Privacy Policy

1. What Itkalam is

Itkalam is a consumer Arabic-learning service that uses AI conversation partners, voice practice, transcripts, and coaching. This policy applies to the Itkalam website, iPhone app, and related services.

We do not sell personal information, use it for third-party advertising, or use cross-app advertising tracking.

2. Information we handle

Guest rooms and an optional first name. You can start a short guest conversation without an account. If you type a first name, it is kept in temporary session storage for that room, bound to a short-lived one-time voice ticket, and removed when you leave. It is not put in the conversation URL, written to persistent browser storage, or added to a guest profile. You can leave the field blank and introduce yourself naturally.

Account information. If you create an account, we collect your email address, authentication identifiers, and any profile information you explicitly choose to save. Current web sign-in supports email/password and Google.

Voice and conversation information. With microphone permission, audio is streamed to the voice service so an AI partner can hear and respond. Speech may be transcribed. Transcripts and conversation context may be processed to provide replies, hints, safety controls, and a debrief. Do not share highly sensitive personal information in open-ended roleplay.

Learning information. We handle settings and evidence-based learning activity such as dialect, persona, scenario, difficulty, completed sessions, transcript-supported repairs, and review items. For signed-in learners, an adaptive learning profile may use this evidence to recommend a next lesson. Itkalam does not present an inferred recommendation as a formal assessment.

Your own practice characters. If you create a practice character inspired by someone you know, everything you enter—the name you call them, their family role, dialect, city or village, warmth, speaking pace, the questions they always ask, a catchphrase, and the synthetic voice—is stored only on your device and is not saved to our servers. When you start a call, the short-lived one-time voice ticket carries only what the AI needs to perform the character: the family role, dialect, optional city or village, warmth, speaking pace, synthetic voice, and any questions or catchphrase you entered. The name you typed is never sent to the AI voice provider. Deleting a character removes it, and what it remembered, from this device.

Optional real-place practice. If you choose a business from a supported map search or type a place name for a rehearsal, Itkalam sends that display label, city, category, and rehearsal role—and, when the map provider supplies one, its provider place identifier—with the short-lived voice-room ticket so the AI can use the place only as a setting or destination. Route origins, coordinates, route geometry, and turn-by-turn steps stay in memory for the open planner and are not added to the voice room or learning record. Itkalam does not request your precise location for this feature or import the map provider's ratings, reviews, hours, inventory, prices, or other learners' conversations. Map searches, directions, and links are also subject to the map provider's own privacy terms.

Diagnostics and usage limits. We may process session timing, latency, readiness, errors, coarse usage counts, and abuse-prevention signals to run the service, enforce free limits, and improve reliability.

Feedback you choose to send. The feedback form collects the category and message you enter, the web platform, and an app version or build identifier when available. By default, feedback is associated only with an anonymous session identifier. If you turn on “Let the team follow up” while signed in, the submission is associated with your account so the team can contact you. We use feedback for support, quality review, and product improvement. The form does not automatically attach your audio, conversation transcript, name, or contact details.

Purchases. Itkalam currently offers limited free use and does not require a web payment card. If iPhone subscriptions are activated later, Apple will process payment information; Itkalam will receive purchase and entitlement status, not your full card number.

3. Family Circle controlled pilot

Shared practice-character setup. If Family Circle is made available to your account, this 13+ feature lets an organizer share a reviewed AI practice-character definition with approved accounts in one circle. We store the character's display name, reviewed relationship role, reviewed dialect, optional compatible city, warmth, speaking pace, and synthetic voice, together with stable record identifiers and bounded creation and update timestamps. We also store circle membership role and status and the timestamps needed to process join, approval, rejection, removal, departure, and deletion actions. We use this information to operate the shared character, authorize each request, and protect the invitation and membership process.

Approved circle accounts can receive the shared structured definition through the authenticated Itkalam service. Supabase stores the circle records. When an approved member starts AI practice, configured voice providers receive the server-selected relationship role, dialect and compatible city, warmth, pace, and synthetic-voice settings needed to perform that character. The organizer-entered display name is for the Itkalam interface only and is not sent to the AI voice provider. Family Circle does not share audio, transcripts, conversation history, persona memories, learning progress, routes, place searches, precise location, contacts, or real-person messages, presence, or calls with other circle accounts.

Invitations. A raw invitation is shown once, expires within 24 hours, can be redeemed only once, and is not retained in raw form. We store a one-way SHA-256 digest plus creation, expiration, consumption, or revocation status and timestamps while the circle exists to prevent reuse and investigate invitation security. The organizer can rotate an invitation, which revokes the prior open invitation.

4. How we use information

We use information to authenticate accounts, operate voice rooms, produce AI responses and transcript-grounded coaching, remember learning progress for signed-in learners, enforce usage allowances, prevent abuse, diagnose failures, provide support, review feedback you explicitly submit, and improve the product.

5. Service providers

We use providers that help operate Itkalam, including Supabase for authentication and data services; configured AI voice and text providers such as OpenAI and Google; hosting and delivery providers such as Render and Netlify; and Apple when iPhone distribution or purchases apply. A provider receives only the information needed for the feature it performs and processes it under its own service terms and our agreements where applicable.

6. Browser and device storage

Guest conversation records, recent debriefs, and review items may be stored locally in your browser or on your device. Local browser data stays on that browser unless a feature explicitly syncs it to a signed-in account. Clearing browser or app storage may remove local learning history.

7. Retention and deletion

A guest first name expires after a short safety window even if a room is abandoned. Voice-ticket metadata expires after roughly 90 seconds and is consumed once. Account and learning data are kept while needed to provide the service, comply with law, prevent abuse, resolve disputes, and maintain security. Retention by an AI or infrastructure provider may also be governed by that provider’s configured service terms.

You may delete your account from the iPhone app where the control is available, or request access, correction, or deletion by emailing support@itkalam.com. We may retain limited records where legally required or necessary for security and fraud prevention.

For Family Circle, an organizer can delete a shared character, remove a member, or delete the circle; a member can leave. Removal or departure blocks future access. A departed, rejected, or removed membership's status and bounded timestamps remain with the active circle for membership security. Deleting the circle removes its memberships, invitation digests and status records, and shared characters from the active Family Circle database. Account deletion removes Family Circle rows tied to that account and, when the account is the organizer, deletes the owned circle and its associated active records. Limited records may still be retained where required by law or necessary for security and fraud prevention.

8. Your choices

You may skip the optional name, practice as a guest within the free allowance, decline or revoke microphone access, clear local browser data, sign out, or ask us to delete a signed-in account. Without microphone access, text features may still work but live voice conversation will not.

9. Age and family use

Itkalam is for people age 13 or older. A parent or guardian should supervise use by a minor and decide whether the service is appropriate. Itkalam is not directed to children under 13, and children under 13 should not create an account or use the service. If you believe we received information from a child under 13, contact us so we can review and delete it as appropriate.

10. Security and international processing

We use safeguards designed to protect information, including authenticated data paths and short-lived voice tickets. No service can promise perfect security. Providers may process data in the United States and other countries where they operate.

11. Changes and contact

We may update this policy as the service changes and will revise the date above. For questions or privacy requests, email support@itkalam.com. See also our Terms of Service.