Global Meditation Alliance – Privacy/ Family/ Refund/ Cancellation/ Terms of Use Policy

Privacy Policy

Effective Date: July 13, 2026

Version 1.0

Global Meditation Alliance ("we", "our", or "us") operates the Meditation Circle mobile application (the "App"). We are a non-profit spiritual and humanitarian organisation committed to making ancient Meditation accessible to everyone, everywhere, completely free of charge.

This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, store, and protect your information when you use our App. It applies to all users across all 10 supported languages and all regions worldwide — including users in the European Union (GDPR), United Kingdom, California USA (CCPA), India (IT Act), Japan (APPI), Vietnam, Nepal, and all other regions with applicable privacy laws.

By using the App, you agree to the practices described in this Privacy Policy.

1. Information We Collect

1.1 Information You Provide

When you register and use the App, you provide the following information:

Full name — required for your account and community profile
Email address — required for account login and communications
Mobile phone number — required for communications
City — required to connect you with nearby practitioners and local camps
Country — required to display relevant content, camps, and workshops in your region
Profile photo — optional, uploaded voluntarily to personalise your community profile
Referral code — optional, if you were invited by another user
Journal entries and meditation notes — stored privately on your account, visible only to you
Community posts and activity — shared publicly in the community feed and visible to other users

1.2 Information Collected Automatically

When you use the App, we automatically collect:

Device information (device model, operating system version)
Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM) token — used to send you push notifications
Meditation session data — sessions completed, duration, streaks, scores
App usage data — features accessed, screens visited
Crash reports and performance data — to improve app stability
App download and registration timestamp

1.3 Information from Your Device (With Permission)

The App may request access to the following device features. You can deny these permissions and still use the core app:

Contacts — accessed only when you choose to invite friends via the Referral feature. We do not store or upload your contacts to our servers.
Camera / Photo Gallery — accessed only when you choose to upload or update your profile photo. Photos are uploaded directly to your profile.
Storage — used to save your Meditation Completion Certificates to your device gallery.
Notifications — used to send you meditation reminders and community updates. You can manage these in your device settings.

2. How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect for the following purposes:

To create and manage your user account
To deliver guided meditation sessions, courses, and content in your selected language
To use your city and country to show you relevant local camps, workshops, and nearby practitioners
To display your meditation progress, streaks, badges, coins, and leaderboard ranking
To power the Community Feed — your practice activity and posts are visible to other users
To send you push notifications for meditation reminders, camp announcements, and community activity
To process your referrals and track invitations
To display upcoming camps and workshops relevant to your region and language
To generate and save your Meditation Completion Certificates
To improve the App — analysing usage patterns to fix bugs and enhance features
To communicate with you about App updates and important notices

We do NOT use your data for advertising. We do NOT sell your data to any third party. The App is completely free and contains no commercial advertisements.

3. Community Feed & Public Data

Meditation Circle is a community-based practice platform. Please be aware of the following:

Your meditation activity, session completions, streak milestones, badges, and community posts are visible to other users in the Community Feed.
Your username, city, country, and profile photo (if uploaded) are visible to other users within the app community.
Your leaderboard ranking and challenge progress are visible to other users.
Journal entries are private and visible only to you.

Because this is a community platform, please do not include sensitive personal information in your community posts or public profile.

4. Data Storage & Security

4.1 Where Your Data is Stored

Your data is stored using the following services:

Firebase Firestore (Google) — for real-time app data, user profiles, and community content
Firebase Cloud Messaging (Google) — for push notifications
Global Meditation Alliance Servers (www.themeditationalliance.org) — for meditation content, session records, and account data

4.2 Security Measures

All data transmission between the App and our servers is encrypted using HTTPS/TLS
Firebase services are secured using Google's enterprise-grade infrastructure
We do not store payment information — the App has no paid features
Access to user data on our servers is restricted to authorised personnel only

4.3 Data Retention

We retain your data for as long as your account is active. If you delete your account, we will remove your personal data within 30 days, except where retention is required by applicable law.

5. Third-Party Services

The App uses the following third-party services. Each has its own privacy policy:

Google Firebase (Firestore, Cloud Messaging, Analytics) — https://firebase.google.com/support/privacy
YouTube — video content is embedded via YouTube player. YouTube's privacy policy applies to video playback: https://policies.google.com/privacy
CCAvenue — used only for camp and workshop registration payments (INR only). No payment data is stored in the App.

We do not share your personal data with these third parties beyond what is necessary to operate the App.

6. Children's Privacy

The App is suitable for all ages and is used by families and young practitioners. However, we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under the age of 13 without verifiable parental consent. If you believe a child under 13 has provided us with personal information without consent, please contact us and we will delete it promptly.

7. Your Privacy Rights

Depending on your region, you may have the following rights:

7.1 All Users

Access — request a copy of the personal data we hold about you
Correction — request correction of inaccurate data
Deletion — request deletion of your account and personal data
Notification control — manage push notification preferences in your device settings

7.2 European Union Users (GDPR)

If you are located in the EU or EEA, you have additional rights under the General Data Protection Regulation:

Right to data portability — receive your data in a structured, machine-readable format
Right to restrict processing — request that we limit how we use your data
Right to object — object to processing based on legitimate interests
Right to lodge a complaint — with your local Data Protection Authority

Our legal basis for processing your data is: performance of a contract (providing the App service) and legitimate interests (improving the App).

7.3 California Users (CCPA)

If you are a California resident, you have the right to know what personal information we collect, request deletion of your data, and opt out of any sale of personal information. We do not sell personal information.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at the email address below. We will respond within 30 days.

8. Multi-Language Support

The Meditation Circle App is available in 10 languages: English, Spanish (Español), French (Français), Dutch (Nederlands), Russian (Русский), Japanese (日本語), Vietnamese (Tiếng Việt), Ukrainian (Українська), Hindi (हिन्दी), and Nepali (नेपाली).

This Privacy Policy is the governing document in its English version. In case of any conflict between translated versions and the English version, the English version shall prevail.

Your name and contact details are shared with the relevant camp organisers
Payment for camps (where applicable) is processed in INR via CCAvenue for India-based events
No foreign currency transactions are processed through the App

10. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our App features, legal requirements, or operational practices. When we make significant changes, we will:

Update the Effective Date at the top of this document
Notify you via a push notification or in-app message
Post the updated policy within the App

We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically. Continued use of the App after changes are posted constitutes your acceptance of the updated policy.

11. Contact Us

If you have any questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or your personal data, please contact us:

Global Meditation Alliance

Website: www.themeditationalliance.org

Email: info@themeditationalliance.org

Preksha International

Address: Anuvrat Bhavan, Third Floor, 210, New Deendayal Upadhyay Marg, New Delhi, India - 110002

The Meditation Circle App — Privacy Policy v1.0 — Effective July 13, 2026

Global Meditation Alliance — Unifying Hearts, Cultivating Global Harmony