Shinar
Privacy Policy
Shinar ("the app") helps you learn languages by listening to short conversations. It is made by Chris Blesson ("we"). This policy explains what the app collects, why, and the choices you have.
The short version
- You can use Shinar as a guest. Guest progress stays on your phone and is never sent to us.
- If you sign in with Google, we store your name, email, profile photo and learning progress so it syncs across your devices.
- Payments are handled by Google Play. We never see your card or bank details.
- No ads, no advertising trackers, no selling or sharing of your data for marketing.
- You can delete your account and data from inside the app at any time.
What we collect
As a guest: your progress (which scenes you finished and when), test results, settings and your daily streak are saved only on your device.
If you sign in with Google: through Google Sign-In and Firebase Authentication we receive your name, email address, profile photo and an account ID. We store these together with your progress, test results and settings in Google Cloud Firestore so they sync between devices.
If you buy Shinar Pro: Google Play processes the payment. RevenueCat, our subscription provider, receives the purchase receipt and an anonymous app user ID (or your account ID if you are signed in) to confirm what you have access to and to let you restore purchases.
The app does not use your microphone, camera, contacts or location. All lesson audio is bundled with the app. If you share a badge, the image is created on your phone and shared only where you choose.
How we use it
- To sign you in and sync your progress.
- To unlock Pro content you paid for.
- To keep the service working and secure.
Service providers
We rely on Google (Firebase Authentication, Cloud Firestore, Google Play Billing) and RevenueCat. They process data on our behalf under their own privacy and security terms: Google Privacy Policy, RevenueCat Privacy Policy. Data is encrypted in transit.
Keeping and deleting your data
We keep your account data while your account exists. To delete everything, open Settings → Delete account in the app; this removes your Firestore record and your sign-in account immediately. You can also email chrisblesson2598@gmail.com and we will delete it within 30 days. Purchase records may be kept by Google Play and RevenueCat as required for tax and accounting.
This website
shinar.in sets no cookies and runs no tracking or analytics scripts. Our hosting provider, Amazon Web Services, keeps standard access logs for each request: IP address, date and time, the page requested, the referring site (for example a search engine or an AI assistant such as ChatGPT) and your browser type. We use these logs only for security and to count visits and see where visitors come from, in aggregate. They are stored privately in our AWS account in India, never shared or sold, and deleted after 180 days.
Children
Shinar is a general-audience language app and is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children under 13. If you believe a child has signed in, contact us and we will delete the account.
Your rights
You can access, correct or delete your data, or withdraw consent, by contacting us. If you are in India, this includes your rights under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023.
Changes
If this policy changes, we will update the date above and, for significant changes, tell you in the app.