VocaGrow

Privacy Policy

Last updated: 28 July 2026

VocaGrow ("the app", "we", "us") is built local-first. This policy explains exactly what data we touch, what we don't, and how you can wipe everything.

1. The short version

  • Your learning data stays on your device. Streak, library, flashcard progress, settings and chat history live in local storage.
  • An account is optional. You only need one for online features (duels with friends, the global leaderboard). If you create one, we store your email, display name and duel rating — nothing else.
  • We don't sell your data. We don't have advertisers we sell to.
  • You can delete everything on the device from Settings → Delete my data, and your account records by emailing us.
  • Third-party services involved: Supabase (accounts & online play), Google Gemini (AI tutor — with your explicit in-app consent), Google AdMob (ads on the free tier), Firebase (anonymous analytics & crash reports), and the store you installed from (Google Play / App Store, with RevenueCat validating Pro receipts).

2. What we store on your device

The app stores the following entirely on your device, in local databases:

  • Profile (display name, birthday, native language, level, daily goal).
  • Learning state (flashcard progress, streak, achievements, custom words, library).
  • App settings (theme, sound, haptic, notification preferences).
  • Optional chat history with the AI tutor.

Tap Settings → Delete my data at any time to wipe all of this from the device. The deletion is immediate and irreversible.

3. Optional account & online play

Duels with friends and the global leaderboard need an online identity. Two flavours exist:

  • Guest — an anonymous session with a random identifier. No email, no password, nothing personal. Your display name and duel rating are stored against that identifier so matches and the leaderboard work.
  • Registered account — created with an email and password, or via Sign in with Google / Apple (we then receive the email and basic profile name those providers share). Registration attaches your email to the same identity so you can sign in on another device.

Account data is limited to: email (registered accounts only), display name, duel rating, and the duel matches you play (scores and timing). It is processed for us by Supabase, our database and authentication provider, protected by row-level security.

The leaderboard is public inside the app: other users can see your display name and rating. Pick a display name accordingly — don't put personal information in it.

To delete your account and its server-side records, email support@vocagrow.com from the account's address — we action deletions within 30 days (usually much faster).

4. What we collect about app usage

We use a privacy-respecting analytics setup to understand how the app is used, not who uses it. We collect anonymous, aggregated metrics:

  • Session start / duration (so we know if people stay).
  • Which screens are visited (so we know what works).
  • Approximate region (country level) and app language.
  • Device class (Android / iOS, screen size bucket).
  • Whether a session ended in a crash, plus a stack trace if so.

Analytics are collected by Firebase Analytics and crashes by Firebase Crashlytics (both from Google). Neither receives your name, email, exact location, contacts, photos, or any vocabulary content you've added — and we deliberately never link analytics to an identity. To stop sending analytics, uninstall the app — that immediately ends all collection.

5. Third-party services

Google Gemini (AI tutor)

The AI tutor is powered by Google's Gemini models. Before your first message the app asks for explicit consent, because chat text you type is shared with Google to generate replies. Two paths exist:

  • Pro (default) — your messages travel from your device through our secure proxy to Google. We don't store the content of your conversations on our servers; the proxy keeps only anonymous usage counters (message and token counts) to enforce fair-use limits.
  • Your own key (optional) — if you add a personal Gemini API key in Settings, prompts go directly from your device to Google and never touch our servers.

Either way, see Google's Gemini API terms for how Google handles that data. You can withdraw AI consent any time in Settings.

Google AdMob (free tier)

The free tier shows occasional ads served by Google AdMob. We request non-personalised ads; AdMob may still collect a non-personal advertising identifier and basic device information to serve and measure them. You can limit this in your phone's system settings (Android: Ads → "Reset advertising ID"; iOS: Privacy → Apple Advertising). Pro subscribers see no ads.

App store billing

If you subscribe to Pro, the transaction is processed by Google Play Billing or the Apple App Store. The receipt is validated through RevenueCat, which acts as a pass-through to track your subscription state across devices. RevenueCat receives the receipt, an anonymous user identifier, and basic device locale; it never sees your card or payment details. We never see your card details either — only the activation / expiry dates of your subscription.

6. Children

VocaGrow isn't designed for children under 13. We don't knowingly collect data from anyone under that age. If you believe a child has provided us data, contact support@vocagrow.com and we'll delete it.

7. Your rights (GDPR / UK / California) — including data deletion

You can, at any time:

  • Access what's on your device — most of it is visible directly in the app. Email us for a copy of your account records or a JSON export.
  • Delete on-device data via Settings → Delete my data, or by uninstalling the app. For your account (email, display name, rating, matches), email us and we'll erase the server-side records too.
  • Object / opt out of analytics by uninstalling the app. A per-setting analytics toggle is on the roadmap for a future release; until then, the uninstall path is the supported opt-out.
  • Lodge a complaint with your local data-protection authority.

8. Data retention

On-device data is kept until you delete it. Account records are kept until you ask us to delete the account. Analytics data is anonymised and retained for up to 14 months, then aggregated and the per-event records dropped.

9. Changes to this policy

If we change anything material, we'll surface a notice in the app on next launch and update the date at the top of this page. Trivial wording fixes get an updated date but no in-app interrupt.

10. Contact

Questions, requests, or just want to say hi? support@vocagrow.com. We aim to respond within five working days.