Legal
Privacy Policy
Effective Date: September 27, 2026
Polylingo ("we," "us," or "our") operates the Polylingo mobile app, an audio-first app of graded stories for language learners, and the polylingo.app website (together, the "Service"). This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect, how we use it, who processes it on our behalf, and the choices you have, including how to delete your account.
1. Information We Collect
Account information: When you first open the app we create an anonymous account with a random identifier. You do not need to give us your name or email to use Polylingo. If you choose to create an email account (to keep your purchases across devices), we store your email address.
Learning preferences: The language you are learning, your level (CEFR A1–C2), your interests and your preferred accents or regions, plus app settings such as playback speed.
Listening and learning activity: Stories you start and finish, your listening and reading progress, phrases you save and their review schedule, and your answers in comprehension practice.
Ratings, reviews and reports: Ratings and reviews you post, reports you submit, and authors you choose to hide.
Purchase information: Which story credit packs or membership you bought, your credit balance, the stories you have unlocked, and your membership status. Payments are handled by Apple or Google; we never receive your payment card details.
Usage and diagnostics: If "Usage & diagnostics" is turned on, we collect app usage events (for example, which screens are opened and which stories are played), device model, operating system and app version, and crash reports.
What we do not collect: We do not collect advertising identifiers (such as the IDFA), we do not track you across other companies' apps or websites, and we do not show ads.
2. How We Use Your Information
We use your information to:
- Provide the Service: play stories, save your progress, saved phrases and preferences, and recommend stories at your level
- Keep your purchases and unlocked stories attached to your account, and restore them on a new device if you created an email account
- Show ratings and reviews and operate reporting, hiding and moderation
- Understand how the app is used and fix crashes and bugs (only when "Usage & diagnostics" is on)
- Respond to support requests
- Prevent fraud and abuse, and comply with legal obligations
We do not sell your personal information and we do not use it for advertising.
3. On-Device Translation
When you tap a word or select a phrase, the translation is performed on your device using Google ML Kit. The text you translate is not sent to us or to Google for translation. The first time you translate a language, your device downloads that language's translation model from Google once; after that, translation works on your device.
Story narration is pre-produced audio that we deliver from our servers. Nothing you type or say is used to create it.
4. Analytics, Diagnostics and Your Choice
We use Firebase Analytics to understand how the app is used and Firebase Crashlytics to diagnose crashes. You can turn this off at any time with the "Usage & diagnostics" setting in the app; when it is off, the app stops sending analytics events and crash reports.
We do not use analytics data for advertising, we do not link it with data from other companies for tracking, and we do not access your device's advertising identifier.
5. Service Providers and Sharing
We do not sell, rent or trade your personal information. We share it only with service providers that process it on our behalf to run the Service:
Google Firebase: authentication, database (Cloud Firestore), file and audio hosting, analytics (Firebase Analytics) and crash reporting (Crashlytics).
RevenueCat: processing and verifying in-app purchases, credit balances and membership status.
Apple and Google: payments made through the App Store or Google Play, under their own privacy policies.
Google ML Kit: delivering translation models to your device (translation itself happens on your device).
Other users: ratings and reviews you post are visible to other users of the Service.
We may also disclose information if required by law or legal process, or to protect the rights, property or safety of Polylingo, our users or others.
6. Reviews and Moderation
Reviews you post are public within the Service. Other users can report a review or story, and hide an author so they no longer see that author's content. We review reports within 24 hours and remove content and accounts that violate our Terms of Use. To do this, we store the report, the reported content and the accounts involved.
7. Data Storage and Security
Your data is stored on Google Cloud infrastructure through Firebase. We use encryption in transit (TLS), encryption at rest provided by Google Cloud, and security rules that let each account access only its own private data. No method of transmission or storage is 100% secure, but we work to protect your information.
8. Data Retention and Account Deletion
We keep your account data for as long as your account exists.
Delete your account in the app: open Polylingo, tap the person icon on Home to open "Your listening", and tap "Delete account". This deletes your account and the data associated with it, including your preferences, progress, saved phrases, ratings and reviews, and the records that link your account to purchases (credit balance and unlocked stories).
Other ways: you can also request deletion on our account deletion page (https://polylingo.app/delete-account) or by emailing contact@polylingo.app. Email requests are completed within 30 days.
What may remain: analytics and crash data expire automatically under our Firebase retention settings (up to 14 months for analytics and 90 days for crash reports). Apple and Google keep their own records of store transactions, and we may keep limited transaction records where the law requires it (for example, for tax or accounting).
9. Your Rights
Depending on where you live, you may have the right to access, correct, delete or export your personal data, to restrict or object to certain processing, and to withdraw consent (for example, by turning off "Usage & diagnostics").
EU/EEA and UK residents (GDPR): we process your data to provide the Service you requested (contract), for analytics and diagnostics based on your choice in the app (consent), and to prevent abuse (legitimate interests). You may lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority.
California residents (CCPA/CPRA): you have the right to know, delete and correct your personal information. We do not sell or share personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising.
To exercise any of these rights, contact contact@polylingo.app.
10. Children's Privacy
Polylingo is not directed at children under 13 (or under 16 in the EU/EEA). We do not knowingly collect personal information from children below these ages. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, contact contact@polylingo.app and we will delete it.
11. International Data Transfers
Our service providers (Google Firebase and RevenueCat) may process your information in the United States and other countries whose data protection laws may differ from those where you live. Where required, these transfers are protected by appropriate safeguards such as standard contractual clauses.
12. Changes to This Privacy Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy when the Service or the law changes. We will post the updated policy here with a new effective date and, for material changes, notify you in the app.
13. Contact Us
If you have questions or requests about this Privacy Policy or your data, contact us at:
Email: contact@polylingo.app
Website: https://polylingo.app/privacy
We will respond within 30 days.