Privacy Policy

Effective date: October 27, 2026

This policy describes how Hey Church ("Hey Church," "we," "us") handles personal information when a church uses heychurch.co and the Hey Church app at app.heychurch.co.

Hey Church lets a church write an announcement and send it to that church's contacts by email and, where available, by SMS. A church builds its contact list by manual entry, CSV upload, a QR sign-up, or a one-time Planning Center import. When a church uses AI rewrite, OpenAI rewrites the announcement text. Email is delivered by SendGrid and SMS by Twilio. Paid plans are billed by Stripe. Hey Church does not offer a church-facing analytics dashboard, does not keep a Planning Center list in sync, and does not send to a group or segment within a list.

Who this policy covers

Customers. Church staff who create an account and use Hey Church.
Contacts. People on a church's list, such as members and attendees. The church decides who is on the list and whether that person has agreed to email or text messages. Hey Church sends only what the church asks it to send, and processes contact information on the church's behalf.

Information we collect

Account information. When a church signs up, we collect the account holder's name, email address, church name, and login credentials.

Contact lists. A contact record can include a name, email address, mobile number, and the church's record of email consent and SMS consent. A Planning Center import copies the contacts the church chooses to import at that time. It is not an ongoing sync, and later changes in Planning Center are not applied to Hey Church automatically.

Announcements. We store the announcement text a church writes, the schedule it sets, and, when the church uses AI rewrite, the rewritten text returned by OpenAI.

Email delivery. SendGrid delivers announcement email. We receive the delivery information needed to send mail and to honor bounces and unsubscribes.

SMS. If a church texts a contact, we process the mobile number, the message, the church's record that the contact opted in, and opt-out and help replies (STOP and HELP). Twilio carries those messages. See SMS messaging below.

Billing. Stripe collects payment card details. Hey Church does not store full card numbers. We keep subscription status and the limited billing details Stripe shares with us, such as card brand and last four digits.

Website and app analytics. heychurch.co uses Umami (cloud.umami.is) to count page views and basic technical data such as browser, device, referrer, and country. Umami does not use cookies. This analytics is for our own understanding of site traffic and is not a feature churches can view.

Messages you send us. If you email us, we keep the message and your address so we can reply.

How we use information

To create and run church accounts.
To store contact lists and send the announcements a church schedules.
To rewrite announcement text with OpenAI when the church uses that feature.
To send SMS through Twilio when the church has recorded explicit consent for that contact.
To process email unsubscribes and SMS STOP replies so those people are not messaged again on that channel.
To bill paid plans through Stripe.
To understand traffic on our website.
To secure the service, prevent abuse, and comply with law.

We do not sell personal information or share it for cross-context behavioral advertising. We do not use contact lists to market other products to a church's congregation.

SMS messaging

Hey Church offers SMS so a church can text announcements to its own contacts. Twilio is the messaging provider.

Opt-in. Opt-in is explicit consent captured by the church for its contacts. The church collects that consent itself (for example, on a connection card or its own form) and records it in Hey Church before any text is sent. Consent to email is not consent to SMS. A contact is not texted unless the church has recorded SMS consent for that person.
Opt-out. Reply STOP to opt out. After a STOP reply, Hey Church will not send further SMS from that church to that number.
Help. Reply HELP for help. You can also email legal@heychurch.co.
Frequency. Message frequency varies.
Rates. Message and data rates may apply.
No sharing for marketing. Mobile numbers and SMS opt-in data are never shared or sold to third parties or affiliates for marketing.

Twilio processes mobile numbers and message content so the text can be delivered and so STOP and HELP replies can be handled. That processing is the delivery of the church's message, not a sale or a marketing share.

Email consent and unsubscribe

A church may email a contact only when that contact has agreed to receive email from the church. Hey Church stores email consent separately from SMS consent. Announcement emails include an unsubscribe link. When someone unsubscribes, Hey Church records the request and stops emailing that address for that church. Unsubscribing from email does not change SMS consent, and a STOP reply does not change email consent.

Service providers

We use the following vendors to run the service. They process personal information only to provide the function listed.

Vercel — hosts the website and the Hey Church app.
Neon — hosts the Hey Church database, including account, contact, and announcement records.
OpenAI — rewrites announcement text when a church uses AI rewrite. Only the announcement content needed for the rewrite is sent.
SendGrid — delivers announcement email and processes bounces and unsubscribes.
Twilio — delivers SMS and processes STOP and HELP replies.
Stripe — processes payment for paid plans.
Umami — counts visits to our website.

Planning Center is the church's own system. If a church connects it, Hey Church receives the contacts included in that one-time import. We do not send the church's Hey Church contact list to Planning Center, and we do not keep the two systems in sync.

We may also disclose information if the law requires it, or to protect the rights, safety, and security of churches, contacts, and Hey Church.

Retention

We keep account, contact, announcement, consent, and message records while the church's account is open and we need them to run the service. If a church deletes a contact, we remove that contact from the active list. If a church closes its account, we delete or de-identify the church's data within 30 days, and remove it from backups within 90 days.

We keep records of consent, email unsubscribes, and SMS STOP replies for as long as needed to honor those choices and to show that we did, and in any case for at least four years. We also keep information when the law requires it or when it is needed to resolve a dispute.

Security

We use access controls, encryption in transit, and our vendors' security practices to protect account and contact data. No method of storage or transmission is perfectly secure. Questions about security can be sent to legal@heychurch.co.

Children

Hey Church is a tool for churches and their staff. It is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly let a child under 13 create an account. A church is responsible for the contacts it uploads, including any information about minors, and for having the legal basis to do so. If you believe a child under 13 has given us personal information without proper consent, email legal@heychurch.co and we will delete it.

Your rights

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to access, correct, or delete personal information we hold about you, or to object to certain uses.

Contacts can unsubscribe from email with the link in any message, and can opt out of SMS by replying STOP.
Church account holders can update account details in the app and can ask us to delete the account.
Anyone can email legal@heychurch.co with a request. We may need to confirm that you are the person the information is about, or that you are authorized to act for the church account.

Contact information a church uploaded is controlled by that church. We may refer a contact's request to the church when the church is the right party to answer it.

Changes

If we change this policy, we will post the new version on this page and update the effective date. If a change materially affects how we use information, we will also notify account holders by email or in the app before it applies.

Contact

Questions about this policy or a privacy request: legal@heychurch.co

Our terms are at /terms. How a church records consent is described on the Proof of Consent page.