What Hymnals is
Hymnals is a Tshivenḓa hymn book for your phone. The hymns, their words and translations are bundled inside the app, so reading and searching work completely offline. On top of that there is an optional community layer: you can record yourself singing a hymn and, if you wish, share that recording so others can listen.
This policy explains exactly what happens to your information — and, more importantly, what does not.
What we do not collect
We designed the app to be quiet. We do not collect, and we have no way to see:
- Usage or analytics data — which hymns you open, how long you read, what you tap.
- Your location, contacts, calendar, or photos.
- Advertising identifiers. There are no ads and no ad networks in the app.
- Any third‑party trackers or social media pixels.
Reading hymns, recording, playback, favourites and settings all happen on your device.
What stays on your device
By default, everything you do is private and local:
- Your voice recordings — stored only on your phone.
- Your favourites, recent hymns, text‑size and reading preferences.
What you choose to share
When you deliberately share a recording, and only then, we upload:
- The audio recording itself.
- Which hymn it is (collection and number) and any label you gave the take.
- The verse text shown on the share, the line‑timing marks you tapped, and — if you sang only some verses — which verses.
- Your Google display name and profile photo, so the recording can be credited to you, plus the names of earlier singers when your take builds on a shared recording (a duet or instrumental).
That’s all. Shared recordings are listenable by anyone using the app. If you never share, none of this ever happens.
Accounts & signing in
You can use everything except sharing without any account.
- Anonymous by default. The app creates an anonymous identifier used only to remember which recordings you’ve liked. It isn’t tied to your name or email.
- Google sign‑in is optional. It’s required only to share a recording, so that your shares can be credited to you. We receive your Google display name and profile photo. We don’t receive your Google password, and we don’t post anything to your Google account.
Likes
You can like a shared recording — one like per person — so singers get a little encouragement. We store the like to count it and to gently surface singers you’ve liked. We do not build a profile of you, and there are no followers: we follow Jesus, not each other.
Where the shared data lives
Shared recordings and their details are stored using Google Firebase (Authentication, Cloud Firestore and Cloud Storage) in the africa-south1 (Johannesburg) region. Google processes this data on our behalf as our hosting provider; see Google’s Firebase privacy information. We do not sell or rent any data to anyone.
Deleting your data
You’re always in control:
- Unshare a single recording. On the hymn, turn off sharing for that take — it’s removed from the community and its audio is deleted from our servers. The copy on your phone stays.
- Delete your account. In the app, open the profile menu (top‑right of the home screen) and choose Delete account. This permanently deletes every recording you shared and the account itself. Your local, unshared recordings remain on your phone.
- Prefer email? Write to info@algorithmzero.co.za and we’ll delete your shared recordings and account for you.
Children & families
Hymnals is a faith and education app suitable for all ages. It collects no more information from a child than from anyone else — which, unless a recording is deliberately shared, is nothing.
Changes to this policy
If we change how the app handles information, we’ll update this page and its “last updated” date. Material changes will be reflected before they take effect.
Contact
Questions about privacy? Email info@algorithmzero.co.za.