Two cookies, both to keep you signed in.

1. The short version

We use two cookies, both of which exist only to sign you in and keep that sign-in secure. We use a small amount of browser storage for your session and a few preferences. We run no analytics, no advertising, and no cross-site tracking — there is no third-party tracker on this site.

Because every one of these is strictly necessary or a preference you set yourself, there is nothing here to opt into or out of beyond signing in. See “Why there is no consent wall” for the reasoning.

2. What a cookie is here

A cookie is a small piece of data a site asks your browser to hold and send back on later visits. Both of ours are marked HttpOnly, which means scripts running in the page — ours or anyone else’s — cannot read them. In production they are also marked Secure, so they travel only over HTTPS.

3. Cookies we set

shepherdos_refresh — keeps you signed in

Holds a rotating refresh token. Your browser sends it only to our sign-in endpoints so we can issue you a fresh short-lived access token without asking for your password again. It rotates on every use, and if an old one is ever replayed we revoke the whole session family as a precaution. It lasts up to 30 days, and signing out deletes it. Strictly necessary.

shepherdos_oauth — makes “Continue with Google/Apple” safe

Set only when you begin a sign-in with Google or Apple, and deleted the moment you come back. It carries the signed anti-forgery state for that one attempt, so an attacker can’t hand your browser a sign-in that isn’t yours. It expires on its own after ten minutes. Strictly necessary.

That is the complete list. We set no others — no analytics cookie, no advertising cookie, no cookie that follows you to another site.

4. Things we store in your browser

Alongside those cookies we keep a few values in your browser’s own storage. These are never sent to other sites, and clearing your browser data removes them:

• Your access token — a short-lived (15-minute) credential the app uses to call our API. It is cleared when you sign out or when it expires.
• Where to send you after sign-in — so a provider sign-in returns you to the page you started from. Cleared as soon as you land.
• Preferences you set — that you’ve seen the AI Companion’s first-use disclosure, that you dismissed a prompt, and the theme you picked for a shared verse card.

None of these identify you to anyone else or build a profile. They exist so the app remembers what you already told it.

5. Third parties that can set storage

We embed very little from other companies, and we’ve chosen the more private option wherever one exists. Where a third party can set its own cookies or storage, it happens only after you take an action:

• Apple Music — if you connect Apple Music to play full tracks, Apple’s player software loads from Apple and you sign in to Apple directly. Apple sets its own cookies and storage under Apple’s privacy policy, which we don’t control. If you never connect Apple Music, none of this loads.
• YouTube — sermon videos are embedded through youtube-nocookie.com and shown as a still image until you press play, so nothing is requested from YouTube unless you choose to watch. Once you press play, YouTube may store data on your device under Google’s policies.
• Stripe — donations are handled on Stripe’s own hosted pages. Any Stripe cookies are set there, on Stripe’s domain, not here.

We do not embed analytics, session recording, heatmaps, chat widgets, ad pixels, or social “like” buttons. There is no Google Analytics on this site.

6. Why there is no consent wall

Under the GDPR, the UK GDPR, and similar laws, cookies that are strictly necessary to deliver a service the user asked for do not require consent — and cookies used purely for advertising and tracking do. Every cookie we set is in the first category, and we set none in the second.

So rather than put a wall in front of you that we’d be inviting you to click through without reading, we tell you plainly what we use and keep the list short enough to actually read. If that ever changes — if we adopt analytics, for example — we will ask for your consent before anything non-essential is set, and you will be able to decline and keep using Sembrae.

Under California’s CCPA/CPRA: we do not sell or share personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising, so there is no “Do Not Sell or Share” choice to offer. Your broader rights are in our Privacy Policy.

7. Controlling cookies yourself

Your browser can block or clear cookies for any site, including this one, from its privacy settings. Because our two cookies are what keep you signed in, blocking or clearing them signs you out — the rest of Sembrae still works, you’ll just be asked to sign in again. Signing out from the app clears them for you.

Most browsers also honor Global Privacy Control. We don’t sell or share personal information, so there is nothing for that signal to switch off here.

8. Changes to this notice

We may update this notice as the Service evolves or the law changes. When we do, we’ll revise the “Last updated” date above and, for material changes, give notice in the app or by email. Continuing to use Sembrae after an update means you accept the revised notice.

9. Contact us

Questions about anything on this page? Email privacy@mataron.org and we’ll answer plainly.