Gita Within Privacy Policy

Who we are and what this policy covers

Gita Within is developed by Hakan Özmen and published under TadaApp. This policy describes Gita Within 0.6.0 for iPhone and iPad. The TadaApp website and support form have a separate website privacy policy, linked below.

The short version

Your personal reading and practice data is stored on your device. Gita Within has no account system or app-operated cloud synchronization, and does not automatically upload your notes, journal, reading history or diagnostic reports to TadaApp. This release has no advertising or advertising tracking. Data leaves the app when you choose a system sharing, export or external-link action, or when your operating system backs up the device according to its settings.

Personal data stored on your device

Local data includes your selected language and appearance, onboarding choices, reading position, saved verses, highlights, notes, journal entries, reading-plan and session progress, practice history, meditation history, earned badges and reminder preferences. Reflections and journal entries can contain sensitive personal information, including religious beliefs, if you choose to write it. They are not sent to TadaApp automatically. The published Gita texts and study materials are bundled with the app; opening them does not require a user account.

Optional local diagnostics and feedback drafts

Diagnostics are off by default. If you enable them, the app keeps local daily counts of predefined usage events and technical issue categories for the current day and the previous 29 days. Counts may include the interface language and journey day. They do not include personal notes, journal text, identifiers, precise event times, exception messages or stack traces. Turning diagnostics off clears these measurements. A feedback draft you explicitly save stays on the device separately until you edit or clear it; switching counters off does not delete that draft. Nothing is sent automatically. You can preview a report and copy it for a support request. Feedback is excluded from the report unless you choose to include it.

Personal exports and encrypted backups

You can choose to create a password-protected .gitabackup file containing supported personal reading and practice data. It uses AES-256-GCM encryption with a key derived from the passphrase you enter. The passphrase must contain at least 10 characters; the app does not retain it, and TadaApp cannot recover it or decrypt a lost-password backup. The backup excludes the bundled books, app preferences, purchase state and diagnostic records. Restoring a validated backup merges supported personal data into the device rather than providing cloud synchronization. A separate Export personal data action copies unencrypted JSON to the system clipboard. Treat that copy as private and share it only with a destination you trust. Backups and exports leave the app only through the file or sharing action you choose; the destination handles its copy under its own policies.

Sharing verses and saving images

Sharing a verse or a verse image opens the operating system’s sharing interface so you can choose a recipient or another app. When you choose Save Image, Gita Within requests permission to add the generated image to Photos. It does not need permission to read your existing photo library. The selected destination or Photos account may store or synchronize that image according to its own settings. The app does not automatically publish your verses or images.

Reminders, meditation and the widget

Notifications are optional. When enabled, daily reminders and meditation-end alerts are scheduled locally through the operating system. You can change them in the app or revoke notification permission in device settings. The app uses the device’s time zone to schedule local reminders; it does not request location permission for this. The home-screen widget shares published verse text and source credits with the app’s widget extension through an on-device App Group. Personal notes, journal entries and diagnostics are not included in that widget payload. Reading audio can use system playback controls; the app does not record your voice or request microphone access for these features.

System voices and external links

English and Hindi read-aloud features use your device’s text-to-speech service to read published translations, rather than sending your personal writing to a TadaApp audio server. Voice availability and offline operation depend on the operating system and installed voices; the app does not automatically download a new voice. Sanskrit read-aloud is not provided in this release. Opening a source, legal or other external link uses the relevant website or system service, which may receive standard technical request information under its own policies.

Purchases and future billing features

Membership purchasing is unavailable in the current release configuration. Billing is not initialized when its store keys and legal-page configuration are absent. This policy does not promise that every future version will have the same pricing or feature availability. If a future release enables purchases or subscriptions and related service providers, the store listing, in-app purchase information and this policy will describe the applicable processing before it is enabled.

Device backups, retention and deletion

Your operating system may include app data in device backups, such as iCloud Backup, depending on your settings. Those backups are managed by the operating-system provider under its policies; they are separate from the app’s explicit encrypted export. Local personal data remains until you edit or delete it, remove the app’s local data, or uninstall the app. Separately saved files, shared copies, clipboard contents, Photos images and operating-system backups may remain and need to be managed where they were saved. Because TadaApp does not receive your personal database or backup passphrase, we cannot recover lost local progress or private writing for you.

Children’s privacy

Gita Within does not automatically send personal reading or practice data to TadaApp, including data entered by children. If you contact support, please avoid including unnecessary information about a child or anyone else. Contact us through the support form if you have a privacy concern about information you shared with us.

Changes to this policy

We will update the effective date when this policy changes and describe material changes where appropriate. This page describes the current release’s behavior and does not promise particular future features.

Support and privacy questions

When you submit a support request, you choose to share your name, email address, selected product, subject and message with us. Attach a diagnostic report or private writing only if you want us to read it. Processing of website requests and support messages is described in the TadaApp website privacy policy.

For help or a privacy request, contact Hakan Özmen through the Gita Within support form.