Privacy policy

In short

You can use HelpMePray™ two ways: anonymously — no account, prayers aren’t saved — or with a free account, which requires only an email address (no password, no phone number) and lets you save prayers to your own library. Whichever way you use it, we keep what we collect to a minimum and explain it clearly below.

What happens when you generate a prayer

When you submit a prayer request, the text you typed is sent to Anthropic, the company behind the AI model that composes the response. Anthropic processes the request to generate the prayer and is bound by their own privacy policy. Under their commercial terms, content you send to the API is not used to train their models.

In our own systems we store the following operational information about each request:

• The category of input you submitted (topic / scripture / request)
• The prayer voice and length you chose
• Whether our safety classifier allowed, redirected, or declined the request
• Token counts, approximate dollar cost, and how long the request took
• A SHA-256 cryptographic hash of your IP address, used only for abuse detection. The hash is salted with a server-side secret and is never reversible to a real IP.
• A random anonymous session ID, generated in your browser’s localStorage, that lets us count distinct visitors over the short term without identifying you.

We do not store the text of an allowed prayer or the prayer we generated in these operational logs. They are kept elsewhere only as part of a small randomized quality sample (see below).

Safety and crisis content

Every prayer request first passes through a safety classifier. If the system detects signals of self-harm, suicidal ideation, acute abuse, or acute mental-health crisis, it flags the request and the response includes a small block of crisis-support resources beneath the prayer.

For prompt-tuning purposes the classifier also stores the input text only when the decision is “redirect” or “refuse” (i.e. requests that needed pastoral reshaping or could not be composed). These entries are retained for 90 days and then deleted automatically. Nothing about a crisis flag is ever shared outside the small team operating HelpMePray™ — it exists solely to make sure resources are offered.

Quality samples

To make sure the prayers we compose are faithful to scripture and pastorally appropriate, we keep a small quality sample:

• About 2% of successful generations, chosen at random
• 100% of redirects and refusals
• 100% of generations where a visitor used the thumbs-up / thumbs-down feedback control

Quality samples include the input text and the generated prayer. They do not include any account identifier, hashed IP, or anonymous session ID — they are written to a separate table without any way to connect them back to you or anyone else. Samples are retained for 30 days and then deleted automatically.

What we don't collect

• Your real name, phone number, or postal address (your email is only collected if you choose to create an account — see below)
• Your IP address in any human-readable form (it is hashed with a one-way function before it ever touches our database)
• Cross-site behavioral tracking or advertising profiles
• Tracking cookies of any kind (we set an auth-session cookie only when you’re signed in, to keep you signed in across page loads)

When you create an account

Accounts are optional. The Service works fully anonymously without one — you just can’t save prayers. To sign up, you provide your email address. We send a magic link to that email; clicking the link signs you in. There is no password to manage.

Information we store associated with your account:

• Your email address (stored encrypted at rest by our auth provider)
• An optional display name (defaults to your email; you can change it)
• Your default prayer voice and length preferences
• Prayers you choose to save (your “library”)
• A timestamp for when the account was created

Information we don’t request even with an account:

• Your real name, unless you choose to put it in your display name
• Your phone number, postal address, or any demographic data
• Any financial information — the Service is currently free

When you sign up, the anonymous session ID stored in your browser is discarded — it is not linked to your new account. Prayers you generated anonymously before signing up are not automatically imported; only prayers you click “Save” on while signed in are stored.

Your saved prayers

When you click “Save” on a generated prayer, we store the request you submitted, the prayer text, the voice and length you chose, the scripture references the system extracted, and a timestamp. These rows are protected by row-level security — only your account can see, edit, or delete them.

You can mark prayers as Active, Answered, or Archived, and you can delete them at any time. Deleting a prayer removes it permanently from our database.

Deleting your account

You can delete your account yourself at any time. Sign in, click your email in the top-right of any page to open your account settings, and use the “Delete account” section at the bottom. The deletion is immediate and permanent: your account, your profile, and every prayer in your library are removed. Operational logs that no longer point to you are kept per the schedule below. If you need help with deletion, you can also reach Ministry Tech Partners (see Contact below).

Third parties that help us run the service

All four providers have signed data-processing terms with us and are responsible for safeguarding the data they hold on our behalf in line with their own published policies.

How long we keep things

After the retention windows above, rows are deleted automatically by a nightly job that runs inside our database.

Cookies and tracking

HelpMePray™ does not set any cookies of its own. We keep one item in your browser’s localStorage — a random anonymous session ID — that helps us count distinct visitors. You can clear it any time from your browser’s storage settings; the next visit simply generates a new one.

Our analytics provider (Vercel Web Analytics + Speed Insights) is cookieless and does not collect personal information. It records anonymized page views and real-user performance metrics only.

Children

HelpMePray™ is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect any data from children. If you believe a child has used our service, please contact us and we will work with you to remove any related information.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time as the service grows. The “Effective” date at the top of this page reflects the most recent material change. We will highlight significant changes on the homepage when they happen.

Contact

For questions about this policy or about your data, please reach us through Ministry Tech Partners.