Privacy Policy

The controller responsible for processing personal data in connection with GeoChristi and this website is:

Wasim Rizko
Rhinweg 8
14770 Brandenburg an der Havel
Germany

Email: contact@geochristi.com

This Privacy Policy explains how personal data is processed when you use the GeoChristi website, create or use a GeoChristi account, use location-based features such as church visits, use progression features such as XP, or contact GeoChristi.

GeoChristi does not operate an email newsletter or launch-update subscription on this website.

When you create or use a GeoChristi account, we process information needed to provide and secure the account. This may include your email address, username, display name, profile information, authentication identifiers, and account timestamps.

Authentication is provided through Supabase. You can use email and password or choose optional Google Sign-In or, on iOS, Sign in with Apple.

When you choose Google Sign-In, Google provides authentication information that GeoChristi uses to sign you in.

When you choose Sign in with Apple, Apple may provide authentication information, your email address, and your name where available. GeoChristi uses this information to sign you in and may use the Apple-provided name for your display name if your profile does not already have one. If you choose Apple’s Hide My Email option, Apple may provide GeoChristi with a private relay email address instead of your Apple ID email address.

Purpose and legal basis: account creation, authentication, account security, and provision of the requested service are generally processed under Article 6(1)(b) GDPR. Security-related processing may also be based on Article 6(1)(f) GDPR where necessary to protect GeoChristi, its users, and its systems.

GeoChristi may store account-linked profile and progression information such as username, display name, profile metadata, XP totals, levels, and related progression records.

Purpose and legal basis: this information is processed to provide the profile and progression features requested by the user, generally under Article 6(1)(b) GDPR.

GeoChristi uses foreground device location while relevant app features are in use to show your position on the map, identify nearby churches, and determine whether a church visit can be verified. GeoChristi does not currently use background location.

When you confirm a church visit, your current coordinates and reported location accuracy are transmitted to the backend for proximity verification. The current church-visit record does not store your raw latitude and longitude. It may store the church identifier, visit date and time, local visit day, verified distance, and reported location accuracy.

Purpose and legal basis: general foreground location used to provide the map and nearby-place functionality is generally processed under Article 6(1)(b) GDPR. Location used to verify and record an account-linked church visit is addressed separately below because the resulting visit history can be more sensitive.

An account-linked history of visits to churches can, depending on the context and pattern of use, reveal or allow inferences about a person’s religious beliefs. GeoChristi therefore treats account-linked church visit history conservatively as potentially sensitive personal data.

GeoChristi does not use church visit history to infer or classify a user’s religion, denomination, congregation membership, or beliefs, and does not use church visit history for advertising or behavioral targeting.

Your individual saved church visits and detailed visit history are private to your GeoChristi account. GeoChristi does not display the individual churches you visited, visit dates or times, or your detailed visit history publicly or share those details with other users. GeoChristi currently displays private aggregate visit statistics within your account, such as churches visited, total visits, and countries visited. These aggregate statistics do not make your individual visit history public.

GeoChristi does not automatically record a church visit merely because you are near a church. Before a visit is saved, the app presents a confirmation step explaining that the visit will be saved privately to your visit history and used for visit-related progress, together with a Privacy link. The visit is recorded only if you actively choose Save & Confirm Visit. If you cancel or dismiss the confirmation, that visit is not stored.

Purpose and legal basis: GeoChristi relies on consent under Article 6(1)(a) GDPR for saving account-linked church-visit history. To the extent that a particular visit history constitutes special-category data revealing religious beliefs, GeoChristi relies on explicit consent under Article 9(2)(a) GDPR. The visit-confirmation step must request that consent in clear, specific language before the visit is stored. General church discovery and map browsing remain available without recording a visit.

You can stop future visit recording simply by not confirming future visits. You may withdraw consent for retained visit-history processing and request erasure from Profile → Privacy → Request Visit History Deletion, through the website contact form, or by contacting support@geochristi.com. GeoChristi verifies that the request comes from the account owner before permanent deletion is completed. Once a verified request is completed, saved church visits and current visit-derived progress are deleted, including directly linked visit XP and visit-derived visited-church and country statistics, unless limited retention is required by another applicable legal basis. Your GeoChristi account, profile, authentication identities, and progress unrelated to church visits remain. Withdrawal does not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before withdrawal.

GeoChristi stores XP events and related server-side records needed to calculate account progression and to reduce duplicate or invalid rewards. Where XP or other progression is directly derived from church visits, it is handled consistently with the visit-history rules described above. If visit history is deleted, directly visit-linked XP and visit-derived progress are removed or recalculated as necessary, while unrelated XP and progress remain. If GeoChristi later introduces achievements or rewards that depend on visit history, those visit-derived rewards may also need to be adjusted or removed when the underlying visit history is deleted.

Purpose and legal basis: progression features are generally processed under Article 6(1)(b) GDPR. Security and abuse-prevention checks may also rely on Article 6(1)(f) GDPR.

GeoChristi uses third-party services to provide parts of the app. Current relevant services may include Supabase for authentication, profiles, church-data requests, visits, and XP; Google for optional Google Sign-In; Apple for optional Sign in with Apple and authorization revocation during account deletion where applicable; OpenFreeMap and MapLibre for map display and map resources; and external image hosts for church or profile images where applicable.

Requests to external services can expose ordinary network information such as an IP address to the destination service. Opening directions, websites, email, phone, or other external links is user initiated and subject to the destination provider’s own privacy practices.

This website is hosted using services provided by Namecheap, Inc. When the website is accessed, technical data may be processed in server logs. Depending on the hosting configuration, this can include IP address, date and time of access, requested resource, browser or device information, referrer information, and technical status data.

Purpose and legal basis: these logs may be processed to securely and reliably provide the website, troubleshoot technical problems, and protect the website and hosting infrastructure under Article 6(1)(f) GDPR.

If you contact GeoChristi by email or through the website contact form, we process the information you send, such as your email address, name if provided, message content, selected contact topic, and any information you voluntarily include, in order to respond and handle the request.

The website contact form is processed on GeoChristi's Namecheap-hosted website. Submitted contact messages are delivered to GeoChristi's contact mailbox where the hosting mail service accepts delivery. To prevent a legitimate request from being lost if an email notification fails, the form also keeps a private server-side copy of the submitted message outside the public website directory. GeoChristi does not intentionally use a third-party contact-form or marketing provider for this form. Normal hosting and mail-server logs may still contain technical information as described in the Website Hosting & Server Logs section.

Purpose and legal basis: Article 6(1)(b) GDPR may apply where the request concerns the service or your account; otherwise Article 6(1)(f) GDPR may apply to the legitimate interest in responding to inquiries and maintaining support records. Article 6(1)(c) GDPR may apply where retention or disclosure is required by law.

The current GeoChristi website does not intentionally use analytics, advertising trackers, or non-essential tracking cookies.

The website does not load Google Fonts or another third-party web-font service. It uses locally available/system font fallbacks in order to avoid a separate font-provider request from the website visitor’s browser.

The current inspected app implementation does not include app analytics, advertising SDKs, behavioral tracking SDKs, crash-reporting SDKs, or push-notification tracking. GeoChristi does not use church visit history for advertising or behavioral targeting. If consent-requiring analytics, advertising, or other tracking technologies are added in the future, this policy and any required consent mechanism must be updated before those technologies are activated.

Account and profile data are generally retained while the account remains active and are removed from the active application database when the account is deleted, subject to limited retention where required by law or necessary to establish, exercise, or defend legal claims.

Church visit history and directly related visit-based progression are retained while needed to provide the requested feature and while the applicable legal basis remains valid. You can withdraw consent and request deletion of retained visit history through the in-app Privacy section, the website contact form, or support. GeoChristi may verify the requester where reasonably necessary. Once a verified request is completed, the affected saved visits and current visit-derived progression are removed from the active application database unless limited retention is required by another applicable legal basis.

Support correspondence, operational logs, and backups are retained only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purpose for which they were created, taking into account security, troubleshooting, recovery, legal obligations, and the applicable provider configuration. Backup copies may persist temporarily until the relevant backup cycle is overwritten or securely deleted.

You can permanently delete your GeoChristi account from Profile → Edit Profile → Delete Account. Full account deletion removes your sign-in account and account-related GeoChristi data from the active application database, including your profile, saved visits, and XP data. This action cannot be undone.

For an account linked to Sign in with Apple, GeoChristi also attempts to revoke its Sign in with Apple authorization as part of account deletion. If automatic revocation is unavailable, your GeoChristi account will still be deleted, and the app will instruct you to remove GeoChristi manually in your Sign in with Apple settings.

Visit History Deletion is separate from full account deletion. It can remove saved church visits and visit-derived progress while leaving your GeoChristi account, profile, authentication identities, and progress unrelated to church visits in place, as described in Section 6.

If you no longer have access to the app, you can use the Account Deletion web page to request deletion without reinstalling the app.

Personal data is disclosed only where necessary to provide the website or app, process a user-requested integration, protect the service, comply with legal obligations, or otherwise as described in this policy. Relevant recipients may include Namecheap, Supabase, Google when Google Sign-In is used, Apple when Sign in with Apple is used, map or image providers, and external services that you choose to open.

Some providers or subprocessors may process data outside Germany or the European Economic Area. Where Chapter V GDPR applies, GeoChristi uses an applicable transfer mechanism. The current Supabase and Namecheap data-processing terms provide for the EU Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) where required for covered international transfers. Other providers may rely on an adequacy decision or other safeguards permitted by the GDPR where applicable.

Information about applicable transfer safeguards, or a means to obtain a copy where required, can be requested at contact@geochristi.com. Provider information is also available from Supabase's Data Processing Addendum and Namecheap's Data Processing Addendum.

Providing the account information needed for registration and authentication is necessary if you want to create and use a GeoChristi account and account-based features. If required account information is not provided, those account features cannot be provided.

Device location permission is optional. If you do not grant location access, location-dependent features such as showing your current position, identifying nearby churches from your position, and verifying church visits may be unavailable.

Saving a church visit is optional. If you do not choose Save & Confirm Visit, that visit is not added to your visit history and visit-based XP or progress for that visit is not awarded. Information submitted in a support or contact request is voluntary except to the extent an email address or other information is necessary for GeoChristi to respond to or verify the request.

GeoChristi does not currently use automated decision-making that produces legal effects or similarly significant effects on users. Automated calculations such as XP totals, levels, duplicate-visit checks, and distance verification are used only to operate app features.

GeoChristi is intended for users aged 16 and older and is not intended for children under 16. Users under 16 must not create or use a GeoChristi account or use consent-based church-visit recording.

Subject to applicable law, you may have rights including access, rectification, erasure, restriction of processing, data portability, objection, and withdrawal of consent where processing is based on consent.

Where processing is based on consent, withdrawing consent does not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before withdrawal. For retained church-visit history, GeoChristi provides an in-app Request Visit History Deletion action, a website contact route, and a support contact route as described above.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with a competent supervisory authority. For a controller established in Brandenburg, the relevant authority is the Landesbeauftragte für den Datenschutz und für das Recht auf Akteneinsicht Brandenburg ↗.

We may update this Privacy Policy when GeoChristi, our service providers, or applicable legal requirements change. The current version will be published on this page.

Privacy and legal questions can be sent to contact@geochristi.com ↗ or submitted through the website contact form.