Overview
Palabrita is a Spanish vocabulary learning app made by Yangwon Lee ("we", "us", "our"). We take your privacy seriously. This policy explains what data we collect, why we collect it, and how we handle it. We do not sell your data, serve ads, or share your information with third parties for marketing purposes.
Data We Collect
Learning Progress (stored locally on your device)
Your XP, streak, mastered word count, daily goal, and practice session history are stored on your device using UserDefaults and shared App Group storage for widgets. This data never leaves your device unless you sign in and enable cloud sync.
Email Address (only if you sign in)
If you choose to create an account via Sign In with Google or Sign in with Apple, we receive your email address and display name from the provider via AWS Cognito. With Sign in with Apple you can choose to hide your email, in which case we receive an Apple private-relay address instead of your real one. This information is used solely to identify your account for cross-device progress sync. It is never used for advertising or shared with third parties.
Voice / Audio (only in Pronunciation Practice)
When you use the Pronunciation Practice feature, the app records your voice briefly using your device microphone and passes it to Apple's Speech Recognition framework (SFSpeechRecognizer) to produce a text transcript, which is used only to score your pronunciation. Recognition runs on-device on devices that support it; on some older devices, Apple may process the audio on its servers as part of standard iOS Speech Recognition. The app itself never stores, retains, or sends your recordings anywhere.
Data We Do NOT Collect
- Location data
- Device identifiers or advertising IDs
- Contacts, photos, or any other media
- Browsing history or cross-app tracking data
- Payment or financial information (any purchases are handled by Apple; we never receive your card details)
Permissions
Notifications
We request permission to send you local notifications for daily practice reminders. These are scheduled entirely on your device. You can disable them at any time in iOS Settings → Notifications → Palabrita.
Microphone & Speech Recognition
Requested only when you enter the Pronunciation Practice screen. Used exclusively for speech scoring (on-device where the device supports it). Denying this permission disables the pronunciation feature but does not affect the rest of the app.
Cloud Sync (Optional)
If you sign in, your learning progress is synced to an AWS DynamoDB table in the ap-northeast-1 (Tokyo) region, accessible only through your authenticated account. You can sign out at any time from Settings, which stops sync and deletes the local session tokens. You can also permanently delete your account and data from within the app (see Data Retention & Deletion below).
Third-Party Services
- AWS Cognito — handles authentication. Subject to AWS Privacy Policy.
- Google Sign-In — provides identity for account creation. Subject to Google Privacy Policy.
- Sign in with Apple — provides identity for account creation; you may opt to hide your email via Apple's private relay. Subject to Apple Privacy Policy.
- Apple Speech Framework — used for pronunciation scoring; recognition is on-device where supported, otherwise handled by Apple's standard iOS Speech Recognition.
Data Retention & Deletion
Local data is deleted when you uninstall the app. You can permanently delete your account and erase your saved progress at any time directly in the app: go to Settings → Account → Delete Account. This immediately deletes your sign-in account and removes your associated data. If you prefer, you can also request deletion by emailing lee@yangwon.net with the subject "Delete my Palabrita account", and we will process the request within 30 days.
Children's Privacy
Palabrita is not directed at children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, please contact us and we will delete it promptly.
Changes to This Policy
If we make material changes to this policy, we will update the "Last updated" date at the top of this page. Continued use of the app after changes constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.
Contact
Questions about this policy? Email us at lee@yangwon.net.