Privacy Policy — Novena
Effective date: 28 September 2026
Applies to: the Novena app for Android (com.arapleting.novena). It is distributed only through Google Play; there is no iPhone version.
The short version
Novena has no account, no sign-in, and no server of its own. We receive no data about you, and the app does not track you. The one thing that leaves your phone besides store and update requests is a random installation ID that the update service receives, explained below.
Nothing you type or pray ever leaves this device. Your intentions, which novenas you have prayed, how far through them you are, and your reminder times are stored only in the app's own storage on your phone. We cannot see any of it, because it is never sent anywhere.
What the app stores, and where
All of it stays on your device, in storage private to this app:
| What | Why |
|---|---|
| Which novenas you have started, your progress through them, and their start dates | So the app can show you today's prayer and your history |
| The intention you write when starting a novena | So it stays visible on each day's prayer |
| Your reminder times and notification preference | So reminders fire when you asked |
| Your theme, text size and language settings | So the app looks the way you set it |
| Which languages you have unlocked | So paid content stays available offline, even when Google Play cannot be reached |
| The bundled prayer catalog | So the app works with no connection |
Deleting the app deletes all of it. There is no backup and no sync — which also means that if you uninstall or lose your phone, your prayer history is gone and we cannot restore it. That is a deliberate consequence of not having a server, and it is the trade being made.
When the app connects to the internet
Only to two outside services, and never to us — there is no "us" to connect to. Novena has no backend. Each service is described below, with when it is contacted.
1. Checking for new novenas
The app uses Expo's EAS Update service to download new and corrected prayer content without a full app update. It checks when the app opens (this can be two requests: one made by the update system itself, one by the app), and again if you tap Check for new novenas in Settings.
When it checks, Expo's servers necessarily receive the connection itself — which means your device's IP address and technical details such as the app version, platform and release channel, in the same way that visiting any website reveals your IP address to that website. Each check also carries a random installation ID that the update system creates the first time the app runs and keeps on your phone until you uninstall. It is not derived from your phone, your Google account or anything you type; Expo uses it to deliver updates. No information about you, your intentions, or which novenas you pray is sent. The request is only ever "is there newer content than what I have?"
Expo's handling of that data is governed by Expo's own privacy policy: https://expo.dev/privacy
The app works fully offline. If the check fails, nothing is affected except that you will not receive new content until it succeeds.
2. Google Play, for purchases
Paid languages are sold through Google Play. The app asks Play which Novena products your Play account owns:
- when the app opens, and when you return to it;
- when you open the unlock screen;
- when you unlock a language or tap Restore Purchases; and
- when Play reports that a purchase has completed, so that a payment which clears later is confirmed to Play and unlocked without you doing anything.
Play handles the entire transaction. The app never sees your payment details, your card, your address, or your Play account identity — it only asks "which of these products does this account own?" and unlocks accordingly. Google will know what you bought, as it does for any purchase; that is governed by Google's privacy policy, not this one: https://policies.google.com/privacy
If Play cannot be reached, nothing changes: languages you have already unlocked stay unlocked.
Links you choose to open
If you tap Rate Novena in Settings, the app asks your phone to open Novena's page in the Play Store. The app sends nothing itself; what the Play Store does from there is between you and Google.
Reminders
Reminders are local notifications, scheduled on your device by your device.
There is no push service, no push token, and no registration with Google's Firebase Cloud Messaging. Your reminder times are never transmitted, because nothing outside your phone needs to know them in order for the reminder to fire.
What the app does not do
- No analytics, and no usage tracking of any kind
- No advertising, and no ad networks
- No crash or error reporting
- No advertising ID, no hardware identifiers, and no fingerprinting. The only identifier the app sends anywhere is the random update installation ID above
- No location access
- No contacts, photos, microphone, or camera access
- No selling or sharing of data. We hold none; the update installation ID goes only to Expo, which runs the update service on our behalf
- No profiling, and no automated decision-making about you
Your device's language setting is read on the device to choose which language to display. It is not transmitted.
Children
Novena is not directed at children under 13, and it collects no personal information from anyone, including children. If you believe a child has somehow provided personal information through this app, please contact us — though we should note there is no mechanism by which that could happen, since the app has no way to send us anything.
Your rights
Most data-protection rights — access, correction, deletion, portability, objection — concern data a company holds about you. We hold none. There is no database with your name in it, because there is no database and no name.
The data that exists is on your phone, under your control:
- To see it: it is what the app shows you.
- To change it: edit or abandon a novena in the app.
- To delete it: delete the app. That removes everything, immediately and permanently.
If you have purchased a language and reinstall the app, Restore Purchases (on the paywall and in Settings) recovers your unlocks from Google Play. That is between you and Google; we are not involved and are not told.
Changes to this policy
If the app ever starts doing something this policy does not describe, this policy will be updated before that change ships, and the effective date above will change. The current version is always at https://getnovena.app/privacy.html.
Contact
Novena is written and published by Kip Leting, an individual developer.
Questions about this policy, or about anything the app does with your data: kip@arapleting.com
There is no company behind the app, and we hold no data about you. The only outside service that receives anything from the app on our behalf is Expo, for content updates, as described above; Google Play handles purchases under its own terms.