Privacy Policy

Thank you for using Jap Yatra ("the App"), a chant counter published by Nivatech. Your privacy matters to us. This policy explains what information the App collects, why, who can see it, and the choices you have.

This policy describes the App as it works today. Where a feature is often assumed to exist but does not, we say so plainly rather than leaving it vague.

1. Information we collect

Account information

Jap Yatra uses Google Sign-In. When you sign in, we receive and store:

• Your name, as it appears on your Google account
• Your email address
• Your profile picture, if your Google account has one
• A unique identifier for your Jap Yatra account

We never receive your Google password. This information is used to create your account, sync your practice across devices, and show you to other members of a Sankalp you join.

Your jap activity

So your practice is saved and available on any device you sign in to, we store:

• The chants you select and your chosen chant language
• Chant counts and mala counts, with the date they were recorded
• Daily, monthly, yearly and lifetime totals
• Targets you set, and whether a sitting reached its target
• Sankalps you create or join, and your contribution to a shared Sankalp goal

Device and diagnostic information

To keep the App stable, we collect limited technical information:

• App version, device model, operating system version
• Approximate country and device language
• Crash reports and error diagnostics, including stack traces and the app state at the time

Usage analytics

We use Google Analytics to understand how the App is used. This includes which screens you open and how long you spend on each (measured automatically by Google Analytics), which chant you select, when you enter distraction-free mode, the filters you choose on the Stats screen, and the actions you take on a Sankalp — creating one, sharing or opening an invite, requesting to join, approving or rejecting a request, setting allocations, and starting to count. Your app preferences (such as dark mode and chant language) are recorded as attributes so we can see how settings affect usage.

Individual taps are never sent, and we do not record how many repetitions or malas you complete, how long a chanting session lasts, or whether you reached your target.

These analytics and crash reports are linked to your account identifier so we can diagnose problems affecting a specific account and understand usage across your devices.

2. What other people can see

This is the part that is easiest to overlook, so we want to be direct about it.

• Your name and profile picture are stored in a public profile record and are readable by other signed-in users of the App.
• Members of a Sankalp you join can see your name, your profile picture, and how much you have contributed to that shared goal.
• Your email address is never shown to other users.
• Your personal chant history outside a shared Sankalp — your own totals, statistics and targets — is not visible to other users.

If you would rather not appear by name, consider changing the name on the Google account you use to sign in before joining a Sankalp.

3. What stays only on your device

Some data never leaves your phone:

• Your app preferences — dark mode, app language, mala completion sound, stop-at-target
• The short-term buffer that holds taps before they are saved, so a sitting is never lost if the App closes or you are offline
• The reminder schedule the App sets up on your device, so reminders still work offline and after a restart

Only the resulting counts are synced to your account.

4. What we never collect

The App also does not collect your location, your contacts, camera or photo library content, or any payment information. It contains no advertising, no advertising identifier, and no third-party advertising or tracking networks. We do not sell or rent your personal information to anyone, and we do not use your data to build advertising profiles.

5. Notifications

Jap Yatra can show reminder notifications — for example, a nudge to keep up your practice, or a note about a significant day. When the App opens, it reads a shared schedule of reminders and sets them up to appear at the right time. The notifications are then delivered locally by your own device; they are not pushed to you from a server.

Because reminders are scheduled on your device, Jap Yatra does not use Firebase Cloud Messaging and does not collect a messaging or push token. The reminder schedule is the same for everyone — we do not target reminders using your personal data, and showing one sends no information about you anywhere.

On Android 13 and later, your phone asks your permission before the App can show notifications. You are free to refuse, and you can turn notifications off at any time in your device's settings for Jap Yatra. If you turn them off, the App works exactly as before, just without reminders.

6. Using the App offline

Counting your japs works without an internet connection. Your counts are held safely on your device and synced to your account the next time you are online, so nothing is lost if you chant in airplane mode or somewhere with no signal.

7. How we use your information

• To create and manage your account, and to sign you in
• To save your chanting progress and sync it across your devices
• To show your statistics, streaks and progress toward targets
• To make shared Sankalps work, including each member's contribution
• To find and fix crashes and improve performance
• To understand which features are used, so we know what to build and what to fix

We do not use your information for any purpose incompatible with those listed above without asking you first.

8. Who we share it with

We do not sell or rent your personal information, and we do not share it with advertisers or data brokers.

Your data is processed on our behalf by Google, whose cloud services provide the sign-in, storage, analytics and crash-reporting the App depends on. Google acts as our service provider, processes the data under its own privacy terms, and may do so on servers located outside India.

Beyond this, we share personal information only where we are legally required to, or where it is necessary to protect the rights and safety of our users.

9. Your choices and your rights

Within the App you can, at any time:

• Sign out, from Profile → Sign out
• Change your preferences — dark mode, app language, chant language, mala sound, stop-at-target
• Stop using the App

Some things are not yet self-service, and we would rather tell you than have you go looking:

• Your name and profile picture come from your Google account and cannot be edited inside the App. Change them in your Google account and they will update here.
• To leave a Sankalp, contact that Sankalp's admin, or write to us at the address below.

Under India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, you have the right to access a summary of your personal data and how it is processed, to have inaccurate data corrected or completed, to have your personal data erased, and to raise a grievance about how your data is handled. Nivatech is the Data Fiduciary for Jap Yatra. To exercise any of these rights, or to raise a grievance, email us at nivatech.me@gmail.com from the address on your account. We aim to respond within 30 days.

10. Deleting your account and data

To delete your account, email nivatech.me@gmail.com from the email address you signed in with, asking us to delete your Jap Yatra account. Once we have confirmed the request came from you, we will delete your account information, your chant history and statistics, and your Sankalp memberships within 30 days, except where we are required by law to retain something.

Aggregate, anonymised analytics that cannot be linked back to you may be retained after deletion. While your account is active, we keep your data for as long as you use the App, since lifetime totals are the point of a practice log.

Full instructions, including exactly what is deleted and what happens to Sankalps you belong to, are on the Delete your account page.

11. Data security

Your data is transmitted over encrypted connections and stored on Google's cloud infrastructure with encryption at rest. Access rules restrict each account's data to that account, apart from the public profile and shared Sankalp information described in section 2. We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect your information against unauthorised access, loss, misuse and disclosure. That said, no method of electronic storage or internet transmission is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

12. Children's privacy

Jap Yatra is not directed at children below the age at which local law allows a person to create an online account and consent to the processing of their data without a parent or guardian. We do not knowingly collect personal information from such children. If you believe a child has provided us personal information, email us and we will delete it. Under India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, processing a child's personal data requires verifiable parental consent; the App has no mechanism for obtaining it, so children should not create an account.

13. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as the App changes — for example, if we add an analytics opt-out or voice-based recognition. Changes take effect when the updated policy is published on this page, and the effective date above will be revised. For significant changes affecting how your data is used, we will make a reasonable effort to notify you in the App.

14. Contact us

Questions, requests or grievances about this policy or your data:

Email: nivatech.me@gmail.com
App: Jap Yatra (me.nivatech.japyatra)

Data summary