Shepherd Guard

Privacy

Shepherd Guard is a pause you choose for yourself. It doesn't need to know what tempted you in order to help you choose differently, so nothing about what you pause ever leaves your phone.

What Guard keeps, on your phone only

• The apps and websites you chose for Shepherd to interrupt.
• Your first name, your reason in your own words, what you said you are guarding, and your level and hours.
• The name and number of the one person you chose to text, if you add one.
• Monthly counts (times you paused, chose a different path, and so on). No streaks, no history of when or where.

All of this is stored on your device. None of it is sent to FaithPulse, Phrontis Holdings LLC, or anyone else, whether or not you sign in. Deleting the app deletes it.

On Android: the Accessibility service

Android has no system for pausing apps the way iPhone's Screen Time does, so Guard asks you to turn on its Accessibility service. With it, Guard sees two things:

• Which app is open, so it can pause one you chose.
• The website address in your browser, so it can pause a site you chose, or one on the built-in list of common adult sites if you turn that on.

Guard checks what it sees against your list and forgets it. It does not read, record, store, or send what is on your screen, it takes no screenshots, it keeps no browsing history, and it never acts in other apps on your behalf. You can turn the service off at any time in Settings, then Accessibility.

On iPhone: Screen Time

On iPhone, you choose apps and websites in Apple's own picker. Apple gives Guard only private tokens for your choices, so Guard cannot see which apps or sites they are.

When you reach out

• Texting your trusted person opens your own messaging app with a short request for encouragement. You send it; Guard never sends anything on its own, and the message never says what you were doing.
• Talking with Shepherd opens faithpulse.com in your browser. Only the feeling you picked travels with it, never what was paused. Conversations there are covered by the FaithPulse privacy policy.
• Help lines, churches and circles open in the app or website you tap.

What reaches the internet

Guard has no ads, analytics, or trackers. It talks to our servers (Google Firebase) only for these, and never says what you paused, when, or how you felt:

• Your church. If you enter a church code or choose a church, Guard sends the code (or the church) and a random number made on your phone, never your name, so the church's seats can be counted. It downloads your pastor's approved prayer and Scripture clips and keeps them on your phone. Your church sees how many seats are in use, never who you are or what you do in Guard.
• Voices. When you ask someone to record encouragement, Guard makes a link. Their recording, and the name they type, are encrypted in their browser with a key that lives only in your link, so our server holds only scrambled data it cannot open. Your phone downloads the recording and our server deletes its copy; anything not collected is deleted after 30 days. The person recording learns only that you asked for encouragement.
• Pictures. The painting for a Creation Wonder downloads when you open one. Like any download, these requests carry your device's network address.

Your account (optional)

You can use Guard without an account. If you choose to sign in with Apple, Google, or an email and password, Guard uses the same account as FaithPulse (Google Firebase Authentication). We then receive your name and email address (or the private relay address Apple gives you if you choose Hide My Email) and an account ID, used only to sign you in and to keep one account across Shepherd Guard, FaithPulse and Shepherd on the web. Signing in never sends what you guard, your reasons, your moments, or your recordings; those stay on your phone. You can sign out at any time, and delete your account in Guard under Settings, then Account. Deleting it deletes your FaithPulse account too, because it is the same account; what is on your phone stays until you delete the app.

On a computer: the Shepherd Guard browser extension

The extension pauses the sites you choose in Chrome, Edge and similar browsers. Chrome checks each visit against your list inside the browser; the extension never sends the pages you visit anywhere and never records your browsing. What you choose to pause, your reason, your level and your hours are kept in that browser only. When you sign in at faithpulse.com/guard-connect, our server gives that browser a random device token, kept on our side only as a scrambled (hashed) value, so the extension can ask every few hours whether your membership is active. That question carries the token and nothing else: never a site, a pause, or a time. Signing out of the extension deletes the token.

With Pornography on, the extension can also blur explicit images on any site. An AI model that ships inside the extension looks at each larger image on your computer; no image, and no address of one, is sent to us or anyone. If you pair the extension with your phone, your phone's settings travel sealed to a key made in that browser, so our server passes along data it cannot read.

Membership

On iPhone and Android you subscribe through the App Store or Google Play, which handle the payment; Guard learns only whether a membership is active. On faithpulse.com, payment is handled by Stripe: we receive your email address, to send your personal code, and whether the membership is active. We never see your card. If you sign in, Guard on your phone tells our server what your membership rests on (the App Store's or Google Play's signed receipt, or the church or school code your phone holds), so the same account can turn on Guard on your computer and Shepherd on the web, which your membership includes. If you joined from your church's website, your church receives part of what you pay and sees only totals, never your name or email.

Adults only

Shepherd Guard is for adults 18 and older, choosing for themselves.

Contact

Shepherd Guard is made by Phrontis Holdings LLC, a Virginia company. Questions: [email protected].