Privacy Policy

Last updated: June 2026

LangNation Dictionary ("we," "us," "our," or "Company") is committed to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and otherwise handle your information when you use our mobile application and website (collectively, the "Service").

1. Information We Collect

1.1 Information You Provide Directly

• Account Registration: When you create an account, we collect your email address, full name, and phone number (optional). These details are securely stored in our MySQL database.
• Authentication: If you choose to sign in with Google, we receive your Google account information (email, name, profile picture) through Google Sign-In. We do not store your Google password.
• Password: If you create a password-based account, we store a bcryptjs-hashed version of your password (we never store plain text passwords).

1.2 Information Collected Automatically

• Search History: Every dictionary lookup you perform is automatically saved to our server, including the search query, source language, target language, and results. This helps us provide better suggestions and improve your experience.
• Activity Logs: We automatically log your actions (login, logout, account creation, profile updates) along with your IP address and timestamp for security and analytics purposes.
• Usage Analytics: We track aggregate statistics about app usage, including total lookups, user growth, and feature usage. This data helps us understand how users interact with LangNation Dictionary.
• Device Information: We may collect information about your device type, operating system, browser type, and app version for technical support and improvements.

1.3 Amtsdeutsch Decoder (Document Scanning)

The Amtsdeutsch Decoder helps you understand official German letters (e.g. from the Jobcenter, Ausländerbehörde, Krankenkasse or Finanzamt). Because such letters can contain sensitive personal data (names, addresses, Aktenzeichen), we designed this feature to be privacy-first:

• On-device reading (OCR): When you photograph or upload a letter, the image is converted to text entirely on your own device using in-browser OCR (Tesseract.js). The image of your letter is never uploaded to our servers and never leaves your device.
• You control what is sent: Only the extracted text is sent to our server to be explained, and you can review, edit, or remove any part of it (such as your name or Aktenzeichen) before sending.
• No storage, no logging: The text of your letter is processed in memory only to generate the explanation. We do not store it, do not log it, and do not associate it with your account. It is discarded immediately after the explanation is produced.
• Reusable glossary only: The only things we keep are anonymous, general explanations of common bureaucratic terms (for example what “Mitwirkungspflicht” means) and of standard, template sentences that appear in many letters (for example “Bitte reichen Sie die fehlenden Unterlagen ein.”). Before any sentence is kept, it is automatically checked and is stored only if it contains no personal data — no names, dates, amounts, addresses, postal codes, IBANs or file numbers. Anything personalised is never stored. This lets other users get faster, cheaper answers without exposing anything about you or your letter.
• Consent: You must explicitly acknowledge this data flow before using the feature for the first time.

2. How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect for the following purposes:

• Service Delivery: To provide, maintain, and improve the LangNation Dictionary app and website
• Authentication: To verify your identity and secure your account
• Personalization: To customize your experience and provide personalized search suggestions based on your history
• Communication: To send you account-related emails (password resets, account confirmations, security alerts)
• Analytics: To understand user behavior and improve our service features
• Security: To monitor and prevent unauthorized access, fraud, and abuse
• Legal Compliance: To comply with legal obligations and respond to lawful requests

3. Information Sharing & Disclosure

We do NOT sell, trade, or rent your personal information to third parties.

3.1 Service Providers

We may share limited information with trusted service providers who assist us in operating our website and conducting our business, including:

• Hosting Provider (Hostinger): Your data is hosted on Hostinger's secure servers
• Google: If you use Google Sign-In, your authentication is handled by Google's secure services
• Anthropic: Your dictionary queries, and the letter text you submit to the Amtsdeutsch Decoder, are processed by Anthropic's Claude API to generate translations and explanations. This text is sent only to produce your result and is not stored by us.
• OpenAI: If the Claude service is temporarily unavailable, the same request may be processed by OpenAI's API as a fallback, under the same no-storage handling.

3.2 Legal Requirements

We may disclose your information if required by law or if we believe in good faith that such disclosure is necessary to:

• Comply with legal obligations or court orders
• Enforce our Terms of Service and other agreements
• Protect the safety, rights, and property of LangNation, our users, or the public

4. Data Retention

• Account Information: We retain your account information (email, name, phone) for as long as your account is active. If you delete your account, we remove all personal information within 30 days.
• Search History: Your search history is retained in your account for reference and improvement purposes. You can delete individual searches or clear all history anytime.
• Activity Logs: We retain activity logs for 90 days for security and debugging purposes, after which they are automatically deleted.
• Backup Data: Backups may retain data longer for disaster recovery purposes but are securely deleted according to our backup schedule.

5. Security

We implement industry-standard security measures to protect your information, including:

• Password Hashing: All passwords are hashed using bcryptjs (10 rounds) and never stored in plain text
• SSL/TLS Encryption: All data transmitted between your device and our servers is encrypted using HTTPS
• Database Security: Your MySQL database is protected with strong authentication and firewalls
• JWT Tokens: Session tokens are securely generated and expire after 30 days
• CAPTCHA Protection: We use Google reCAPTCHA v2 to prevent bot attacks during signup
• Admin Access Control: Admin analytics are protected by secret admin keys that require authentication

Note: While we strive to protect your information using reasonable security measures, no method of transmission over the Internet or electronic storage is 100% secure. We cannot guarantee absolute security.

6. Your Rights & Choices

6.1 Access & Control

You have the right to:

• Access your personal information through your user profile
• Update or correct your account information anytime
• View your complete search history
• Delete individual searches or clear all history

6.2 Account Deletion

You can delete your account anytime through your user profile. Upon deletion, we will remove all your personal information, search history, and activity logs within 30 days, except where retention is required by law.

6.3 Marketing Communications

We do not send marketing emails. Any emails you receive from us will be account-related (confirmations, password resets, security alerts).

7. Children's Privacy

LangNation Dictionary is intended for educational use by students and language learners. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13 without parental consent. If we learn that we have collected information from a child under 13 without parental consent, we will delete that information promptly.

For children aged 13-18, parents or guardians may request information about their child's account or request account deletion by contacting us.

8. Third-Party Links

Our Service may contain links to third-party websites and services that are not operated by LangNation. This Privacy Policy does not apply to third-party websites, and we are not responsible for their privacy practices. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of any third-party services before providing your information.

9. International Data Transfers

Your information is stored and processed in data centers operated by Hostinger, which may be located outside your country of residence. By using LangNation Dictionary, you consent to the transfer of your information to countries outside your country of residence, which may have different data protection laws.

10. CCPA & GDPR Compliance

10.1 California Privacy Rights (CCPA)

If you are a California resident, you have the right to:

• Know what personal information is collected, used, and shared
• Access your personal information
• Request deletion of your personal information
• Opt-out of the "sale" of your personal information (we do not sell your data)

10.2 European Data Protection (GDPR)

If you are located in the European Union, you have rights under GDPR including:

• Right to access your data
• Right to rectification (correction) of inaccurate data
• Right to erasure ("right to be forgotten")
• Right to restrict processing
• Right to data portability
• Right to object to processing

To exercise these rights, please contact us at the address below.

11. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, technology, legal requirements, and other factors. We will notify you of any material changes by updating the "Last updated" date at the top of this page. Your continued use of the Service after such modifications constitutes your acceptance of the updated Privacy Policy.

12. Contact Us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy, or if you wish to exercise your privacy rights, please contact us at:

LangNation Dictionary
Email: info.langnation@gmail.com
Website: https://langnation.de
Address: LangNation Language Institute, Berlin, Germany

We will respond to your request within 30 days of receipt.

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This Privacy Policy is effective as of June 2026 and applies to all users of LangNation Dictionary, including students, teachers, and institutional users.