Last updated: September 14, 2026
Via Fidei is a Catholic faith companion app. This policy explains what personal data the app collects, why, on what legal basis, how long it is kept, and what you can ask us to do with it.
The controller of your personal data is:
Palms Ventures Oy
Espoo, Finland
Contact: veiga@palmsventures.fi
Because we are established in Finland and serve users in the European Union, we process your data under the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
You can explore Via Fidei without signing up. In that case we do not collect your name, your email address or any profile data. We do record anonymous usage events, described under "Usage data" below, tagged with a random identifier generated on your device. That identifier is not linked to any person and we cannot use it to identify you.
| Data | Where it comes from |
|---|---|
| Email address and password | You, at sign-up. The password is stored only as a cryptographic hash and we never see it. |
| Name | You, at sign-up. |
| Country, city, time zone, preferred language | You, during setup. Used to show the right liturgical calendar and language. |
| Pastoral unit, meaning your parish or community | You, optionally. See "Data about your faith" below. |
| Whether you are a minor | You, at sign-up. When set, we switch off showing your name to others, contact by other users, and email notifications. |
| Your choices about showing your name and being contacted | You, in your profile. |
| Notes you write, such as a personal resolution in a spiritual journey | You, while using the app. |
| Your progress in courses and journeys | Recorded as you advance. |
| Messages you write in a class conversation or an event conversation | You, while using the app. Other participants in that class or event can read them. |
| Support requests you send us, and the conversation that follows | You, when you ask for help. |
| Files you upload: course material, if you are a catechist or an administrator, and task submissions, if you are a student. Accepted formats are PDF and images. | You, when you upload them. |
We record which screens you open and which actions you take, together with the platform, the app version, your language and country, and a session identifier. When you are signed in, these events also carry your account identifier, so that we can measure real use and exclude our own internal access. We use this only to understand how the app is used and to improve it.
We do not collect your GPS or device location, your contacts, health data or payment data. We do not read your photo library: the only images we hold are the ones you choose to upload yourself, as course material or as a task submission. We do not show advertising, we do not profile you for advertising, and we do not track you across other apps or websites. We do not use any third party analytics or crash reporting service.
The app can ask for camera access, used only to read a QR code when an organiser checks people in at an event, and for file access, used only when you upload course material or a task submission. Neither is used to collect data about you in the background.
Via Fidei lets you link your account to a parish or pastoral community. Doing so says something about your religious beliefs, and European law treats data revealing religious belief as a special category that needs stronger protection.
We therefore ask for your explicit consent before storing it, on a separate checkbox that is never pre-ticked. This is the legal basis for that specific processing, under Article 9(2)(a) GDPR.
Linking a parish is optional. You can use the whole app without it, and nothing is hidden from you if you decline.
You can withdraw that consent at any time by clearing the same checkbox in your profile, which also removes the parish from your account. It is as easy to withdraw as it was to give. We keep a record of when consent was given and when it was withdrawn, because the law requires us to be able to demonstrate it.
| Purpose | Legal basis |
|---|---|
| Creating and running your account, authenticating you | Performance of a contract, Article 6(1)(b) |
| Showing content for your country, language and liturgical calendar | Performance of a contract, Article 6(1)(b) |
| Storing your parish or pastoral community | Your explicit consent, Article 9(2)(a) |
| Storing your notes and your progress | Performance of a contract, Article 6(1)(b) |
| Answering your support requests | Performance of a contract, Article 6(1)(b) |
| Understanding how the app is used, in order to improve it | Legitimate interest, Article 6(1)(f) |
| Sending you transactional email, such as confirming your address or resetting your password | Performance of a contract, Article 6(1)(b) |
Your data is stored in the European Union, in a data centre in the Nordic region. We do not transfer your personal data outside the European Economic Area.
We do not sell your personal data and we do not share it with advertisers. We use a small number of service providers, who process data only on our instructions:
We may also disclose data where the law requires it.
| Data | Kept for |
|---|---|
| Your account, profile, notes and progress | As long as your account exists. Deleted when you delete it. |
| Record of consent given and withdrawn | As long as your account exists, as proof that consent was valid. |
| Support requests and the messages in them | As long as your account exists. |
| Messages in a class or event conversation | As long as your account exists. |
| Usage events | Up to 12 months. When an account is deleted, its events are stripped of the account identifier and kept only in anonymous form. |
| Calendar entries synchronised for a community | 90 days after the event ends. |
Under the GDPR you can ask us to give you a copy of your data, correct it, delete it, restrict or object to how we use it, or send it to another provider. You can also withdraw any consent you gave, without that affecting what we did lawfully before you withdrew it.
You can delete your account yourself, from inside the app: open your profile and choose to delete your account permanently. Doing so removes your profile, your notes, your progress, your messages, the files you uploaded, your consent record and your support requests. Your usage events stay only in anonymous form, with no link to you.
If you prefer, write to veiga@palmsventures.fi and we will do it for you.
You may lodge a complaint with the Finnish Data Protection Ombudsman (Tietosuojavaltuutetun toimisto), or with the supervisory authority of the EU country where you live.
Via Fidei is not directed at young children. If you tell us at sign-up that you are a minor, we automatically switch off showing your name to other users, being contacted by other users, and email notifications. If you believe a child has given us data without the consent of a parent or guardian, write to us and we will delete it.
All traffic between the app and our servers is encrypted. Access to the database is restricted by policies that limit each account to its own data, and administrative access is limited to authorised people.
If we change how we handle your data, we will update this page and change the date at the top. If a change requires your consent, we will ask for it before it takes effect.
Questions about this policy or about your data: veiga@palmsventures.fi