Privacy Policy

Last updated: September 18, 2026

Mangala Media is a media playback app used at Vipassana meditation centers, as taught by S.N. Goenka. It plays the scheduled audio and video sessions of a meditation course and provides translated audio to students on devices owned by the center. The app is published by Sayagyi U Ba Khin Memorial Trust of Massachusetts, Inc., a non-profit organization ("we", "us").

The app is not intended for the general public. It works only with an account issued to a meditation center and only when connected to that center's media server.

Summary

• We do not collect names, email addresses, phone numbers, location, contacts, photos, or any information about the students who attend a course.
• The app does not record audio or video. It only plays it.
• There are no ads, no in-app purchases, and no tracking across other apps or websites.
• We do not sell or rent any data.
• We collect a small amount of technical information so that we can keep the app working reliably at the centers. This is described below.

Information the app collects

Crash and performance information. If the app crashes or has an error, a technical report is sent to us. It contains the device model, operating system version, app version, the time of the error, and technical details of what went wrong.

App usage events. The app reports technical events such as a session being started, an audio track loading or failing to load, a connection to the center's server being lost, or stored media being cleaned up. These events are labelled with the name of the meditation center and the version of its server software, so that we can tell which center needs help. They are not labelled with the name or identity of any person.

Device information. Each device registers itself with the media server of the center where it is used. The server stores a device identifier, the device name given by the center, the language assigned to it, and technical status such as battery level and connection state. The center uses this to manage its own devices. Our crash and usage reporting service also assigns a random identifier to each installation of the app.

Sign-in details. The app signs in with an account that belongs to the meditation center, not to an individual person. The sign-in details are kept on the device and are sent only to the Mangala Media servers that the center uses.

How we use this information

We use it only to operate the app, to find and fix faults, and to understand how reliably the app is working across centers. We do not use it for advertising or marketing, and we do not build profiles of individuals.

Who receives it

Crash, performance, and usage information is processed for us by Google Firebase (Firebase Crashlytics and Google Analytics for Firebase), which acts as our service provider. Google's handling of this data is described at firebase.google.com/support/privacy. Device and sign-in information is held on the media server of the meditation center and on the central Mangala Media server operated for the centers. We do not share information with anyone else, unless the law requires it.

Local network access

The app asks for permission to use the local network. It uses this only to find and connect to the center's media server on the center's own Wi-Fi network.

Media stored on the device

Course recordings that the app downloads are stored on the device in encrypted form and can only be played inside the app. They are removed when they are no longer needed.

How long information is kept

Crash, performance, and usage information is kept for the standard retention periods of Google Firebase and is then deleted automatically. Device records on a center's server are removed when the center removes the device or when the device has not been used for some time.

Children

The app is a tool for meditation centers and is not directed at children. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children.

Your choices

Because the app does not collect information that identifies you personally, there is normally nothing held about you. If you have a question, or believe that information about you has been collected, contact us and we will look into it and delete it where applicable.

Changes to this policy

If this policy changes, the new version will be published on this page with a new date.

Contact

Email: [email protected]