Hey Japan — Privacy Policy

Last updated: July 11, 2026

Developer: Sapo Inc.

1. INTRODUCTION

This Privacy Policy explains how Hey Japan ("the app", "we") handles your

information. Hey Japan is a beginner-friendly Japanese-learning app

(kana, kanji, vocabulary, conversations and JLPT practice) designed to

work offline first.

You can use Hey Japan's core learning features without an account.

Creating an account is OPTIONAL and is only required for JLPT exam

practice, conversation lessons, cross-device progress sync, and restoring

Premium purchases. We collect the minimum information needed to run these

features, and we never sell your data.

2. INFORMATION WE COLLECT

Account Information (optional).

When you choose to create a Hey Japan account, we collect:

- Email address — used as your sign-in identifier and for account support.

- Display name (optional) — shown inside the app.

- Password — never stored in plain text. Passwords are salted and hashed

  with PBKDF2-SHA256 (100,000 iterations) before storage.

Data linked to your account.

If you sign in, the following is stored on our servers so it can be

restored on any device:

- A snapshot of your basic study progress (XP, streak, completed lessons

  and learning goals).

- Purchase records (product ID and store transaction ID only — we never

  see your payment details; payments are processed entirely by Google Play

  or the Apple App Store).

- Daily usage counters used to enforce fair-use limits on free online

  exam practice.

Account data is stored on Cloudflare's global infrastructure (Cloudflare

Workers and D1) and is transmitted exclusively over HTTPS/TLS. Hey Japan

accounts are completely separate from any other app's accounts. We do not

sell or share account data with third parties, and we do not send

marketing emails.

Information stored only on your device (no account needed).

- Language preference, learning goal and daily-goal settings.

- Study progress, spaced-repetition review history, and quiz results.

- Premium status cache.

This local data never leaves your device unless you sign in and enable

sync, and it is removed when you uninstall the app.

Information collected automatically (via third-party services).

- App usage analytics: screens viewed, features used, session duration.

- Device information: device model, OS version, app version, crash logs.

- Advertising identifier (for ad personalization for free users).

3. THIRD-PARTY SERVICES

The app uses the following third-party services, each governed by its own

privacy policy:

- Google Firebase (Analytics, Cloud Messaging, Remote Config) —

  https://firebase.google.com/support/privacy

- Google AdMob (advertising for free users) —

  https://policies.google.com/privacy

- Google Play Billing / Apple In-App Purchase (payments) — handled entirely

  by Google/Apple; we never receive your card or bank details.

- Cloudflare (account, sync and content servers) —

  https://www.cloudflare.com/privacypolicy/

We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information to any third

party.

4. ADVERTISING

Free users may see ads served by Google AdMob (banner ads and occasional

interstitial ads between lessons).

On iOS, the app asks for tracking permission via Apple's App Tracking

Transparency prompt before any ad personalization; if you decline, ads are

still shown but are not personalized.

You can opt out of ad personalization at any time:

- Android: Settings → Google → Ads → Opt out of Ads Personalization.

- iOS: Settings → Privacy & Security → Tracking / Apple Advertising.

Premium users do not see ads.

5. IN-APP PURCHASES

Hello Japan offers optional Premium upgrades (6-month and 12-month

subscriptions and a one-time Lifetime purchase). All payments are

processed by Google Play or the Apple App Store. We only receive the

product ID and a store transaction identifier to unlock Premium and, if

you have an account, to restore Premium across your devices. We never see

your payment method, card number or billing address.

6. MICROPHONE AND SPEAKING PRACTICE

Speaking exercises use your device's microphone and the on-device speech

recognition provided by your operating system to check your Japanese

pronunciation. Audio is processed for recognition only; we do not record,

store or upload your voice. You can deny microphone permission and skip

speaking exercises entirely.

7. PUSH NOTIFICATIONS

With your permission, the app sends local study reminders (e.g. daily

streak reminders) and occasional service messages via Firebase Cloud

Messaging. You can turn notifications off at any time in the app settings

or your device settings.

8. OFFLINE AND ON-DEMAND LEARNING CONTENT

Core lessons, audio and stroke-order data are bundled with the app and

work fully offline. The JLPT exam question bank is downloaded from our

content servers when you first open exam practice. These downloads are

anonymous content requests; standard technical logs (IP address,

timestamp) may be processed briefly by the hosting provider (Cloudflare)

to deliver the files.

9. CHILDREN'S PRIVACY

Hello Japan is not directed at children under 13 and we do not knowingly

collect personal information from children under 13. Accounts are

optional; if you believe a child has created an account, contact us and we

will delete it.

10. DATA SECURITY

We take reasonable measures to protect your information:

- All communication with our servers uses TLS encryption.

- Passwords are stored only as salted PBKDF2-SHA256 hashes and cannot be

  recovered by us — not even by our staff.

- Server-side data is limited to the minimum described in Section 2.

No method of transmission or storage is 100% secure, but we design the app

so that the most sensitive data (your payment details) never reaches us at

all.

11. YOUR RIGHTS AND CHOICES

You can, at any time:

- Use the app's core learning features entirely offline without an

  account.

- Access and review your account data (shown in Profile → Account).

- Sign out on any device.

Account Deletion.

You can permanently delete your account at any time directly in the app:

Profile (tap the header) → Account → Delete Account. Deletion is immediate

and irreversible: your email, name, password hash, synced study progress,

usage counters and purchase records are permanently erased from our

servers. Locally stored study data on your device is unaffected and can be

removed by uninstalling the app.

You may also request account deletion or a copy of your data by emailing

us at the address in Section 13; we respond within 30 days.

12. CHANGES TO THIS POLICY

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Material changes will

be reflected on this page with an updated "Last updated" date. Continued

use of the app after changes means you accept the updated policy.

13. CONTACT US

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, your data, or account

deletion, contact us at:

Email: tuantran10102007@gmail.com

Sapo Inc.