Privacy Policy

📋 1. Overview

VocaBinder (the "App") is designed with your privacy in mind. This Privacy Policy explains what data the App collects, how it is used, and your rights regarding that data.

💾 2. Data Collection

The App does not collect, store, or transmit any personal data to external servers. All your dictionary entries, language pairs, notes, learning statistics, and saved AI Assistant chats (see section 4) are stored locally on your device. Vocabulary data is stored using Apple's SwiftData framework.

🔑 3. No Account Required

The App does not require you to create an account, sign in, or provide any personal information to use its features.

🤖 4. AI Assistant

The App includes an AI Assistant that can suggest vocabulary corrections and translations, analyze your learning statistics, and chat with you for practice. You choose whether the Assistant runs on your device or uses Google's Gemini from a picker in the Assistant panel.

On-Device (the default for every user) runs entirely on your device using Apple's Foundation Models and Translation frameworks; nothing is sent to Apple's servers or any third party. Switching to Gemini always requires you to select it explicitly — the App never switches backends on its own.

Gemini (iOS 27 or later) is bring-your-own-key: you obtain your own free API key from Google AI Studio and enter it in the Assistant's Settings screen. There is no app-operated backend or Google Cloud/Firebase project of any kind in this path. Your key is stored securely in your device's Keychain — optionally synced to your other devices through your own iCloud Keychain, which Apple end-to-end encrypts — and the App never transmits it anywhere except directly to Google, as the credential that authenticates your own requests. When Gemini is active, your chat messages and the vocabulary-table context needed to answer them are sent directly from your device to Google's Gemini API and are subject to Google's own terms and privacy policy for that API; please review Google's current terms if you want the specifics, since the App does not control them.

Before the App uses Gemini for the first time, it shows a one-time notice naming Google and explaining that your data will leave your device, which you must accept before Gemini takes effect. Regardless of which backend is active, the Assistant never edits your vocabulary data automatically — it only proposes changes, which you must confirm before anything is applied. An app-side content safety filter screens Assistant input and output across both backends; Apple's additional on-device safety guardrails apply only to the on-device backend.

Saved chats: every Assistant conversation is saved automatically once you have sent at least one message, so you can reopen and continue it later from the Chat History list in the Assistant panel. A saved chat contains the visible messages (your messages, the Assistant's replies, proposed-change cards and their outcomes, and statistics cards), the conversation memory the chosen backend needs to continue it — which can include snippets of your vocabulary returned by the Assistant's lookups — the chat's title, which backend (and Gemini model) was used, the vocabulary table it belongs to and that table's name, and timestamps. Saved chats are stored only on your device, in the App's private storage, protected by iOS data protection. They are excluded from iCloud and computer backups, are not synced to other devices, and are never sent to the developer or to any server by the App's saving mechanism itself. Chat titles are generated automatically with Apple's on-device model, whichever backend the chat uses, so creating a title sends nothing off your device; if that model is unavailable, the title is the beginning of your first message. If you continue a saved chat using Gemini, its earlier conversation history is sent again to Google as part of your request, as in any multi-turn chat. You can delete any saved chat from the Chat History list, after a confirmation; deleting it permanently removes it from your device. Deleting a vocabulary table does not delete its chats — they stay in the list, read-only, until you delete them.

Voice dictation: the Assistant's message box has an optional microphone button next to Send. When you tap it, the App records from your microphone and converts your speech to text using Apple's on-device speech recognition (the SpeechAnalyzer framework). The audio is processed on your device; the App does not store or save it, and it is not sent to the developer or to any third party. The App asks for microphone permission only the first time you use dictation, through the standard iOS permission prompt, and you can revoke it at any time in iOS Settings; the rest of the App works without it. The first time you dictate in a given language, iOS may download that language's speech recognition model from Apple as a system download; none of your audio or text is sent as part of that download. The recognized text is only placed into the message box, where you can review and edit it before tapping Send. Once you send it, it is an ordinary Assistant message and is handled exactly like a typed one, as described above: it goes to the backend you selected (processed on your device, or sent to Gemini if you chose it) and is saved in your on-device chat history.

🌐 5. Third-Party Services

When you use the translation features, the App loads web pages from third-party services such as Google Translate and online dictionaries directly in an embedded browser. These services may collect data according to their own privacy policies. The App itself does not send your data to these services programmatically — it only opens their web pages with your search terms.

💳 6. In-App Purchases

The App offers optional tip purchases through Apple's StoreKit framework. All transactions are handled by Apple. The developer does not have access to your payment information or Apple ID.

📈 7. Analytics and Tracking

The App does not use any analytics frameworks, crash reporting tools, or advertising trackers. No usage data is collected or shared with third parties.

🗄️ 8. Data Storage

All app data is stored locally on your device. If you delete the App, all associated data, including saved Assistant chats, will be permanently removed. Your vocabulary data is included in standard iOS backups through iCloud or your computer. The one exception is saved Assistant chats, which are excluded from those backups on purpose, so they are not restored if you move to a new device or restore from a backup.

🛡️ 9. Children's Privacy

The App does not knowingly collect personal information from children. Since no personal data is collected from any user, the App is safe for users of all ages.

🔄 10. Changes to This Policy

The developer reserves the right to update this Privacy Policy at any time. Any changes will be reflected in the App with an updated revision date.

✉️ 11. Contact

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us through the App Store listing.