Privacy Policy

Radish Retail, LLC ("Radish", "we", "us", "our") operates the Hourly Learning family of mobile applications — including Hourly Hanzi, Hourly Hangul, Hourly Kana, and Hourly English — together with their home-screen and lock-screen widgets, the Hourly Learning marketing website, and related services (collectively, the "Service"). This Privacy Policy explains what personal information we collect, how we use and share it, and the choices and rights you have. This Privacy Policy is incorporated into our Terms of Service by reference. Disputes or claims related to this Privacy Policy are subject to the governing-law and dispute-resolution section of the Terms where enforceable.

1. Summary

• We collect onboarding answers, learning progress, subscription status, optional content reports, account identifiers where an account is required or you choose account-based sync, and usage/device diagnostics.
• The vocabulary apps use this information to deliver scheduled words, render widgets, track progress, and personalize study. Hourly English uses it to provide live speaking practice and short corrections.
• We do not sell personal information or show third-party ads. Some apps may use advertising identifiers and cross-app attribution only after you authorize tracking through Apple's App Tracking Transparency prompt.
• We do not collect face scans or biometric identifiers and do not collect precise location, contacts, or health data. Hourly English uses the microphone only during a talk you start.
• Hourly English sends live voice audio and speech text to ElevenLabs so its AI coach can listen and reply. The agent is configured for zero retention, and the content is not used for model training.
• Learning progress can sync across your own devices through Apple iCloud, including CloudKit private databases and iCloud key-value storage where used, under your Apple ID; we do not receive your iCloud credentials.
• Audio pronunciation is generated on-device by Apple's speech synthesis where supported; your taps to hear a word are not transmitted to us for that purpose.
• If you submit a content report, the report and an optional screenshot are sent to our backend so we can fix the content.
• When you continue with a purchase under these Terms, you agree that we may send Apple purchase delivery and usage details and a refund recommendation if you later request a refund.
• You can reset progress, disable analytics where required, use Delete Account in supported apps such as Hourly Kana and Hourly English, and request deletion of separately stored server data by emailing [email protected].
• The Service is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13.

2. Information We Collect

2.1 Information you provide

• Onboarding answers. Your target language, motivation or goal, self-reported proficiency level, and preferred new-word cadence selected during onboarding.
• Learning activity. Words shown to you, words you mark as learned or unknown, flashcard decks and review states, quiz and placement/level-test answers and outcomes, grammar-lesson progress, saved or starred words, and streak history.
• Widget and notification configuration. Which widget families you add, the schedule or cadence you set, and whether optional reminders are enabled.
• Content reports. If you flag a problem with a word definition, quiz question, quick review, flashcard, or grammar lesson, we collect the flagged item, a category, any text you add, and an optional screenshot you choose to attach.
• Support and other text. Any text you send to us through support or manually enter into app fields.
• Hourly English voice practice. When you start a talk, the app sends microphone audio and the live speech transcript to the AI voice provider so the coach can understand and answer. The app may save short corrections or phrases you choose on your device, but it does not keep the full conversation transcript.
• Hourly English account. Hourly English uses Sign in with Apple before purchase or restore. We receive a provider account identifier and authentication data needed to keep access secure across devices. We do not receive your Apple ID password.
• Hourly Kana account and sync. If you choose Sign in with Apple for account-scoped progress sync, we receive Apple's app-specific user identifier and any display name you choose to share. We do not receive your Apple ID password.
• Subscription information. Apple and the App Store provide subscription and entitlement signals, including transaction identifiers, product identifiers, trial or introductory eligibility, and renewal or expiration status. We do not receive your full payment-card details.
• Refund-review consent. We record the Terms version accepted when you continue with a purchase.

2.2 Information we generate or collect automatically

• Derived learning state. Difficulty estimates, seen-word checks, review scheduling, mastery and streak calculations, and per-level progress derived from your activity.
• Usage analytics. App launches, screen views, taps, onboarding completion, word-delivery and widget events, quiz and flashcard events, paywall and purchase or restore events, notification-preference events, content-report submissions, errors, and feature-flag exposure needed to operate and improve the product.
• Pseudonymous installation analytics. Hourly Kana uses an app-generated installation identifier for first-party product analytics. We keep that identifier separate from the optional Sign in with Apple sync account.
• Optional advertising attribution. In apps that support it, if you authorize tracking through Apple's App Tracking Transparency prompt, we may send advertising identifiers, app-generated identifiers, product-interaction events, and trial or purchase events to Meta and TikTok to measure which ads lead to installs or subscriptions, optimize campaigns, and retarget advertising. Those providers may link this information with information from other companies' apps or websites. If you do not authorize tracking, we do not send app events, purchase events, or app-generated account identifiers through this attribution pipeline.
• Device and environment data. Device model, operating system, app version, platform, language or locale, timezone, and diagnostic context.
• Logs. Server-side request logs for backend features may include IP address, request path, timestamp, response status, and security or debugging metadata. Hourly English also stores HMAC-pseudonymized session-lease records for up to seven days for replay, rate, fraud, and capacity controls; those records do not contain raw Apple, Supabase, StoreKit, or ElevenLabs identifiers, conversation credentials, audio, or a full transcript.

2.3 Information we do not collect or use

• We do not collect precise GPS location.
• We do not access contacts or HealthKit. The vocabulary apps do not access the microphone; Hourly English accesses it only during a talk you start.
• We do not capture face scans or biometric identifiers, and we do not use face or voice recognition to identify you. Speech processing in Hourly English is used to run the conversation, not to identify who is speaking.
• We do not use personal information, voice practice, content reports, support messages, or screenshots to train generative-AI models. Hourly English sends voice practice to ElevenLabs for real-time inference under a zero-retention configuration, not for model training.
• We do not show third-party ads. We use advertising identifiers or cross-company advertising attribution only in supported apps after you authorize tracking through Apple's App Tracking Transparency prompt.
• We access the photo library or screen contents only when you explicitly attach a screenshot to a content report or use an export or share action.

3. iCloud Sync and On-Device Processing

Where you enable it and are signed into iCloud, the Service stores learning progress and settings through Apple's iCloud services, including private CloudKit database records and iCloud key-value storage where used, so they can sync across your own Apple devices. That data is associated with your Apple ID and governed by Apple's terms and privacy policy. We do not receive your Apple ID password and cannot read other apps' iCloud data. Much of the app — including widget rendering, scheduling of the next word, local reminder notifications, and on-device speech synthesis for pronunciation — runs locally on your device and through the shared app group container, without sending that activity to our servers.

4. Vocabulary Sources, Dictionaries, and External Links

Vocabulary, readings, definitions, and example sentences are drawn from curated word lists, including HSK, TOPIK, and JLPT-aligned lists, and from licensed or openly licensed corpora. Certain example sentences are sourced from community datasets such as Tatoeba under their applicable licenses, including CC-BY attribution. This content may contain errors, omissions, or context-dependent inaccuracies. The Service may also offer links to external dictionary and reference sites, including MDBG, Youdao, Purple Culture, Naver, or Jisho, which open in your browser and process your visit under their own terms and privacy policies. We are not responsible for the content, accuracy, or practices of those third-party destinations.

5. Content Reports

The Service lets you report a problem with displayed content. When you submit a report, we transmit over HTTPS the report category, a stable key identifying the flagged item, any free-text details you add, basic app context, and, only if you choose to include it, a screenshot of the current screen. Reports are stored in our backend and used to investigate and correct content. Hourly Kana content reports are not linked to your optional Sign in with Apple sync identifier; report text or screenshots may still identify you if you choose to include identifying information. Please avoid including sensitive personal information in report text or screenshots.

6. How We Use Information

• deliver a new vocabulary word on your chosen schedule and render home-screen and lock-screen widgets;
• track progress, streaks, learned words, and review scheduling, and generate quizzes, flashcards, and level tests;
• personalize difficulty, recommendations, and app surfaces based on your onboarding answers and activity;
• process subscriptions, trials, introductory-offer eligibility, restores, and entitlements through the App Store;
• for purchases covered by your accepted Terms, provide Apple with purchase delivery and usage details and our preferred outcome if you request a refund;
• authenticate Hourly English accounts, run live AI voice practice, provide spoken replies and short corrections, and prevent metered-service abuse;
• send local reminder notifications if you enable them;
• investigate and fix content you report;
• debug, secure, rate-limit, monitor, and improve the Service;
• measure aggregate product performance and conversion;
• with your App Tracking Transparency authorization, measure advertising attribution, optimize campaigns, and retarget advertising;
• comply with law, enforce our Terms, and defend legal claims.

We do not use personal information for automated decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects, and we do not use personal information to train generative-AI models.

7. How We Share Information

We share information only as described in this policy. We do not sell your personal information.

7.1 Service providers and processors

7.2 Business transfers

If Radish is acquired, merged, reorganized, financed, or sells assets, information may be transferred as part of that transaction.

7.3 Legal and safety

We may disclose information when necessary to comply with law, respond to valid legal requests, protect rights, prevent fraud or abuse, or enforce our Terms.

7.4 With your consent

We may share information for other purposes disclosed to you with consent.

8. Your Rights and Choices

• Access, correction, export, and deletion. You may request a copy, correction, export, or deletion of personal data we hold about you.
• Reset progress. You can reset or clear in-app learning progress where supported in app settings.
• iCloud sync. You can disable iCloud syncing in app or device settings where supported; this stops future cross-device sync but does not itself delete copies already stored in iCloud.
• Reminders. Reminder notifications are local and optional. You can disable them in app settings or device settings.
• Analytics opt-out. Contact us if you want to opt out of non-essential analytics tied to your usage where required by law.
• Advertising tracking. You can decline the App Tracking Transparency prompt or change an app's tracking permission at any time in iOS Settings.
• Subscriptions. Manage or cancel App Store subscriptions in your Apple account settings.
• Account deletion. Hourly Kana provides Delete Account in app settings. It removes local learning and account state, matching private iCloud sync content, and the current device's Live Activity registration record. It keeps a non-content deletion marker so current app versions can recognize the deletion and remove matching sync data that an older installed version may recreate; the marker contains no learning content. Hourly English provides Delete Account in Profile to delete its app account and server-side access records and clear local learning data.
• Separate data and subscriptions. Deleting an Hourly Kana account does not automatically delete pseudonymous installation analytics or content reports stored without an account link because those records are kept outside optional Sign in with Apple sync. It also does not cancel an Apple-managed App Store subscription. Manage subscriptions with Apple, or contact [email protected] so we can explain available deletion options for separately stored data.
• Other server-side deletion. Email [email protected] to request deletion of other server-side data such as submitted content reports.

California residents and residents of other jurisdictions with privacy laws may have additional rights to know, access, correct, delete, obtain portability, limit sensitive-data use, opt out of sale or share, and not be discriminated against for exercising rights. We do not sell personal information. In supported apps, we share information for cross-context behavioral advertising only after App Tracking Transparency authorization; you can opt out through iOS Settings. EEA and UK residents may have rights to access, rectify, erase, restrict, object, obtain portability, withdraw consent, and complain to a supervisory authority. Where GDPR or UK GDPR applies, our legal bases include contract, consent, legitimate interests, and legal obligations.

9. Retention

We retain learning data, settings, subscription records, authentication records, analytics, content reports, and logs for as long as needed to provide the Service, maintain security, process refund-review requests you authorized, resolve disputes, comply with law, or enforce agreements. Locally stored progress remains on your device until you reset it, use an available Delete Account control, or uninstall the app; iCloud-synced data remains under your Apple ID until removed. Hourly Kana may retain a non-content deletion marker after account deletion to recognize the deletion and remove matching sync data that an older installed version may recreate. Pseudonymous installation analytics and unlinked content reports are stored separately from optional Sign in with Apple sync and may require a separate deletion request. Deletion requests remove associated server records where technically supported, subject to backups, legal obligations, and fraud or security retention. After Hourly English account deletion, HMAC-pseudonymized voice-session lease records may remain for up to seven days to preserve fraud, rate, and capacity controls. Hourly English voice audio and full transcripts are not stored in our database, and its ElevenLabs agent is configured for zero retention.

10. Security

We use HTTPS in transit, scoped backend access controls, and reasonable administrative and technical safeguards. No method of transmission or storage is perfectly secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

11. Children

The Service is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child under 13 has provided personal information, contact [email protected] so we can take appropriate action.

12. International Transfers

Radish is based in the United States, and providers may process data in the United States and other countries. Where required, we rely on appropriate transfer mechanisms and service-provider commitments.

13. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. If changes are material, we will provide notice by in-app notice, app update notes, or another reasonable method where required. The effective date above shows when this policy version applies.

14. Contact

Privacy: [email protected]
Legal: [email protected]
Support: [email protected]