SpeakFam is operated by Build Stack Solutions LTD ("SpeakFam", "we", "us"). This policy explains what information we collect, how we use and share it, and the choices and rights you have. By using SpeakFam you agree to this policy.
1. Information We Collect
Information you provide directly:
- Account details — name, email address, password, and (mandatory at sign-up) your date of birth and gender. Your date of birth is used to confirm you meet our minimum age (16) and is not shown publicly.
- Profile information — bio, avatar/photo, the languages you speak and are learning, interests, hometown, and travel ("places I want to go") details you choose to add.
- Content you create — chat messages, posts, stories, comments, language corrections, and any photos, videos, or voice recordings you upload or send.
- Communications — messages you send to our support team.
Information we collect automatically:
- Approximate location — we derive an approximate country ("based in") from your IP address to power matching and as a safety/anti-impersonation signal. We do not collect precise GPS location.
- Device and other identifiers — a push notification token and installation identifier (via Firebase), and, when ads are enabled for free accounts, your device's Advertising ID.
- Usage and diagnostics — app interaction/analytics events, plus crash logs and performance diagnostics used to keep the app stable.
- Cookies and similar local storage on our website (see Section 13).
Purchases: when you subscribe to PRO or GOLD, we record your subscription status and purchase history so we can grant your benefits. Payments are processed by Google Play or the Apple App Store — we never receive your full card or payment details.
2. How We Use Your Information
- Provide, maintain, and improve our services
- Connect you with language-learning partners
- Verify you meet our minimum age requirement
- Send you notifications about messages and activity
- Personalize your experience
- Show and measure ads to free-tier users (see Section 5)
- Protect against fraud, abuse, and impersonation
- Diagnose crashes and fix problems
- Respond to your requests and inquiries
3. How We Share Your Information
We share your information only in the following circumstances:
- With other users as part of the service — your profile, posts, stories, and the messages you send are visible to the people you interact with.
- With the service providers listed in Section 4, who process data on our behalf to operate the platform.
- With advertising partners as described in Section 5.
- When required by law, court order, or to protect the rights, property, or safety of SpeakFam, our users, or the public.
- With your consent, or at your direction.
We do not sell your personal information.
4. Third-Party Services We Use
We rely on the following third parties to run SpeakFam. Each receives only the data needed for its function, and processes it on our behalf unless noted otherwise:
- Google / Firebase — analytics, crash reporting (Crashlytics), push notifications (Cloud Messaging), authentication, app-integrity checks, and Google Sign-In. (Google Privacy Policy)
- Google AdMob — advertising shown to free-tier users; see Section 5.
- Sentry — crash and performance diagnostics.
- DeepSeek — when you tap "translate" on a message or post, that text is sent to the DeepSeek translation API to return a translation.
- Brevo — sends transactional email such as your verification code.
- Cloudflare — bot/abuse protection at sign-up (Turnstile), content delivery, and media storage.
- Apple — Sign in with Apple and App Store subscription processing (iOS only).
5. Advertising
Free-tier accounts may see ads served through Google AdMob. To do this, AdMob may access your device's Advertising ID and related signals to serve and measure ads.
- Before any personalized ads are shown, we request your consent through Google's consent interface (and, on iOS, App Tracking Transparency). You can choose non-personalized ads.
- You can reset or limit your Advertising ID at any time in your device settings (Android: Settings → Google → Ads; iOS: Settings → Privacy → Tracking).
- PRO and GOLD subscribers do not see ads, and the Advertising ID is not used for them.
See Google's "How Google uses information from sites or apps that use our services" for details.
6. Safety, Moderation & Content Review
To keep SpeakFam safe, our trust and safety team may review messages, posts, stories, profile information, and other content you share. We do this in three situations:
- When you or another user reports content — a moderator may read the reported message and a small number of surrounding messages for context.
- When we have reasonable cause to believe an account is engaged in abuse, harassment, sexual content involving minors, spam, fraud, or other policy violations — an authorised member of our team may review that account's conversations.
- Where required by law, court order, or to protect SpeakFam, our users, or the public.
All such reviews are logged. We retain the log of who accessed what content, and why, for at least 12 months.
Disappearing messages: when you enable disappearing messages, they are automatically deleted from our servers after the time you choose, and are no longer available for moderation review once expired. A copy may remain in a routine encrypted backup (retained up to 30 days, used only for service recovery) unless legal process requires otherwise.
Backups: we take encrypted database backups on a regular schedule, retained up to 30 days and used solely to restore service. We do not browse backups for moderation, but they may be produced in response to valid legal process.
Lawful basis: for users in the EU/UK, our lawful basis for these reviews is our legitimate interest in keeping the service safe (Article 6(1)(f) GDPR). For California users, data collected for security purposes — including the moderator access log — is disclosed here under the CCPA/CPRA.
7. Data Security
We implement appropriate technical and organizational measures to protect your personal information against unauthorized access, alteration, disclosure, or destruction. This includes:
- Encryption of data in transit and at rest
- Secure authentication mechanisms
- Regular security assessments
- Limited access to personal data by employees
8. Your Rights and Choices
You have the right to:
- Access your personal data
- Correct inaccurate information
- Delete your account and associated data (see Section 9)
- Export your data
- Opt out of marketing communications
- Control your privacy settings within the app
9. Delete Your Account and Data
You can permanently delete your SpeakFam account and the personal data associated with it at any time, in either of two ways:
- In the app: go to Settings → Account → Delete account and confirm. This removes your profile, posts, messages, and other personal data.
- By email (no app required): if you no longer have the app installed, email support@speakfam.com from the email address on your account with the subject "Delete my account", and we will process the deletion.
Once you delete your account, we delete or anonymize your personal information within 30 days, except where we are required to retain certain information for legal purposes. A copy may persist in routine encrypted backups for up to 30 days before being overwritten.
10. Data Retention
We retain your personal information for as long as your account is active or as needed to provide you services. If you delete your account, we will delete or anonymize your personal information within 30 days, except where we are required to retain it for legal purposes.
11. Children's Privacy
SpeakFam is not intended for anyone under the age of 16, and we require users to confirm their date of birth at sign-up. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 16. If you become aware that someone under 16 has provided us with personal information, please contact us and we will remove it.
12. International Data Transfers
Your information may be transferred to and processed in countries other than your country of residence. These countries may have different data protection laws. We ensure appropriate safeguards are in place to protect your information.
13. Cookies and Tracking
We use cookies and similar technologies to:
- Keep you logged in
- Remember your preferences
- Understand how you use our service
- Improve our platform
14. Changes to This Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any material changes by posting the new policy on this page and updating the "Last updated" date. We encourage you to review this policy periodically.
15. Contact Us
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or our data practices, please contact us at:
Email: privacy@speakfam.com