Privacy Policy

Effective Date: September 1, 2026  |  Version: 2.4.0

Anchor Digital LLC ("Company," "we," "us," or "our") operates the Charis platform. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your information when you use our Service. Please read it carefully. If you do not agree with the terms of this Privacy Policy, please do not access or use the Service. This policy covers our website at sendcharis.com, the gift, invitation, contribution, and share links we host, and our older addresses charis-gifts.com and trycharis.com, which are also ours and lead to the same Service.

1. Information We Collect

1.1 Information You Provide

• Account Information: When you sign up, we collect your name, email address, and authentication credentials. You can sign in with Google, with Apple, or with an email address and password (via Firebase Authentication). If you sign in with Google or Apple, we receive the name and email address on that account.
• Gift Content: Names, dates, relationship details, custom messages, personal facts, event details (for an invitation, the event name, date, time, and place you enter), and other details you provide when creating gifts, including information about the recipient and any other people you mention. Thank-you bundles include each recipient's name, the gift they gave, and the note you write them; if you upload a photo, PDF, or spreadsheet of your gift list, we read it to draft those rows (see Section 2).
• Prayer requests (Praying for You gifts): If you build a Praying for You gift, you type the prayers you are praying for someone. These often describe health, family, or other sensitive circumstances of the recipient or of other people. We treat them strictly as gift content: they are stored with the gift, shown to the recipient, and sent to our text-generation vendor only to suggest Bible verse references (the verse wording itself comes from our own copy of public-domain translations). We never use prayer text for advertising, profiling, or any purpose other than building and showing that gift, and no classification of a prayer is ever shown to the recipient.
• Recipient Email (optional): We collect a recipient's email address in two cases only: (1) if you choose the scheduled "email it to them" delivery option and provide it, in which case the address is kept on the gift's delivery record and, if you have a saved contact for that person with no email, added to that contact; or (2) if the recipient chooses to save the gift to their own Charis account ("Made for you"), in which case the email of the account they sign in with is recorded on the gift and shown to you, the sender. By default you share the gift yourself and neither happens.
• Uploaded Photos: Photos you upload for gift features — for example the photo reveal, a story or celebration slideshow, a personalized portrait, or a guest photo wall. Depending on the feature, an uploaded photo may be sent to our image-generation vendor to create your gift content (see Section 2). We do not perform facial recognition, biometric identification, or model training on these photos, and we do not build a face database from them. They are stored only to create and deliver your gift to its recipient.
• Your recorded video (optional): You may record a short video of yourself to play inside the gift. It is stored with the gift, shown to the recipient, and you can re-record or remove it from your preview.
• Gift Card Codes: If you choose to attach a gift card you obtained elsewhere, we store the code (and any PIN and the answer to the secret question you set) so your recipient can unlock it. These values are stored in our access-controlled database, transmitted over encrypted connections, and never shown to the recipient until they answer your secret question. We do not sell gift cards.
• Payment Information: Payment details are collected and processed directly by Stripe. We do not store your full credit card number, CVC, or other sensitive payment details on our servers.
• Saved contacts: If you use the address book, we store the people you save: name, relationship, key dates (a birthday, an anniversary, and similar), notes, and, if you add them or import them from your device, an email address or phone number. We use them to pre-fill gifts you build, to email you a reminder shortly before a key date you saved (these emails carry an unsubscribe link), and, only when you ask for it, to write a short profile summary of that person from the details you have already entered (see Section 2).
• Co-editors: If you invite someone to co-edit a gift, we record the email address of each account that accepts and show it to you in that gift's editor list. Co-editors can see and edit the gift's content, including its photos, invitation replies, and contributed memories, but not payment, branding, or the editor list. The invite link is a token you can revoke, and the gift's owner can remove any co-editor at any time.
• Business branding: If we enable business branding on your account (arranged with us directly, not self-serve), we store your business name and logo on your account and print them on the gifts you send, unless you opt a particular gift out. Recipients, and the link preview shown when a gift link is shared, see that name and logo.
• Affiliate program: If you apply to or join our affiliate program, we store your application, contact email, link code, and the click, sign-up, and purchase counts and commission attributed to your link.
• Feedback & Support: Any messages, ratings, feedback, or feature requests ("I wish Charis had...") you submit through the app, including support requests (your message, category, reply email, and the page or gift link you reference). Feedback and feature requests always carry an email address so we can follow up: your account email is attached automatically when you are signed in, and otherwise we ask you for one. We also record your browser type with the submission.
• Support-chat transcripts: If you use the automated help assistant on our site, we store the conversation (your questions and its replies). Email addresses and gift-card-code-like strings are masked before storage, and we store a one-way hashed form of your IP address for abuse prevention rather than the raw address.

1.2 Information Recipients, Guests, and Contributors Provide

If someone sends you a Charis gift, invitation, or contribute link, you can interact with it without creating an account. When you do, we collect only what you choose to submit:

• Reactions & replies: A quick reaction and any message you write back to the sender, with the name you give. These are stored with the gift and shared with the sender, who is also emailed when you reply and when you first open the gift.
• Reviews: If you leave a review, we store your text, rating, the name you give, and whether you allowed us to feature it publicly.
• Guest photos: Photos you add to a shared photo wall are screened by an automated safety check, stored with the gift, and visible to the gift's other participants.
• RSVP responses: If you reply to a Charis invitation, we collect the name you enter, your answer (yes, no, or maybe), how many people you are bringing, and any note you write. We do not ask for your email. Your response is stored with the invitation, is visible only to its host (and anyone the host has invited to co-edit it), never to other guests, and is deleted when the invitation is deleted. A random key kept in your browser lets you change your reply later; it is not linked to any account and is not used across invitations.
• Contributed memories (Collected gifts): If someone sends you a link to add a memory to a gift they are building (for example a retirement send-off), we collect the name you enter, the memory you write, an optional "when" label, and up to three photos. No account is needed. Photos are screened by an automated safety check before they are stored. Your submission goes to the gift's owner (and any co-editors) for approval, and the owner is emailed when a memory arrives; only approved memories appear in the recipient's gift, where the recipient sees your name, your words, and your photos. The contribute link cannot open the gift itself, and contributors never see each other's memories. Memories are stored with the gift and deleted when it is deleted; the owner can also hide or remove a memory, and you can ask us to remove yours. A random key kept in your browser lets you edit your own memory; it is not linked to any account.
• Reaction Replay (retired add-on): The Reaction Replay is no longer offered for new purchases. For replays purchased while it was available: the purchaser confirmed they were 18 or older, paid via Stripe (we never saw card details), and uploaded a selfie, which was safety-screened, sent to our video-generation vendor (Google) solely to create the video, and deleted from our storage as soon as generation finished. Finished videos remain stored with their gift and are removed when the gift is deleted or on request. The social-feature opt-in remains off unless it was separately given.
• Video messages (optional): If you record a video message for the sender, you confirm you are 18 or older and review the recording before sending; the video (your face and voice) is stored with the gift and shared with the sender, who is emailed about it and can also delete it. A separate checkbox lets you allow us to feature the video in our own social posts; it is off by default, and nothing is posted without a person reviewing it first.
• Saving a gift: If you save a gift to a Charis account ("Made for you"), your account email is recorded on that gift and visible to its sender (see 1.1). The sender is emailed when a gift is saved and can unlink it from your account, which also blocks it from being saved again. Saving never shows you more than the gift link already does.
• Sharing a song or moment: If you use the share button on a song or a moment, we create a separate public link that shows only that song or moment, with the recipient's and sender's names as they appear in the gift. It never shows the personal note, the gift card, or the rest of the gift.

1.3 Information Collected Automatically

• Usage Data: We keep first-party counts of activity (for example, how many gifts have been created or opened, and which step of a gift a recipient reached) to run and understand the Service. We also use Google Analytics 4 (through the Firebase SDK) on our marketing pages and on the signed-in builder and account pages, to see in aggregate how many people visit, where they come from, and which pages they view. Analytics is switched off on gift pages, on the shared song and moment pages a recipient can create, and on contribution pages, so recipients opening or sharing a gift and people adding a memory are not measured by it. The page address we send to Analytics is rebuilt before it leaves your browser: any secret in a link (for example a co-editor invite token) is removed, and of the address's parameters only campaign and referral markers are kept. We do not use advertising features, cross-site tracking, or any advertising tracker, and we do not use analytics to identify a person.
• Referral source: If you arrive via a link that carries campaign or referral parameters (for example a social post or an affiliate link), we may store that source in your browser and record it with your account or purchase so we understand how customers find us. We may also ask you directly ("How did you find us?"); answering is always optional.
• Device Information: Standard request information such as browser type, operating system, and device type may be logged by our hosting provider. Your browser's user-agent string is also recorded with support requests, feedback submissions, and affiliate-link clicks.
• IP Address: Collected automatically by our hosting provider (Firebase/Google Cloud) for security and fraud prevention. Our support-chat assistant stores only a one-way hashed form of your IP address, not the raw address. When you accept our Terms of Service, we record your IP address and browser user-agent with the acceptance as a legal audit record.

2. How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect for the following purposes:

• Provide & Improve the Service: To create and deliver personalized digital gifts, process payments, and continuously improve user experience.
• Content Generation: Your gift details (recipient name, occasion, relationship, personal facts, and similar) and any photo you upload are sent to Google’s generative AI (Gemini) APIs to generate text, trivia, images, and song lyrics and to assemble your photo puzzle. The same APIs draft thank-you notes from the gift list you enter, read a gift list you upload as a photo, PDF, or spreadsheet, write the optional profile summary of a saved contact from the details you already entered, and suggest Bible verse references for a prayer request (never the verse text). Photos added by guests and contributors are checked for safety by Google’s image model before they are stored. Song lyrics and style descriptors (not photos) are sent to ElevenLabs to produce the song audio. A Reaction Replay selfie (for replays purchased while that add-on was offered) was sent to Google’s video-generation API solely to create that video, then deleted from our storage. We do not authorize these vendors to use your data to train their models.
• Communication: To respond to your inquiries, provide customer support, and send service notices about your own gifts: a purchase receipt, "your gift is ready," "your gift was opened," a recipient's reply or video message, a saved-gift notice, a scheduled-send confirmation, and a note when a memory is added to a Collected gift. We also send a small number of reminder emails: an unfinished gift, a gift you have not shared yet, a saved contact's upcoming date, an access window that is about to close (with the option to extend it), and a request to review your experience. Every reminder email carries an unsubscribe link and a one-click unsubscribe header, and we honor opt-outs.
• Scheduled delivery (optional): If you choose to schedule your gift, we email the gift link — either to you as a reminder, or, if you opt in and provide it, to the recipient’s email address at the time you set. We do not send anything to a recipient unless you choose the "email it to them" option and provide their address.
• Product measurement: To understand aggregate activity (first-party counters plus Google Analytics on our marketing, builder, and account pages, as described in Section 1.3) so we can improve our features and design.
• Affiliate program and discount codes: To attribute sign-ups and purchases to an affiliate link and calculate the affiliate's commission, and to check discount codes at checkout. A discount code may be locked to one customer's sign-in email; if it is, we compare that email at checkout and nothing else.
• Security: To detect, prevent, and address fraud, abuse, or technical issues.
• Legal Compliance: To comply with applicable laws and legal obligations.

3. Third-Party Services & Data Sharing

We share information with the following categories of third-party service providers, solely to deliver and improve the Service:

We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information to third parties for their marketing purposes.

4. Data Retention

We retain different categories of data for different periods:

• Account data: Retained while your account is active. You can delete your account and its data yourself at any time from your account page ("Delete my account"). That erases the gifts you own together with their photos, songs, videos, invitation replies, contributed memories, and live-presence records; your saved contacts; your profile; your affiliate links and their ledgers; your support tickets; and your Terms-acceptance records, and then removes your sign-in. Gifts you saved as a recipient are unlinked from your account (the giver keeps their gift). Payment records stay with Stripe and in our order records as the law requires, email opt-outs are kept so we keep honoring them, and any review or feedback you left is not removed automatically; email us to have it removed. You can also email us and we will delete your account data within 30 days of a verified request. Once a gift is deleted, individually or with your account, its recipients can no longer open it.
• Reaction Replay selfies & video messages: A Reaction Replay selfie is deleted from our storage as soon as the video finishes generating (or fails). Generated replay videos and recorded video messages are stored with the gift and are removed when the gift is deleted, when the sender clears them, or on deletion request.
• Gift content (text + assembled gifts): A gift's viewing window starts when the recipient first opens it, not when you buy it, and depends on the product: 30 days for a free Personal Quiz gift, one year for a Reveal gift, and no expiry for a Keepsake gift; 30 days for a Base thank-you bundle and no expiry for a Premium one; one year for an invitation (no expiry with a keepsake upgrade); and no expiry for a gender reveal or a Praying for You gift. Heavy assets (photos, songs, videos, images) are automatically deleted about two weeks after a gift's viewing window closes, and in any case within 30 days; the small gift record may be retained longer for order history, statistics, and support. A gift that is never opened has no viewing window and is not automatically purged; its assets remain until you delete the gift or ask us to.
• Uploaded original photos: Stored only to create and deliver the gift. Originals are automatically deleted within 30 days after the gift's viewing window expires, or sooner upon request. As above, photos in a never-opened gift are retained until you delete the gift or request deletion.
• Invitation replies and contributed memories: Stored with the gift they belong to and deleted with it, whether the owner deletes the gift or their whole account. The owner can also remove an individual memory sooner, and a guest can change their own reply.
• Backups: We keep backups so we can recover from an outage or a mistake. Managed database backups are kept for 14 weeks; export copies and earlier versions of stored files may be kept longer. When you delete a gift or your account, the live data is removed at once, but a copy can remain in backups until that copy ages out. We use backups only to recover from a data-loss incident, never to restore an account or gift that someone chose to delete.
• Payment records: Retained as required by tax and accounting laws (typically 7 years), with sensitive card data held only by Stripe.
• Support requests: Support tickets you submit (message, category, reply email, referenced links) are retained so we can handle and follow up on your request. Email support@charis.gifts to request deletion.
• Support-chat conversations: Conversations with the automated helper on our site are stored for up to 90 days so we can improve its answers and review any disputes, after which they are automatically deleted. Email addresses and gift-card-code-like strings are masked before storage. To ask for a conversation to be deleted sooner, email support@charis.gifts.
• AI vendor caches: Subject to each vendor’s data processing agreement. Google’s default retention for generative AI API data when accessed via paid endpoints is no training and short-term operational caching only.

4a. How We Handle Uploaded Photos

• Photos you upload are used solely to create your gift content (for example a photo reveal, slideshow, portrait, guest wall, or contributed memory) and deliver it to the recipient you specify.
• We do not use uploaded photos to train AI models, build face databases, or perform biometric identification.
• We do not sell, license, or share uploaded photos with anyone other than the image-generation vendor processing them on our behalf (to create your gift) and the recipient you choose.
• Once a gift has been opened, originals are automatically deleted from our storage within 30 days after the gift's viewing window expires. A gift that is never opened is not automatically purged; its photos remain until you delete the gift or request deletion.
• You may request earlier deletion at any time using the in-app Feedback option or by emailing support@charis.gifts.

4b. Recipient Privacy & Consent

When you create a gift that includes another person’s name, photo, or personal details, you represent that you have obtained any permissions required by applicable law to do so. If you depict a minor, you represent that you are the parent or legal guardian, or have parental/guardian consent.

A person depicted in a gift may contact us via the Feedback option to request deletion of content depicting them. We will action verified requests within 7 days. The same applies to a person named in a prayer request or a contributed memory, and to a contributor who wants their own memory removed.

5. Data Security

We implement industry-standard security measures to protect your information, including:

• Encrypted connections (HTTPS/TLS) for all data transmission
• Firebase Security Rules and admin-only server access to restrict unauthorized database access
• Server-side validation and rate limiting on sensitive operations
• Storage of API keys and other secrets in a managed secret store
• Gift card codes held in our access-controlled database (never exposed to the recipient until they pass your secret question), with a rate-limited unlock check
• Recipient links carry a random access token; share links show only the shared song or moment; contribute links cannot open the gift; invitation replies and contributed memories are readable only through owner-gated server functions, never directly from the database

However, no method of electronic storage or transmission over the Internet is 100% secure. While we strive to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee its absolute security.

6. Your Rights (GDPR & CCPA)

Depending on your location, you may have the following rights regarding your personal data:

• Access: Request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
• Correction: Request correction of inaccurate personal data.
• Deletion: Delete your account and personal data yourself at any time from your account page ("Delete my account"), or send us a deletion request (see below).
• Portability: Request a machine-readable copy of your data.
• Objection / Opt-out: Object to certain processing of your data, including “sale” or “sharing” for cross-context behavioral advertising. We do not sell or share personal information for advertising purposes.
• Non-discrimination: We will not discriminate against you for exercising your rights.

To exercise any of these rights, contact us using the in-app Feedback option or email support@charis.gifts. We will verify your identity and respond within 30 days (extendable by an additional 60 days for complex requests, with notice).

Cross-border transfers: Charis is operated from the United States. By using the Service, you understand that your data is transferred to and processed in the U.S. via Google Cloud (with Standard Contractual Clauses applicable to EEA/UK transfers).

Data breach notification: If a breach affecting your personal data occurs, we will notify affected users and applicable regulators without undue delay and, where required by law, within 72 hours of becoming aware (GDPR) or as required under your local notification statute.

7. Cookies & Tracking Technologies

Charis uses essential cookies and local browser storage, plus Google Analytics cookies on our marketing, builder, and account pages (not on gift, shared song and moment, or contribution pages). We do not run advertising trackers, and there is no cross-site tracking. Specifically:

• Authentication: To keep you signed in and manage your session (Firebase Authentication).
• Referral & Campaign Tracking: When you arrive through an affiliate link or a link carrying campaign parameters, we store the referral source locally in your browser so a resulting sign-up or purchase can be attributed to it. This is first-party only; nothing is shared with ad networks.
• Analytics: Google Analytics 4 sets its own cookies to count visits and pages in aggregate on the pages listed above. It is disabled on gift pages, shared song and moment pages, and contribution pages, and the page address it records is stripped of link secrets and of every parameter except campaign and referral markers.
• Guest and contributor keys: When you reply to an invitation or add a memory without an account, we keep a random key in your browser so you can edit your own reply or memory later. It identifies nothing about you and is not shared.

We do not currently display a cookie consent banner. You can block or clear cookies and site storage through your browser preferences; the Service works without analytics cookies, but disabling storage entirely may affect sign-in and other functionality.

8. Children's Privacy

Charis is not directed to children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If we learn that we have collected personal data from a child under 13, we will promptly delete such data. If you believe we have inadvertently collected data from a child, please contact us immediately.

9. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of material changes by posting the new Privacy Policy on this page and updating the "Effective Date" above. Your continued use of the Service after any changes constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

10. Contact Us

Anchor Digital LLC, Chelsea, Alabama. If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, your data, or your rights (including deletion requests), contact us at support@charis.gifts, use the in-app Feedback option, or visit our About page.