St Mary’s App — Privacy Policy

Effective date: 8 October 2026

This page covers the app. Our full Parish Privacy Policy covers the parish register, websites and app together.

This policy explains how the St Mary’s app (“the app”), published by St Mary’s Syro-Malabar Mission, Newcastle (“the parish”, “we”), handles personal information. We follow the Australian Privacy Principles under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth).

Ways to use the app

  • Guest — browse Mass times, events, prayers and public notices without an account.
  • App account — anyone can create a free account with their name, email address and mobile number.
  • Parish family — families registered with the parish sign in with the email or mobile number on their Parish Registration.
  • Parish staff — the Chaplain and authorised parish volunteers sign in with their parish email to manage requests.

Every sign-in uses a one-time 6-digit code sent by email. There are no passwords.

Information the app uses

  • Account details — for an app account: your name, email address and mobile number, and the date you joined and last signed in.
  • Your family’s parish registration — names, baptism names, dates of birth, sacrament dates, address, phone numbers, email addresses, ward and Family Code. These already exist in the parish register; the app shows them only to your family.
  • Forms you submit — Catechism, sacraments, appointments with the Chaplain, prayer requests, Direct Debit and other forms open the parish website inside the app and are handled exactly as on the website.
  • Volunteer applications — if you offer to volunteer, the name, email, mobile, date of birth, address, experience, signature and the roles you choose. For roles that work with children, the number and expiry date of your Working With Children Check. Only the parish office and authorised reviewers can see these, and they are used only to assess your application and confirm you are eligible to serve.
  • Notifications — if you allow notifications, your phone’s push notification token and phone type (iPhone or Android), so parish notices reach you and, for families, your ward.
  • Guest use — a random install ID created by the app (not a hardware identifier), phone type and model, system and app version, and when the app was first and last opened. This lets the parish office count how many people use the app.

Stored only on your phone

A secure sign-in key and which notices you have already read. These never leave your phone, except that the sign-in key is sent to the parish website to prove who you are.

What we do not do

No advertising, no tracking across other apps or websites, no analytics services, no location data, and we never sell or rent personal information.

Who helps us run the app

  • Our website host, where the parish website and register are stored.
  • Our email service, which delivers sign-in codes and form confirmations.
  • Expo (650 Industries, Inc., USA), Apple and Google, which deliver push notifications. They receive your notification token and the notice text, not your registration details.

Online donations and fee payments are made on the parish website through Stripe and are covered by the website’s terms; the app itself does not handle card details.

How we protect it

All communication uses encrypted connections (HTTPS). Each family can see only its own record. Sign-in codes expire after 10 minutes and repeated attempts are blocked. Only authorised parish staff can see requests sent to the parish.

How long we keep it

Registration details are kept as part of the parish register. App accounts are kept until you delete them. Guest records are removed after 180 days without opening the app. Notification tokens are deleted when you sign out or the phone stops accepting notifications. Sign-in codes are deleted as soon as they are used or expire. Volunteer applications, including Working With Children Check details, are kept while you volunteer with the parish and are deleted on request once you no longer serve, unless the parish must keep them to meet child-safety requirements.

Your choices and rights

  • See your details in the app under Me, and correct them there.
  • Turn notifications off at any time in your phone’s settings.
  • Sign out from Me → Sign out.
  • App account: delete your account and its data at any time from Me → Delete my account.
  • Parish family: ask us to delete your app data or your registration from Me → Request deletion of my data, or by emailing us.

Children

The app is intended for adults, parents and guardians. Children’s details shown in the app come from their family’s Parish Registration and are visible only to that family.

Contact

St Mary’s Syro-Malabar Mission, Newcastle — chaplain@stmarysnewcastle.org — 262 Sandgate Rd, Shortland NSW 2307. If you are not satisfied with our response, you may contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (oaic.gov.au).

Changes

We will post any changes on this page and update the effective date.