Privacy Policy

1. What personal information we collect

We aim to collect only the personal information we reasonably need to provide the Service. The information we collect and hold falls into the following categories:

Contact and identity information

• Your email address – used to create and manage your account and to communicate with you about the Service.
• Your first name – which you provide when you sign up. We use it to personalise your experience, including a short spoken welcome message that greets you by name.
• Your country and time zone – used to deliver your daily message at an appropriate local time and to help us understand where our subscribers are based.

Telegram account information

Because the Service is delivered through Telegram, we store your Telegram user ID, chat ID and username (@handle) so we can link your account and deliver your messages to you.

Account, subscription and usage information

• Your subscription details – such as your plan tier, subscription status, and the customer and subscription reference IDs provided by our payment provider (we do not store your card details – see section 3).
• Basic account and usage information – such as whether you have completed onboarding, the number of messages sent to you, and the dates of your most recent messages and interactions. We use this to operate the Service and improve your experience.

IP address (at sign-up)

Your IP address – briefly used at sign-up to detect your country, via our geolocation provider (ipapi.co). It is used for this purpose and is not stored in our database.

We do not ask for or store your postal address, date of birth, or any sensitive identity information beyond what is described in this Policy.

2. Information about how you feel

As part of using the Service, you select an emotion from a list we provide (for example, within the Telegram app) that reflects how you are feeling. In response, we send you a message and a voice recording containing scripture, an affirmation and a mantra. The same content is provided to you in both text and voice form. The voice recordings are produced using a third-party text-to-speech provider (ElevenLabs).

The emotion you select is used to choose and deliver the content that matches how you are feeling. We also keep a record of the emotions you have selected and the content sent to you over time, so that we can avoid repeating the same content and improve your experience. We treat this information with care. Depending on the circumstances, information about your emotional or wellbeing state may be considered sensitive information under the Privacy Act, and we only collect and hold it with your consent, which you provide by choosing to use the Service and selecting an emotion.

3. Payment information

We do not collect or store your credit card or other payment details. All payments and the checkout process are handled by our authorised payment provider and Merchant of Record, Paddle (Paddle.com Market Limited and its group companies). When you subscribe, Paddle collects and processes your payment information directly under its own terms and privacy notice.

We encourage you to review Paddle’s privacy notice to understand how it handles your information: https://www.paddle.com/legal/privacy.

Paddle provides us with limited information needed to manage your subscription (such as your subscription status), but not your full card details.

4. How we use your information

We use the personal information we collect to:

• Create, manage and maintain your account and subscription;
• Deliver your daily messages and voice recordings at an appropriate time for your location;
• Respond to your enquiries and provide customer support;
• Manage your free trial and, where applicable, your paid subscription via Paddle;
• Maintain the security and integrity of the Service; and
• Comply with our legal obligations.

We do not currently send marketing emails. If we decide to do so in future, we will only send them where permitted by law, and you will be able to opt out (unsubscribe) at any time.

5. How your information is stored

Your information is stored in our database hosted by Supabase. Supabase hosts data in various regions. Our data is stored in the following region: AWS ap-northeast-2 (Seoul, South Korea).

Because our data is hosted in South Korea, your information is stored and processed outside Australia. Where your information is stored or processed overseas, we take reasonable steps to ensure it is handled in accordance with the Australian Privacy Principles and is subject to appropriate safeguards. By using the Service, you consent to your information being stored and processed in the region identified above.

We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect your personal information from misuse, interference, loss, and unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.

6. Disclosure of your information

We do not sell your personal information. We only disclose it to:

• Paddle, our payment provider and Merchant of Record, to process your subscription;
• Supabase, our database hosting provider, to store your data;
• Telegram, to the extent the Service is delivered through the Telegram platform (your use of Telegram is also governed by Telegram’s own privacy policy);
• ElevenLabs, our text-to-speech provider, which converts the message content – and the short welcome that includes your first name – into the voice recordings we deliver to you;
• ipapi.co, an IP geolocation provider, which we use at sign-up to detect your country from your IP address;
• Sentry, our error-monitoring provider, which helps us detect and fix technical problems (Sentry receives only a Telegram identifier for this purpose, not your email, country or timezone);
• Vercel, our website hosting provider, whose servers process technical information such as your IP address and browser details in standard server logs when you visit our website. Vercel also provides us with privacy-friendly website analytics (aggregate traffic and usage data, with no cookies and no identification of individuals);
• Service providers who help us operate the Service, under appropriate confidentiality obligations; and
• Government, regulatory or law enforcement bodies where required or authorised by law.

Some of these service providers are located outside Australia and may store or process your information overseas. Where they do, we take reasonable steps to ensure your information is handled in accordance with the Australian Privacy Principles.

7. Your rights

Under the Privacy Act and the Australian Privacy Principles, you have the right to:

• Request access to the personal information we hold about you;
• Ask us to correct information that is inaccurate, out of date or incomplete;
• Request that we delete your personal information, subject to any legal obligations we have to retain it; and
• Withdraw your consent or cancel your subscription at any time.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at hello@shepherdverses.com. We will respond within a reasonable time, and as required by the Privacy Act.

8. Cookies and website analytics

Our website may use basic cookies or similar technologies necessary for the site to function. Our website uses Vercel Analytics, a privacy-friendly analytics tool provided by our hosting provider, Vercel, to understand overall site traffic and usage. It does not use cookies and does not identify you individually. If we add other analytics tools in future, we will update this Policy to describe what is collected and how you can manage it.

9. Data retention

We retain your personal information for as long as your account is active or as needed to provide the Service.

When you unsubscribe or ask us to close your account, we first mark your account as inactive (a “soft delete”), which stops the Service and removes your data from everyday use. We then permanently erase your personal information within 90 days, unless we are required to retain some of it to comply with our legal obligations (for example, certain transaction records).

10. Children

The Service is intended for adults. It is not directed at children, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under the age of 18. If you believe a minor has provided us with personal information, please contact us so we can remove it.

11. Changes to this Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we do, we will revise the “Last updated” date at the top of this page. We encourage you to review this Policy periodically.

12. How to contact us

If you have any questions, concerns or complaints about this Privacy Policy or how we handle your personal information, please contact us:

Shepherd Verses Pty Ltd
ACN 699 365 716
Email: hello@shepherdverses.com

If you are not satisfied with our response to a privacy complaint, you may contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) at www.oaic.gov.au.