Privacy Policy

The Quantum Disciple ("we," "us," or "our") respects your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect, why we collect it, how we use and protect it, and the choices you have. We have tried to write it in plain language rather than legal boilerplate.

The short version: The Quantum Disciple website is a static publication. We do not run advertising or ad trackers, we do not set cookies of our own except a sign-in cookie if you choose to create an account, and we do not sell your personal information to anyone — ever. To see how many people read the site, we use GoatCounter, a privacy-focused visitor counter that sets no cookies and does not keep your IP address in its statistics; see Section 3.2. You can read the web app at quantumdisciple.com/app without an account; some of its features need a free account (Section 3.1). Without an account, what it saves, such as your progress and notes, stays only in your own browser; with an account, your progress and notes also sync to our server, and you can add friends, who can see your username and profile picture, your Seek & Ye Shall Find results on each day's Friends Leaderboard and, unless you turn it off, your collectibles (Section 3.1). Bible Chess runs entirely in your browser; a finished game can complete that day's Journey game step, and only wins count toward collectibles. Daily Breadle, Scripture Squares and Seek & Ye Shall Find are checked on our server with a random player ID. See Section 3.3. If you turn on its optional "Share Usage Data" setting, it also tells us which of our content and features you use; see Section 3.5. Our only use of Google OAuth is a private back-office tool that publishes our own podcast episodes to our own YouTube channel; it collects nothing from you as a visitor. See Section 4.

1. Who We Are

The Quantum Disciple is an independent, registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization (EIN 41-3289790) producing written papers, podcasts, and study resources. This policy is operated by The Quantum Disciple (the "Operator") and applies to the website at quantumdisciple.com and to any applications we publish that link to this policy.

2. Scope of This Policy

This policy covers:

• The public website at quantumdisciple.com, including all articles, papers, podcast pages, the Study Center, and the web app at quantumdisciple.com/app.
• The Tech Unfiltered Publishing Automation, an internal tool we operate that uses Google OAuth to publish our own podcast episodes to our own YouTube channel (collectively with the website, the "Service").

This policy does not cover third-party websites or services we link to. Those services have their own privacy policies, and we encourage you to read them.

3. Information We Collect

3.1 Information you provide directly

The website contains no contact forms and no comment system. The email list is optional. An account is free, and you don't need one to read our papers, listen to our podcasts, use the Study Center or use the web app's free features; the web app features that need one are listed below. Apart from emails you send us and the specific cases described in this section and in Section 3.3, you do not provide us with any personal information. Without an account, what the web app saves, such as journal entries, notes and Question Board questions, stays in your browser (Section 3.3); with an account, it is also synced as described below.

Accounts (free). Without an account, the web app lets you use today's verse and puzzle, the Bible, Christian News, Explore, and Bible Chess against Zacchaeus, its first opponent. A free account is needed for the Faith Journal; Learn (learning paths, lessons, case files and their quizzes); Challenge (Debate Lab, Skeptic Mode and College Mode); the Puzzle Library of earlier puzzles; My Collections and board styles; Bible notes, questions, highlights and bookmarks (reading the Bible stays free); Shape QDCM; and the other five Bible Chess opponents. Without an account, these show a preview and an invitation to create one. A free account does not include the AI study assistant (below). If this browser already has something you made in one of these features (for Bible Chess, a game or record against that opponent; Shape QDCM has always needed an account), that feature stays open in it without an account, so what you made stays viewable and editable; we never delete it. Today's free puzzle also records puzzle progress (and the older badge records, which are kept but no longer shown), so for the Puzzle Library and My Collections this browser notes once, the first time it runs this check, whether it already had them (Section 3.3); playing today's puzzle afterwards doesn't open them. The iPhone app has its own version of these rules; see our App Privacy Policy. If you create an account, in the web app or the iPhone app, we keep your username, email address, first and last name, a scrambled (hashed) form of your password that cannot be turned back into the password, which of our built-in profile pictures you chose, whether journal sync is on, your account's role, when it was created, and when you last signed in. We don't verify or email your address unless you contact us or use it to join our email community (below). For each sign-in and each failed sign-in to an account we record the time and the IP address, and delete those records after 30 days. If someone types a username or email address that isn't an account, it is used for 15 minutes to limit repeated guessing and deleted within about an hour. To limit automated sign-ups, we keep the IP address of each attempt to create an account for one hour. Signing in on the website sets one cookie, qd_member, which holds a random session code and is used only to keep you signed in; the iPhone app keeps the same kind of code in the iOS Keychain. You must be 13 or older to create an account.

What syncs with an account. While you are signed in, these are stored on our content server (operated by us) so they appear on your other devices: your daily journey (including which game completed each day's game step, the Scripture Squares puzzles you solved, the Seek & Ye Shall Find scenes you completed and your Bible Chess wins), streak, puzzle progress, your earlier badge records, collectibles and the evidence they are worked out from (the IDs of Daily Cases you completed with every quiz answer correct, of qualifying Monthly Learning Path lessons and of Daily Breadles you solved, and the dates — never the text — of days you saved a written journal entry, even when "Sync My Journal" is off), the rewards you chose, and the board style, crossword background, chess board and Daily Breadle tile style you're using; quiz results and learning progress; Bible highlights, notes, bookmarks, memory passages and reading rhythm; your answers in Daily Cases and private discussion questions; collections, Question Board questions and saved news stories; listening positions; and your "Stay Connected" prompt status. Your Faith Journal syncs only if you turn on "Sync My Journal" (off unless you turn it on); when it is on, your journal entries, tags, questions and reflections are stored on our server in readable form, so anyone with access to that server could read them. Turning it off deletes the journal copy from our server. A photo you pick as your profile picture, your AI conversations, drafts, your Bible Chess games and win-loss records (other than the finished game that completed a day's game step and your wins, which your Journey progress records; Section 3.3), and Bible text are never sent to our server.

Email community (optional). The web app has a signup form, "Stay Connected With QDCM." When you choose "Join The QDCM Email Community," it sends the email address you enter, your first name if you enter one, the topics you check (none are checked for you), and that you used the web app to QDCM Email Studio, our own email system on our server (operated by us), through quantumdisciple.com. Nothing else goes with it: not your journal, notes, synced data, usage data or profile (if you're signed in, our server adds a random code for your account, described below). Email Studio keeps your email address and first name as a contact (it doesn't replace a first name it already has), records that the signup came from the web app and which topics you chose, and sends a confirmation email. You are added, for the topics you chose, only after you click the link in that email (double opt-in); when you do, Email Studio records the time and a short one-way code made from your IP address as a record of your consent. Like any web server, Email Studio's server also records the IP address and the address requested in its server log for every request. It gives the web app the same answer whether or not an address is already on our list. An address that unsubscribed is added again only if it confirms again, and an address we stopped emailing after a bounce or complaint gets no email. To limit repeated attempts, Email Studio counts attempts per IP address and per email address in its memory only and forgets them about an hour after the last attempt. After you confirm a signup made with this form, we send a series of three welcome emails over about five days, then only the topics you chose. Our email provider, SMTP2GO, delivers our emails. Every email has an unsubscribe link. Email Studio keeps your contact, its consent history and your topic choices under its own consent and unsubscribe rules, and an unsubscribe always wins.

In the iPhone app, until its next update, "Join The Email Community" opens our email signup page from QDCM Email Studio at crm.quantumdisciple.com (operated by us) instead. What you enter there, such as your email address and the topics you choose, is kept by Email Studio, which sends a confirmation email and adds you only after you confirm; the app never sees or keeps what you type into that page. The app's next update uses the same signup form as the web app, as described in this section.

Email community with an account. If you're signed in, the form starts with your account's email address and first name, which you can change. It goes to our content server, which passes it to Email Studio with a random code for your account (never your username, account number or anything else from your account). Email Studio keeps that code with the email contact as a pending link. Your account is linked to the email contact only after you click the confirmation link that this signup sent; until then the app shows nothing about that email address. The confirmation email for a signup made while signed in says that confirming also connects your account. Once linked, Me → Stay Connected With QDCM shows whether you're subscribed and your topics, and lets you turn a topic off (right away), turn one on (Email Studio first sends a confirmation email) or unsubscribe from all QDCM email. Our content server keeps your account's code while the account exists. Deleting your account removes the link (our server asks Email Studio to remove it and keeps trying until it does), but it does not unsubscribe your email address: use the unsubscribe link in any of our emails, or Email Preferences, first.

To avoid asking too often, the app and web app remember whether you signed up, how many times you chose "Not Right Now," and when, and with an account this prompt status syncs between them. The web app also remembers, in your browser only, the topics you chose last and, for a signup made while signed in, the email address and first name you used, so that "Send Again" sends another confirmation email to that same address.

AI study tools (accounts with AI access only — currently our own team). A free account does not include AI access. When a signed-in account with AI access uses the AI study assistant, the question, the earlier messages in that conversation, and any passage reference or text the account chose to attach are sent from our server to our own AI server (abraham.cuwcs.com, operated by us), so it can write an answer. Journal text is sent only if the account chooses "Optional AI Reflection" and confirms a preview showing exactly what will be sent. Our content server does not store the questions or answers. To enforce usage limits it records the time and size of each request, never its text, and deletes those records after 30 days. The conversation history you see is kept in your browser.

AI-assisted drafting (our staff only). Our staff can ask our own AI server (abraham.cuwcs.com, operated by us) to draft new lessons, cases and similar content on one of our planning topics. It receives only material our staff prepared: a topic description and drafting instructions, our editorial and doctrinal guidelines, excerpts from our own published papers and our staff's notes, titles of related content of ours, and Bible references (never Bible text). Your suggestions, votes, follows, notice choices, usage data, account details, journal and anything else you send us are never sent to it. Our content server keeps the draft, the notes the AI produced for our reviewers, and a record of which topic and sources were used; it does not keep the AI server's raw replies. Every AI draft is reviewed by our staff, including theological review, before it can be published.

Shape QDCM: topic polls, suggestions and follows (accounts only). In the web app and the iPhone app, signed-in accounts can vote in our topic polls, suggest topics for us to cover, and follow topics. These features require an account; without one they collect nothing.

• Poll votes. When you vote, we keep the poll, the option you chose, when you voted, whether you used the web app or the iPhone app, a random code your browser or app sends with the vote, and a link to your account, so each account votes once. A submitted vote can't be changed. Results are shown only to signed-in members, after they have voted (for polls that show results while open) or once the poll has closed, unless we keep a poll's results private. They show the number of votes for each option, the total and the percentages, never who voted. Twelve months after you vote, the link between your account and your vote is removed: only an anonymous vote remains in the totals, and the vote no longer appears in your own Shape QDCM list.
• Topic suggestions. When you suggest a topic, we keep the question or topic you wrote, the category you chose, your optional answer to "Why does this matter to you?", when you sent it, whether you used the web app or the iPhone app, and a link to your account. Suggestions are read only by our staff. They may be grouped with similar questions and linked to one of our internal planning topics. We never publish your name or the wording of your suggestion. Twelve months after we receive a suggestion, we delete the "Why does this matter to you?" text and remove the link to your account, so it no longer appears in your own Shape QDCM list; the question's wording may be kept, without any link to you, as evidence for our planning. If you asked to be notified about a suggestion that we never matched to a topic, that notice request is deleted then too. If we did match it to a topic, your notification choice for that topic, including that it started from a suggestion, stays with your account until you turn it off or delete your account.
• Follows. Following a topic records your interest so we can see how many people want it. It does not turn on notices.
• Limits. To prevent abuse we count each account's attempts (votes: 30 a minute; suggestions: 5 an hour and 20 a day), and delete those counters within about two days. When you send a suggestion, your browser or app also sends a random code so that a retry is not saved twice; we keep that code for two to three days.

Voting, suggesting and following never add you to our email list and never turn on notices. None of it is ever sent to an AI service.

"You Asked, We Built It" topic notices (accounts only, your choice). We tell you about new content on a topic only if you ask: by checking "Notify me if QDCM creates content about this topic." (it starts unchecked) or by turning on notices for a topic. We record each choice you make, with the exact wording you agreed to, when, and where (for example, the suggestion form), so we can honor it. When we publish content that one of our editors has marked as answering that topic, we place one notice in your in-app inbox, "You Asked, We Built It," in the web app and the iPhone app. You get at most one notice per topic (if we later merge two topics, you may already have had one for each), and only for content that is actually published. We record when each notice was created and when it was delivered to your inbox, opened and tapped. Our server does not send these notices by email or push notification. You can turn notices off for one topic, or for all topics with your account's "Topic Notifications" setting; notices that have not reached your inbox yet are then never delivered. Your notice choices and notices are kept while your account exists and are deleted with it. The iPhone app can also show its own alert for a new notice; see our App Privacy Policy.

Friends (accounts only). In the web app and the iPhone app, signed-in accounts can add friends; without an account, Friends collects nothing. Your username and the built-in profile picture you chose are shown to your accepted friends, to people you send a friend request to or who send you one, and, only so they can confirm they have the right person, to someone who enters your exact username or friend code. There is no directory of members and no partial search, and your email address, contacts and location are never shown. Each account gets a friend code (8 characters) the first time it uses Friends; choosing Reset makes a new one, and the old one stops working. A code only lets someone send you a request: you become friends only if you accept. Our server keeps your friend code, your friend requests and friendships (who asked whom, whether it was accepted, and when), the people you blocked, your "Share My Collections With Friends" setting, and reports (below).

• Friends Leaderboard. For each day's Seek & Ye Shall Find scene (Section 3.3), your accepted friends, and only they, can see your username, profile picture, the hints you used and your active playing time, if you completed that day's scene on its own day. The leaderboard is never public and is never shown to friends of your friends; our server checks the friendship every time it is requested. The collection sharing setting (next item) does not change who sees the leaderboard.
• Collection sharing. "Share My Collections With Friends" is on unless you turn it off. While it is on, your accepted friends can see which collectibles you've earned, worked out from the collectibles in your synced Journey progress. Turning it off stops our server from showing your collections to anyone. Your journal, reflections and all your other data are never shared with friends.
• Block and report. Blocking someone ends any friendship or request between you and stops new requests in both directions; they are not told that you blocked them. Reporting someone also blocks them, and sends our ministry team your username, the username you reported, a reason if you write one (up to 300 characters), where in the app you reported from, and when. Our staff review open reports. A report is kept until an administrator handles (closes) it, and for 1 year after it is closed.
• Limits. To prevent abuse we count each account's lookups (30 an hour) and friend requests (20 a day).

Your friend code, friendships, requests, blocks and sharing setting are deleted when you delete your account, including other members' friendships and requests with you and their blocks of you. Reports you filed are kept for that time without your name: the link to your account is removed when you delete it (Section 9).

News polls. When you open or vote in a Christian News poll, your browser sends a random ID it created for this purpose (and, when you vote, your choice), so you can change your vote once and not vote twice. Our poll records keep only that ID and your choice, not your name, email or IP address (server logs are covered in Section 3.2). The ID is stored in your browser.

3.2 Information collected automatically

Like virtually all websites, our web server records standard technical information in its access logs when a page is requested. This may include your IP address, the date and time of the request, the page requested, the referring page, and your browser's user-agent string. These logs exist for security, abuse prevention, and diagnosing server problems. We do not use them to build profiles of individual visitors, and we do not combine them with any other data.

Visitor statistics. To learn how many people read the site and which pages they find useful, we use GoatCounter, a privacy-focused analytics service. When a page loads, a small script sends GoatCounter the page's address and title, the page that referred you, and your screen width. The request also carries your browser's standard identification (its user-agent string) and language setting, and GoatCounter works out your approximate location (country or region) from your IP address. GoatCounter's statistics record your browser name and version, operating system, screen width, approximate location and, depending on our settings, your language, but not your IP address or your full user-agent string. GoatCounter does use your IP address and user-agent temporarily on its servers to recognize repeat page views within one visit, and discards them once 8 hours pass without a page view from you. If a page load is identified as coming from an automated program (a "bot"), GoatCounter keeps its user-agent string for about 30 days. GoatCounter sets no cookies and, during ordinary browsing, stores nothing on your device. The reports we see are statistics, such as how many people visited a page or arrived from another site. They are not linked to your name, your IP address, or any account, so we cannot reliably pick out your visits in them. GoatCounter's script is delivered through a content delivery network, BunnyCDN, which receives your IP address when your browser downloads the script and may serve it from servers in the United States or elsewhere. If you would rather not be counted, you can block scripts from gc.zgo.at in your browser or content blocker; the site works fully without it.

3.3 The web app and your browser's storage

The web app at quantumdisciple.com/app works like our iPhone app: what you create stays with you. Your faith journal, streaks, puzzle progress, collectibles (with the evidence they are worked out from, listed in Section 3.1) and your earlier badge records, Bible highlights and notes, quiz results, collections, Question Board questions, saved news stories, AI conversation history (signed-in accounts), reading position, the time of your last visit, Bible Chess (a game in progress: the opponent, the starting position and the moves so far, whether it has ended or you resigned and whether its result has been counted, whether Undo is available, and when it started and was last saved; your wins, losses and draws against each opponent; a one-time count of the wins this browser had when collectibles were added; and your sound and animation settings), Scripture Squares (for your 12 most recent puzzles: the letters you've entered, the puzzle's grid and clues so it can be shown offline, whether your letters have reached our server yet, and whether our server last reported the puzzle in progress, submitted or solved and the date it counted for your Journey, so a puzzle reopened without a connection shows as it was), Seek & Ye Shall Find (for your 12 most recent scenes: the objects you've found, your active playing time, the hints you used and the random ID of a hint request still waiting for an answer, finds made while offline that haven't reached our server yet, marked "Saved On This Device," and the scene's title, picture address, and object names and tap areas so it can be shown offline; each scene's copy belongs to whoever played it (your account, or this browser's guest ID) and is never shown to, or sent for, anyone else, and when you sign out only finds that haven't reached our server yet are kept, so they can be sent when you sign in again; and a note that this browser's signed-out scenes have been moved to your account), a note of when this browser first checked which features need a free account and whether it then already had Puzzle Library or badge data (Section 3.1), a note My Collections keeps about its own checks (when this browser first worked out your collectibles and last checked them, which of its sources couldn't be read, whose Daily Breadle history it last read — your username or this browser's player ID — lessons it couldn't judge, which collectibles it added without a notification and which collectible pictures failed to load; never synced), your "Stay Connected" status (whether you signed up, how many times you chose "Not Right Now" and when, the email topics you chose last, and the email address and first name of your last email signup made while signed in), and settings are saved in your browser's local storage on your device, as are a Shape QDCM poll choice you made before signing in and a topic suggestion you have started but not yet sent (until you send it or delete this site's data), your "Share Usage Data" choice and a random install ID, created the first time usage is sent while you are signed out and deleted when you turn the setting off (Section 3.5); a copy of the public content you've loaded and, when you choose Create Free Account or Sign In from a feature that needs an account, which page to return to afterwards are kept in the browser's session storage until you close the tab. If you don't have an account, they are not sent to us, we cannot see them, and they do not sync with the iPhone app or your other devices. The exceptions are ones you choose: the install ID and usage events described in Section 3.5, only while that setting is on, a topic suggestion or poll vote once you send it with an account, your last email signup's address, first name and topics when you choose "Send Again" while signed in (Section 3.1), and your Daily Breadle guesses and results, your Scripture Squares grids and your Seek & Ye Shall Find finds, hints and playing time, with a random player ID, whenever you play them (described below). If you sign in, the items listed under "What syncs with an account" in Section 3.1 are also stored on our server; AI conversations, your profile photo, drafts, Bible Chess games and records (other than what your Journey progress records about them, below), the free-account check note, the details of your last email signup and settings still stay only in your browser. Bible Chess runs entirely in your browser: its opponents' moves are worked out on your device, and playing sends nothing to us (its artwork loads from quantumdisciple.com like the rest of the page, Section 3.2). When a game ends in a win, loss or draw (never a resignation or an abandoned game) and no other game has completed that day's game step yet, your Journey progress records that this game completed it, identified by the game's start time and the opponent's level. Each win is also recorded there (which game, the opponent's level and when) so it counts toward collectibles, as are the wins this browser had when collectibles were added (by opponent level only). With an account, your Journey progress syncs (Section 3.1); the moves, positions and your wins, losses and draws against each opponent stay only in your browser. Daily Breadle works differently: so that each day's answer stays secret and your guesses are scored fairly, your browser sends each guess to our content server with a random player ID it created for this game (kept in your browser). Our server keeps that ID with your guesses, the result and when you played, so your game can be checked and resumed; it never asks for your name or email, and its game records do not include your IP address (our short-term request logs are covered in Section 3.2). If you are signed in, your game is kept with your account instead, and a game you started in this browser that day moves to your account when you sign in. To count the Breadles you've solved toward your collectibles, My Collections also asks our server for the list of Daily Breadles solved with your player ID (or account) — each puzzle and its date only, never your guesses. Scripture Squares works the same way: so that the solution stays secret, your browser sends the letters in your grid to our content server as you play (when your letters are saved, when you use Check Word and when you submit), with the same random player ID it uses for Daily Breadle. Our server keeps that ID with your grid for each puzzle you play, a save number, when you first submitted a full grid and whether that was on the puzzle's own day (for Today's Journey), when you solved it, and how many times you used Check Word and submitted, for troubleshooting; Scripture Hint only opens the Bible reader and isn't recorded. It never asks for your name or email, and these records do not include your IP address. If you are signed in, your grids are kept with your account instead, and puzzles you played in this browser move to your account when you sign in (where your account doesn't already have that puzzle). Seek & Ye Shall Find, a daily hidden-object picture game, is checked on our content server too, so that results are ranked fairly. Your browser works out on your device whether a tap found one of the hidden objects and sends only which object you found, never where you tapped. With the same random player ID it uses for Daily Breadle, it sends our server a message when you start or resume a scene, each object you find (which one, when, and your active playing time at that moment), each hint you use, and, from time to time while you play, your active playing time and whether you're playing or paused. For each scene you play, our server keeps that ID with which objects you found and when, with your active playing time at each find; the hints you used (when, the object each one pointed to and the hint area shown); your total active playing time; whether you're playing, paused or finished; when you first started and when you finished; the Central-time date you finished (for Today's Journey); and whether your result counts on that day's Friends Leaderboard (Section 3.1). It never asks for your name or email, and these records do not include your IP address. If you are signed in, your scenes are kept with your account instead, and scenes you played in this browser move to your account when you sign in (where your account doesn't already have that scene). Practice replays stay in your browser and are never sent. Anyone who uses the same browser profile on your device can read them, and the web journal has no lock or encryption, so use a private device for anything sensitive. You can download a copy or delete everything at any time under Me → Your Data, or by clearing this site's data in your browser.

To show content, the web app asks our content server (the same one the iPhone app uses) for lessons, daily verses, puzzle images, news stories and Bible text. Requests for Bible text contain the passage reference, and a Bible search contains the words you typed. Our server passes these to Crossway's ESV API to get the text, so Crossway receives the reference or search words but not your IP address. Like our web server (Section 3.2), our content server keeps a short-term request log that includes the address requested, such as a passage reference or search words, and your IP address; it is used to keep the service working and secure and is rotated and discarded in the ordinary course. News stories can include an image that loads directly from the publisher's website, which then receives your IP address.

3.4 Cookies

The Quantum Disciple sets no cookies of its own except the sign-in cookie for accounts described in Section 3.1, which also tells our server which account is voting, suggesting or, if you turn on usage sharing, sending usage data. However, third-party content embedded in our pages — such as YouTube video players, the Facebook feed, and the donation widget — may set their own cookies or use similar technologies. See Section 8 for details, and note that you can block or delete these through your browser settings.

3.5 Usage data you choose to share

The web app has an optional setting, "Share Usage Data To Help Improve QDCM Content," which is off unless you turn it on and applies only to the browser where you turn it on. (The iPhone app has its own setting; see our App Privacy Policy.) While it is on, the web app sends our content server (mobileapp.quantumdisciple.com, operated by us) short usage events about our own content and features. Depending on the screen, an event says that:

• you opened one of our lessons, Daily Cases, Case Files, Faith + Future topics, study paths, papers and other library items (such as videos and podcasts), answers, Debate Lab scenarios or Skeptic Mode objections, and whether it stayed open and visible for 10 seconds;
• you finished a lesson, Daily Case or Case File, read most of an answer or library item's page (scrolled through at least 80% of it with the page open for 30 seconds), or submitted a quiz (with the number of questions, never your answers or score);
• you saved one of our items to a collection, or pressed Share on an answer or library item (we don't learn whether or where you shared it);
• a Shape QDCM poll was shown to you;
• in Explore, a section was on screen for a second, or you opened a card, a search result, a learning path you had started, or a tool, or ran a search (with the number of results, never the words you searched for).

Each event contains only its name and time, the ID of the public content, poll, Explore section, featured item or tool involved, small whole numbers like those above, and whether it came from the web app or the iPhone app. Our server adds the time it received the event and marks events that come from our staff's accounts, from internal preview content (which our TestFlight test builds of the iPhone app show by default), from developer builds of the iPhone app, or from browsers that identify themselves as automated programs, so those can be left out of statistics. Events never contain anything you type, search for or write, titles, journal or notes text, or your answers.

How events are linked to you. When you are signed in, our server links your events to your account through a code it derives from the account. So this data is pseudonymous, not anonymous: we can connect it to your account. Usage from our own staff's accounts is marked and left out of all statistics. When you are signed out, the browser sends a random install ID instead. It is created the first time usage is sent while you are signed out and stays in this browser (it isn't sent while you are signed in) until you turn the setting off, which deletes it; we never connect it to an account. To prevent abuse, our server also counts requests from each network address for one minute, storing a scrambled form of the address rather than the address itself, and deletes those counters within about two days.

What we use it for. Statistics that help us plan content: how many different people view and finish our content on a topic (we use that rate only once at least 30 people are counted), how many people see each poll, and Explore's "Popular Right Now" list, which ranks our public content by how often it was opened in the past 7 days, counting each person at most once a day for each item, and appears only when at least 30 different people are counted. Our staff's screens show statistics, not a record of what any one person did; the raw events stay on our server, linked to your account by that code if you were signed in, until they are deleted after 90 days. We do not use usage data for advertising, and we never sell or share it.

Our server also records a few events of its own that name no person: that a poll vote was counted (the poll and topic), that a suggestion was accepted into a planning topic (the topic and category), that content was published or withdrawn, and each step of a topic notice (identified only by the notice).

Turning the setting off stops all sending right away. Raw usage events are deleted after 90 days. Statistics calculated from them, which identify no one, are kept for up to 24 months. If you delete your account, the usage events linked to it are deleted (Section 11).

4. Google User Data

Visitors are never asked to connect a Google Account, and our optional accounts (Section 3.1) do not use Google sign-in. Our only use of Google OAuth is an internal back-office tool, described below.

4.1 What the tool is

We operate a private publishing automation that uploads finished episodes of the Tech Unfiltered with Dr. Mike podcast to that show's own YouTube channel — setting each episode's title, description, thumbnail, playlist placement, and scheduled release time through the YouTube Data API instead of by hand in YouTube Studio. A full description of the application, its features, and its scope justifications is published at Tech Unfiltered Publishing Automation.

This tool is not offered to the public. There is no sign-up and no user accounts. The only Google Account that ever authorizes it is the account that owns the channel — the operator authorizing access to their own channel.

4.2 Scopes we request and why

When the operator authorizes the tool, Google presents a consent screen listing exactly what is being approved. We request only these scopes:

• https://www.googleapis.com/auth/youtube.upload — required to upload the finished episode video file to the channel. No narrower scope permits uploading.
• https://www.googleapis.com/auth/youtube — required to apply episode metadata and artwork after upload, insert the episode into the series playlist, and set its scheduled publish time. The upload scope alone does not permit these follow-up operations.

Access reaches only the authorizing account's own channel. The tool cannot read or modify any other person's YouTube channel, videos, playlists, or account.

4.3 What we do not access

We do not request access to Gmail, Google Drive, Google Calendar, Google Contacts, Google Photos, or any Google service other than the YouTube Data API. We do not access YouTube Analytics or revenue data, and we do not read or moderate viewer comments.

4.4 What we do with it

The OAuth access and refresh tokens are stored on the operator's own machine, restricted to the operator's user account, and used solely to make YouTube Data API calls for publishing episodes. They are never transmitted to any third party. The tool also keeps operation logs — video IDs, timestamps, and success or failure — which contain no personal information about any viewer or third party.

We never use Google user data for advertising, we never sell it, and we never use it to train machine learning or AI models.

Because this application has no end users other than the operator, it collects no personal data from you as a visitor to this website.

5. Limited Use Disclosure

In practice, this means we commit that data obtained through Google APIs will be:

• Used only to provide or improve the user-facing features that you granted access for;
• Never transferred to third parties except as necessary to provide those features, to comply with applicable law, or as part of a merger or acquisition (with notice to you);
• Never used for serving advertisements of any kind, including retargeting or personalized advertising;
• Never read by humans, unless we have your explicit consent for a specific narrow purpose, it is necessary for security purposes such as investigating abuse, it is required to comply with applicable law, or the data has been aggregated and anonymized.

6. How We Use Information

We use the limited information we hold only for the following purposes:

• To operate the Service — serving the website, and publishing our own podcast episodes to our own YouTube channel through the automation described in Section 4.
• To understand our readership — counting visits and seeing which pages are read and how visitors find us, using the non-identifying statistics described in Section 3.2, so we can improve what we publish.
• To plan and improve our content — reviewing topic suggestions and counting poll votes, follows and, if you turn it on, usage data, so we can decide what to create next and see what helps people (Sections 3.1 and 3.5); and, only if you ask, telling you in the app when content on a topic you asked about is published.
• To communicate with you — responding to messages you send us, and sending essential service notices (such as a security or policy change). We send ministry emails, such as resources, event news and updates, only to people who join our email community and confirm their address (Section 3.1); every one has an unsubscribe link.
• To keep the Service secure — detecting, investigating, and preventing abuse, fraud, and technical attacks.
• To comply with the law — meeting legal obligations and responding to valid legal process.

We do not use your information for automated decision-making or profiling that produces legal or similarly significant effects.

7. How We Share Information

We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information. We share information only in these narrow circumstances:

• Service providers — vendors who host our site or process donations, acting on our instructions and bound to protect your data.
• Bible text — our server sends Crossway the reference of each passage you open in the web app, or the words of a Bible search, so it can return the ESV text (Section 3.3). Crossway does not receive your IP address.
• Visitor statistics — the page information described in Section 3.2 goes from your browser to GoatCounter, which handles it under its own privacy policy (see Section 8).
• Friends (accounts only) — your username and profile picture, your Friends Leaderboard results and, while "Share My Collections With Friends" is on, which collectibles you've earned are shown to your accepted friends; your username and profile picture are also shown to people you exchange friend requests with and to someone who enters your exact username or friend code (Section 3.1). Reports go only to our staff.
• Shape QDCM and usage data — individual votes, suggestions, follows, notice choices and usage events are seen only by our staff and are not shared with anyone else or sent to any AI service. Outside our staff, all that is shown is poll results (vote counts and percentages, to signed-in members as described in Section 3.1) and Explore's "Popular Right Now" ranking.
• Legal requirements — when required by law, subpoena, or other valid legal process, or to protect the rights, safety, and property of The Quantum Disciple or others.
• Business transfer — if the Service is ever transferred to another operator, your information may transfer with it. We will provide notice before your information becomes subject to a different privacy policy.
• With your consent — when you explicitly direct us to share it.

8. Third-Party Services

Our pages embed content and tools from the following third parties. When such content loads, that provider may receive your IP address and set its own cookies, and its own privacy policy governs that processing:

• Google Fonts — serves the typeface used across the site. Google Privacy Policy
• YouTube — embedded video and podcast players. YouTube is a Google service. Google Privacy Policy · YouTube Terms of Service
• Elfsight — powers the social media feed on our home page. Elfsight Privacy Policy
• Meta (Facebook / Instagram) — content displayed in that social feed originates from Meta platforms. Meta Privacy Policy
• Givebutter — processes donations made through our Give page. If you donate, your payment details are handled by Givebutter and its payment processors; we never see or store your card number. Givebutter Privacy Policy
• GoatCounter — our cookie-free visitor counter, described in Section 3.2. It receives your IP address and browser details when a page loads. Its statistics keep your browser name and version, operating system, screen width and approximate location, but not your IP address or full user-agent string. GoatCounter is operated from Ireland and stores its data on servers in Finland and Germany; its script is delivered through the BunnyCDN content delivery network. GoatCounter Privacy Policy

9. Data Retention

We keep personal information only as long as we need it:

• Google OAuth tokens (operator only) — retained only while the publishing automation is in use. Revoking access invalidates them immediately, and they are deleted as described in Section 11.
• Server access logs — retained for a short period for security and troubleshooting, then rotated and discarded in the ordinary course.
• Web app data — without an account, kept only in your browser until you delete it, and we hold none of it except Daily Breadle, Scripture Squares and Seek & Ye Shall Find games (below); with an account, see the next item.
• Accounts and synced data — kept while the account exists, and deleted when you delete the account (Section 11). Sign-in sessions end after 180 days, or after 60 days without use. When you delete a synced item, its content is removed from our server, and a short note that it was deleted (its ID, type, the passage it referred to if any, and the time) is kept for up to 180 days so your other devices delete it too. Records of sign-ins and failed sign-ins (time and IP address) are deleted after 30 days. AI usage records (time and size only, never the text) are deleted after 30 days.
• Email community — Email Studio keeps your contact, its consent history (such as when you confirmed or unsubscribed) and your topic choices under its own consent and unsubscribe rules, so that an unsubscribe is always honored; email us (Section 16) to have your contact deleted. The link between your account and your email contact is kept while your account exists and removed when you delete it.
• News poll votes — your choice and your browser's random ID are kept with the poll's results.
• Daily Breadle — the random player ID, guesses, result and times of each day's game: without an account, deleted after 400 days; with an account, kept while the account exists and deleted with it. A short record of each guess request, used so that a guess sent twice is counted only once, is deleted after 48 hours.
• Scripture Squares — the random player ID, your grid and its save number, when you first submitted and solved it, and the Check Word and submit counts for each puzzle: without an account, deleted after 400 days; with an account, kept while the account exists and deleted with it. A short record of each save or submit request, used so that one sent twice is counted only once, is deleted after 48 hours.
• Seek & Ye Shall Find — the random player ID and, for each scene, the objects you found and when (with your active playing time at each find), the hints you used and the hint areas shown, your total active playing time, whether you're playing, paused or finished, when you first started and finished, the Central-time date you finished and whether it counts on that day's Friends Leaderboard: without an account, deleted after 400 days; with an account, kept while the account exists and deleted with it. A short record of each request, used so that a find sent twice is counted only once, is deleted after 48 hours. Practice replays are never sent to us.
• Friends — your friend code, friend requests, friendships, blocks and your "Share My Collections With Friends" setting: kept while your account exists, and deleted when you delete it, in both directions (other members' friendships and requests with you, and their blocks of you, are deleted too). Reports are kept until an administrator handles (closes) them, and for 1 year after they are closed; reports you filed stay for that time without your name after you delete your account.
• Shape QDCM poll votes — kept as part of the poll's results. The link to your account is removed 12 months after you vote, or earlier if you delete your account.
• Topic suggestions — the "Why does this matter to you?" text is deleted and the link to your account removed 12 months after we receive the suggestion, or earlier if you delete your account. The question's wording may be kept without any link to you, as planning evidence. A notification choice you made on the suggestion stays as described in Section 3.1. Our staff can also redact a suggestion at any time.
• Follows, topic-notice choices and topic notices — kept while your account exists, and deleted when you delete it. Turning a notice choice off is also recorded, so we can honor it.
• Usage data (Section 3.5) — raw events are deleted after 90 days; statistics calculated from them, which identify no one, after 24 months; abuse-prevention counters within about two days.
• Records of our staff's editorial work on Shape QDCM topics and suggestions — who moderated a suggestion and the decision, the history of which topic it was linked to, and which poll votes were excluded and why — stay with the topic and its suggestions. They don't include your name, email address or account ID. Staff notes and reasons about a suggestion (such as a moderator's note or the reason it was redacted or reopened) are removed everywhere we keep them 12 months after we receive the suggestion; a rejection then keeps only its category (such as off-topic or duplicate). From then on, the times in the records about that suggestion show only the month. A detailed log of staff actions is deleted after 24 months (entries about a suggestion up to a month sooner); a one-line entry naming the staff member, the action and an internal record number stays in our content portal's activity log.
• Backups — deleted data may remain in our server's backup copies until those copies are removed.
• Email correspondence — retained as long as needed to resolve your inquiry and keep a record of it.
• Visitor statistics — the non-identifying statistics described in Section 3.2 are kept in our GoatCounter account until we delete them; GoatCounter says some data may remain in its backups for up to 30 days after deletion. The IP address and user-agent GoatCounter uses to recognize repeat page views are discarded once 8 hours pass without a page view, and user-agent strings of page loads identified as bots are kept for about 30 days.

10. Your Choices and Rights

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to request access to the personal information we hold about you, to correct inaccurate information, to request deletion, to object to or restrict certain processing, and to receive a copy of your information in a portable format. Residents of California, the European Economic Area, and the United Kingdom, among others, have such rights under laws including the CCPA/CPRA, the GDPR, and the UK GDPR.

To exercise any of these rights, contact us using the details in Section 16. We will respond within the time required by applicable law. We will never charge you or discriminate against you for exercising a privacy right. Because we do not sell personal information, there is nothing to opt out of in that respect.

11. Revoking Access and Deleting Your Data

You are always in control of the access you have granted:

• To revoke the publishing automation's access to a Google account at any time, visit the Google Account permissions page at myaccount.google.com/permissions, select the application, and choose "Remove Access." This immediately invalidates its tokens and stops any further access. Stored tokens are then deleted from the operator's machine.
• To delete your account and everything stored with it on our server, choose Delete Account in the web app (Me → Account) or in the iPhone app (Me → Account and data). Data in your browser or on your device stays until you delete it there. Deleting your account also deletes your Shape QDCM follows, notice choices and notices, the usage events linked to your account, and your friend code, friendships, friend requests, blocks and collection sharing setting. Reports you filed are kept without your name until they are deleted (1 year after an administrator closes them). Your poll votes stay in the poll totals with no link to you, and your suggestions lose their "Why does this matter to you?" text and their link to you; their wording may stay as anonymous planning evidence. Deleting your account also removes the link between your account and your email contact, but it does not unsubscribe your email address (Section 3.1).
• To stop sharing usage data, turn off "Share Usage Data To Help Improve QDCM Content" in the web app's settings, or the matching setting in the iPhone app. Sending stops right away.
• To leave our email list, use the unsubscribe link in any of our emails, or, if your account is linked to your email, choose "Unsubscribe From All QDCM Email" in Me → Stay Connected With QDCM.
• To delete what the web app saved in your browser, open Me → Your Data and choose "Delete All Data In This Browser," or clear this site's data in your browser settings.
• To get a copy of your Shape QDCM votes, suggestions, follows, notice choices, notices and the usage events linked to your account, email us at the address in Section 16.
• To have the data we hold deleted, email us at the address in Section 16 with the subject line "Data Deletion Request." We will verify the request and delete the associated information, except anything we are legally required to keep. We aim to complete deletion requests within 30 days. The visitor statistics described in Section 3.2 are not linked to any individual, so we cannot reliably find your visits in them to delete.

12. Security

The site is served over encrypted HTTPS connections, and we limit access to any stored account information to those who need it to operate the Service. We keep the amount of personal data we hold deliberately small, which is itself one of the strongest protections available. That said, no method of transmission or storage over the internet is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security. If we become aware of a breach affecting your personal information, we will notify you and the appropriate authorities as required by law.

13. Children's Privacy

The Service is intended for a general audience and is not directed to children under 13. You must be 13 or older to create an account. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, please contact us and we will delete it promptly.

14. International Visitors

The Quantum Disciple is operated from the United States, and the information we hold is processed there, except for the visitor statistics described in Section 3.2, which GoatCounter stores on servers in Finland and Germany. If you access the Service from outside the United States, you understand that your information may be transferred to, stored in, and processed in the United States, where data protection laws may differ from those in your country.

15. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we do, we will revise the "Last updated" date at the top of this page. If we make a material change to how we handle personal information, we will provide a more prominent notice. We encourage you to review this page periodically.

16. Contact Us