Legal

Privacy policy

Last updated:

The short version

  • Idioloo has no accounts. You do not give us your name or e-mail address to learn.
  • Your progress, answers and settings stay on your phone. Your voice is never stored by Idioloo and never sent to us.
  • Idioloo is free. It shows no ads, contains no advertising or tracking software, and sells nothing.
  • Crash reports are off unless you turn them on. Feedback is sent only when you press Send.
  • We do not sell your data.

The rest of this page explains each point in detail.

Who is responsible

The controller for the processing described here is the publisher of Idioloo, a private individual who offers the app and this website free of charge and not for commercial purposes:

Igor Joshevski
90491 Nürnberg, Germany
E-mail: support [at] idioloo [dot] com

This policy covers the Idioloo app for iOS and Android and the website idioloo.com. It uses "we" for the controller and "you" for the person using the app or website.

What stays on your phone

Idioloo keeps the following on your phone only. We do not receive it, and it is not part of any request the app makes:

  • a random learner ID, created on your phone the first time you open the app. It is not linked to your name, e-mail address or phone, and it is never sent with downloads, crash reports or feedback;
  • your progress, streak, daily goal, estimated level, word and grammar strength, and review schedule;
  • your answers and what the app recognised, while you practise;
  • your settings, such as theme, voice speed and reminder time;
  • content packs and translation models you downloaded;
  • a technical activity log that helps find problems.

Audio is not recorded or stored by Idioloo. The German voice you hear is generated by your phone, and translation runs on your phone with a model you downloaded.

You are in control of this data. In Settings → Your data you can export your progress to a file (the app does not upload it; where you save or send the file is your choice), import a file on another phone, and reset all progress and local data. Removing the app also removes its data. Depending on your phone's settings, a backup made by your phone (for example iCloud or Google backup) may still hold a copy under your own account.

The activity log leaves your phone only if you choose to attach it to an e-mail to support. In that case it is part of a message you write and send yourself.

Microphone and speech recognition

Every answer in Idioloo is spoken, so the app asks for permission to use the microphone and, on iOS, speech recognition. It explains why before your phone shows its own permission prompt. You can change the permissions at any time in your phone's settings; without the microphone you cannot start lessons.

Idioloo uses your phone's own speech recognition to check what you said:

  • If your phone can recognise German on the device and the language pack is installed, the audio is processed on your phone and is not sent anywhere.
  • If only server-based recognition is available, the audio is processed on servers of Apple (iOS) or Google (Android), under their privacy terms. Idioloo asks for your consent once before using it. If you decline, lessons cannot start on that phone, because every answer is spoken. Apple and Google are independent controllers for this processing; Idioloo does not receive or store the audio.

The text of what was recognised is used by the app on your phone to compare it with the expected answer. You can see which speech service your phone uses in Settings → Microphone and recognition.

Content and translation model downloads

The app downloads learning material when it needs it:

  • a list of available content (at most once a day) and the content packs from our content server;
  • the files of the on-device translation models, about 108 MB for each direction, from Hugging Face (huggingface.co, Hugging Face, Inc., USA), which hosts the models. Our content server lists which files to fetch.

These requests carry what any HTTPS request carries: the address requested and your IP address, which our server and Hugging Face see. They carry no learner ID, progress, answers, advertising or device ID, or cookies set by the app. Requests to our content server also carry an app key and the app's package name, which are the same for every installation. Downloads use Wi-Fi only unless you allow mobile data in Settings → Downloads. You can delete downloaded items there at any time.

We use your IP address only to deliver the files and keep the service secure. Hugging Face processes requests under its own privacy policy.

Crash reports (optional)

Crash reports are off by default. If you turn on Send anonymous crash reports in Settings → Privacy, Idioloo sends a technical stack trace when it crashes, together with the app version and build, your phone's operating system version, the platform, a random ID for the report, the time of the crash and whether it was fatal. It does not include your answers, your voice, your progress, your learner ID, your advertising or device ID, or anything that identifies you.

Reports go to our own endpoint; we use no third-party crash-reporting SDK. Like any HTTPS request, the request reveals your IP address to the receiving server, which does not store it. We use reports only to fix crashes, not for advertising, analytics or tracking. We keep reports for 3 months and then delete them. You can turn the setting off at any time; turning it off stops collection and deletes reports that are waiting to be sent.

Feedback and support e-mails

Feedback from the app

If you send feedback from Settings → Help & feedback → Send feedback, the app sends your e-mail address, your message, a random feedback ID, and the app version, build, platform and system version. Nothing is sent until you press Send. Your learner ID, progress, answers and voice are never part of it.

We use it only to evaluate your request, decide whether to build it, and answer you by e-mail. It is seen by our product owner and processed by the automation service that receives it for us. We do not share it with advertisers or other third parties. We keep your e-mail address until 90 days after we have answered and then delete it; the message itself may be kept without your e-mail address as part of the product history. You can ask us to delete it earlier.

E-mails to support

If you write to support [at] idioloo [dot] com, we process your e-mail address and your message to answer you. We delete the conversation once your request is dealt with and we no longer need it, unless the law requires us to keep it.

Reminders

The optional daily reminder is a local notification created on your phone. Idioloo has no push server and does not send notifications from the internet. The app asks for notification permission after your first finished session, not at launch, and you can switch the reminder off in Settings or in your phone's settings. On Android, the app may ask for the "Alarms & reminders" permission so that the reminder arrives on time.

This website

This website sets no cookies, uses no analytics or advertising tools and loads its fonts, images and scripts from its own server only. There are no forms; the e-mail links open your own e-mail program.

When you open a page, the server that delivers it processes technical data that your browser sends, such as your IP address, the page requested, the date and time, and the browser type, and records it in server logs for a short time. We process this to deliver the site, keep it secure and find errors (our legitimate interest, Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR). The logs are deleted automatically after a short period.

Purposes, legal bases and retention

Processing Purpose Legal basis (GDPR) Retention
Learning data on your phone Provide the app Not processed by us (stays on your device) Until you reset it or remove the app
Speech recognition by Apple or Google when only server recognition exists Check your spoken answers Your consent, Art. 6(1)(a) Set by Apple or Google; not stored by us
Content and model downloads (IP address, file requested) Deliver learning material, keep the service secure Providing the app, Art. 6(1)(b); legitimate interest, Art. 6(1)(f) Short-lived server logs; Hugging Face as set by its policy
Crash reports (opt-in) Fix crashes Your consent, Art. 6(1)(a) 3 months
Feedback from the app Evaluate your request and answer you Legitimate interest, Art. 6(1)(f); Art. 6(1)(b) where it concerns your use of the app E-mail address 90 days after our answer; message without address kept
E-mails to support Answer your request Art. 6(1)(b) or (f) Until the request is dealt with and no longer needed
Website server logs Deliver the site, security, error finding Legitimate interest, Art. 6(1)(f) Short period, then deleted automatically

Who receives data

  • Google, as the provider of Android speech recognition and Google Play.
  • Apple, as the provider of iOS speech recognition and the App Store.
  • Hugging Face, Inc., which hosts the translation model files.
  • Service providers that work for us under data-processing terms: the hosting provider of this website and the providers that run our content server and the automation that receives crash reports and feedback.
  • Authorities and advisers, where the law requires it or where we need advice to protect our rights.

We do not sell personal data. We do not pass your data to third parties for their own marketing.

Transfers outside the EEA

Google and Hugging Face may process data in the United States and other countries outside the European Economic Area. Where this happens, the transfer relies on an adequacy decision of the European Commission (for example the EU–US Data Privacy Framework for certified companies) or on the standard contractual clauses, as set out in the providers' own terms.

Your rights

Under the GDPR and comparable laws you have the right to:

  • ask for access to the personal data we hold about you;
  • have inaccurate data corrected;
  • have your data erased, where the law gives you that right;
  • restrict the processing of your data;
  • receive your data in a structured, common format (portability);
  • object to processing based on our legitimate interests, on grounds relating to your situation;
  • withdraw consent at any time, with effect for the future: turn off crash reports or revoke the microphone and speech permissions in your settings;
  • complain to a data protection authority. Ours is Bayerisches Landesamt für Datenschutzaufsicht (BayLDA) (www.lda.bayern.de); you may also contact the authority in your own country.

To use these rights, write to support [at] idioloo [dot] com. Because Idioloo has no accounts and keeps your learning data on your phone, we usually cannot identify you from our side; we may ask for the e-mail address you used for feedback or support, or for the feedback ID, so that we can find the right record. Data on your phone is yours to export or delete in the app.

If you live in a US state with its own privacy law, you have similar rights to access, correct and delete your personal information. We do not sell or share personal information, and Idioloo shows no targeted advertising.

Children

Idioloo is intended for people aged 13 and over and is not directed at children. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. In some countries the age at which you may consent to data processing yourself is higher than 13; there, consent needs the approval of a parent or guardian. If you believe a child has sent us personal information, write to us and we will delete it.

Security

Requests the app makes use HTTPS. Because your learning data stays on your phone and there are no accounts, there is no central store of learner profiles that could be breached. No system is perfectly secure, so keep your phone's operating system updated and protected with a screen lock.

Changes to this policy

We update this policy when the app or the law changes, for example when a new feature handles data differently. The date at the top shows the latest version. If a change affects what you have agreed to, we will ask again where the law requires it.

Idioloo is free and shows no ads today. Later, ads may help support it, and a one-time purchase would remove them. If that happens, we will describe the ads, the consent you are asked for and the data involved in this policy before the update is released.

Contact

Questions about privacy: support [at] idioloo [dot] com
Igor Joshevski, 90491 Nürnberg, Germany

See also our terms of use and imprint.