Privacy Policy

DharmaMitra is built to respect your privacy. This policy covers both the mobile app and this website, and explains what each collects — and, just as importantly, what they don't.

The app is offline-first

Your saved content, bookmarks, and preferences live on your device and are not sent to our servers. The app is designed to work fully without an internet connection.

No account, no sign-up

You never create an account. The app never asks your phone for its location and requests no location permission at all — you pick a district yourself for the panchang, and that choice stays on your device. The direction compass reads the phone's motion and magnetic sensors while it is open, to show which way the phone points; the readings are not stored and are never sent. When you install the app, it generates a random, secure device identity — a cryptographic key kept in your phone's secure hardware — which is used only to communicate safely with our servers. It says nothing about who you are. Alongside it the app sends your phone's make and model, its Android version and the app's version. It also sends a scrambled, one-way hashed form of the identifier Android gives this app on your phone — never the identifier itself — so that reinstalling the app, or using “Clear all data”, is counted as the same phone rather than a new one. That is its only use: the app does not sign in with it, it brings nothing back to a reinstalled app, it is not sent while usage statistics are turned off, and it changes if the phone is factory reset.

The app has a profile screen where you enter a name, your gender and your year of birth, and, if you want to, an email. We ask only for the year of birth, never the full date. All four reach our server with your device identity — when you save them, or, if they have not reached us yet, with the app’s regular check for new content —, so we know who is using the app, can understand our readers as a whole (for example, how many fall in each age group), and have a way to contact you. The photo stays on your device alone and is never sent. We keep the name, email, gender and year of birth permanently. “Clear all data” asks our server to delete them immediately, including a copy left by an earlier install of the app on the same phone where our server can tell it is the same phone.

Kundali

The app can also cast a kundali (birth chart). That needs three things — a date of birth, a time of birth, and the district of birth. All three, and every chart worked out from them, stay on the device. They are never sent to our servers, never included in usage statistics, never attached to feedback, and never part of any content sync; the chart is calculated on the phone itself. Matching two charts (guna milan) likewise happens only on the phone. A match you make is saved on the phone — only as a reference to its two charts, recomputed when you open it — but we never receive it, and "Clear all data" removes it. Any kundali can be deleted from its own page, and "Clear all data" removes every one of them along with the birth details inside. Nothing about a chart or a match leaves your phone unless you deliberately send it yourself: pressing the share button on its own page hands the text to your phone’s own share sheet, and it goes only to whoever you pick there. That never passes through us, and we do not learn what was sent or to whom. We do record that a chart was cast, that a chart was opened, and that a match was run — a count of actions, carrying nothing about the chart, the birth details or the result.

Japa counts and pilgrimage marks

Two other things the app records stay on the device. The japa counter keeps what you counted, which mantra you counted and when you sat, and a pilgrimage page lets you mark that you have done darshan there. Neither is attached to feedback or part of any content sync, and where you have been is never sent to us at all — that is a record of a practice rather than a statistic.

Japa has one exception, and it is deliberate. Once a day has ended, the app sends the number of malas completed on that day — the date and the count, and nothing else: not the mantra, not the times you sat, not any individual mala. Like the rest of the usage statistics it carries the random device identifier, so that we can count how many people are chanting rather than only how often. It is sent after the day is over so that it cannot be lined up against anything else done that day, and it is the only thing that tells us whether the counter is used at all or merely opened.

The japa screen can clear its own record, and "Clear all data" removes both.

Usage statistics

To improve the app, we collect a limited set of usage statistics:

• which screens you visit,
• how often you open the app, and how long a visit lasts,
• your app version,
• your device platform (Android/iOS),
• the language, theme and text size you have chosen,
• when you tap a share button — which page it was on, never what you shared,
• when you run a search — how many results came back and whether you opened one, never what you typed,
• whether the app showed you an update message, and what you did about it,
• whether the weekly content update reached your device,
• whether a notice about a new event near you was shown and whether you opened it — never which event or where,
• which of the app's tools you open — kundali, milan, japa, the audio shelf, yantras, the direction compass, shubh muhurat, rashifal, nearby events and puja booking,
• whether notifications are allowed on your phone and which kinds of reminder you have switched on — never the times or days you chose,
• which home-screen widgets you have placed,
• which kind of notification you tapped to open the app — a festival reminder or the daily article, say, never which festival, booking or event it named, and
• once a day has ended, how many malas were completed and how many recordings were played on that day — counts only, never which mantra or which recording.

This is linked to the random device identifier described above. If you have saved a name, email, gender or year of birth in your profile, that device identifier on our server also carries them; it is never linked to your location, your phone number, the words you search, or what you read. We do not sell or share this data with third parties. It is used only to understand which features are useful. Usage data is kept for about 90 days and then deleted automatically.

What you read

We also record which scriptures, texts, daily articles, bhajans, festival pages, pilgrimage sites and deity pages are opened, which screen they were opened from, whether the recording or sing-along video on that page was played, how far a reading gets, and how the end-of-article quizzes go. We also count how many times each audio recording is played, and heard to the end, on a day — counted on your phone and sent only after that day is over. This is what tells us which texts people find useful and which ones lose them halfway, so we can write and choose better ones.

These records are stored without the device identifier, so they are not tied to your device or to the rest of what you do in the app. They are counted together, not kept against your device. Each day’s totals — how many times each text, page or recording was opened, played or heard to the end, and nothing else — are kept for good, so we can see what was used over a whole year.

Crash reports

If the app (or this website) hits an unexpected error, a crash report may be sent to our own servers so we can find and fix the bug. It contains only technical details — device model, OS version, app version, and the error itself — and is scrubbed of personal information (such as authentication data and URL parameters) before it is sent.

Content updates & server logs

The app ships with its devotional texts, panchang, festivals and pilgrimage entries already on board, so it works fully offline from the moment it is installed. About once a week it asks our server whether any of that has changed — a corrected text, new festival dates, next year's panchang — and downloads only what actually changed, which is usually nothing at all.

Some things are fetched as they are needed rather than shipped inside the app: the daily article, which is topped up every few days; the long scriptures such as Sundarkand, which download the first time you open one; and the deity encyclopedia pages and their pictures, which arrive gradually in the background. These are ordinary content requests — they carry your device's authentication, the same as any other call, and nothing about what you have read before.

Like any internet request, our server briefly records standard connection details (such as IP address) in its logs; these are used only for security and troubleshooting, never to identify you.

We also keep a running count of how often each part of our service is called and how quickly it answers, so that we can keep the app fast and spot a fault early. These counts carry no device identity, no IP address and nothing about what was asked for: a request for a scripture is counted as a request for a scripture, never as a request for that one.

Notifications stay on your device

Festival and vrat reminders are scheduled entirely on your device. The app reports only which kinds of reminder are switched on, as listed under usage statistics — never the time or the days you set them for.

Contacting us via this website

If you use the Contact form, we collect the name, email address, and message you provide so we can respond. These messages are stored securely and used solely to reply to and support you. We do not add you to any marketing list, and we do not share your details with third parties.

Feedback you send from the app

The app has a “Tell us” link on its content pages, and a Share feedback screen in Settings. If you use either, we receive exactly what you typed, along with your app version and which page it was about. Unlike the reading records above, this carries your device identity — a report is a conversation rather than a statistic, and we have to be able to tell one person from many. If you have saved a name and email in the app’s profile they are attached to your message; otherwise your email is sent only if you fill that box in yourself. Either way it is used only to reply to you. Feedback is sent even if you have turned usage statistics off: you asked us to receive it, and quietly dropping it would be the wrong way to respect that choice. Your message is kept for about 90 days and then deleted automatically.

Nearby events (“Aas-Paas”)

The app's Nearby Events (Aas-Paas) section shows religious events happening around a pincode you choose, and lets you ask us to list one. The pincode you pick stays on your device; fetching the list sends that pincode to our server — nothing else — and it is never recorded in usage statistics. The app’s once-a-day content check also carries that pincode, so the app can let you know when a new event is listed there; it is used only to answer and is not stored. When you ask us to list an event, we receive exactly the details you filled in — including the organizer's mobile number. That number exists only so our team can confirm the event with the organizer before publishing it; it is never shown to anyone in the app. Like feedback, the request carries your device identity, and it is sent even if you have turned usage statistics off: you asked us to receive it. An event appears in the app only after our team has reviewed and published it. Once our team has decided on a request — published it or declined it — the request is kept for about 90 days after that decision and then deleted automatically; a published event listing is itself deleted about 90 days after its dates have passed.

Puja booking

The app's Puja Booking section lets you ask us to arrange a puja, katha or consultation. We receive exactly what you fill into the form — the puja type, the dates, the address and pincode, your name and mobile number, and any note you write. That information goes only to our team, only to arrange the puja; it is never shown to anyone in the app, and your bookings are visible only on your own device. We call the mobile number you gave to confirm the details. Consultation bookings (such as a kundali reading) deliberately do not ask for birth details in the form — that conversation happens on the phone call and is never stored on our servers. Like feedback, a booking carries your device identity and is sent even if you have turned usage statistics off: you asked us to receive it. About 90 days after the puja's dates have passed, or after a booking is cancelled or declined, its details are deleted from our server automatically. The pincode you enter for bookings or events is never recorded in usage statistics.

YouTube videos in the app

Some aartis, chalisas and other texts include a recording on YouTube so you can sing along. When you open one of those texts, the page the player sits on comes from our own servers, and YouTube's own player then loads into it from Google's servers — before you press play. From that point Google, not us, may record that your device requested that video, including against your YouTube or Google account if you are signed in on this device. That is governed by Google's privacy policy, not ours.

If a recording will not play — because it was removed, or its uploader turned off embedding — the app stops showing it and sends us that video's id so we can find a replacement. That report names the video, the text it appears in, and the error — nothing more. Unlike the reading records above, it carries your device identity, as every request to our servers does.

Audio recordings

Some mantras and vrat kathas carry a recording you can download and keep on your device. Most are our own, produced with an AI voice service we subscribe to; a few are recordings published under a licence that permits free use and redistribution. Either way they are served from our own servers, so playing one fetches nothing from anybody else. How often each recording is played, and heard to the end, is counted per recording without your device identity, as described under what you read. One more figure leaves — once a day has ended, how many recordings were played on that day in all, a number with no indication of which ones, which does carry the device identifier so we can tell whether recordings are listened to at all.

The app downloads the mantra and bhajan recordings in the background so they are ready to play — together well under 100 MB: the short mantras when the app starts, and the stotras and bhajans when you open the audio screen. A vrat katha recording is downloaded only when you ask for it, and can be removed by pressing and holding it. Downloaded files stay on your device until you uninstall the app.

No tracking, no other third parties

Apart from the embedded YouTube player described above, the app uses no third-party analytics or tracking SDKs — everything else described here goes to servers we run ourselves. This website uses no advertising cookies or cross-site trackers.

Children's privacy

DharmaMitra is a general-audience devotional app. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children.

Your choices

"Clear all data" in the app's Settings removes what the app has recorded about you — your profile, bookmarks, recently viewed, reading positions, quiz answers, search history, any kundalis saved and the birth details in them, japa counts, the pilgrimage sites marked as visited, and anything not yet sent — and returns the app to a fresh install. It also asks our server to delete the name, email, gender and year of birth your profile had shared. The scriptures and articles already downloaded stay, so the app still works offline. The switch at the bottom of the app's Privacy screen (Settings → Privacy policy) turns usage analytics and crash reports off entirely — after that no usage data or crash reports leave that device, and anything still waiting to be sent is deleted. The only thing that still goes is feedback you write and send yourself. To request deletion of a contact message you sent us, just email us and we'll remove it.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time; the "last updated" date above will always reflect the latest version.

Contact

Questions about privacy? Email chhindwaralabs@gmail.com or use our contact form.