Privacy policy

Last updated 14 October 2026

Who we are

This policy covers the HellaLingo app for iPhone and Android and hellalingo.com (“HellaLingo”, “we”, “us”). For anything about privacy, email support@hellalingo.com.

What stays on your phone

To work, the app stores the following on your device:

• your progress through the course, checkpoints and civics practice;
• your flashcards and their review history;
• your settings, including the first name you choose to enter;
• your conversations with the AI tutor;
• your AI provider key or ChatGPT sign-in, if you add one, kept in the iPhone’s Keychain or, on Android, encrypted with a key held in the phone’s secure hardware.

None of this is sent to us. It stays on your phone and in your own device backups (iCloud, your computer or your Google account), according to your settings. Keys and sign-ins aren’t included in Android backups. You can reset your progress in the app’s Settings, and deleting the app deletes it. On the iPhone, a key or ChatGPT sign-in stays in the Keychain until you remove it in Settings › AI tutor.

The lessons and dictionary are built into the app, so studying doesn’t send anything anywhere. On the iPhone, the alphabet and A1 recordings are in the app and the others download from Apple’s App Store servers when you choose to download them, like any app update. The Android app from this website has every recording inside.

Optional AI features

The AI tutor, role-plays, writing and speaking feedback, handwriting feedback, exam marking and AI dictionary look-up are optional. They work only if you sign in with your ChatGPT plan or add your own API key from OpenAI or Anthropic, and allow the app to send your work. When you use one of them, the app sends the content that feature needs directly from your phone to the provider you chose, never through us:

• your messages, answers and writing, and the text of what you said in speaking practice (never the recording);
• photos of handwriting, only the ones you choose to take or attach;
• the word or phrase you look up;
• the first name you entered, so the tutor can use it.

That provider handles this data under your agreement with them and their own privacy policy (OpenAI, Anthropic), and any charges or plan usage go to your account with them. You can stop sending at any time by turning off the permission, removing your key or signing out of ChatGPT in Settings.

Reading AI-written Greek aloud

Greek written by the AI (the tutor’s replies, role-play lines, corrections and model answers) has no built-in recording. To read it aloud in the same natural voice as the lessons, the app sends that Greek text to our voice service at hellalingo.com, which has it spoken by Google Cloud Text-to-Speech and returns the audio. The service receives only the text to be spoken, the voice to use and a proof that the request comes from the HellaLingo app on a real device (Apple App Attest on the iPhone, Android key attestation on Android). The text is whatever the AI wrote, which can include your first name if the tutor used it. Neither we nor the service keep the text or the audio, and Google processes it under the Google Cloud privacy notice. The audio is saved on your phone so the same text isn’t sent again. Offline, the app uses the phone’s own voice instead.

Microphone, speech recognition, camera and photos

The app asks for these permissions only when you first use a feature that needs them, and you can change them at any time in your phone’s settings.

• Microphone and speech recognition are used when you practise speaking. Your voice is turned into text by your phone’s speech recognition: Apple’s on the iPhone, which may process it on Apple’s servers under Apple’s privacy policy, and on Android the phone’s speech service (usually Google’s), under Google’s privacy policy. The app doesn’t save your recordings.
• Camera and photos are used only when you choose to photograph or attach your handwriting for feedback. The photo goes only to your AI provider, as described above; we never receive it.

What we don’t do

• We don’t ask you to create an account.
• We don’t show ads or use analytics, advertising or tracking tools in the app or on this website.
• We don’t sell or share your personal data.

This website

hellalingo.com is a simple website with no cookies, analytics or tracking. It’s hosted by Vercel, whose servers record technical information such as your IP address and browser type when you visit, to deliver the site and keep it secure. See Vercel’s privacy policy.

If you email us

If you write to support@hellalingo.com, we use your email address and message only to reply and help you, and we delete them when they’re no longer needed for that. The legal basis is our legitimate interest in answering you.

Your rights

If you’re in the European Union or the UK, you have the right to access, correct or delete your personal data, to restrict or object to its use, and to receive a copy of it. Because the app keeps your data on your phone, you can see, reset or delete most of it yourself. For anything else, such as emails you sent us, contact support@hellalingo.com. You can also complain to the Commissioner for Personal Data Protection in Cyprus (dataprotection.gov.cy) or to the authority where you live.

Children

HellaLingo is meant for teenagers and adults learning Greek. We don’t knowingly collect personal data from children. The AI features need an account with OpenAI (ChatGPT) or Anthropic, which set their own minimum ages.

Changes

If this policy changes, we’ll update this page and the date at the top.