Privacy Policy

Effective date: 22 October 2026

The short version

• Your voice is never stored. It leaves your phone only if you turn on "Check my words on Qissa's server", and then it is checked in memory and thrown away straight after.
• We do not create a voiceprint or any biometric identifier.
• There is no email, no password and no name on our server. Your account is a random number.
• Usage analytics are off unless you turn them on.
• There is no live AI in this version of Qissa.
• We do not sell your data, show ads, or track you across other apps.

Who we are

Qissa ("we", "our", "us") is an app that teaches Urdu to heritage learners. It is run by an independent developer, who is the data controller for the personal data described here. A postal address is available on request.

Contact for anything in this policy: [email protected]

Scope

This policy covers the Qissa iPhone app, the server we run for it, and this website. It does not cover other websites or services we link to.

This website sets no cookies and runs no analytics.

The waitlist. If you join the waitlist on the home page, we keep three things: your email address, which phone you said you use (if you chose one), and the date you joined. Nothing else: no name, no location, no IP address. The list is stored with Cloudflare, Inc., which hosts this website, and is never linked to an account in the app. We use it for one thing: to email you when Qissa launches. Our lawful basis is your consent, given when you join.

If we switch on extra protection against the form being flooded, a one-way code made from your IP address and a secret key (not the address itself) is kept for about an hour, then deleted automatically. It is off unless the form is being abused.

We delete the whole list 12 months after Qissa launches. To be removed sooner, write to [email protected], or use the unsubscribe link in the launch email.

The contact form. If you use the contact form on the home page or the Support page, it sends us your name (only if you give one), your email address and your message, with the time you sent it. Nothing else: no location, no IP address. Cloudflare, Inc., which hosts this website, delivers it as one email to our support mailbox. Nothing from the form is stored on this website. Like any email Cloudflare delivers for us, it leaves a delivery record (the sender and recipient addresses, the subject line and a message ID) that Cloudflare keeps for up to 31 days. The sender and recipient there are our own addresses, and the subject is a fixed line ("Qissa contact form" and the time), so the record holds none of your words. The message is never linked to an account in the app. We use it only to answer you, and keep it as long as we keep any support email (section 4).

1. What we collect and why

1.1 Your voice

On your phone. When you record yourself in a speaking exercise, Qissa uses the microphone to capture that one take. The take is kept in the phone's memory so you can play yourself back, and it is replaced by your next take. It is never written to a file. The microphone is never on in the background.

Without the server switch (the starting setting), your voice never leaves your phone. The app only checks that it heard you speak, by length and loudness, and then you listen back and rate yourself. There is no speech recognition on the phone.

With "Check my words on Qissa's server" turned on (in the app's account settings), a short take may be sent to our own server so it can check whether the words of the line were there. This happens only when the check is available for your account and the line is a short one. What is sent: the take (at most 15 seconds), which lesson line it is, and whether you say that line in the masculine or feminine form.

On our server the take is checked in memory by our own speech software, which runs on our own servers and is not a third-party AI service. Then it is discarded. It is:

• never written to disk, a database, or file storage;
• never kept in our logs, which record only whether a check ran and how many words the line had;
• never used to train or improve any model;
• never used to identify you.

We do not create a voiceprint or any biometric identifier.

You can turn the switch off at any time, and your takes stay on your phone again.

"I said it right." When you tap it, the app notes the time, which line it was, and what the check had said, in a file on your phone. It never contains your voice and is never sent to us.

1.2 Your progress and settings, on your phone

Your progress lives on your phone: the lessons and episodes you have finished, the days you practised, your flashcard review schedule, where you left off, your display name and avatar if you set them, and your settings (for example script mode, your masculine or feminine form, and your notification and analytics choices). The app also keeps a few small markers, such as whether you have finished onboarding and your answer to the age question as a simple yes or no (not your birth date).

None of this is sent to our server. If that ever changes, we will update this policy and ask you first.

1.3 Your account: a random device ID

After you answer the age question, the app creates a random ID and keeps it in your iPhone's Keychain. Apple's iCloud Keychain may sync it to your other Apple devices, and it stays after you delete the app, so a reinstall finds your account and any subscription again without a login. It is not your Apple ID and is not linked to your name or email.

The app uses this ID to sign in to our server only when it needs to: for the words check above, or to delete your account. Our server never stores the ID itself. It stores a one-way, keyed code made from it, so a copy of our database could not be used to sign in as you. A short-lived sign-in token is kept in your Keychain on this device only and is never synced to iCloud.

On our server, your account is: a server account number, that keyed code, and the date the account was made. There is no email, password, name, or phone number.

1.4 Subscriptions and purchases

Purchases are made through Apple. Apple handles your payment, and we never see your card details. Our server keeps whether your account has an active trial or subscription, which plan, its renewal or end date, and a short record of the purchase notices we received.

When our subscription service, RevenueCat, is live in the app, it receives the random device ID from 1.3 as your customer ID, your App Store purchase and transaction details, and the basic technical details its software sends to make purchases work. It uses them to confirm what you have paid for.

1.5 Usage analytics (off unless you turn them on)

"Share anonymous usage" in Settings starts off. While it is off, the app sends nothing to an analytics service, and the analytics software is not even started.

If you turn it on, the app counts how it is used so we can see what helps. It sends only these events:

• screen_viewed, onboarding_step_reached, onboarding_completed, placement_completed, taste_started, taste_completed
• trial_wall_shown, trial_started
• lesson_started, lesson_completed, drill_started, drill_completed, struggle_offer_shown, struggle_offer_accepted
• tour_completed, sign_in_completed

Each event can carry only these details: which screen, onboarding step, context, plan, lesson, or drill; how you signed in; whether a step was skipped; and the recommended starting unit. Every value is a fixed label or a lesson ID, never something you typed. Each event also carries a random analytics ID made by the analytics software (never linked to your account or device ID), the time, an event ID, and the name and version of the analytics library. The app removes the device details the library would normally add, such as phone model, system version, language and time zone.

There is no session recording, no automatic tap or screen capture, no analytics profile of you, and nothing about your voice, your words, or your name.

When the analytics software starts (only after you turn analytics on), it also fetches its own settings from PostHog once. That request carries the app's analytics project key and no event and nothing about you.

Like any server, the analytics service sees the internet (IP) address the event came from and the app's user agent (a short technical line naming the app and system). We have switched off location lookup, so no location is worked out from your IP address.

To turn analytics off: Settings → "Share anonymous usage". Turning it off stops the analytics software and deletes its stored ID and any unsent events from your phone.

Processor: PostHog, Inc. (PostHog Cloud US). See section 3.

1.6 AI

There is no live AI in this version of Qissa. Nothing you say or do is sent to an AI service. If a future version adds an AI feature, it will ask you first, in the app, before that feature is used, and this policy will be updated before it ships.

1.7 Notifications

Qissa's reminders are local notifications, made and scheduled on your phone. They do not come from our server, and we do not send push or marketing notifications. You choose how often in Settings: Daily, A few times a week, or Off. You can also turn them off in iOS Settings at any time.

1.8 When you email us

If you write to support, by email or with the contact form on this website, we receive your email address, your name if you give it, and whatever you choose to tell us, and use it only to reply and help.

1.9 What we do not collect

• Your name, email address or phone number (unless you email us or use the contact form).
• Your location. The app never asks for location permission.
• Contacts, photos, or data from other apps.
• The advertising identifier (IDFA). There are no ads and no advertising networks.
• Any tracking across other companies' apps or websites.

2. Why we use it, and our lawful basis

For people in the UK, the EU and similar places, this is the legal basis for each use.

You can withdraw consent at any time by turning the switch off. That does not affect what happened before.

We do not sell your personal data, share it for advertising, or use it for targeted ads.

3. Who helps us run Qissa

We use only these providers. Each one is bound by contract to protect your data at least as well as this policy does, and to use it only to provide its service to us.

If this list changes, we will update this policy before the change reaches the app.

4. How long we keep it

5. Keeping it safe

• Everything between the app and our server is encrypted (HTTPS).
• The app talks only to our own server. No service keys are inside the app.
• Our server stores only a keyed code made from your device ID, never the ID itself.
• Sign-in tokens are short-lived and stay on your phone.

No system is perfectly secure. If you think something has gone wrong, write to [email protected].

6. Your rights and choices

For everyone

• Delete your account, in the app. Open your Profile, tap Settings, then "Manage subscription", then "Delete account". This removes your account from our server and clears your progress, settings and device ID from your phone. It does not cancel an App Store subscription: do that in your Apple ID settings first. In a version of the app that has no server connection, the same place shows "Clear this phone" instead, which clears everything on the phone. What is deleted and when, step by step: Delete your account.
• Get a copy of your data, in the app. In the same place, tap "Get a copy of my data". The app fetches everything our server holds for your account and gives it to you as a file you can save or share. Most of your data is already on your phone and nowhere else. If you cannot use the app, email [email protected].
• Correct your data. Change your settings in the app, or email us.
• Change your mind. Turn the words check or analytics off at any time in the app.

We answer requests within one month.

UK and EU (UK GDPR and GDPR)

You have the right to access, correct, and erase your data, to restrict or object to how we use it, and to receive it in a portable form. Where we rely on consent, you can withdraw it at any time.

You can complain to the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ico.org.uk) or, in the EU, to your national data protection authority. We would be glad to hear from you first.

Canada (PIPEDA)

You can ask to see the personal information we hold about you and challenge whether it is accurate and complete. You can also challenge how we comply with this policy by writing to us. If we do not resolve it, you can complain to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (priv.gc.ca).

California

You have the right to know, delete, and correct the personal information we hold. We do not sell or share personal information, as those words are used in California law, and we do not use it for cross-context behavioural advertising. We will not treat you differently for using your rights.

7. Age

Qissa is for people 13 and up. It is not directed to children under 13. When you start, the app asks your birth month and year. It does not keep the date. If you are 13 or over, it keeps only that answer. If you are under 13, the app shows a screen saying Qissa is for people 13 and up, collects and sends nothing, and keeps only the month you turn 13 on the phone, so it can ask again then. If we learn that someone under 13 has used Qissa, we delete their data.

If you are under 18 and live in the United States, a parent or guardian must agree to our Terms of Service for you.

8. Where your data is processed

Our server runs in the European Union (Amsterdam, the Netherlands). PostHog (if you turn analytics on), RevenueCat (when live) and Cloudflare (this website, its waitlist and its contact form) are based in the United States. Where your data moves from the UK or the EU to another country, we use the legal safeguards the law provides, such as standard contractual clauses.

9. Changes to this policy

If we change this policy in a way that matters (new data, a new provider, or a longer retention), we will tell you in the app before the change takes effect, and where the law requires it we will ask for your consent. The date at the top shows when this version took effect.

10. Contact

Questions, requests, or complaints: [email protected]