Cana is a Catholic Bible reading, study, and small-group app. This policy explains what we collect, what we don't, and who else is involved.
It's written to be specific rather than exhaustive. If anything here is unclear, email us — the address is at the bottom.
Bookmarks, devotional sessions, devotion plans, prayer journal entries, saved Ask conversations, private session notes, and challenge commitments sync through Apple CloudKit using your own iCloud account — the same mechanism Apple's own apps use.
We have no access to this data. It isn't on our servers, and we cannot retrieve it, including if you ask us to.
A prayer journal entry leaves your device only if you tap Talk about this with Cana on it: it is then sent to Anthropic as the start of an Ask conversation, like any message you type there.
We use Firebase (Google Cloud) for accounts and group features:
| What | Why |
|---|---|
| An account identifier, and your email if you signed in with Apple | To identify you across devices |
| Display name and profile photo | Shown to other members of your groups |
| Groups, member lists, invite codes | Group membership |
| Session content: passages, icebreakers, prayer requests, shared notes, challenges | Visible to everyone in that group |
| Subscription status and usage counts | To provide Cana Plus and apply free-tier limits |
If you use Sign in with Apple and choose Hide My Email, we only ever receive Apple's relay address, never your real one.
Group content is not private. Anything you post in a group session — a prayer request, a shared note — is visible to every member of that group. Notes you mark private stay on your device and in your iCloud, and are never uploaded.
Cana uses two AI services to write its responses. Requests go through our own server, so your device never contacts either service directly, and we never send your name, email address, or account identifier — only the text needed for the response.
Used for Ask, and for verse explanations that aren't already bundled with the app. What's sent: your Ask messages and the conversation so far, or the verse being explained.
Used for devotionals, devotion plans, and group study guides, which it writes from the Church's documents and the Fathers. What's sent:
Magisterium AI processes requests with its own AI providers (including Microsoft Azure OpenAI, Google Gemini and Groq), which its policy says do not train on them and may keep them for up to 30 days. Magisterium AI may store what it receives and use it to improve its service, as described in its privacy policy. If you'd rather your conversations weren't shared this way, don't create devotionals or plans from them — reading, Ask, and the rest of Cana work without it.
If Magisterium AI is unavailable, the same request is sent to Anthropic instead.
We do not store your Ask conversations or AI responses on our servers. Your conversations, devotionals and plans live in your iCloud; our server keeps only a count of how many messages you've sent, for free-tier limits. Group study guides are stored with the group, so its members can see them.
Cana is not a substitute for pastoral care, counselling, or medical or mental health treatment. If you tell it something suggesting you may be at risk of harm, it will surface crisis resources. In an emergency, contact your local emergency services.
We use PostHog to understand how the app is used. We record events like app opens, sign-ins, and which features are used — not the content of what you read, write, or ask.
Subscriptions are purchased through Apple. We never see your card details. Apple tells our server whether a subscription is active, and when it renews, expires, or is refunded, so we know what to unlock. That's the extent of it.
Cana isn't directed at children under 13, and we don't knowingly collect their data. If you believe a child has provided us information, contact us and we'll delete it.
| Provider | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Apple | Sign in with Apple, iCloud storage, payments |
| Google Firebase | Accounts, group data, subscription state |
| Anthropic | AI responses in Ask, and verse explanations |
| Magisterium AI (Longbeard) | Devotionals, devotion plans, and group study guides |
| PostHog | Product analytics |
We'll update the date at the top when this changes. Material changes will be surfaced in the app.