Podo Speak
Last updated: October 13, 2026
Effective date: August 10, 2026 Last updated: October 13, 2026
Podo Speak (“the App”, “we”, “us”) is a Korean speaking-practice application published by Awesome Korean. The App listens to you speak Korean sentences, transcribes what you said, and scores how closely it matches the target sentence.
This Privacy Policy explains what data we collect, why we collect it, who we share it with, and how you can access or delete it. It applies to the Podo Speak mobile app.
By using the App you agree to the practices described in this policy. If you do not agree, please do not use the App.
| Data | When collected | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Anonymous account identifier (Firebase UID) | Automatically, the first time you open the App | To save your learning progress and restore it across sessions |
| Email address, display name, sign-in provider (Apple or Google) | Only if you choose to sign in with Apple or Google | To let you keep your progress after reinstalling or changing devices, and to reply to you if you ask us for something (for example, to tell you when new lessons you requested are ready). Your email address is also used for our newsletter, but only if you opt in (section 2.9) |
| Account timestamps | Automatically | Account maintenance and abuse prevention |
| Push notification token | Only if you have allowed notifications | To deliver service messages, such as letting you know when new lessons are published |
You can use the App without providing an email address. In that case your account is anonymous — it is tied to your device installation only, and we have no way to identify you personally.
If you sign in with Apple, you may choose Apple’s “Hide My Email” option. We only ever receive the relay address Apple provides.
We only email you about something you asked us for. We send newsletter or promotional email only if you have opted in (section 2.9), and we never sell your address or share it for anyone else’s marketing.
This is the most sensitive data the App handles, so we describe it in detail.
What happens when you speak:
us-central1 region), which forwards it to a third-party speech-recognition provider for transcription. Our current provider is named in section 4.What we do not do:
Transcripts: When an attempt is scored as incorrect, we log the transcribed text with the target sentence and the error score to our analytics service, so we can find and fix cases where correct speech was marked wrong. These transcripts are your spoken attempts at the practice sentences the App shows you, and are linked to your account identifier.
Microphone permission is required for the App to function. You can revoke it at any time in your device settings; the App will then be unable to evaluate speech.
To show your progress, streaks and daily goal, we store:
This data is stored on your device first and synchronized to our database (Google Cloud Firestore) under your account identifier.
Feedback and survey answers you choose to send. If you tell us what went wrong after a session, or answer the short one-time survey offered when your bonus week ends, we store your choices and anything you type, under your account identifier. We use them only to improve the App (for example, which lessons to add or how to price plans), and they are deleted when you delete your account. Answering is optional; skipping it does not affect anything else in the App other than the extra bonus week offered for answering.
Playback speed, romanization display on/off, and daily reminder on/off and time are stored locally on your device, and reminder preferences are used to schedule notifications.
The App sends two kinds of notifications.
Daily reminders are local notifications scheduled on your device. Deciding when to send them and what they say happens entirely on your device; no reminder content is sent to or from our servers.
Service messages (for example, when new lessons are published, or a one-time notice when your bonus week ends) are sent from our servers through Google Firebase Cloud Messaging. To deliver them, Firebase issues a device push token, which we store with your account ID so we can send a message to your device. The token identifies a device installation, not you personally; it changes when you reinstall the App, and it is deleted along with the rest of your data when you delete your account.
Whether a notification was tapped, and whether a session followed, is recorded as an analytics event (without message content tied to any personal identifier beyond your account ID).
Notification permission is optional, and we request a push token only if you have already allowed notifications. The App works fully without it.
We use Google Firebase Analytics and Firebase Crashlytics to understand how the App performs and to diagnose failures. These collect:
Your anonymous account identifier is attached to these reports so that we can trace a specific problem report back to a specific account’s history.
We use Firebase App Check (Apple App Attest on iOS, Google Play Integrity on Android) to verify that requests to our speech-recognition function come from a genuine, unmodified copy of the App. This produces a device attestation token; it does not identify you.
Subscriptions are sold through the Apple App Store or Google Play Store and managed through RevenueCat, a subscription-management service.
If you sign in with Apple or Google, the App asks whether you would like to receive our email newsletter (Korean speaking tips and news about new lessons). This is off unless you turn it on. You are asked with a separate checkbox or question, never as part of accepting our Terms, and saying no does not affect anything else in the App.
Brevo may record whether an email was delivered, opened or clicked, so that we can see whether the newsletter is useful. We do not use this to build a profile of you or share it with anyone.
We do not collect your name (unless supplied by Apple/Google sign-in), phone number, precise location, contacts, photos, calendar, health data, or advertising identifiers. The App contains no third-party advertising and no advertising trackers. We measure our own App Store ads only through Apple’s attribution information described in section 2.8.
| Purpose | Legal basis |
|---|---|
| Creating an account and saving learning progress | Performance of a contract (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR) |
| Processing voice recordings to score your speech | Performance of a contract; the core feature you requested |
| Sending daily reminders | Consent (Art. 6(1)(a)), which you may withdraw at any time |
| Sending the email newsletter | Consent (Art. 6(1)(a)), which you may withdraw at any time (section 2.9) |
| Analytics, crash reporting, service improvement | Legitimate interests (Art. 6(1)(f)) — operating and improving the App |
| Measuring which of our App Store ads lead to installs and subscriptions (Apple Ads attribution) | Legitimate interests (Art. 6(1)(f)) — understanding whether our advertising works |
| Fraud/abuse prevention (App Check) | Legitimate interests |
| Processing subscriptions | Performance of a contract; legal obligation for tax/accounting records |
We do not process special-category data. We treat voice recordings as sensitive and process them only transiently, as described in section 2.2, and never for biometric identification.
We do not sell your personal information, and we do not share it for cross-context behavioral advertising. We share data only with the service providers required to run the App:
| Provider | Data shared | Purpose | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| Google (Firebase Authentication, Cloud Firestore, Cloud Storage, Cloud Functions, Analytics, Crashlytics, App Check, Cloud Messaging, Remote Config) | Account ID, learning data, settings, analytics events, crash reports, push token, audio in transit | Hosting, authentication, database, analytics, crash reporting, service notifications, remote configuration | United States and other Google regions |
| Speech-recognition provider (currently OpenAI) | Recorded audio for the current prompt only | Speech-to-text transcription | United States |
| RevenueCat | Account ID, purchase/receipt and subscription status; Apple Ads attribution (iOS only — the campaign, ad group and keyword that led to the install) | Subscription management and restore; measuring which of our ads lead to subscriptions | United States |
| Brevo — only if you opt in to the newsletter | Email address | Sending the email newsletter | European Union (France) |
| Apple / Google | Purchase and billing data; sign-in identity if you use their sign-in | Payment processing, authentication | Per their own policies |
We may change these providers as the service evolves. The table above reflects our current providers and will be updated here whenever it changes; if a change materially affects how your data is handled, we will notify you as described in section 10.
We may also disclose information if required by law, valid legal process, or to protect the rights, safety or property of our users or of Awesome Korean.
Privacy policies of our current providers:
Our servers and the services listed above are located primarily in the United States. If you use the App from the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, Korea or elsewhere, your data will be transferred to and processed in the United States. If you opt in to the newsletter, your email address is also processed by Brevo in the European Union. Where required, these transfers rely on the European Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses or an equivalent approved transfer mechanism operated by the relevant provider.
| Data | Retention |
|---|---|
| Voice recordings | Not retained. Processed transiently and deleted; local temp file deleted after evaluation |
| Account and learning data | Until you delete your account |
| Newsletter subscription (email address at Brevo) | Until you unsubscribe or delete your account. Your consent record (opt-in status, time and source) is kept with your account until you delete it |
| Analytics events (in Firebase Analytics) | Per Firebase Analytics retention settings, up to 14 months |
| Analytics events (copied to our BigQuery data warehouse) | Kept for as long as they remain useful for understanding how the App is used and improving it. These records are keyed to your account identifier, not to your name or email, and we delete an individual’s records on request (section 7.2) |
| Crash reports | Up to 90 days |
| Purchase/subscription records | As long as required by tax and accounting law (typically 5 years) |
| Apple Ads attribution information (iOS) | Kept with your subscription record at RevenueCat for as long as that record is kept; we delete it on request (section 7.2) |
In the App: Settings → Delete account. This performs a two-step confirmation and then deletes, in order:
If you had opted in to the newsletter, deleting your profile also removes your email address from our newsletter list at Brevo (section 2.9).
Deletion is permanent and cannot be undone. Note that an active subscription is not cancelled by deleting your account — subscriptions must be cancelled through the App Store or Google Play (see the Terms of Use).
Depending on where you live, you may have the right to access, correct, delete, restrict or object to processing of your personal data, to withdraw consent, to receive a copy of your data in a portable format, and to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority. California residents have the rights to know, delete, correct, and opt out of sale/sharing (we do not sell or share personal information as defined by the CCPA/CPRA), and will not be discriminated against for exercising them.
To exercise any of these rights, email contact@podokorean.com with your User ID (Settings → Account → copy User ID). We respond as soon as we can, and within the time limits required by applicable law.
We protect your data with:
No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.
Podo Speak is not directed to children. You must be at least 13 years old to use the App (16 in the European Economic Area and the United Kingdom, 14 in the Republic of Korea, or the minimum age of digital consent in your jurisdiction, whichever is higher). We do not knowingly collect personal information from children below that age. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, contact contact@podokorean.com and we will delete the account and its data.
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we do, we will change the “Last updated” date at the top and post the revised policy at https://podokorean.com/podospeak/privacy-policy. If the changes materially affect how we handle your data, we will post the revised policy at least 30 days before it takes effect, and will use reasonable efforts to highlight the change — for example, in a notice shown in a new version of the App. Continued use of the App after the effective date constitutes acceptance of the revised policy.
Podo Speak is operated by Awesome Korean.
Personal Information Protection Officer: Jeongwoo Park
Email: contact@podokorean.com
For privacy questions, data access requests, or complaints, please contact us at the email address above. This email is the single point of contact for all privacy matters, including requests to access or delete your data.