Privacy Policy
Effective: November 1, 2026
Zanjabeel is an app for learning spoken Arabic and Hebrew by speaking. It is run by Adi Berenson, an independent developer based in Israel ("we"). This policy covers the Zanjabeel app (iPhone, Android and web) and our website, zanjabeel.ai. It explains what we collect, why, who helps us process it, how long we keep it, and what you can do about it. Questions: privacy@zanjabeel.ai.
1. The short version
- We collect what the app needs to teach you: your account, your profile, what you say in lessons, and your progress.
- Voice recordings are kept only if you agree, and the audio is deleted automatically after 30 days.
- We do not sell your data, show ads, or use third-party analytics or advertising trackers.
- Payments are handled by Apple or Google. We never see your card details.
2. What we collect
No law requires you to give us any of this data. But without an account, and without hearing what you say in lessons, the app cannot teach you.
Account. When you sign in with Google, Apple or email, we receive your email address, your name and, from Google, a profile photo link. Apple may give us a private relay address instead of your real email. When you join, we record your year of birth (to check the minimum age) and when you accepted these terms; if you joined with an invite code, we record that code. We also record when you joined and when you were last active.
Profile. Your first and last name, how you want to be addressed (as a man, as a woman, or neither), the course language you study, and, if you choose to add it, your date of birth. We also store whether you agreed to voice recordings.
What you say in lessons. To check your answers, your voice is sent to our server and turned into text while you speak. What happens next depends on your choice:
- If you agreed to recordings, we store a short audio clip of each practice answer, and its transcript.
- If you did not agree, or were not asked, the audio is processed to check your answer and is not stored.
Written answers and conversations. Answers to exercises, and the full text of free-conversation practice (your side and the app's side).
Learning progress. Lessons started and finished, quiz results and scores, which words you have mastered, and diplomas you earned.
Survey answers. When the app asks a short multiple-choice question, your answer.
App usage. Time spent in the app, how often you open it, your device type (iPhone, Android, web), app version and screen size. We use this to understand how the course is used.
Notifications. If you allow notifications, a device token from Apple/Google so we can send them, and your notification settings.
Subscription. Whether you have an active subscription or free trial, which plan, its price as shown to you, and when it renews or ends. This comes from Apple or Google via RevenueCat.
Our website. Our website, zanjabeel.ai, has no forms or sign-up, and uses no cookies, analytics or tracking tools. Its fonts are served from our own server, not loaded from Google or any other third party. Like any website, its hosting (Google Cloud) automatically records basic technical details of each visit, such as the IP address, browser type and the page requested. We use these logs only to keep the site running and secure, and they are deleted after 30 days.
We do not collect your precise location, your contacts, or your payment card details.
3. Why we use it
| Purpose | Data used | Legal basis |
|---|---|---|
| Run your account and sign you in | Account, profile | Our contract with you |
| Teach you: check your answers, give feedback, adapt the course | What you say, written answers, progress | Our contract with you |
| Address you correctly in Arabic and Hebrew | How you want to be addressed | Our contract with you |
| Let our staff follow your progress and help you | Progress, recordings and transcripts, conversations | Our contract with you; your consent for recordings |
| Improve the app's speech recognition and lessons | Recordings, transcripts and answers, reviewed across learners | Your consent for recordings; our legitimate interest in a better app for the rest |
| Send reminders and announcements you allowed | Notification token and settings | Your consent |
| Sell and manage subscriptions, and remind you before a free trial ends | Subscription data | Our contract with you |
| Keep the service working and secure | App usage, error reports, admin action logs | Our legitimate interest in a working, secure service |
4. Voice recordings
The app may ask whether we may keep your recordings, to help us improve it. We do not ask everyone. If we never asked you, or you said no, your recordings are not kept, and every lesson still works the same.
If you say yes:
- The audio clips are stored privately on Google Cloud and deleted automatically after 30 days.
- Each clip's written transcript is deleted together with the audio after 30 days.
- Our staff can listen to them to help you learn and to improve the app's speech recognition.
- You can delete all your recordings at any time from your profile, and change your choice there.
5. Who processes your data for us
We use these service providers. They process data only to provide their service to us.
| Provider | What they do | What they receive |
|---|---|---|
| Google Cloud and Firebase | Hosting, database, file storage, sign-in, notifications | All the data above |
| Google Gemini (AI) | Checks your answers, runs practice conversations | The text of your answers and conversations, lesson context |
| Speechmatics | Turns your speech into text | Your voice audio, while you speak |
| ElevenLabs | Produces the app's spoken voice | Text to be spoken (lesson lines and the app's replies to you), not your voice |
| RevenueCat | Manages subscriptions | An anonymous account ID and your purchase records from the store |
| Apple App Store and Google Play | Payments, subscriptions, app delivery | Handled under their own privacy policies |
We may also disclose data if the law or a court order requires it.
6. What we don't do
- We don't sell or rent your personal data.
- We don't show ads or share data with advertisers.
- We don't use third-party analytics or tracking tools in the app.
- We don't send marketing email. The only emails you get from us are password-reset emails you request.
7. Where your data is stored
Our servers and the voice recordings are in Google Cloud's Tel Aviv region (Israel). Our database is in Google Cloud's Belgium region (European Union). Speech recognition runs in Speechmatics' European region. Some providers above may process data in the United States or elsewhere, under their own safeguards.
8. How long we keep it
- Voice recordings and their transcripts: 30 days, then deleted automatically.
- Everything else: as long as you have an account.
- When you delete your account (Settings → Delete account), we permanently delete all your data: your account, profile, learning history, conversations, recordings and usage records. Our internal logs keep a record that an action happened, without your name or email.
- Deleting your account does not cancel a store subscription. Cancel it in your App Store or Google Play settings. Your purchase history stays with Apple or Google under their rules.
9. Your rights
You can:
- see and correct your profile in the app;
- delete your recordings, or withdraw your consent to recordings, in the app;
- delete your account in the app;
- ask us for a copy of your data in a common electronic format, or ask us to correct or delete it, by writing to privacy@zanjabeel.ai;
- object to our use of your data to improve the app, by writing to the same address.
We answer within 30 days. Withdrawing consent does not affect what we did with your data before.
You may also complain to the Israeli Privacy Protection Authority, or to the data protection authority where you live.
10. Notifications
If you allow them, we send practice reminders, news about new courses, and one reminder about a day before a free trial turns into a paid subscription. You can turn notifications off at any time in your phone's settings or the app.
11. Storage on your device
The app does not use cookies. It stores a few things on your device: your sign-in session, your language and microphone settings, and the last subscription prices it saw, so screens load quickly. Before you sign in, your answers to the sign-up questions also wait on your device; only your course choice, how you want to be addressed and your year of birth reach us, when you join.
12. Children
Zanjabeel is not meant for children under 13. Before you can sign up, we ask your year of birth. If it shows you are under 13, the app does not let you sign up on that device, and your answer is not sent to us. If someone under 13 still reaches us (for example, with an invite code), we do not create an account, we keep none of their answers, and we delete the sign-in record created when they signed in. We do not knowingly collect data from children under 13. If you believe a child has given us data, write to us and we will delete it.
If you are between 13 and 18, please use Zanjabeel with the permission of a parent or guardian.
13. Security
Data is stored with Google Cloud, encrypted in transit and at rest. Recordings are in a private store that only our server can read. Staff access is limited to what their role needs. No system is completely secure, and we will tell you if a breach affects your data as the law requires.
14. Changes
If we change this policy, we will update the date above, and tell you in the app if the change is significant.
15. Language versions
This policy is also published in Arabic and Hebrew. If the versions differ, the English version applies.
16. Contact
Adi Berenson, privacy@zanjabeel.ai.