Privacy Policy — Android
This policy covers ChinesePal on Android, from Google Play. (Using an iPhone or iPad? See the iOS privacy policy.) ChinesePal has no accounts and no sign-up, and we run no servers of our own. Your learning progress stays on your phone and in your phone’s own Google backup — we cannot see it. The app itself sends nothing over the network; the only data that leaves your phone goes to the Google services listed below.
What stays with you
- Your learning progress. Words studied, review schedule and ratings, quiz results, starred words, daily progress, tracing scores, achievements and settings are stored on your phone.
- Android backup. If backup is turned on in your phone’s settings, Android copies this progress to your own Google account so it comes back when you reinstall or move to a new phone. Google stores that backup for you; we have no access to it, and you can turn it off in your phone’s settings. Ad and analytics identifiers are excluded from the backup, so they do not follow you to a new phone.
- Your handwriting. Strokes you draw are checked on the phone, in the moment, and then discarded. Only a score per character is kept; nothing you write is uploaded or saved.
- Pronunciation. Words are read aloud by the text-to-speech engine installed on your phone. ChinesePal hands it the characters to read and sends nothing itself; whether that engine goes online is up to the engine. Nothing is recorded; the app never uses the microphone.
- Reminders and widget. The daily reminder and the home-screen widget use a small summary (such as how many words are due) that stays on your phone. Android asks your permission before the app can show notifications.
- Export and import. You can export your progress to a file and import it on another device, including an iPhone. You choose where the file is saved or read from; the app does not upload it. The file contains your word progress, study history, tracing scores and study settings — no account, device identifier, purchase or ad information.
ChinesePal does not use your location, camera, microphone, contacts or photos.
Purchases — Google Play
Pro subscriptions and the lifetime purchase are sold and processed by Google Play. We never receive your name, email, card number or billing address. To unlock Pro, the app asks Google Play which ChinesePal products your Google account has bought (product, status and a purchase token) and confirms new purchases with Google Play. Your Pro status is not stored by us; the app checks with Google Play each time. Purchases on Android and on Apple devices are separate and do not carry over.
Ads — Google AdMob
Free users can choose to watch a short rewarded video in exchange for 10 extra new words; it plays only when you tap to watch one. Free users also see one small banner, fixed below the content, on a few overview screens (such as the Learn and Quiz home screens and Progress). There are no ads during a lesson, a quiz or tracing, no pop-up ads, and no banners in your first three days with the app. Pro users see no ads, and the ad service is not even started for them.
Ads are served by Google AdMob. To serve and measure ads and prevent fraud, AdMob receives your phone’s Android advertising ID, an app set ID, your IP address, and information such as your device type, operating system and how you interacted with the ad. Google may use this to show personalized ads and may combine it with information from other apps and websites. In the EEA, the UK and Switzerland, Google’s consent form asks for your choice before ads are personalized; you can change that choice any time under Settings › Privacy Choices in the app. On any Android phone you can reset or delete your advertising ID, or opt out of personalized ads, in your phone’s settings (usually Settings › Privacy › Ads, or Settings › Google › Ads). See how Google uses information from apps that use its services.
Some ad settings, such as which screens may show a banner, are delivered from Firebase Remote Config, described below.
Analytics — Google Analytics for Firebase
To learn which features are used, the app sends usage events to Google Analytics for Firebase — for example, that a study session was completed, a quiz was taken, or the paywall was opened — together with events Google collects automatically, such as app opens, screens viewed, app updates and in-app purchases (product, name and price). Events carry no name, email, account or words you study. Google also receives your device and system type, an approximate region derived from your IP address, a random app-instance identifier and your phone’s Android advertising ID. The Privacy Choices form described above applies to ads; analytics collection is described here. We do not sell this data.
Remote settings — Firebase Remote Config
When it opens, and at most once an hour, the app downloads its ad settings from Firebase Remote Config so they can be adjusted without an update. This request only reads settings. It includes an app-installation identifier, your country and language, time zone, Android version and app version, so Google can deliver the right settings.
Security
Data sent to Google’s services is encrypted in transit.
Children
ChinesePal is not directed to children under 13 and does not knowingly collect personal information from them. It has no chat, no user-to-user content and no social features.
Your choices and rights
- Uninstall the app to remove everything stored on your phone. To remove the Android backup, manage backups in your Google account or your phone’s backup settings.
- Manage or cancel a subscription in the Google Play Store app › your profile icon › Payments & subscriptions › Subscriptions.
- Change ad personalization in the app under Settings › Privacy Choices (EEA, UK and Switzerland) and, on any phone, in your phone’s ad settings.
- Wherever you live — including California, Virginia, Colorado, the EU, the UK and Canada — you can ask about, or ask us to help delete, the analytics data associated with your installation. Data held by Google is also handled under Google’s Privacy Policy and retention rules. Write to the address below.
Changes
If this policy changes, the date at the top changes with it. Material changes will also be noted in the app’s release notes.