 7-day window described under “In-app purchase”
- The name you type on the My Writing screen, if you add one
- Whether the app has already asked for a rating
The data stays in the app’s own storage on the device and is deleted when you delete the app. A backup your phone already made to your own account can stay there, depending on your backup settings.
You can also remove things inside the app at any time: “Clear” and the eraser remove highlights, “Delete note” removes a note, and the eraser or undo removes handwriting. When all the handwriting on a verse is erased, its record is removed too.
Backups and moving to a new device
This version has no sync. If Google backup (Android) or iCloud backup (iPhone and iPad) is on, your phone can include the app’s data, including your highlights, notes and handwriting, in a backup to your own account and move it to a new device. That backup is in your account only. We can’t see it.
If we add sync later, it will go through your own cloud account, such as iCloud, and we will not build any way for us to read it.
Cards, images and photos
The app can make five kinds of files to share: Today’s card, a highlight and note card, a picture of your handwriting (PNG), your handwriting as a PDF, and a Copywork sheet (PDF). Each is made on your device only when you tap “Make a card”, “Share this page as an image”, “This page as PDF”, “All pages as PDF” or “Make PDF”. The file is kept in the app’s temporary storage and handed to your phone’s share sheet. The app does not send it anywhere on its own. Your phone may clear this temporary storage at any time. Where a file goes from the share sheet, such as a messaging app, is your choice, and that service’s own privacy policy applies.
You can add a photo of your notebook to Today’s card. Your phone may ask you to allow access to your photos. The app uses only the one photo you pick, to draw the card. It does not keep a copy or send the photo anywhere.
On iPhone and iPad, the app never asks for photo access first. iOS asks for permission to add to your photos only when you choose “Save Image” in the share sheet, and the app does not read your photo library for this. On Android, the app asks for no new permission; saving is done by the app you pick in the share sheet.
Copywork sheets
Only when you tap “Make PDF”, the app makes the Copywork sheet on the device and hands it to your phone’s share sheet. You choose where it goes, such as a printer or a notes app.
Listening
Listening uses the speech voice built into your device. In verse-by-verse mode the voice gets one verse at a time; in continuous mode the app hands it the next verses of the chapter in advance so the reading doesn’t stop. Either way, the voice gets only the Bible text. It never gets your record of what you have written, your highlights, notes or handwriting. On iPhone and iPad, continuous listening keeps playing when the screen locks, until you stop it or the sleep timer stops it.
On Android, the app leaves out Google’s network voices, which send text to Google’s servers. Which voice your device uses otherwise depends on your device settings. How the voice works is up to your device maker and operating system.
In-app purchase
The App Store or Google Play handles the payment. We receive no payment or contact details. Restoring a purchase is also handled by the store, using your store account.
The app connects to the store only:
- when you open the purchase screen, and when you come back to the app while that screen is open
- when you tap “Open all 66 books” or “Restore purchase”
- when the app opens, only if a purchase still needs to be finished, for example because the app closed during payment or a payment is waiting for approval
- on Android only: if you opened the purchase screen and everything is not open yet, then for 7 days the app checks with Google Play when you open it or come back to it. This is to pick up a code you redeemed in the Google Play app, or a payment that was waiting, and confirm it (Google refunds a purchase that is not confirmed within 3 days). After 7 days this stops. The iPhone and iPad app does not do this.
The Android app includes Google’s Play Billing library. When it connects to Google Play, it may send diagnostic information about how the library is working to Google. This does not include your record of what you have written, your highlights, notes or handwriting. Google handles it under its privacy policy: https://policies.google.com/privacy. On iPhone and iPad, purchases go through Apple: https://www.apple.com/legal/privacy/.
Rating request
After you finish a book or write three days in a row, the app may ask your phone to show the store’s own rating prompt. It asks once. Apple or Google shows and handles it.
Links
Links open only when you tap them. The font license on the “About the text” screen opens in your browser. The button for redeeming a code opens the App Store or Google Play.
Why we keep your record on your device
Which verses you wrote and when, which ones you highlighted, and what you noted beside them is a personal record of faith. Sending it to a server of ours would be the wrong call for a record like this. So the app is built never to send it anywhere on its own (your phone’s backup is covered above). That is why there is no server and no sign-up, and why sharing and making pictures happen only when you tap them.
Children
Pen & Verse is made for adults. We do not collect information from anyone, including children.
The Bible text
The Bible text is the King James Version (1769), from eBible.org (eng-kjv). It is in the public domain outside the United Kingdom.
Permissions
Android:
| Permission | Why |
|---|---|
| Internet (INTERNET) | Connecting to Google Play for the purchase |
| Google Play billing (com.android.vending.BILLING) | Buying and restoring the one-time purchase |
| View network connections (ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE) | The Play Billing library checks whether the phone is online |
| com.danorie.penverse.DYNAMIC_RECEIVER_NOT_EXPORTED_PERMISSION | Used only inside the app by Android’s own components; no other app can use it |
Pen & Verse does not use the advertising ID, camera, microphone, location, contacts or shared storage. The notebook photo comes through your phone’s photo picker.
Changes
If this policy changes, we will post the new version on this page and mention it in the app’s update notes.
Contact
Have a question about this policy? Write to Danorie at contact@danorie.com.