Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

LingoForge ("we," "our," or "us") is committed to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, and share information when you use LingoForge.

2. Information We Collect

2.1 Account & Authentication Data

When you create an account, we collect information such as your name and email address. Depending on how you sign in, this comes from:

• Google Sign-In (Web & Android): your Google account name, email, and profile picture.
• Sign in with Apple (iOS): the name and email you choose to share with us through Apple's sign-in flow, including Apple's private relay email if you choose to hide your real address.
• Email & password (Web & Android): the email address and password you provide directly.

Authentication and account data is managed through Google Firebase Authentication.

2.2 Usage & Progress Data

We track your learning progress, including completed lessons, XP points, streaks, Scenario Mode conversation results, and quiz results, to provide a personalized learning experience. This data is stored in Google Firestore.

2.3 Voice & AI Processing

Certain features process audio or text through AI services to power lessons and pronunciation practice:

• Speech recognition: When you use the microphone to practice speaking, your recorded audio is transcribed either on-device or via a cloud speech-to-text service, depending on your device. Audio is used only to produce a text transcript for scoring your response and is not used to train AI models.
• Text-to-speech: Lesson and conversation text is converted to spoken audio using on-device text-to-speech, Google Cloud Text-to-Speech, or Google's Gemini text-to-speech, depending on the language.
• Lesson & conversation generation: Lesson content and Scenario Mode conversations are generated using Anthropic's Claude and Google's Gemini AI models. The text you submit (such as chat messages to Ask Lingo AI) is sent to these providers to generate a response.

2.4 Payment Data

We do not store your credit card, debit card, or other payment instrument numbers directly on our servers. Payments are processed by the platform or provider you purchase through (see Section 6). We receive transaction and subscription-status tokens from these providers to verify what you've purchased.

3. Third-Party Services

We use the following third-party services:

• Google Firebase: authentication, database (Firestore), and push notifications.
• RevenueCat: to manage and sync subscription/purchase status across devices.
• Anthropic (Claude) & Google (Gemini): to generate AI-powered lessons, conversations, and chat responses.
• Google Cloud Text-to-Speech & Gemini text-to-speech: to generate natural-sounding spoken audio for supported languages.
• Apple (Sign in with Apple, App Store): iOS sign-in and purchase processing.
• Google Play Billing: Android purchase processing.
• Resend: to deliver account-related and lesson-reminder emails.

4. Purchases by Platform

• iOS: Purchases are processed by Apple through the App Store and are subject to Apple's own privacy and payment terms.
• Android: Purchases are processed by Google through Google Play Billing and are subject to Google's own privacy and payment terms.
• Web: Purchases are processed by our web payment provider and are subject to that provider's own privacy and payment terms.

In all cases, we receive confirmation of your purchase and subscription status, but do not receive or store your full payment card details.

5. Data Retention

We retain your account and progress data for as long as your account remains active, so that your learning history and streaks are preserved across sessions and devices. If you delete your account (Section 7), we delete your profile and progress data from our active databases. Some records may be retained longer where required for legal, tax, fraud-prevention, or dispute-resolution purposes, or where retained by a third-party payment platform (Apple, Google, or our web payment provider) under their own policies.

6. iOS-Specific: Sign in with Apple

If you sign in using Sign in with Apple, Apple provides us with the name and email you authorize, or a private relay email address if you choose not to share your real one. We use this solely to create and manage your LingoForge account. We do not receive your Apple ID password or other Apple account credentials.

7. Data Deletion & Account Termination

You have the right to delete your account at any time, directly within the Profile section of the app (available on Web, Android, and iOS). Deleting your account removes your profile, progress, XP, and personal data from our active databases. This does not automatically cancel an active subscription purchased through Apple or Google Play -- subscriptions must be cancelled separately through the App Store or Google Play Store, as described in our Terms & Conditions.

If you signed in using Sign in with Apple, deleting your account also revokes your Sign in with Apple authorization for LingoForge on Apple's servers. If you sign in with Apple again afterward, you will be asked to share your name and email with us again, as if signing in for the first time.

8. Children's Privacy

LingoForge is designed for adults and professionals (migrant workers). We do not knowingly collect information from children under the age of 13.

9. Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us at: support@lingoforge.app