Highways privacy policy
Highways is an app churches use to organise outreach: door knocking, letterboxing, roadside handouts and personal follow-up. It is run by Josh Szwarga ("we"). This policy explains what the app stores, why, and the choices you have. We follow the New Zealand Privacy Act 2020.
What we store about you, the app user
- Account: your email address and password (the password is stored only as a secure hash), and the name you show to your church. A guest joins with just a name and no email; their access ends after 7 days, and a guest sign-in that never joins a church is deleted after a day.
- Church membership: which churches you belong to and your role (member, leader or admin).
- Your activity: the doors you log, streets you letterbox, handout stops you record and notes you write, with the time and the church they belong to.
- Location: only while the app is open and you are knocking, letterboxing or adding a stall spot. It is used to show which door you are at and to shade the streets you walk. A simplified track of a letterboxing walk is saved with that walk. The app does not track you in the background.
- Microphone and speech: only while you tap the mic to dictate, to turn your voice into a note. Your phone's own speech service (Apple or Google) turns the words into text and may send the audio to Apple or Google to do so. Audio is not stored by Highways.
- Notifications: a push token for your phone, so we can tell you when someone sends you a person to follow up.
What we store about people you meet
Users record people they meet so their church can follow up: a name, phone number, email, the street or door, how they met, notes, prayer requests, whether the gospel was shared, and whether they say they are saved or already a Christian. Some of this concerns religious belief, which we treat as sensitive.
- It is recorded only when the person agrees. We ask for their details so we can pray for them and stay in contact.
- Personal prospects are private to the person who added them unless they choose to share them with their church leaders.
- Door and stall contacts are visible to the user who added them and to that church's leaders and admins.
- Anyone can ask the church to see, correct or delete what is held about them by contacting josh@reachingkiwis.com.
Who can see it
Every church's information is kept separate. Database rules check, on every read and write, that you belong to the church. Other churches using Highways cannot see your church's information. We do not sell or share information with advertisers, and the app has no advertising or tracking.
Where it is stored
Data is stored with Supabase in Sydney, Australia (Amazon Web Services, ap-southeast-2). Push notifications pass through Expo's push service and Apple or Google. Maps use OpenStreetMap-based map tiles; addresses come from Toitū Te Whenua LINZ open data.
How long we keep it
- Door results fade from the map after 12 months but stay in the church's history.
- Information stays while your church uses Highways. A church admin can delete people and records at any time.
Deleting your account
You can delete your account in the app (profile menu, Delete account). This removes your sign-in, your private prospects, reminders and push tokens. Shared church records you made, such as door logs and stall counts, stay with the church without your name attached. If you are a church's only admin, you are asked to make someone else admin first.
Children
Highways is for adult church members. It is not intended for children under 16.
Changes and contact
We will update this page if anything changes. Questions or requests: josh@reachingkiwis.com, 15 Birchwood Lane, Matamata 3400, New Zealand.