Privacy Policy

1. Scope

The Services are intended for users in Canada and the United States. We do not intentionally market or offer the Services in other countries.

2. Children Under 13

Children under 13 may use the Services only through a parent or legal guardian. A parent or legal guardian must create the account using their own email address, review our information practices, and complete the parental-consent process before we collect the child’s personal information or submit a child’s recording for pronunciation assessment.

For child users under 13, we collect only the information needed to provide the Services. Parents or guardians may request access to, deletion of, or correction of the child’s information and may revoke consent.

3. Information We Collect

• Account information, such as email address, display name, account type, and plan.
• Parent or guardian contact information and parental-consent verification records for parent-managed child accounts.
• Audio recordings you submit for pronunciation analysis, practice, or quizzes.
• The word, phrase, or other prompt you ask us to assess with a recording.
• User content, such as words, prompts, transcripts, and related inputs.
• Results and progress data, such as practice history, quiz results, pronunciation analysis, and derived feedback.
• Device, browser, and session information, such as IP address, browser type, approximate location derived from IP, timestamps, error logs, and security/session logs.
• Payment and billing information if paid subscriptions are enabled. Payment card details are generally processed by Stripe, not stored directly by us.

4. How We Use Information

• Create and manage accounts.
• Provide automated pronunciation analysis, coaching, progress tracking, and related features.
• Process and respond to user actions such as recordings and quizzes.
• Maintain security, prevent fraud or abuse, and troubleshoot technical issues.
• Communicate with users and parents or guardians about accounts, support, and service changes.
• Process subscriptions and billing, if applicable.
• Use anonymized derived analysis results and product-usage data to improve the Services.
• Use retained raw audio recordings solely for system improvement, subject to the limits described below. We do not use raw audio or other data from under-13 accounts for training, tuning, or product improvement.
• Comply with legal obligations.

5. Audio Recordings

Raw audio recordings are kept temporarily for processing, service delivery, security, support, and, where permitted, system improvement. Articulics retains recordings in a secure private archive for no more than 90 days, after which they are deleted.

When you request automated pronunciation feedback or a sound-part check, we send the recording and the word or prompt needed to assess it to SpeechAce. We do not send your name, email address, account identifier, or a user-derived file name to SpeechAce.

SpeechAce retains submitted audio and associated request data for up to 90 days under its standard API retention policy, then deletes it automatically. Its retention is separate from the retention of Articulics systems.

We do not sell audio recordings to third parties.

We may use anonymized analysis results and product-usage data to improve the Services.

We do not use recordings or other data from under-13 accounts for training, tuning, or product improvement.

6. Derived Analysis and History

Pronunciation analysis results, progress history, quiz results, and related derived data may be kept until the account is deleted, unless a shorter retention period is adopted later.

7. When We Share Information

We do not sell personal information.

We share information with service providers that help us operate the Services: SpeechAce for automated pronunciation assessment; Supabase for authentication, database, and related infrastructure; Google for Cloud Run, Cloud Storage, Text-to-Speech, and OAuth sign-in; Vercel for web hosting; Cloudflare for security and DNS; Stripe for subscription billing and payment processing; and Resend for account emails.

SpeechAce receives only the audio and word or prompt necessary to assess pronunciation. It does not receive account names, email addresses, or account identifiers from Articulics. Google Text-to-Speech receives text needed to create model-pronunciation audio; it does not receive learner recordings.

We may also disclose information if required by law, legal process, or regulatory request; to protect rights, safety, security, or prevent fraud; or in connection with a merger, acquisition, financing, or sale of assets.

8. No Ads, No Sale, No Analytics

We do not sell personal information. We do not serve third-party advertising. We do not use third-party analytics tools at launch.

9. Cookies

We use essential cookies to keep you signed in, protect your account, and operate the Services. We do not use advertising or third-party analytics cookies at launch. If we introduce non-essential cookies or similar tracking technologies, we will ask for consent before using them where required by law.

10. Retention

We retain personal information only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy, unless a longer period is required or permitted by law.

• Account data is kept until account deletion.
• Raw audio in Articulics systems is retained in a secure private archive for up to 90 days for service delivery, security, support, and, where permitted, system improvement, then deleted. Recordings from under-13 accounts are excluded from product improvement.
• SpeechAce retains the audio and associated request data sent for assessment for up to 90 days under its standard API retention policy, then deletes it automatically. Because SpeechAce stores data without account identifiers, it cannot locate or delete one individual’s submission before that retention period ends.
• Derived results may be kept until account deletion.
• Parental-consent verification records, including a signed consent form when that verification option is used, may be retained as needed to document consent and meet legal obligations. Billing, tax, accounting, legal, fraud-prevention, and security records may be retained as required by law or operational necessity.
• Deleted data may remain in secure backups for a limited period before final deletion.

11. Your Rights

Depending on your circumstances, you or a parent or guardian may request access to personal information, correction of personal information, deletion of Articulics recordings, history, or the account, and revocation of parental consent for a child account.

A request to delete does not allow us to remove an individual SpeechAce submission before SpeechAce’s automated 90-day retention period ends, because it does not receive or store our account identifiers. We will stop submitting new recordings for a deleted account.

We will process requests as promptly as reasonably practicable, subject to legal, security, backup, fraud-prevention, and recordkeeping obligations.

12. Security

We use reasonable administrative, technical, and organizational measures to protect personal information, including safeguards designed to protect data during transmission and storage. However, no system is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

13. Cross-Border Processing

Although Articulics is based in British Columbia, Canada, our service providers may process or store information in other jurisdictions, including the United States. As a result, personal information may be subject to the laws of those jurisdictions.

14. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. If we make material changes, we will post the updated version with a new Last updated date and may provide additional notice where appropriate.

15. Contact Us

If you have questions, requests, or concerns about this Privacy Policy or our privacy practices, contact us at Articulics using the email below.