Privacy policy

Effective October 28, 2026

Serving ministries use this app to organize volunteers to serve neighbors in need. This page explains what we keep, who can see it, and how to remove it. We wrote it to be read, not skimmed past. The app is built and maintained by LightYoke for each ministry.

The short version

• We keep only what’s needed to organize serving.
• No ads, no tracking, no analytics tools. We never sell or rent anyone’s information.
• A care recipient’s address stays inside the app — never in a text, a notification or an email.
• When you apply, you agree that the person you’re helping will be told your first name and see your photo shortly before your team arrives, so a knock at the door is a welcome one.
• You can delete your account yourself, any time: Me → Account → Delete my account.
• The app is for adults 18 and older.

What we keep about you

If you delete your account, your personal information is erased within 90 days — see “How long we keep it” below.

• Your account: your name, email address and phone number, and how you sign in (email and password, Google, or Apple). Passwords are handled by our sign-in service; we never see them.
• Your standing: your role (volunteer, team leader or admin), whether you’re approved, and the date your background check was completed, entered by an admin.
• Your serving: the needs you join, lead or decline, the times you mark as available, and completion records.
• Your messages: private messages and team chat you send in the app.
• Your photo: the photo you add, and earlier ones you’ve replaced, with who approved them and when.
• Task pictures: pictures a leader or admin adds to a task to show the work. The app removes the phone’s location data before upload, and an admin checks each one — and can crop it or cover house numbers, signs, faces or license plates — before anyone else sees it. Only the checked copy is kept, with the task’s record.
• Your emergency contact (optional): a name and phone number you add on the Me tab, seen only by admins and the leader of a task you’re on, so they can call someone if you’re hurt while serving. It’s erased with your account.
• Your settings: which notifications you want, any quiet hours you set, and whether other volunteers may see you on a team.
• Your devices: if you turn on notifications, a notification address for each device, so we can reach it, and a short record of any notice that couldn’t be delivered, kept 30 days so we can fix delivery problems.
• Records about you: team leaders may write short notes about how a task went, seen only by leaders and admins. Admin actions on accounts are logged for accountability.
• Agreements: when you accept the Terms of Use, the volunteer release and “How we serve”, we record which version you accepted and when.
• Incident reports: leaders and admins may file a report when something goes wrong on a visit. Admins see all of them; a leader sees the ones they filed. They are kept until an admin or the leader who filed it deletes it — even after an account is deleted — because they may be needed for safety or legal reasons.

Information about the people we serve

The people we serve don’t use the app. A leader or admin enters what’s needed to help them: a first and last name, address, phone number and private notes. That information is visible only to that task’s leader and to admins. Volunteers on a confirmed team see the address alone, shortly before the service time, so they can get there. It never leaves the app.

Before a visit, the person we help (or someone signing for them) is asked to sign a short release online, by a link texted to them or on the team leader’s phone. The page shows only their first name, the task and the date — never an address. We keep the signed release — the typed name or drawn signature, who signed, the time and the device’s internet address — with the task’s private details, seen only by that task’s leader and admins. After signing, they can download a copy or have one emailed; an email address typed for that is used only to send the copy and isn’t saved.

Who can see what

• Other volunteers on your team see you as first name and last initial, with your photo — on the team list and in team chat. This is on unless you turn off “Let other volunteers see me” on the Me tab; while it’s off, other volunteers don’t see you on team lists, and you can read team chat but not post in it. Leaders and admins always see you.
• Team leaders and admins see full names, and phone numbers for the volunteers on their tasks, so they can coordinate.
• Admins see account details needed to approve members and keep background checks current.
• Your photo, once an admin approves it, is seen by admins; by team leaders on a task you’re on or have offered to help with, or in its team chat; and by other volunteers on your team unless you’ve turned off “Let other volunteers see me”. A team leader’s or admin’s photo is seen by every approved member. The person you serve sees it through a temporary link shortly before you arrive.
• Task pictures, once an admin approves them, are seen by every approved member. Before that, only admins and whoever may add pictures to that task see them.
• Private messages are seen by the two people in the conversation; team chat by that task’s team.
• Pictures in team chat (of the work, parts or tools) are seen only by that task’s team and admins. The app removes the phone’s location data before sending, admins can take any picture down, and a picture is kept with its message. Private messages can’t carry pictures.
• Reporting or blocking a member: you can report a member from a private message or team chat, and block them so private messages between you stop. Reports are seen only by admins and are deleted 90 days after an admin handles them. Your block list is seen only by you and lasts until you unblock. Blocking doesn’t hide anyone in team chat.
• Reporting a picture or message: any member can report a task picture, team-chat picture, member photo or team chat message. It’s hidden from everyone but admins until an admin keeps it or removes it.
• Deleted pictures and messages (task and team-chat pictures, and team chat messages, that are removed) are kept, seen only by admins, for 90 days in case they need to be reviewed — longer only while an admin holds one for an investigation — then deleted for good.
• LightYoke staff can open a ministry’s pages only to help with a support request. Every support visit is recorded in that ministry’s Audit log, and each ministry’s information is kept separate from every other ministry’s.
• The person you serve is told who’s coming — your first name and your photo — shortly before you arrive. This protects the people we serve, so you agree to it when you apply.

Notifications

If you turn them on, we send notifications about your tasks, messages and new needs. They pass through Apple’s or Google’s notification services (or your browser’s) to reach your device, and may show a task’s title, area and time — never an address. You can turn notifications off on the Me tab or in your device’s settings.

Text messages

With their permission, a leader can sign up the person we’re helping for texts: a link to sign the release when a visit is scheduled, and one text shortly before the visit, usually about 30 minutes ahead. It gives the first names of the team and a temporary link to their photos. The link stops working after the visit. It never includes an address. Message and data rates may apply. Reply STOP at any time to stop these texts, or HELP for help. We use these phone numbers only for this, never for marketing. No mobile information is shared with third parties or affiliates for marketing or promotional purposes, and text messaging consent is never shared with anyone. We do not sell or share your SMS opt-in data or personal information with third parties for marketing purposes.

Volunteers who tick “OK to text me” when applying or on the Me tab may get serving notices by text, for example when asked to confirm their serving appointment, when they haven’t answered in the app. Untick it, or reply STOP, at any time.

Services that handle data for us

We use a small number of providers, only to run the app: Supabase (database and sign-in), Vercel (hosting), and Apple and Google (sign-in with their accounts, and delivering notifications), Google (sending the app’s emails, such as your activation link), and Twilio (sending text messages). Data is stored in the United States. They handle it only to provide their service to us.

How long we keep it

While your account is active, we keep your information so the app works. If you delete your account, you’re removed from upcoming work at once and can no longer sign in. After 90 days your personal details are erased: your name becomes “Former member,” your email, phone and background-check details are removed, your messages are replaced with “Message removed,” your photos are deleted, and notes about you are deleted. Records of past service stay, without your name. Rarely, an admin may pause that erasure to look into a safety concern.

An account that never joins a ministry gets one email after 21 days, and is deleted a week after that email — the account and everything in it, at once.

When an account is erased, we keep a scrambled fingerprint of its email for 2 years. It can’t be turned back into the email; LightYoke can only check whether a given email matches, for safety investigations and to stop repeated sign-ups. A ministry only learns how many times an email was a member there before.

Your choices

• Change your name and phone number on the Me tab.
• Choose which notifications you get, or turn them off.
• Choose whether other volunteers can see you on a team.
• Delete your account: Me → Account → Delete my account.
• Ask us what we hold about you, or to correct it, using the contact below.

Sign-in and cookies

The app uses cookies only to keep you signed in. There are no advertising or tracking cookies.

Security

Access is checked by the database itself on every request, information is sent only over encrypted connections, and sensitive keys are held only on our servers. No system is perfect; if something goes wrong, we’ll tell the people affected.

Changes and contact

If we change this policy, we’ll update the date above and, for meaningful changes, tell members in the app. Questions or requests: privacy@lightyoke.app.