4Buddy Privacy Policy

Last updated: July 3, 2026

4Buddy ("we", "us") is a language-practice app by 4English Tech. This policy describes what we collect, why, and how you can delete it.

What we collect

• Account data: your email address and display name, provided by the sign-in provider you choose (Google or Apple).
• Profile data (Find Buddy): the display name, photo, bio, interests, gender, birth date, and languages you enter to be matched with practice partners. Your birth date is never shown to other users.
• Voice audio: what you say during practice sessions is streamed to third-party AI speech providers (such as Google, OpenAI, and DeepSeek) to power the conversation, transcription, and feedback. Short audio samples of your speech are stored to score your pronunciation.
• Chat messages: text messages you exchange with practice partners are stored so both of you can read your conversation history.
• Learning data: session transcripts, scores, saved words, and progress.
• Subscription data: purchase state from the App Store / Google Play to unlock Pro features. We never see your payment details.
• Usage & analytics data: anonymous, aggregated usage events (screens viewed, features used, session counts) collected via Google Analytics for Firebase to understand how the app is used and improve it. This is first-party analytics — it is not linked to advertising, we do not use the advertising identifier (IDFA/AAID), and it is not shared with other companies for cross-app tracking.

How we use it

Solely to provide the app: running voice lessons, generating feedback, matching you with practice partners, delivering messages, tracking your progress, and managing your subscription. We do not sell your data or use it for third-party advertising.

Third-party processing

Voice audio and lesson text are processed by AI providers (Google, OpenAI, DeepSeek) to generate conversation and feedback. Live calls are carried by LiveKit. Media (profile photos, audio samples) is stored on Cloudflare R2. Authentication is provided by Firebase Authentication, and usage analytics by Google Analytics for Firebase.

Retention and deletion

Your data is kept while your account exists. You can delete your account at any time in Settings → Account → Delete account. Deletion is immediate and permanent: your profile, lessons, progress, saved words, voice samples, and photos are erased. Messages you sent to practice partners remain in their conversation history, attributed to "Deleted user". Reports filed for safety reasons are retained in anonymized form.

Children

4Buddy is not directed at children under 13 (or the minimum age in your country), and we do not knowingly collect data from them.

Contact

Questions or requests: [email protected]