This document is provided for general informational purposes and is not legal advice. Consider having it reviewed by a qualified attorney for your jurisdiction.
1. Information you provide
- Account information. When you sign up with email and password or with Sign in with Apple, we receive your email address and a unique account identifier. With Sign in with Apple, you may choose to hide your email, in which case we receive an Apple private-relay address.
- Profile information. Details you add during onboarding or in Edit Profile, such as your name, age (optional), country of origin, city, the languages you speak or are learning, interests, bio, and your chosen avatar and banner.
- Voice recordings. If you use pronunciation practice or contribute a recording, we receive the audio you record. See section 5, which explains what happens to it.
- Content you create. Posts, comments, and messages you send to other learners.
- Communications. Information you provide when you contact us for support.
2. Information collected as you learn
- Learning activity. Lessons started and completed, scores, streaks, words saved and practice history. We use this to show your progress and decide what to teach you next.
- Usage and device data. Basic technical information needed to operate the app reliably (such as app version, device type, and crash diagnostics) may be processed by our service providers.
The Service does not request or use your device location.
3. How we use information
We use information to:
- create and manage your account and profile;
- deliver lessons and adapt them to your level and progress;
- give you feedback on pronunciation when you record yourself;
- enable posts, comments, and messaging between learners;
- keep the community safe (for example, handling reports, mutes, and blocks);
- provide support and respond to your requests;
- maintain, secure, and improve the Service; and
- comply with legal obligations.
4. How we share information
- With other learners. Other people see the profile details and content you choose to share, subject to your settings.
- With service providers. We use trusted providers to run the Service, including Google Firebase (authentication, cloud database and file storage) and Apple (Sign in with Apple and the App Store). These providers process data on our behalf under their own terms and privacy policies.
- For legal reasons. We may disclose information if required by law or to protect the rights, safety, and security of our learners, the public, or Nzonza Foundation.
- Business transfers. If we are involved in a merger, acquisition, or asset sale, information may be transferred as part of that transaction.
We do not sell your personal information.
5. Voice recordings
Nzonza Foundation also runs the Center of Indigenous & African Language Research (CIALR), which publishes an open dataset of African language data. Recordings you make in the app are treated separately from that dataset:
- Practice recordings stay yours. Audio you record for pronunciation practice is used to give you feedback and to show your progress. It is not published, and it is not added to the open dataset.
- Contributing is a separate, explicit choice. A recording only becomes part of the open dataset if you deliberately submit it as a contribution and agree at that point to how it will be used, licensed, and credited. We will not move your practice audio into the dataset without that step.
- You can delete recordings. Delete them in the app, or ask us at info@nzonza.org. Once a contributed recording has been published in the open dataset it may already have been copied by others, which we cannot reverse — we will say so clearly before you contribute.
6. Data storage and retention
Your profile, learning progress, recordings, and content are stored using Google Firebase (Authentication, Cloud Firestore and Cloud Storage). Some data, such as your own posts and recent lessons, may also be cached locally on your device. We retain your information for as long as your account is active or as needed to provide the Service, resolve disputes, and meet legal obligations.
7. Your choices and rights
- Edit your profile at any time in the app.
- Control visibility of what other learners can see through your settings.
- Delete your recordings individually, without deleting your account.
- Mute, block, or report other learners.
- Log out, which clears your profile data cached on the device.
- Delete your account by contacting us at info@nzonza.org; we will delete or de-identify your personal information except where retention is required by law.
Depending on where you live, you may have additional rights (such as access, correction, deletion, or portability). To exercise them, contact info@nzonza.org.
8. Children's privacy
The Service is not intended for children under 16, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from them. If you believe a child has provided us information, contact info@nzonza.org and we will take appropriate steps to delete it.
9. Security
We use reasonable technical and organizational measures, including the security features of our providers, to protect your information. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security.
10. International users
We may process and store information in the United States and other countries where we or our providers operate. By using the Service, you understand that your information may be transferred to locations with different data-protection laws than your own.
11. Changes to this Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. If we make material changes, we will provide reasonable notice (for example, in the app or by updating the “Last updated” date). Your continued use of the Service after changes take effect means you accept the updated Policy.
12. Contact
Questions about your privacy? Contact us at info@nzonza.org. You can also read our Terms & Conditions.