Privacy Policy

Effective October 17, 2026 · Applies to the Holdfast apps for iOS and Android (including beta builds distributed through TestFlight and Google Play testing tracks), the website at holdfastbible.com, and support you request from us. Holdfast is published by Fremdly Marketing LLC (“Fremdly,” “we,” “us”).

The short version. Your typed recall attempts, missed-word text, reflections, and memory-board cues are not uploaded to your account. You can use Holdfast without an account. If you sign in, we store your sign-in details and library backup. Study-data sync starts automatically when the service permits it, with no on/off setting: it syncs selected settings, announcement read/dismissal state, plan and learning progress, and text-free review and practice records. Those records include passage identifiers and can reveal what you practice. Signing out stops account sync but does not delete data already uploaded. That data is encrypted in transit and at rest by our hosting provider but is not end-to-end encrypted. App analytics and crash reports are on by default except in the EU, EEA, UK, and Switzerland, or where we can’t tell your region, where they stay off until you tap Allow on the screen shown after onboarding. You can change this anytime in Privacy and your data. They never contain Scripture text, typed recall answers, or your notes. We do not sell or share personal information for advertising, we show no ads, and we do not track you across other companies’ apps or websites. In the app, “Export my data” shares a JSON record, created on your device, of selected account, library, and study data available on that device, including eligible reflections and memory cues you wrote, even when signed out; it is not a complete copy of everything we hold and not an importable backup. You can delete your account in the app or on this website.

On this page

  1. Who we are
  2. What stays on your device
  3. Information we collect
  4. How specific features use data
  5. How we use information and our legal bases
  6. Sensitive information
  7. Who we share information with
  8. How long we keep information
  9. Your choices and rights
  10. Notice for California and other U.S. states
  11. International transfers
  12. Security
  13. Children
  14. This website
  15. Changes to this policy
  16. Contact

Who we are

Fremdly Marketing LLC publishes Holdfast and is the controller responsible for the personal information described in this policy. Where this policy says “service providers,” it means companies that process information on our behalf and under our instructions. Some companies named here, such as Apple, Google Play, and API.Bible, also act independently under their own privacy policies when you use their services.

What stays on your device

These stay on your device during normal use; we do not receive them, and they are not in analytics or crash reports:

Typed answers and missed words leave your device only if you deliberately include them in something you send, such as the text or screenshot of a feedback report, or a file you choose to share from the device. Your reflections and memory cues are not uploaded to your account today, and the Export my data file, which is created on your device, can include them (see Exporting your data).

Information we collect

Information you give us

Information collected automatically

Information from third parties

We do not collect precise location, contacts, photos from your library, advertising identifiers, or health data. We may determine your approximate country from the app store you use or your network connection to apply translation licensing limits; when analytics is on, it also estimates approximate location from your IP address.

How specific features use data

Account, backup, and sync

An account is optional. Signing in and backing up or restoring your library are free. When you are signed in and account sync is enabled for the service, Holdfast also syncs your study data (described in Information we collect) so another device you sign in to can restore the records its current app supports. Syncing your study data does not require a subscription. Whether continuous multi-device updates to your saved-passage library are free or part of Pro depends on how we have configured the service at the time.

When you sign in and the service permits it, study-data sync is automatic on that device and account. Settings shows its status without an on/off control. A new device can restore study data already synced to your account. While offline, changes stay on your device and sync when you reconnect. You can stop account sync by signing out or by deleting your account. Signing out does not erase data already stored on our servers. We can pause study-data sync for everyone; it stays paused unless we enable it for the service. While it is paused, changes stay on your device and can sync when service resumes. Each account also has limits on how many records, how much data, and how many requests it can sync, and a change over a limit stays on your device instead of uploading.

Your library backup and synced study data are stored in Google Cloud Firestore. Direct app reads and writes to those records are blocked by security rules. The app uses our Firebase server functions, which verify your signed-in account and app integrity, check deletion locks, and apply service and quota limits before accessing that account’s records. This data is encrypted in transit and at rest by Google Cloud’s standard, service-managed encryption. It is not end-to-end encrypted, so it is not hidden from us or from our hosting provider. Firebase Authentication also sends account emails, such as email verification, password reset, and email-change notices, on our behalf.

Exporting your data

The Export my data action in Privacy and your data shares a JSON file that the app creates on this device. It contains selected preferences, aggregate practice statistics, parsed passage references, review-schedule facts, whether you are signed in, your sign-in method, and your subscription tier. When the device’s study-data stores can be read, it also includes eligible settings, announcement state, plan and learning progress, text-free review history and committed practice receipts, plus your own reflections and memory-board cues and prompts. Reflections and cues remain local and can be included even when you are signed out. Records with unsupported identifiers or values may be omitted; deleted records are omitted. The file includes counts of pending, conflicting, and local-only records, and a sync-verification flag; it does not fetch a fresh, complete server copy. It does not contain Scripture text from the app, typed recall answers or the words you missed, your email address, your account ID, profile name, or sign-in credentials. Text you wrote yourself in a reflection or cue is included as your own content. Treat the file as private when you share it. It is a record of data on this device, not a complete copy of everything we hold about you and not an importable backup; the app cannot restore from it. We do not receive a copy unless you choose to send it to us.

Notifications

Notifications are optional and have separate choices. Study reminders are functional notifications about your practice. Announcements and news are promotional and are sent only if you separately opt in; you can turn either off at any time in the app or in your device settings. The app can also schedule reminders locally on your device.

If you are signed in and opt in to remote notifications, we store, under your account, a push token, a random device ID, platform, time zone, language, reminder time, your notification choices, and small counts used to write the reminder (such as how many passages are due, your streak length, and the reference of a due passage). Our server, running on Cloudflare, uses this to send notifications through Firebase Cloud Messaging and Apple Push Notification service. Notifications may show a passage reference and counts, but never passage text, notes, or typed recall answers.

Analytics and crash reports

After onboarding, Holdfast asks whether to share app analytics and crash reports, with Allow and Not now choices. In the EU, EEA, UK, and Switzerland, and where we can’t tell your region from your device (its region setting, or on Android its SIM or mobile network), these reports stay off until you tap Allow. Elsewhere they are on until you tap Not now, including before you have answered. You can change your choice anytime in Privacy and your data. Firebase Analytics, Crashlytics, and Performance Monitoring follow this choice. Existing saved choices stay as they are, and an older installation that never answered is asked once. Internal development and Beta builds disable these services; signed Release builds, including TestFlight and Google Play testing releases, follow your choice or the regional default.

Holdfast is built by a small team. Sharing these reports helps us find crashes, fix broken screens, and decide what to improve next. You can use the app with sharing off.

Analytics, crash, and performance data are used only to keep Holdfast working and to improve it. They are never used for advertising, ad personalization, or building profiles of individuals, and never to contact anyone. Holdfast does not collect advertising IDs. A parent or guardian can turn sharing off at any time in Privacy and your data.

When on, the app sends only coarse, predefined event names and bucketed numbers (for example, which screen was opened or whether a practice round finished), crash and error reports reduced to an operation and error code, and performance timings. The app never adds Scripture text, your passages or references, recall attempts, transcripts, notes, prayers, your email, or your account ID to these reports. Firebase software also processes an installation identifier, IP address, IP-derived approximate location, and device and app details to provide these services. Where a build uses Firebase Remote Config or A/B Testing, those services may use the same analytics information to assign and measure app settings. Turning sharing off stops new collection; it cannot recall data already sent.

Feedback you choose to send

Use Send Feedback in Settings, or shake the device while the app is open, to prepare a bug report, issue, or idea. Shaking never sends anything automatically: you review the message and any screenshot before tapping Send. A screenshot may show private content that is on your screen, including Scripture or notes; you can remove it before sending. Include Diagnostics starts off. If you turn it on, the report adds up to 40 predefined app event names from the last 15 minutes, with relative timings and optional numeric error codes, and no raw logs, text, passage references, or account identifiers.

Reports include your category and message, app version and build, operating-system version, device model, a random report ID, and the attachments you choose. You do not need to sign in, and we do not attach your account ID or email. Our Cloudflare server checks app integrity, limits submissions, and saves the report in a private Google Cloud Firestore inbox; we do not save your IP address with the report. Authorized maintainers may read reports to fix bugs and improve Holdfast. Reports are never public and never used for advertising. Because reports are not linked to your account, deleting your account does not find them; email us with the report ID shown after sending to have one deleted sooner.

Purchases and subscriptions

Subscriptions, free trials, and any one-time purchases are processed by Apple’s App Store or Google Play and managed through RevenueCat. RevenueCat receives your purchase and subscription status, the store and product, and an app-user identifier used to attach your purchase to your Holdfast account (it can be anonymous before you sign in). A record of your subscription tier is stored with your account so Pro features work on your devices. We never see or store your payment card or bank details.

Where offered, purchases made on our website, such as church seat codes, are processed by Stripe, which receives the purchaser’s payment and billing details. Holdfast does not see or store card numbers.

Where Pro gifting is offered, we process the gift code you submit and keep purchase-attempt, purchase, redemption, and refund records: store and product details, transaction references, purchaser and recipient account identifiers or their hashes, code hashes, status, and timing (including gift expiry). These records support delivery, prevent duplicate grants, and reconcile access after a refund. They contain no practice answers or reflections.

Scripture text and licensed partners

Public-domain Bible text, such as the World English Bible from eBible.org, is included with the app or delivered as signed content updates. The app periodically downloads these updates (for example, curated passage lists and lessons) from our content service hosted on Cloudflare. Those requests include your app language and standard network information, but no account identifier or practice data.

Where the app offers a translation licensed through API.Bible (operated by American Bible Society), the app requests the passage from our server, which retrieves it from API.Bible. The request includes the passage reference, the translation, an app-integrity token, and either your account ID (if signed in) or a random session ID, which our server stores only in hashed form, to enforce fair-use limits. Licensed text is displayed from memory and is not saved on your device unless its license allows storage.

API.Bible’s license requires us to report when licensed text is displayed, through its Fair Use Management System (FUMS). For each display, the app sends API.Bible an opaque usage token, a random ID generated for your app installation, and a random ID for the current app session. These reports contain no name, email, account ID, or Scripture text, but API.Bible receives your IP address and device information as part of the request, and handles it under its own privacy policy.

Practice guidance and Discover suggestions

Practice recommendations, memorization guidance, and Discover suggestion ordering use fixed rules on your device and work offline. They do not send Scripture content, practice history, selected topics, notes, or prayers to an AI service. Holdfast does not currently use AI to generate these product suggestions. If that changes, we will update this policy before enabling it and describe exactly what the model receives.

Widgets and shortcuts

Optional widgets, Shortcuts, and Android launcher shortcuts are provided by your device’s operating system. If you add one, it may show the reference and practice status for that surface on your home or lock screen, according to your device settings. They do not export typed recall answers or notes.

How we use information and our legal bases

We use personal information only for the purposes below. If you are in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, or Switzerland, we rely on the legal basis shown for each.

We do not use your information for targeted advertising, we do not sell it, and we do not make decisions about you based solely on automated processing that have legal or similarly significant effects.

Sensitive information

Because Holdfast is a Bible memorization app, the fact that you use it, and the passages in your library, could suggest your religious beliefs. We treat this information as sensitive. We use it only to provide the features you choose, we never use it for advertising or profiling, and we keep it out of analytics and crash reports. Where the law of your country requires it, we process it based on your consent to use the account features. Study-data sync starts automatically when you sign in and the service permits it, as explained in Settings; you can stop account sync at any time by signing out, and withdraw that consent by deleting your account.

Who we share information with

We share personal information only with the service providers and partners below, only as needed for the purposes in this policy:

We may also disclose information if required by law or valid legal process; to protect the rights, safety, or property of our users, Fremdly, or others; in connection with a merger, acquisition, financing, or sale of assets, subject to this policy’s protections; or with your direction or consent.

We do not sell personal information, and we do not “share” it for cross-context behavioral advertising as those terms are defined under California law. We have not done so in the past 12 months.

How long we keep information

We may keep information longer where the law requires it or to resolve disputes and enforce our agreements.

Your choices and rights

Controls in the app

Your privacy rights

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to access, correct, delete, or receive a portable copy of your personal information; to object to or restrict certain processing; to withdraw consent at any time (without affecting processing that already happened); and to opt out of the sale or sharing of personal information or targeted advertising (we do neither). You also have the right not to be discriminated against for using these rights. The in-app export described above is a record of the data on your device, not a complete response to an access or portability request.

To make a request, use the in-app controls above or email support@holdfastbible.com with the subject “Privacy request.” We will verify that the request comes from the account holder, usually by asking you to sign in or to reply from the account’s email address. Never send us a password. You may use an authorized agent where the law allows; we may ask for proof of the agent’s authority and confirm your identity directly. We respond within the time the law requires (generally one month in the EEA and UK, and 45 days in U.S. states, which may be extended where permitted). If we decline your request, you may appeal by replying to our decision with the subject “Privacy appeal,” and we will respond within the time required by law.

If you are in the EEA, UK, or Switzerland, you may also complain to your local data protection authority. We would appreciate the chance to address your concern first.

Notice for California and other U.S. states

This section provides the disclosures required by the California Consumer Privacy Act, as amended, and similar state laws, to the extent they apply to us. In the past 12 months we collected the following categories of personal information, from the sources and for the purposes described above, and disclosed them for business purposes only to the service providers and partners listed in Who we share information with:

We do not sell or share personal information, and we have no actual knowledge of selling or sharing the personal information of consumers under 16. Retention periods are described in How long we keep information.

International transfers

Fremdly is based in the United States, and our main database is hosted in the United States. Our service providers may process information in the United States and other countries whose data protection laws may differ from yours. When we transfer personal information from the EEA, UK, or Switzerland, we rely on appropriate safeguards, such as the European Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses (and the UK Addendum) or a provider’s certification under the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework and its UK and Swiss extensions, where available.

Security

We use encryption in transit, encryption at rest provided by our hosting providers, security rules that limit each account’s data to its owner, app-integrity checks, rate limits, and access controls for the few people who operate the service. Account data is not end-to-end encrypted. We keep practice content out of logs, analytics, and crash reports. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security. If we learn of a breach that affects your personal information, we will notify you and regulators as the law requires.

Children

Holdfast is suitable for all ages but is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. A child under 13 (or under the age of digital consent in their country, which can be up to 16) should not create an account or send feedback, and should keep analytics sharing off by tapping Not now or turning it off in Privacy and your data. The app can be used for practice with all of these off. Analytics, crash, and performance data are used only to keep Holdfast working and to improve it. They are never used for advertising, ad personalization, or building profiles of individuals, and never to contact anyone. Holdfast does not collect advertising IDs. A parent or guardian can turn sharing off at any time in Privacy and your data. If you are a parent or guardian and believe your child has given us personal information, email support@holdfastbible.com and we will delete it. If we learn that we collected personal information from a child under 13 without verifiable parental consent, we will delete it promptly.

This website

holdfastbible.com is hosted by Cloudflare, which processes your IP address and request information to deliver and protect the site. Cloudflare may also hide email addresses on our pages from automated scrapers using a small script.

The site uses Google Analytics through the Google Analytics 4 property of our Firebase web app (measurement ID G-65PM50YTC7; the same property is linked to the Holdfast apps) to count page views, referrers, and coarse device and browser information. Advertising features, remarketing, Google signals, advertising signals, and ad personalization are turned off. Website analytics are not linked to your Holdfast account.

The account deletion page uses Firebase Authentication in your browser to confirm your identity and then calls our server to delete your account. It does not use analytics.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as Holdfast changes. We will post the new version on this page and update the effective date. If a change materially affects how we use personal information you already gave us, we will tell you in the app or by email before it takes effect and, where the law requires, ask for your consent.

Recent changes

Contact

Fremdly Marketing LLC, publisher of Holdfast.
Privacy requests and app help: support@holdfastbible.com
General questions: hello@holdfastbible.com
Phone support: (971) 225-3779

See also our Terms of Use and account deletion page.