Privacy Policy

1. Who we are

Verbum ("Verbum", "we", "us", "our") is a vocabulary-learning service consisting of the Verbum mobile application, the web application at verbumlang.org and the Verbum bot and Mini App on Telegram (together, the "Service"). We are the data controller for the personal data described in this policy.

This policy explains what we collect, why, who else is involved, and what you can do about it. It is written to meet the requirements of the EU/UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA/CPRA) and the Google Play Data Safety and User Data policies.

2. What we collect

2.1 Account data

You can use Verbum without an account. If you choose to sign in so that your progress is backed up and synchronised, we receive and store:

• Sign-in with Telegram: your Telegram numeric user ID, first name, username and profile photo URL, as provided by Telegram to verify the sign-in.
• Sign-in with Google: a pseudonymous Google account identifier and the display name on your Google account.
• A display name and avatar image if you set one yourself inside the app.

We never receive or store your password for Telegram, Google or any other service.

2.2 Learning data

This is the content of the Service and the reason the account exists:

• Words, translations, tags and the personal associations and notes you write for them.
• The rating of each word, your answer history, daily sets completed, streak and progress statistics.
• Your settings: interface language, language you are learning, daily pace, reminder settings, time zone.

2.3 Technical data

• IP address, request time, requested address and user-agent string, written to our server logs.
• Device model, operating system version and app version, so we can reproduce faults.
• Advertising identifier on Android (see section 6).

2.4 What we do not collect

We do not collect your contacts, your call or SMS history, your precise location, your health data, your files outside the images you deliberately choose to scan, or any payment card details.

3. Why we use it, and on what legal basis

4. Device permissions we ask for

Each permission is requested at the moment it is needed, and the app remains usable if you decline it.

• Notifications — to send the reminders you enabled. Reminders are scheduled on your device; declining simply means no reminders.
• Run at start-up — so that reminders you already scheduled survive a restart of the phone. No data is sent when this runs.
• Camera and photo selection — used only while you are scanning a word, through the system camera or the system picker. We do not browse your gallery.
• Advertising ID — used by the advertising provider in the free version, subject to your consent choice.
• Network access — to synchronise your deck and load ads.

5. Photo scanning and other AI-assisted features

When you scan a photo, suggest words or open a grammar exercise, the relevant text or image is sent over an encrypted connection to our server and forwarded to Anthropic PBC, which operates the Claude models we use for text recognition and language processing. The response comes back to your device as a list of words.

Images and text sent this way are processed to answer that one request. We do not keep the image on our servers after the response is returned, and the provider does not use the content to train its models under the commercial terms we use.

These features are automated and can be wrong. Please treat translations, recognised words and grammar hints as suggestions, not as authoritative language advice.

6. Advertising

The free version of the Android app shows ads supplied by AppLovin MAX and the advertising networks it mediates. Advertising providers may use your device's advertising identifier and ad interaction data to select and measure ads.

If you are in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom or Switzerland, we show a consent dialogue from Google's User Messaging Platform before any personalised advertising is set up. You can reopen that dialogue at any time from the app settings and change your mind. You can also reset or delete your advertising identifier in your Android system settings.

Buying Verbum PRO removes ads.

7. Purchases

Subscriptions are sold and processed by Google Play Billing. Payment is taken by Google under your Google Play account; we never see your card number or billing address. From Google we receive only a purchase token and the status of the subscription, which we use to unlock PRO features on your account.

8. Who we share data with

We do not sell personal information and we do not share it for cross-context behavioural advertising outside the advertising described in section 6. We use the following processors and partners:

We may also disclose data where we are legally required to, or where it is necessary to establish or defend legal claims.

9. Cookies and local storage

This website uses no cookies and no analytics or tracking scripts, which is why you are not being asked to accept anything. The only third-party request the site makes is to Google Fonts to load the typeface.

The web app stores your deck and settings in your browser's local storage so it works offline. That is storage on your own device, not a tracking cookie, and clearing your browser data clears it.

10. How long we keep your data

• Account and learning data — for as long as your account exists. Delete the account and it is removed from the live database immediately.
• Encrypted database backups — rotated automatically, with the oldest copy no more than 14 days old, so deleted data disappears from backups within 14 days.
• Server logs — kept for a short period for security and troubleshooting, then rotated out.
• Scanned images — not stored after the response is returned.

11. Security

All traffic between the app and our servers runs over HTTPS. Our server accepts administrative access by key only, applies security updates automatically, and the database is reachable only from the application itself. Sign-in data from Telegram and Google is verified cryptographically before an account is opened.

No method of transmission or storage is perfectly secure. We cannot guarantee absolute security, but we do keep the amount of personal data we hold deliberately small.

12. Your rights

Wherever you live, you can ask us to give you a copy of your data, correct it, or delete it. If you are in the EEA or the UK you also have the right to restrict or object to processing, the right to data portability, the right to withdraw consent at any time, and the right to complain to your national data protection authority.

If you are a California resident, you have the right to know what we collect and why, the right to delete, the right to correct, the right to opt out of sale or sharing — we do not sell or share personal information as those terms are defined in the CCPA — and the right not to be discriminated against for exercising any of these rights. We answer requests within 45 days, extendable by a further 45 days where the request is complex.

Most of this you can do yourself: Settings → Account in the app lets you export your words and delete your account without contacting us.

13. Deleting your data

In the app, open Settings → Account → Delete account. This removes your account and all learning data associated with it.

You can also write to support@verbumlang.org from the address or account you signed in with, telling us how you signed in (Telegram or Google) and the display name on the account, so that we can identify it. We will confirm once the deletion is done.

14. Children

Verbum is intended for users aged 16 and over and is not directed at children. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children under 16. If you believe a child has provided us with personal data, write to us and we will delete it promptly.

15. International transfers

Our servers are located in the European Union. Some of the partners listed in section 8 are established in the United States, so your data may be transferred there. Those transfers rely on the European Commission's standard contractual clauses or on the EU–US Data Privacy Framework, as applicable to each partner.

16. Changes to this policy

If we change this policy we will publish the new version on this page and update the effective date at the top. Where the change materially affects you, we will also tell you inside the app before it takes effect. Continuing to use Verbum after a change means you accept the updated policy.

17. Contact us

Questions, requests or complaints about privacy: support@verbumlang.org. We aim to answer within a few working days.