Kalimo

Privacy Policy

Last updated: 15 September 2026

Kalimo (this app) is made by Sincera. This text says what the app collects, why it collects it, who it is shared with and how you can have it deleted. It is short because there is not much of it.

What we collect

What you tell us yourself

• Your name. It is asked for because it is written into the sentences in the lessons.
• Your age. Optional; leave it blank and nothing is written anywhere.

If you sign in with Google

• Your email address, your display name and the address of your profile photo. These come from Google; your password never reaches us.

What happens as you use the app

• Your progress: the lessons you finish, your level, your streak, your gems, the words you learn and your study log.
• Your leaderboard row: your display name, your avatar and your weekly points. Other signed-in learners can see that row. Nothing else of yours is visible to them.
• A random device number. It is generated the first time the app opens, belongs to nobody, and is used only so the pronunciation server can count requests per minute.

Microphone

On the screens that score your pronunciation, the microphone opens only when you press the speak button. The recording is sent to our server to be scored and from there to Microsoft Azure's pronunciation assessment service. The audio is not stored on your phone and is not kept by us once the score comes back. Refuse the microphone permission and the rest of the app carries on working.

Location

We may ask for your location in order to suggest learners near you. Your precise coordinates are never written anywhere: your phone reduces the location to the name of a rough area of about 5 kilometres, and only that area name is written to your leaderboard row — enough to say "which district", not enough to say "which house". Refuse the permission and that section is hidden; the rest of the app carries on working.

Ads

The app shows Google AdMob ads: rewarded ads that open lessons, and a full-screen ad at the end of a lesson. To choose and measure those ads and to protect them from fraud, AdMob uses your device's advertising ID and your IP address; that information goes to Google, not to us. In the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and Switzerland the app shows Google's consent window on first launch; you can refuse personalised ads there and change your choice later in the same window. On a subscription no ad is shown at all and the ad SDK makes no requests.

Notification token

If you allow notifications, your phone receives a device token from Firebase Cloud Messaging; that is how a heart or confetti sent by a friend reaches you. The token is kept with your account and is deleted when you delete your account.

What we do not collect

• No third-party analytics SDK; we use nothing that measures your behaviour screen by screen.
• Your precise location, your contacts, your photos, your files and your search history are not read.
• Nothing of yours is sold. Apart from your advertising ID, which goes straight to Google, nothing of yours is shared for advertising.

Subscription and payment

Kalimo is used with a yearly subscription and the first 7 days are free. Payment runs entirely through Google Play or the App Store:

• Your card details, your billing address and your payment history never reach us. Only the store sees them.
• The app asks the store a single question: "does this account have a valid subscription?" A copy of the answer is kept on your phone so the door still opens offline.
• The trial period and the renewal are counted by the store; there is no record on our side that counts time.
• You can cancel at any time from your Google Play or App Store account settings. Cancel before the 7-day trial ends and you are charged nothing.

Who we share it with

• Google Firebase (Authentication and Cloud Firestore) — your sign-in and the cloud backup of your progress. The data is stored in the `europe-west3` region in Germany.
• Microsoft Azure Speech — for the pronunciation score only, through our own server. The server is in the `germanywestcentral` region in Germany.
• GitHub — the file server the course audio is downloaded from. Those requests are not linked to your account.
• Google Play / Apple App Store — selling and verifying the subscription. Your payment details stay there and are not passed to us.
• Google AdMob — choosing and measuring the ads. Your advertising ID and IP address go to Google; on a subscription the request is never made.

Nothing is passed to anyone else. If a legal obligation arises, only as much as is required is shared.

Where your data lives

Your progress is kept first and foremost on your phone. If you sign in, a copy is written to the cloud so that you can carry on where you left off on a new phone. If you do not sign in, nothing goes to the cloud.

Deleting your account and your data

You can delete it from inside the app:

Profile → Account → Delete account

This cannot be undone and it deletes, in one go: your progress in the cloud, your study log, your leaderboard row, your account summary (your email address included), all of your learning data on the phone, and the account itself created by signing in with Google.

If you have deleted the app and cannot reach that screen, write to the address below from the email address of your Google account; the request is completed within 30 days.

How long we keep it

As long as your account exists. When you delete it the records above are deleted immediately; falling out of the backups completely can take up to 30 days.

Age

The app is for ages 13 and over. We do not knowingly collect data from anyone we know to be under 13. If you find that your child has opened an account, write to the address below and we will delete it.

Notifications

Notification permission is asked for in order to send a daily study reminder. Refusing it, or turning it off later, affects no feature of the app.

Changes

If this text changes, the date at the top is updated. If there is a material change in what is collected, it is announced inside the app.

Contact

For questions and data deletion requests: ertaneker@gmail.com