Privacy Policy

Talvo Last updated: 20 September 2026

Talvo is a language-learning app for macOS. This policy explains what the app collects, what leaves your Mac, and who processes it. It is written to be read, not to be survived.

The short version: Talvo has no accounts and no login. Your lessons, vocabulary and progress live on your Mac. Text and audio you submit for AI help are sent to our server and on to OpenAI to produce a response, and are not stored by us afterwards.

Who we are

Talvo is developed by Muhammad Abdullah. For any question about this policy or your data, email abdullahmuhammadabd4@gmail.com and we will reply.

No account, no sign-in

Talvo does not ask for your name, email address, phone number or date of birth, and there is nothing to sign up for. We cannot identify you, and we hold no profile of you.

What stays on your Mac

Everything you build up as a learner is stored locally on your device and is never uploaded to us:

• Your courses, levels and chosen interests

• Lesson content, your vocabulary deck and its spaced-repetition scheduling

• Your answers, mistakes, accuracy, XP, daily goals and streaks

• Your conversation and translation history

• App settings and preferences

Deleting the app removes this data. We keep no copy and cannot restore it.

The device identifier

On first launch Talvo generates a random identifier (a UUID such as 3f2a9c74-…) and stores it in your macOS Keychain. It is generated by the app, not supplied by Apple. It is not your Apple ID, not your hardware serial number, and is not linked to your name or email.

We send it with each request to our server for two reasons only: to apply the free plan's limits (so the free allowance cannot be reset by reinstalling), and to rate-limit abuse. It is held in server memory for these counts and is not stored in any database.

The first eight characters are included in the footer of support emails so we can match a report to a request. Nothing else identifies you.

What is sent off your Mac, and when

Talvo only contacts our server when you use a feature that needs AI. Nothing is sent in the background, and nothing is sent while you read a lesson or review your deck offline.

Text you submit. When you open a lesson, talk to the AI tutor, translate something, use the Live interpreter, ask a question about a phrase, or have a free-text answer graded, the relevant text is sent to our server and forwarded to OpenAI, which generates the response. This includes what you type and the short conversation context needed for a sensible reply. Please do not enter sensitive personal information into these features — treat them like any online translation tool.

Audio you record. Speaking practice, the Speak tutor and the Live interpreter record from your microphone only while you are actively speaking to them, and only after macOS has asked your permission.

• By default ("Neural listening", on by default in Settings), the recorded clip is sent to our server and transcribed by OpenAI. It is used to produce the transcript and is not retained by us.

• If you turn Neural listening off, or it is unavailable, Talvo uses Apple's built-in speech recognition instead. In that case the audio is handled by Apple under Apple's privacy policy, and may be processed on Apple's servers.

Talvo does not record audio at any other time and has no always-listening mode.

Nothing else. We do not upload your deck, your progress, your streaks or your history.

Who processes your data

Processor

What they receive

Why

Google Firebase (Cloud Functions, App Check)

Requests from the app, including the device identifier; standard server logs

Runs our backend and verifies that requests come from a genuine, unmodified copy of Talvo

OpenAI

The text or audio for the current request

Generates lessons, corrections, translations, conversation and transcription

Apple

Subscription purchase and status; speech audio when Neural listening is off

Payments and, in that mode, speech recognition

Talvo uses Apple's App Attest to prove that requests come from a genuine copy of the app rather than a script. This produces an attestation from Apple's servers; it does not identify you.

We do not sell or share your data, and we do not use it to train any AI model. OpenAI does not use data submitted through its API to train its models.

Payments

Subscriptions are sold and processed entirely by Apple through the App Store. Your payment details never reach us — the app only learns whether an active subscription exists. Manage or cancel a subscription in System Settings ▸ Apple Account ▸ Subscriptions. Refunds are handled by Apple.

No tracking, no ads, no analytics

Talvo contains no advertising, no third-party trackers, no analytics SDK and no crash-reporting SDK. We do not build an advertising profile, and we do not track you across other apps or websites.

How long anything is kept

Your learning data stays on your Mac until you delete it.

Server-side, the request text and audio are used to produce your response and are not written to any database by us. Ordinary operational logs generated by Google Cloud (timestamps, error messages and similar diagnostics) are retained for a short period for reliability and abuse prevention, then deleted automatically. OpenAI retains API data for a limited period for abuse monitoring under its own policy and does not use it for training.

Your rights

Because we hold no account and no profile, there is nothing personal for us to look up, export or correct. You can:

• Delete everything by deleting the app, which removes all local learning data and the stored identifier.

• Stop all data leaving your Mac by not using the AI features; lessons already downloaded, your deck and reviews continue to work offline.

• Turn off neural listening in Settings if you would rather Apple's on-device-capable recognition handled your speech.

• Ask us a question at abdullahmuhammadabd4@gmail.com.

Depending on where you live (for example under the GDPR in the EU/UK, or the CCPA in California), you may have rights to access, correct, delete or object to the processing of personal data. Given how little we hold, most of these are satisfied by deleting the app, but write to us and we will help.

Children

Talvo is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from them. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, contact us and we will delete it.

International transfers

Our backend runs on Google Cloud in the United States, and OpenAI processes requests in the United States. If you use Talvo from outside the US, the text and audio you submit are transferred there for processing.

Changes to this policy

If this policy changes materially we will update the date at the top and, where the change is significant, note it in the app's release notes. Continuing to use Talvo after a change means you accept the updated policy.

Contact

abdullahmuhammadabd4@gmail.com