Orizuru
বাংলা

Privacy policy

Last updated:

Orizuru is a free app for learning to read and write Japanese. This policy explains what information the Orizuru app and the orizuru.fyi website collect, how it is used and the choices you have. In this policy, “Orizuru”, “we” and “us” mean the team behind the app.

The short version

  • You can use the whole app without an account. Your learning progress is then kept only on your phone.
  • If you choose to sign in, we store your email, profile and progress so you can use them on other devices.
  • Your answers to the welcome questions (such as your country or why you are learning) never leave your phone.
  • The app shows ads from Google AdMob after some lessons. Google may use your device's advertising ID, depending on the choices you make in Google's consent form.
  • We do not use analytics or tracking tools, and we never sell your information.

1. Information kept on your device

The app stores the following on your phone so it can work offline:

  • Learning progress: which lessons, characters and words you practised, whether each answer was right or wrong, when you answered and how long it took. The text of your answers is not stored.
  • A random ID for your installation of the app, used to keep progress from different devices apart. It is not linked to your phone's hardware.
  • Your profile: the name and colour you choose, and a profile photo if you add one (resized to a small JPEG).
  • Your answers to the welcome questions: your country, your Japanese level, how you heard about Orizuru, why you are learning and what held you back before. The app uses your level to suggest where to start. These answers are never sent to us or anyone else.
  • Your settings, such as language, daily goal, JLPT level, reminder time, theme and sound preferences.

This information stays on your phone unless you sign in (see section 2). Uninstalling the app deletes it. Your phone's own backup service, such as Google or iCloud backup, may include app data depending on your device settings.

2. If you create an account

An account is optional. It backs up your profile and progress and lets you use them on other devices. You can sign in with:

  • Email and a one-time code, or email and a password. Passwords are handled by our sign-in provider and stored only in hashed form; we never see them.
  • Google. Google shares your email address and basic account details (such as your name) with us so we can create your account.

When you are signed in, we store:

  • Your email address and sign-in details.
  • Your profile name, colour and profile photo, if you add one.
  • Your learning progress, as described in section 1.
  • Your daily goal, JLPT level, language and reminder time, so they follow you to other devices.

We do not upload your welcome-question answers or your other device settings. Each account can only read and change its own data.

3. Advertising

To keep Orizuru free, the app may show a full-screen ad from Google AdMob before the results of a lesson, at most once every three minutes. There are no ads on the website.

Before ads load, the app shows Google's consent form where the law requires it, for example in the European Economic Area and the United Kingdom. Depending on your choices and where you live, Google may collect information such as your device's advertising ID, IP address, device type and how you interact with ads, and may use it to show personalised ads, measure ads and prevent fraud.

You can reset or delete your advertising ID, or turn off ad personalisation, in your phone's settings. Learn how Google uses this information at https://policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites.

4. Permissions the app asks for

  • Photos: only if you choose a profile picture, and only the photo you pick.
  • Notifications: only if you turn on study reminders. Reminders are scheduled on your phone; we do not run a push notification server.
  • Internet: to sign in, sync your progress and load ads.

The app does not use your camera, microphone, contacts or location. Japanese pronunciation is generated by your phone's built-in text-to-speech, without sending anything to us.

5. How we use information

  • To provide the app: lessons, reviews, streaks and reminders.
  • To back up and sync your progress when you are signed in.
  • To show ads that keep the app free.
  • To answer your messages and keep the service secure.

Where the GDPR or similar laws apply, we rely on providing the service you asked for (your account and sync), your consent (personalised ads and your profile photo) and our legitimate interest in keeping the service working and secure.

6. Who we share it with

We do not sell your information or share it for others' marketing. We use these service providers to run Orizuru:

  • Supabase, which hosts our accounts, database and profile photos. Our data is stored on servers in Mumbai, India.
  • Google, for Google sign-in and for advertising (AdMob and its consent form).
  • Our website hosting provider, which processes standard request logs, such as IP addresses, to serve and protect the website.

We may also disclose information if the law requires it, or to protect the rights and safety of our users or others.

7. How long we keep it

  • Information on your device stays until you reset your progress in the app or uninstall it.
  • Account information is kept until you ask us to delete your account.
  • “Reset progress” in Settings also deletes the progress saved to your account. Removing your profile photo deletes it from our storage too.

8. Your choices and rights

  • Use Orizuru without an account, so nothing about your learning leaves your phone.
  • Export your progress to a file from Settings, and import it on another phone. The file contains only your progress, and you choose where to save or share it.
  • Delete your account and everything stored with it by emailing hello@orizuru.fyi from the address you signed up with. We will confirm and complete the deletion within 30 days.

Depending on where you live, you may also have the right to access, correct, export or delete your information, to object to or restrict how it is used, and to complain to your local data protection authority. To use any of these rights, email hello@orizuru.fyi.

9. The website

orizuru.fyi does not use analytics or advertising cookies. It saves your language choice in a cookie and your light or dark mode choice in your browser's local storage, so the site remembers them next time.

10. Security

Information sent between the app and our servers is encrypted in transit, and access to synced data is limited to the account it belongs to. No system is perfectly secure, so please use a strong password and keep your devices protected.

11. Children

Orizuru is a general learning app and is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13 through accounts. If you believe a child under 13 has created an account, email hello@orizuru.fyi and we will delete it.

12. International transfers

Our servers are in India, and Google processes information in many countries. Wherever your information is processed, we protect it as this policy describes.

13. Changes to this policy

We will update this page when the app changes how it handles information, and change the date at the top. If a change is significant, we will also mention it in the app's What's New page.

14. Contact us

Questions or requests about your privacy? Email hello@orizuru.fyi.