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Privacy Policy

Last updated: September 2026

Vocaboolary ("the app") is an English-vocabulary study app. This policy explains what information the app and this website handle, and how. In short: the app does not collect, sell, or share personal information, and has no user accounts or analytics.

Information stored on your device

All of your content, the words, cards, decks, and study progress you create, is stored locally on your device only. None of it is sent to us, with one exception that you choose each time: a card you report as wrong, described below. There is nothing to sign in to. You can export this data to a backup file you control, and delete it at any time by clearing the app's data or uninstalling the app.

The dictionary itself also lives on your device. Definitions, spellings, spelling corrections, pronunciation transcriptions and synonyms are read from a file inside the app, so looking up a word and building a card need no internet connection and tell nobody what you looked up.

When the app uses the internet

Most of the app works with no connection at all. Apart from reporting a card and the update check described below, a request is only ever made for the two things the built-in dictionary cannot always supply, and in each case only the single word involved is sent, never your identity, device identifiers, or anything else about you.

• Example sentences, when the built-in dictionary has none for a meaning. Requested from Wiktionary and Tatoeba.
• Pronunciation recordings, when you play audio while studying. Once you have played one, the recordings for the next cards are fetched ahead of time so they play without a wait; until you play audio, none are requested. Requested from the Free Dictionary API.

Each of these services handles requests under its own terms and policies. If a request fails, or you are offline, the app carries on without that piece rather than stopping.

Update check. While the app is in testing, it asks whether a newer version of its code is available each time it opens, so fixes can reach you without a new download. The check goes to Expo, the service that delivers the app’s updates, and says only which version of the app you have, whether your phone runs Android or iOS, and a random number made when the app was installed, which is not linked to you or your device. None of your words, cards or study data are sent.

Reporting a card

If a card looks wrong, you can report it with the flag. Nothing is sent unless you tap Send report. A report goes to our server and contains only:

• the card: its word, meaning and example sentence;
• the kind of problem you picked;
• your note, if you write one;
• the app version and your phone's operating system.

It contains no name, email address, account or device identifier, because the app has none of those to send. Like any connection on the internet, the report reaches our server from your phone's IP address. We do not store that address. To stop automated spam, the server keeps a scrambled one-way code made from it for one hour, then deletes it. The code changes every day and cannot be turned back into your address.

If you are offline, the report is saved on your phone and sent the next time the app opens. Please do not put personal details in the note: everything else in a report is about the card, but a note is whatever you type.

Optional paid features

Some features are powered by outside services and are off unless you turn them on. When enabled, the text of the card being made or spoken is sent to that service and nothing else. They are Anthropic, for AI-written cards, and OpenAI, for natural-voice audio. Neither is contacted at all while these features are off.

What we do NOT collect

• No personal information (name, email, address, phone).
• No account or login.
• No analytics, tracking, advertising, or third-party SDKs that profile you.
• No location, contacts, photos, or microphone data.

Audio

Pronunciation is spoken by your phone's own text-to-speech, which works offline and sends nothing anywhere. Where a human recording exists, it is played from the Free Dictionary API listed above. If you have turned on natural-voice audio, the sentence is instead spoken by OpenAI. No audio is ever recorded from you, and the app never requests microphone access.

Feedback and support emails

Apart from reporting a card, the app has no contact form or messaging built in. If you send feedback or ask for help, the app simply opens your own email app (or share sheet) with a message you can review, edit, and send yourself. The app never reads, stores, or transmits your email address. When you choose to email us, we use your email address and message only to reply and to improve the app, and for nothing else. We do not add you to any mailing list.

This website

vocaboolary.com sets no cookies and runs no analytics or trackers. It is hosted by Cloudflare and loads nothing from anyone else, fonts included.

If you leave your email address to hear when the app opens on Google Play, we keep that address and the date you left it, and nothing else, in storage at Cloudflare. It is used for that one email only, and the list is deleted once the email is sent. To come off the list sooner, write to [email protected].

Children's privacy

The app is suitable for general audiences and does not knowingly collect any personal information from anyone, including children under 13.

Changes to this policy

If this policy changes, the updated version will be posted at this URL with a new "Last updated" date.

Contact

Questions about this policy: [email protected]