Privacy policy

1. Who we are

Vernac is an AI-powered vocabulary learning application developed and operated by Pureheart Moluno ("we", "us", or "our"). If you have questions about this policy, contact us at contact@pmoluno.com.

2. What this policy covers

This policy describes how we collect, use, store, and share information when you use the Vernac mobile application (iOS and Android) and any related services, including our website at vernac.app. By using Vernac, you agree to the practices described here.

3. Information we collect

3.1 Information you provide

• Account details: email address and password when you create an account.
• Profile data: age range, occupation, interests, vocabulary goals, and learning preferences you share during onboarding or in settings.
• User-generated content: sentences you write in the "use it in a sentence" practice mode and responses you post to the Word of the Day community feature.
• Communications: messages you send to us via email or in-app support.

Any name or display name you set within the app exists solely on your device and is not transmitted to or stored on our servers. We do not collect your real name.

3.2 Information collected automatically

• Usage data: words viewed, swipe directions, practice results, session length, and in-app actions (saved words, collections, shares).
• Device information: device model, operating system version, app version, locale, and time zone.
• Identifiers: we use app-generated IDs (created at install time by the Vernac app) and service-generated IDs (assigned by third-party services such as Expo and PostHog) to identify a device session. We do not collect hardware identifiers such as IMEI numbers, MAC addresses, or device serial numbers.
• Notification data: whether notifications were delivered and opened.
• Crash and performance data: error logs, stack traces, and performance metrics.

3.3 Information from third parties

• Payment providers: subscription status and transaction identifiers (we never see your full payment card details — these are handled by Apple App Store or Google Play).
• Referrals: if you arrive via a referral link, we receive the referrer's identifier.

4. How we use your information

• To operate and deliver the Vernac service, including your personalised word feed, spaced repetition schedule, and practice sessions.
• To power AI personalisation — your profile data (occupation, interests, goals, vocabulary level) is used to prompt our AI system to generate contextually relevant example sentences and to rank words for your queue. This data is sent to our AI providers under data processing agreements.
• To send push notifications and schedule word delivery according to your preferences.
• To process subscription payments and manage your account status via RevenueCat.
• To improve the app through aggregated analytics and crash reporting.
• To detect and prevent fraud, abuse, and policy violations.
• To respond to your support requests.
• To comply with legal obligations.

We do not sell your personal data to third parties for their own marketing purposes.

5. AI processing

Vernac uses large language models (primarily Anthropic Claude and OpenAI GPT) to generate personalised example sentences and context hooks for vocabulary words. When generating content for you, a limited subset of your profile data (occupation, interests, vocabulary level, and learning goal) may be included in prompts sent to these providers. We do not send your name, email address, or payment information to AI providers.

AI providers process this data under their own privacy policies and under data processing agreements with us. We retain AI-generated content in our database associated with your account.

If you submit a sentence in the "use it in a sentence" feature, that sentence is sent to the AI provider for grading. User-submitted sentences are not used to train third-party AI models unless you explicitly opt in to a research programme.

6. Third-party services

We use the following third-party services that may process your data:

• RevenueCat — subscription management and in-app purchase tracking.
• Anthropic — AI content generation (Claude models).
• OpenAI — AI content generation (GPT models) and text embeddings.
• ElevenLabs — text-to-speech audio generation for word pronunciations.
• PostHog — product analytics (self-hosted or cloud; events are pseudonymous).
• Sentry — crash and error reporting.
• Expo / EAS — over-the-air app updates and push notification delivery.
• Cloudflare — CDN and DNS.

Each provider is bound by their own privacy policy and, where required, a data processing agreement with us.

7. Data retention

We retain your account and profile data for as long as your account is active. Usage and activity data is retained for up to 24 months for personalisation and analytics purposes, then aggregated or deleted. Crash logs are retained for 90 days. If you delete your account, we delete your personal data within 30 days, except where we are required to retain it by law (e.g. financial records related to purchases).

8. Children

Vernac is not directed at children under 13 (or under 16 in the European Economic Area). We do not knowingly collect personal data from children under these ages. If we learn that we have done so, we will delete the data promptly. Certain content categories within the app (mature language, relationships) are gated behind an age verification step requiring users to confirm they are 18 or older before accessing that content.

9. Your rights

Depending on where you live, you may have the following rights:

• Access: request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
• Correction: ask us to correct inaccurate data.
• Deletion: request that we delete your account and associated data.
• Portability: receive your data in a machine-readable format.
• Restriction / objection: ask us to restrict or stop certain processing.
• Withdraw consent: where processing is based on consent (e.g. marketing emails), you may withdraw at any time.

To exercise any of these rights, email us at contact@pmoluno.com. We will respond within 30 days. You can delete your account directly from the app in Settings → Account → Delete account.

California residents (CCPA)

California residents have additional rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act, including the right to know what personal information is collected, the right to delete it, and the right to opt out of its sale. We do not sell personal information. To submit a CCPA request, email us at the address above.

EEA and UK residents (GDPR / UK GDPR)

Our legal bases for processing are: performance of a contract (operating your account and delivering the service), legitimate interests (analytics, fraud prevention, product improvement), and consent (marketing communications). You have the right to lodge a complaint with your local supervisory authority.

10. Security

We implement reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect your data, including TLS encryption in transit, encrypted storage for credentials, and rate limiting on our APIs. No system is completely secure. If you discover a security issue, please report it to contact@pmoluno.com.

11. International transfers

Vernac operates globally. Your data may be transferred to and processed in countries outside your own, including the United States, where our infrastructure and some of our service providers are based. Where required, we rely on standard contractual clauses or other approved transfer mechanisms to protect your data.

12. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. When we make material changes, we will notify you via email or in-app notification at least 14 days before the changes take effect, and update the effective date at the top of this page. Continued use of Vernac after the effective date constitutes acceptance of the revised policy.

13. Contact

Questions, requests, or concerns? Email us at contact@pmoluno.com.