Privacy Policy

Tellback · Last updated: June 13, 2026

This Privacy Policy explains how Tellback ("we", "us", or "our") collects, uses, and protects information when you use the Tellback mobile application (the "App"). By using the App, you agree to the practices described in this policy.

Plain-English summary: Tellback records your voice only for the duration of the analysis, processes it on our servers, and immediately deletes the audio. We never store recordings. We do store the text transcript and your scores so you can see your progress. We do not sell your data and we do not use it for advertising.

1. Who We Are

The App is developed and operated by Tellback. If you have any questions or wish to exercise your data rights, contact us at mindspeak.support@gmail.com.

2. Information We Collect

2.1 Account Identifier

When you first launch the App, we create an anonymous account through Firebase Authentication. This account is identified by a randomly generated user ID. We do not collect your name, email, phone number, or any other personally identifying information at signup. If you later choose to Sign in with Apple (optional, to back up your progress), Apple provides us with a stable, app-specific identifier; you may use Apple's "Hide My Email" feature, and we never receive your Apple password.

2.2 Voice Recordings (Ephemeral)

When you complete a practice session, the App records your speech for 1–2 minutes. This recording is:

Stored only temporarily on your device during the session
Transmitted securely to our analysis service over HTTPS
Processed in memory by our speech-recognition partner (OpenAI Whisper)
Immediately discarded after transcription — never persisted to our storage or any third-party storage

2.3 Transcripts and Analysis Results

After your audio is transcribed, we store the following in our database (Cloud Firestore):

The text transcript of your speech
The article you read
Your overall score and dimension scores (Coherence, Content Recall, Fluency, Vocabulary, Confidence)
AI-generated feedback text
Session duration and timestamp

2.4 App Preferences

Stored locally on your device (not transmitted to our servers): your preferred language, your chosen interest categories, onboarding progress, and appearance mode (light/dark).

2.5 Subscription Status

If you purchase a subscription, we receive an indication that you have an active subscription through our payment processor (RevenueCat, in partnership with Apple). We do not receive or store your payment card details. Apple processes all payments directly under Apple's Privacy Policy.

2.6 Usage & Interaction Data

To understand how people use the App and to improve it, we record a small set of product-interaction events tied to your anonymous user ID — for example, completing onboarding, starting a session, seeing the paywall, and completing or restoring a purchase. These events are stored in our own database (Cloud Firestore) and are used only for first-party product analytics (such as measuring how many users move from the free demo to a subscription). We do not use a third-party advertising or analytics SDK, and these events are never shared with advertisers or data brokers.

3. How We Use Your Information

To transcribe and analyze your speech and provide you with scores and feedback
To maintain a history of your sessions so you can track progress over time
To personalize content (e.g., recommend articles matching your interests)
To verify your subscription status and provide Pro features
To understand product usage through first-party analytics and improve App performance
To debug technical issues

We do not use your voice, transcripts, or scores for advertising, profile-building, or any purpose other than providing the App's features.

4. Third-Party Service Providers

We share limited information with the following service providers strictly to operate the App:

Google / Firebase — provides authentication, database, cloud functions, and hosting. Data is stored in the United States. See Firebase Privacy Policy.
OpenAI — receives audio for transcription via the Whisper API. Audio is processed and discarded; OpenAI does not retain it for training under our API usage. See OpenAI Privacy Policy.
Anthropic and/or Google — to generate your analysis and feedback, the article text and your transcript are sent to a large-language-model provider. We currently use Anthropic's Claude and may use Google's Gemini. In either case the data is processed to produce your results and is not retained for model training. See the Anthropic Privacy Policy and Google Privacy Policy.
RevenueCat — manages subscription entitlements. Receives your anonymous user ID and Apple subscription status. See RevenueCat Privacy Policy.
Apple — processes all subscription payments. We do not see your payment details. See Apple Privacy Policy.

We do not sell or rent your data to any party. We do not share your data with advertisers, and we do not track you across other companies' apps or websites.

5. Data Retention

Voice recordings: Never stored. Discarded immediately after transcription.
Transcripts, scores, session history, usage events: Retained until you request deletion or delete your account and data via the in-app option (see Section 7).
Anonymous account ID: Retained as long as the account exists.

6. Security

We use industry-standard security measures: TLS 1.2+ encryption for all network traffic, Firebase Security Rules restricting database access to the owning user, and Secret Manager for API credentials. Audio is transmitted over HTTPS and never written to disk on our servers.

No system is perfectly secure. We cannot guarantee that unauthorized parties will never circumvent these measures, but we take all reasonable steps to protect your information.

7. Your Rights

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

Access — request a copy of the data we hold about you
Deletion — request that we delete your sessions and account data
Correction — request correction of inaccurate data
Objection — object to certain processing activities
Portability — request data in a portable format

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at mindspeak.support@gmail.com. We respond within 30 days. You may also delete your account and all data directly within the App's Settings.

If you are in the EU/EEA, UK, or Switzerland, you have the right to lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority. If you are a California resident, you have rights under the CCPA and may submit requests via the email above; we do not "sell" personal information as defined by the CCPA.

8. Children's Privacy

Tellback is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect data from anyone under 13. If you believe a child under 13 has used the App, contact us and we will delete the data.

9. International Data Transfers

Our service providers process data primarily in the United States. By using the App, you understand that your data may be transferred to and processed in countries other than your own. We rely on contractual safeguards (Standard Contractual Clauses where applicable) with our processors.

10. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Material changes will be reflected in the "Last updated" date at the top of this page. Significant changes may also be communicated within the App. Continued use of the App after changes take effect constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

11. Contact

For any privacy-related question, request, or concern, email us at:

mindspeak.support@gmail.com
Tellback