Language Cafe
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Privacy

Your data should help you learn — nothing else.

This Privacy Policy explains what we collect, why, how we share it, how long we keep it, and what rights you have under laws like the GDPR.

Last updated July 18, 2026
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No data sales

We don’t sell your data.

We share only what we need to run the service, honor your choices, or comply with law. The free tier shows ads served by Google AdMob — see the advertising section for what that involves.

Your choice

Most profile fields are optional.

Photos, bios, interests, and many app permissions are up to you. Only the essentials — like a working sign-in — are required.

No recording

Live cafe audio is real-time — we don’t record it.

Voice in live cafes is delivered in real time, not recorded by us. Speaking-practice recordings you choose to submit are processed for feedback when your voice switch is on. Push notifications use a device token; we don't collect precise GPS location.

Overview

Scope and summary

This Privacy Policy covers the Language Cafe website, mobile app, public reading pages, communities, messaging, live cafes, and support. It also covers data processed on our behalf by the providers we rely on to run those services.

We use trusted providers for authentication, storage, notifications, analytics, crash reporting, live voice, AI features, and advertising — including Google Firebase, Agora, OpenAI, Google AdMob, and platform services from Apple and Google. They process data on our behalf, under contract.

Collection

What we collect

We collect the information reasonably needed to create accounts, match learners, operate communities and cafes, keep the service secure, and answer support requests.

Account and identity data

  • Name, username, and account identifiers
  • Email address, phone number, sign-in provider, and authentication state
  • Age-related information and other signup fields required by the app

Profile and learning data

  • Country, languages known, and languages being learned
  • Bio, profile photo, cover photo, and other optional profile fields
  • Saved words, reading progress, study activity, and quiz-related activity

Community and communication data

  • Community memberships, requests, posts, comments, polls, and announcements
  • Direct messages, conversation state, and message-request status
  • Cafe participation, scheduling details, moderator actions, and room settings

Device, diagnostics, and permissions

  • App, device, and network details needed for security and service delivery
  • Crash logs and limited analytics where those features are enabled
  • Permission status for notifications, microphone, camera, and photos when used

Choice

Optional information and public visibility

Not every data field is mandatory. The service needs some core account and safety information, but much of the profile and engagement layer is optional.

Usually optional

  • Profile photo and cover photo
  • Bio and many descriptive profile fields
  • Community posts, direct messages, and support attachments
  • Microphone, camera, photo-library, and notification permissions

Usually required

  • At least one working sign-in method
  • Name, username, language selections, and core signup information
  • Technical data needed to secure and operate the service

What can become public

  • Public reading pages and their metadata
  • Profile and community content you choose to post publicly
  • Community details when a group is configured as public

Use

How we use data

We use personal data only where we have a valid reason, including performing our contract with you, our legitimate interests in running a safe product, your consent where required, and legal obligations.

  • Create and maintain accounts, profiles, and linked sign-in methods.
  • Deliver reading content, saved words, practice flows, communities, and cafes.
  • Send verification codes, password resets, service notifications, and reminders.
  • Detect abuse, investigate reports, enforce rules, and protect users.
  • Debug issues, improve reliability, and understand product performance.
  • Respond to support tickets, legal requests, and deletion requests.

AI

AI features and your choices

Some optional features — writing and speaking feedback, the Companion, translations, word lookups, and natural-language search — use AI. AI requests go through Language Cafe’s server to OpenAI. Our provider policy is OpenAI-only, and there is no provider selector in the app.

What can be sent, and when

  • Text you submit when you use a text-based AI feature: writing practice, Companion messages, translations, written answers, word lookups, and natural-language search.
  • Voice recordings you submit when you ask for speaking feedback.
  • Nothing is sent in the background. Data goes to an AI tool only when you actively use that feature.

Your controls

  • Settings > “Privacy & AI data” has three switches: one for personalization, one for text, and one for voice. All three are off by default.
  • Turning a switch on sends nothing by itself — a feature still needs your action each time.
  • Prepared learning material stays available with every switch off.

These choices are not consent for model training or model improvement. AI feedback is a practice estimate — it can be incomplete or wrong — and daily feedback limits apply.

Ads & Premium

Advertising and subscriptions

The free tier is supported by ads. Premium is a monthly subscription whose benefit is ad-free learning.

Advertising

  • Ads on the free tier are served by Google AdMob, which processes device identifiers and ad-related signals to deliver and measure ads.
  • The “Ad Privacy Choices” consent screen in settings lets you review and change your ad choices.

Subscriptions

  • Premium is a monthly subscription that removes ads.
  • Purchases and entitlements are processed by Google Play or the App Store. We receive your subscription status, not your full payment details.
  • Manage or cancel in your App Store or Google Play account.

Matching

Tandem matching and discoverability

The People tab suggests tandem partners — learners who can teach you and learn from you. Matches are computed from your profile and language data, such as the languages you know and the languages you are learning.

  • The “Who can find you” discoverability control offers three settings: Everyone, My communities, or Nobody.
  • Separate toggles control whether you are open to tandem requests and open to direct messages.
  • Corrections on your posts are opt-in per post — other learners can suggest fixes only when you allowed corrections on that post, and you choose what to accept.

Sharing

How we share data

We do not sell personal data. We share limited information only where needed to run the product, honor your choices, keep people safe, or comply with law.

Service providers and infrastructure

  • Authentication, cloud hosting, database, storage, and notification vendors
  • Voice-delivery vendors used to power live cafes
  • Diagnostics and analytics tools used for product reliability where enabled

Sharing caused by product design

  • Other users can see profile and content fields you make visible to them.
  • Community members can see posts, membership signals, and room activity as configured.
  • Search engines can index public reading pages and other intentionally public web content.

Our providers — including Google Firebase, Agora, OpenAI, and Google AdMob — may process data on servers outside your country. We rely on their contractual safeguards for that processing.

We may also disclose information when reasonably necessary to investigate safety incidents, prevent fraud, respond to valid legal process, enforce our Terms, or protect Language Cafe, our users, or the public.

Rights

Your privacy rights

Depending on where you live, you may have rights to access, correct, delete, restrict, port, or object to certain processing of your personal data.

  • Access the information we hold about you.
  • Correct inaccurate or incomplete information.
  • Request deletion where retention is no longer required.
  • Object to or restrict certain processing based on legitimate interests.
  • Request portability of data you provided to us where applicable.
  • Withdraw consent where processing depends on consent.
  • Lodge a complaint with your local supervisory authority, including under the GDPR or UK GDPR where applicable.

Retention

Retention and deletion

We keep data only for as long as it is reasonably needed for the purposes described above, unless a longer period is required for safety, law, dispute handling, tax, fraud prevention, or backup recovery.

  • Active account data is kept while your account remains in use.
  • Support, report, and moderation records may be retained longer for safety reasons.
  • Deletion requests remove or disassociate account-linked data where reasonably possible, but shared content, audit trails, or backups may remain temporarily.
  • Detailed guidance about the account-deletion process is available on the delete-account page.

Security

Security and children

We use administrative, technical, and organizational measures designed to protect personal data, but no service can guarantee absolute security.

  • Use a strong password and secure your email or phone account.
  • Link a backup sign-in method if you want additional recovery options.
  • Language Cafe is not intended for children under 13, and we do not knowingly allow accounts below that age threshold.
  • If you believe a child created an ineligible account, contact us so we can review and act.

Contact

Contact and complaints

For privacy questions, deletion requests, or rights requests, contact the support team and include enough information to identify the account safely.

Safety overlap

If the issue also involves harassment, impersonation, or another user, report it in-app first when possible so moderation context is preserved.

Open safety guidance