Verbsy Privacy Policy

Effective Date: October 11, 2026

1. Introduction

We ("we," "our," or "us") are committed to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, share, and protect your information when you use the Verbsy mobile application (the "App") and the Verbsy website at verbsy.ai (the "Site"). By using the App or the Site, you agree to the terms of this policy.

2. Information We Collect

We collect the following categories of information:

a. Account Information: When you create an account, we collect your email address for authentication. If you sign in using a third-party provider (Google, Apple, or Facebook), we receive your email address and, where provided, your name from that provider. We also store your email verification status.

b. Voice and Conversation Data: When you use the AI tutor, your microphone captures audio which is streamed in real-time via WebRTC to OpenAI's API for speech-to-text transcription and response generation. Audio is not stored on our servers. Text transcripts of your conversations are stored locally on your device and sent to OpenAI for analysis to provide grammar feedback, vocabulary suggestions, and skill assessments.

c. Learning Progress Data: We track your language learning progress, including: vocabulary words and flashcards you add (with translations, example sentences, and review scores), language skill levels (vocabulary breadth, grammar accuracy, pronunciation fluency, listening comprehension, and conversational confidence), and a learner profile containing interests, learning goals, and topics discussed that is built from your conversations to personalize your experience. The learner profile also holds your name, if you share it, and things you tell the tutor about yourself — such as your preferences, habits, plans, and the people and circumstances of your life — so that the tutor can remember them in later sessions instead of asking again. We also keep short summaries of your past sessions (what you practiced, what went well or was difficult, and memorable moments), the mistakes you make repeatedly, and a measure of how much of the language you are learning you use in your sessions; these let the tutor continue where you left off and pitch each session to your level. This is designed to leave out sensitive details (such as health, religion, sexual orientation, political views, ethnicity, immigration status, finances, or legal matters), but the filtering is automated and may not be perfect. You can delete your learner profile, session summaries, and other learning data at any time in the App's Settings.

d. Usage Data and Analytics: We collect data on how you interact with the App, including session duration, daily speaking time, conversation count, streak data, feature usage events, and subscription status. This data is used to improve our services and provide you with statistics about your learning progress. We also keep a de-identified record of each completed tutor session, used to improve the app and how it teaches. It contains no transcript and no identifier linking it to you: session length as a range, topics chosen from a fixed list, an overall sentiment, and signals about how the tutor taught. These records cannot be traced back to you, are kept for 24 months, and can be switched off under Privacy in Settings.

e. Device Information: We collect basic device information such as device model, operating system version, and app version for crash reporting and performance monitoring.

f. Subscription and Payment Data: If you subscribe to Verbsy Premium, payment processing is handled entirely by Apple (via the App Store) and our subscription management partner RevenueCat. We do not collect or store your payment card details. We receive subscription status, entitlement information, and renewal status to manage your access.

g. Photos: If you choose to upload a profile picture or attach images to bug reports, these are stored in our cloud storage. Camera and photo library access is only requested when you initiate an upload.

h. Push Notification Data: If you enable push notifications, we store a device token to deliver notifications such as study reminders and streak alerts. You can manage notification preferences in the App settings.

i. Website Forms: If you write to us through the support form on verbsy.ai, we store the name, email address, and message you submit so that we can reply. If you subscribe to our newsletter, we store your email address until you ask us to remove it. In both cases we also store a shortened one-way (SHA-256) hash of your IP address, which we use only to limit how many submissions can be made from one place in an hour and so prevent automated abuse. We do not store your IP address itself, and we do not use any of this to build an advertising profile.

3. How We Use Your Information

We use your information to:

  • Provide the AI conversation tutor and generate personalized responses.
  • Track and display your learning progress, vocabulary, and skill levels.
  • Personalize your experience based on your interests, goals, and proficiency.
  • Manage your subscription and enforce usage limits.
  • Send push notifications for study reminders (if enabled).
  • Monitor app performance and fix crashes.
  • Improve our services based on aggregated usage patterns.
  • Communicate with you about important updates.

4. Third-Party Services

We do not sell or rent your personal information. We share data with the following third-party service providers solely to operate the App:

a. OpenAI: Conversation audio is streamed to OpenAI's API for real-time transcription and AI responses. After conversations, transcripts along with your learner profile, skill levels, and vocabulary are sent to OpenAI for analysis to provide grammar feedback and vocabulary suggestions. OpenAI processes this data under their API data usage policy and does not use API data to train their models. When a tutor session starts, your learner profile, summaries of your recent sessions, your recurring mistakes, skill levels, and vocabulary are also sent to OpenAI as context, so that the tutor can continue where you left off.

b. Firebase (Google): We use Firebase for authentication, database storage (Cloud Firestore), file storage, analytics, crash reporting (Crashlytics), performance monitoring, push notifications (Cloud Messaging), and remote configuration. Data stored in Firebase is subject to Google's privacy policy.

c. RevenueCat: We use RevenueCat to manage subscriptions and in-app purchases. RevenueCat receives your anonymous user identifier and subscription purchase information. RevenueCat's privacy policy governs their handling of this data.

d. Authentication Providers: If you sign in with Google, Apple, or Facebook, the respective provider's privacy policy applies to the data they share with us during authentication. We only receive the information necessary for account creation (email and name).

5. Data Storage and Security

Your data is stored in Firebase (Google Cloud) servers and locally on your device. Conversation transcripts are stored locally on your device with automatic pruning. Learning data (vocabulary, skills, profile) is stored in our cloud database and cached locally for offline access. We implement appropriate security measures including encrypted data transmission, secure authentication, and access controls to protect your information against unauthorized access, alteration, disclosure, or destruction.

6. Push Notifications

You may opt in to receive push notifications for study reminders and streak alerts. You can enable or disable notifications and customize reminder times in the App's settings at any time. We store your notification preferences and device token only when notifications are enabled.

7. Your Rights and Choices

You have the following choices regarding your data:

  • You can choose not to provide certain information, but this may limit your ability to use some features.
  • You can disable push notifications at any time in the App settings or your device settings.
  • You can manage your notification preferences (reminders, times) in the App settings.
  • You can delete individual vocabulary items or conversation history within the App.
  • You can delete your entire account and your associated data (see Account Deletion below, which explains the one record we keep).
  • You can revoke microphone, camera, or notification permissions in your device settings at any time.

8. Account Deletion

You can permanently delete your account and your associated data at any time through the Verbsy app. Here's how:

  • Open the Verbsy app
  • Go to Settings
  • Tap "Delete My Account"
  • Confirm your choice when prompted

This will permanently remove your user data from our servers, including your profile information, learning progress, vocabulary, usage history, and any stored preferences. Locally stored data on your device will also be cleared. This action cannot be undone. After deletion, you will need to create a new account if you wish to use Verbsy again. Note that data already processed by third-party services (OpenAI, RevenueCat) is subject to their respective data retention policies.

One record is deliberately kept. When you delete your account, we retain a one-way (SHA-256) hash of your email address, stored together with the amount of free conversation time you had already used. If you later register again with the same address, we use it to reapply whatever free allowance was left, so that the free tier cannot be reset by repeatedly deleting and recreating an account. This record holds nothing else. It is kept separately from your profile, conversations, and learning data, all of which are deleted, and it is not used for any other purpose. A hash cannot be read back into an email address, though presenting the same address again produces the same hash — which is precisely how the check works.

9. Children's Privacy

Verbsy is not intended for children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe we have collected data from a child under 13, please contact us and we will promptly delete it.

10. Data Retention

We retain your data for as long as your account is active. Usage statistics are stored by date. Conversation transcripts are stored locally on your device and automatically pruned to keep recent history. When you delete your account, server-side data is permanently removed, with two exceptions: the hashed free-usage record described in Section 8, and the de-identified session records described in Section 2d, which carry no identifier and therefore cannot be located or removed on request. Website form submissions are kept until we have dealt with your enquiry, and newsletter subscriptions until you unsubscribe. Locally stored data is cleared when you log out or delete the App.

11. International Data Transfers

Your data may be processed and stored on servers located outside your country of residence, including in the United States, through our use of Firebase (Google Cloud) and OpenAI services. By using the App, you consent to this transfer of data.

12. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any changes by posting the new policy on this page and updating the effective date. Your continued use of the App after any changes indicates your acceptance of the updated policy.

13. Contact Us

If you have any questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy, please contact us through our support page.