Privacy Policy

In short

• We collect only what linguvo needs to work: your account, your messages and what keeps your account secure.
• Messages and photos are deleted from our server automatically after 30 days.
• We never sell your data, and your messages are never used for ads.
• Messages are translated by Google's Gemini service, or on your iPhone when that is not available.
• You can delete your account at any time from Profile in the app.

Data we process

• Account: your email address, name, username, bio, profile photo, the language you read in, your iPhone's language (for our emails) and the date you joined.
• Sign-in and security: a random identifier for your iPhone (kept in its Keychain), the sign-in codes we email you (stored only as a scrambled hash), your two-factor authentication key if you turn it on, your recovery codes (as a hash) and the record of sign-in requests.
• New sign-ins: when your account is opened on a new device, we use its model, iOS version, app version and time zone, together with its IP address, to email you a notice with the approximate location (city and country). The location is worked out on our server with a local DB-IP database and is not stored.
• Messages and photos: what you send in chats and groups, and their translations. They are kept on our server for up to 30 days so they can be delivered to your contacts, and then deleted automatically. They travel encrypted (TLS) but are not end-to-end encrypted. We do not look at your messages, except when needed to keep the service running, to investigate a report of abuse or when the law requires it.
• Contacts in linguvo: your friends, groups, friend requests and the people you have blocked.
• Reports: when you report someone, we receive the reason, any details you add and a copy of the reported message (text or photo), so we can review it.
• Notifications: the push token of your iPhone. A notification carries the text of the message through Apple's push service, and your iPhone translates it before showing it.
• Subscription: the Apple transaction identifier, the product, its dates and its status. Payment is handled entirely by Apple; we never see your card or payment details.
• Usage: how many messages of your account were translated each day (deleted after 7 days) and the total volume of translation per day, without user data.
• Server logs: IP address, time and type of request, kept for 14 days for security.
• Support: the emails you send us.

Your iPhone and iCloud

Your chats are also stored on your iPhone. If you turn on backup, a copy is saved in your private iCloud database, which only your Apple ID can access; we cannot see it.

Translation

To translate a message, our server sends its text to the Gemini API from Google, which returns the translation. When it is not available, linguvo translates on your iPhone with Apple's translation, without sending the text anywhere.

Ads

After the first 3 days, and unless you subscribe to linguvo without ads, linguvo shows ads from Google AdMob. To show and measure them, Google may collect your device's identifiers, IP address and how you interact with ads. In the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and Switzerland we ask for your consent first with Google's consent message. Your iPhone's advertising identifier is only used if you allow tracking when iOS asks; you can change this in Settings → Privacy & Security → Tracking. Without consent, Google shows limited, non-personalised ads. You can change your choice at any time in Profile → Privacy → Ad privacy choices.

How Google uses data from apps that use its services: https://policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites

Why we use your data (legal bases)

• To provide linguvo as described in the Terms of Use: account, messages, translation, notifications and subscription (performance of a contract).
• To keep accounts and the service secure, prevent abuse and warn you about new sign-ins (legitimate interest).
• To show personalised ads and use the advertising identifier (your consent, which you can withdraw at any time).
• To keep records required by law, such as for accounting (legal obligation).

Who we share data with

We use these providers, who process data only on our instructions or to provide their service:

• DigitalOcean: the servers where linguvo runs.
• Amazon Web Services: encrypted backups and sending our emails (Amazon SES).
• Google: translation (Gemini API) and ads (AdMob).
• Apple: notifications, in-app purchases and iCloud backup.
• Cloudflare: DNS for linguvo.app and forwarding of emails sent to support@linguvo.app.

Some of these providers may process data outside your country, including outside the European Economic Area. Those transfers are protected by adequacy decisions or the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses. We do not sell your personal data and we do not share it for other purposes, except when required by law.

How long we keep it

• Messages and photos: 30 days on our server.
• Account data: while your account exists.
• When you delete your account, your profile, messages and photos are deleted from our server immediately.
• Our encrypted backups of the server: 30 days.
• Reports and the reported content: 90 days.
• Sign-in codes and requests: up to 2 days. Server logs: 14 days.
• Subscription records are kept, no longer linked to your account, as long as needed for accounting and to handle claims.

Security

Connections to linguvo are encrypted, sign-in codes and recovery codes are stored only as hashes, backups are encrypted and access to the servers is restricted and monitored. You can add two-factor authentication and Face ID protection in the app.

Your rights

You can access, correct and delete your data, ask for a copy of it, object to or restrict its use and withdraw your consent at any time. Most of this can be done in the app (Profile: your details, Blocked, Ad privacy choices, Delete account); for anything else, write to support@linguvo.app. You can also complain to the data protection authority of your country; in Japan, the Personal Information Protection Commission (ppc.go.jp).

Children

linguvo is not intended for children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect their data. If you believe a child has created an account, contact us and we will delete it.

Changes to this policy

If we make important changes, we will let you know in the app or by email. The date at the top shows the latest version.

Contact

Santiago Roque Luque, provider of linguvo. support@linguvo.app.