Thailo Privacy Policy

Effective date: 15 July 2026 Last updated: 16 July 2026

1. Who we are

Thailo ("Thailo," "we," "us," or "our") is a Thai-language learning app for iOS, published by Baustad Digital, a Norwegian sole proprietorship (*enkeltpersonforetak*) based in Norway. This policy explains what information Thailo collects, how it's used, and the choices you have.

This policy covers both the Thailo iOS app and the Thailo website (thailo.app). Most of it concerns the app; the one thing the website collects is a waitlist email address, and only if you choose to give it (see §2.5).

Contact: vebjorn@baustaddigital.no

2. Information we collect

2.1 Information you provide directly

• Onboarding answers: why you're learning (travel / living in Thailand / culture / fun), your track choice (speak-first vs. read-too), your starting level, and your daily goal. Used only to personalize your lesson sequence and pacing; not shared or sold.
• Account/purchase information: if you subscribe or buy the lifetime tier, Apple processes your payment via the App Store; we do not receive or store your payment card details. We receive a purchase/subscription status token via StoreKit to unlock content.
• Support communications: anything you send us directly (email, App Store review replies, etc.).

2.2 Information collected automatically

• Learning progress: lessons completed, quiz scores, streak history, SRS review state, mastery per category. Stored to power your progress, streaks, and the passport/achievements screen. This stays on your device, and, if you are signed in to iCloud, also syncs to your own private iCloud account so your progress survives a lost or replaced phone. It syncs to *your* private iCloud database, not to our servers: we cannot read it, and we receive no copy. You can stop this at any time in iOS Settings → your name → iCloud → Apps using iCloud. We store no learning progress of yours anywhere ourselves.
• Basic diagnostic/crash data: standard iOS crash and performance data, collected via Apple's built-in mechanisms and only if you have opted into sharing it with developers in iOS Settings. We do not use a third-party crash-reporting SDK.
• Product analytics (PostHog): anonymized usage events such as "lesson started," "quiz question answered (right/wrong)," "paywall viewed," and screen views, tied to a random per-install identifier (not your name, email, or Apple ID; we never collect those). We use this to see where learners get stuck or drop off and to improve the app. Events include coarse context (your track choice, daily goal, streak length, premium status) but never the text you type; Practice attempts and Live Challenge reflections are excluded from analytics. Data is processed by PostHog on their EU cloud under their data processing terms.
• Approximate location, derived from your IP address: PostHog resolves the IP address your app connects from to an approximate region (roughly country/city level) so we can see which countries our learners are in. We do not collect GPS or precise device location, and the app never asks for location permission.
• We do not use third-party advertising SDKs or ad trackers. Thailo does not show ads and does not sell your data. (Per the locked GTM decision: organic/ASO-driven, no paid ads; see aso-strategy.md.)

2.3 Practice (AI-graded production attempts)

This is one of only two features where your input leaves the device and goes to a third party, so it gets its own section; the other is speech recognition, in §2.4. (Live Challenges, by contrast, are entirely self-reported and never leave the device; no third party is involved there at all.)

• When your Practice attempt doesn't match a pre-authored accepted answer, the attempt text is transmitted to Anthropic's Claude API for grading: a single-shot request, not a stored conversation.
• We send only what's needed to grade the attempt: the target phrase (English, Thai and romanization), your attempt, whether it was spoken or typed, and which learning track you chose (so feedback is written in romanization if you're on the speak-first track). We do not send your name, onboarding answers, purchase status, or any identifier beyond a random per-install device id used to enforce a daily fair-use cap.
• Anthropic processes this data under its own API terms and privacy commitments; under standard commercial API terms, inputs and outputs are not used to train their models by default. See Anthropic's privacy policy for their current commitments.
• Grading results may be stored locally on your device (so you can review past practice attempts) and, if you report a bug or send feedback, that record may be included in the report.
• This feature is opt-in by use: you choose when to attempt a Practice prompt. Declining to use it doesn't affect access to any other part of the app.

2.4 Speech recognition (the "Say it" button)

The Practice screen lets you say a phrase out loud instead of typing it. This is the second (and last) feature where your input leaves the device.

• When you tap "Say it", your microphone audio is sent to Apple's speech recognition service, which turns it into Thai text and sends that text back to the app. This is Apple's own system service; the audio is processed under Apple's privacy policy, not ours.
• We never receive, store, or transmit the audio itself. Thailo only ever sees the text Apple returns.
• Recording happens only while the "Say it" button is active, and only on the Practice screen. Nothing is captured in the background, and the app never asks for the microphone anywhere else.
• Once transcribed, the text is treated exactly like a typed attempt, including the AI grading described in §2.3, if it doesn't match a pre-authored answer. On the guided read-aloud round that follows a lesson, the text never leaves the device at all: it's checked on-device and no AI call is made.
• You can decline microphone and speech-recognition permission and keep using Practice by typing; nothing else in the app is affected.

2.5 Website waitlist email (thailo.app)

The website is otherwise static and asks nothing of you. The one exception is the waitlist form.

• What we collect: the email address you type into the form, and nothing else. We don't ask for your name, and we don't add hidden fields, cookies, or trackers to the form.
• Why: to email you when Thailo launches on the App Store, and occasionally when there's something genuinely worth telling you about. Nothing else. We do not sell, rent, or share waitlist addresses with anyone for marketing.
• Who processes it: the waitlist is run on Resend (resend.com), an email service provider. Your address is stored in our Resend audience so we can email you at launch. Resend processes it as our provider, under its own privacy policy and data-processing terms.
• Your choice: giving an email is entirely optional; every page of the site is fully usable without it. You can ask us to delete your address at any time by replying to any email we send, or by contacting us (§11), and we will remove it.
• Unsubscribe: every email we send carries a one-click unsubscribe link. Using it removes you immediately, and you can also just reply and ask.

3. How we use information

We use the information above solely to:

• Run the app's core features (lessons, SRS review, streaks, phrasebook, Practice grading)
• Personalize onboarding and pacing
• Process subscriptions/purchases via Apple
• Diagnose crashes and bugs
• Respond to support requests

We do not: sell your data, share it with data brokers, or use it for third-party advertising.

4. Third parties we share data with

We do not otherwise sell, rent, or trade your personal information to third parties.

5. Data retention

• On-device learning progress persists until you delete the app or reset progress in Settings.
• Practice attempt text sent to Anthropic is governed by Anthropic's own retention policy for API data; see their current terms.
• Waitlist email addresses (§2.5) are kept only until the launch announcement has gone out and you've had a fair chance to unsubscribe, or until you ask us to delete yours, whichever comes first. We don't keep a permanent marketing list of people who never became users.
• If we add server-side account storage in the future, this section will be updated with specific retention periods before that feature ships.

6. Your rights and choices

• Access/delete your data: your learning progress lives on your device, so uninstalling the app deletes it. That does not reach the two things held by our providers: the anonymized analytics events at PostHog, and your waitlist address at Resend (if you gave one). To have those removed, email us at vebjorn@baustaddigital.no and we will delete them; every waitlist email also carries a one-click unsubscribe.
• EU/UK users (GDPR): you have the right to access, correct, delete, or export your personal data, and to object to or restrict processing. Contact us at vebjorn@baustaddigital.no to exercise these rights. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with your national supervisory authority (in Norway, Datatilsynet).
• California users (CCPA/CPRA): you have the right to know what personal information is collected, to delete it, and to opt out of its "sale"; we do not sell personal information, so there is nothing to opt out of.
• Notifications: streak reminders and re-engagement notifications are opt-in during onboarding and can be turned off anytime in iOS Settings or in-app.

7. Children's privacy

Thailo is not directed at children under 13 (or the relevant minimum age in your country, e.g. 16 in parts of the EU), and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under that age. The App Store 4+ age rating reflects that the app contains no objectionable content, not that it targets children. If you believe a child has provided us personal information, contact us at vebjorn@baustaddigital.no and we will delete it.

8. International data transfers

We are based in Norway, and PostHog processes our analytics data on its EU cloud. Some of our providers process data in other countries, including the United States, notably Apple (payments), Anthropic (Practice grading, see §2.3) and Resend (the website waitlist). Where data leaves the EEA, we rely on the transfer safeguards those providers offer under their own data processing terms, such as the EU Standard Contractual Clauses.

9. Security

We rely on Apple's platform security (Keychain, sandboxing) for on-device data, and standard TLS encryption for any network calls (StoreKit, our backend, and our backend's call to the Claude API). No method of transmission or storage is 100% secure, but we take reasonable steps appropriate to the sensitivity of the data involved (which, for this app, is limited: no payment details, no government ID, no health data).

10. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as the app evolves (e.g. if cloud sync, social features, or new integrations are added). Material changes will be reflected in the "Last updated" date above, and significant changes will be surfaced in-app.

11. Contact

Questions about this policy or your data: vebjorn@baustaddigital.no

Baustad Digital, a Norwegian sole proprietorship (*enkeltpersonforetak*).