VocabGecko privacy notice
What VocabGecko keeps about parents and children, who handles it, how long it is kept, and how to ask us to change or delete it.
Draft, waiting for a legal review. This notice describes the free beta as it works today. The operator's legal establishment, UK representative requirements and applicable law remain under review.
Who is responsible for your data?
Sergiy Kyrylkov runs VocabGecko as an individual and is responsible for the personal data described in this notice. In data-protection terms, that makes them the controller. You can contact them at hello@vocabgecko.com. We have not appointed a UK data-protection representative. Whether an appointment is required remains under review; we do not claim an exemption.
In this notice, "we" means the individual named above, "you" means the parent or carer who creates an account, and "your child" means a child whose profile you create.
A family can have two parent accounts. If you invite another parent and they accept using their own verified email address, you both have equal access to manage the family's child profiles, words and progress. Each parent has their own sign-in and grown-ups PIN. An invitation does not give access until it is accepted, and other families cannot see your children's details.
What data do we collect?
We keep the details a parent gives us to run an account, the settings and progress for each child profile, the words and sentences a parent adds, and, for the free beta waitlist, an email address with a record of the consent given. We ask for a nickname for each child, and we do not ask for a child's date of birth, home address or school name. The lists below show each item and why we keep it.
Parent account
- The parent's email address. To sign you in, and to email you sign-in codes and links.
- A hashed PIN. The PIN that locks the grown-ups' area. We store a scrambled (hashed) version, not the PIN itself.
- Session records. To keep you signed in: a random token (stored only in scrambled form), which child profile is selected, whether the grown-ups' area is unlocked, a count of wrong PIN attempts, and when the session ends.
- Sign-in code records. Each sign-in code and link is stored in scrambled form, with the email address, when it expires, how many times it was tried and the IP address the request came from. We use the IP address only to limit how many codes can be requested from one place, which stops the sign-in form being used to email strangers. Sign-in records keep the address as it was sent.
- Daily AI-usage counts. How many times a parent has asked for a card or a picture that day, so that we can keep a daily limit.
Child profiles
- A nickname. What your child is called in VocabGecko. A nickname is enough: you don't need to use their real name.
- A time zone. So that "today" and the daily streak match where your child lives.
- Exam dates. The exam dates a parent adds, so that words come back more often in the weeks before an exam.
- The daily new-word setting. How many new words your child is given each day.
Words
- The word list. The words a parent adds for each child, and where each one has got to (waiting for a card, ready to approve, approved or turned down).
- Pasted context sentences. If a parent adds the sentence a word came from, we keep it with that word and send it to the AI to help choose the right meaning (see "Who processes it?"). We ask the AI not to reuse the sentence, and we check that a card does not copy it word for word.
- Cards and pictures. For each word the AI writes a card (a definition, examples, synonyms, opposites and exam-style questions) and draws a picture. These are kept in a shared bank, so another family adding the same word does not need a new card. A shared card holds the word, the card and the picture, and nothing about who added it. Edits and regenerated pictures update the shared card. Changed cards need a parent's approval again before their child sees them.
Answers and progress
- Answers. Each answer your child gives: the word, the kind of question, whether it was right, the rating used to schedule the word, the points earned and when.
- Progress. Points, streaks, the daily totals of answers and sessions, and when each word is next due. We use these to schedule words and to show a parent how their child is getting on.
- Your own practice. If you choose to practise as a parent, we keep your selected words, answers and progress separately from your children's records. Extra-practice answers are recorded separately and do not change the spaced-repetition schedule.
The free beta waitlist
- Waitlist details. The email address (kept in lower case), your child's school year and the exam you are preparing for, which page of this site you joined from, and whether you ticked the box for occasional 11+ vocabulary tips. We use them to email you as beta places open and, if you ticked the box, to send tips.
- A consent record. The exact sentence you agreed to, as it was on the form, and when you joined.
- The IP address you joined from. For an IPv4 address we keep all of it. For an IPv6 address we keep only the first 64 bits (the /64 prefix), which covers a whole network rather than one device. We use it only to limit how many sign-ups can come from one place in an hour.
Who processes it?
Three companies process data on our behalf: Cloudflare hosts VocabGecko and stores its data, OpenAI writes each card and draws its picture, and Amazon Web Services (SES) sends our emails. The list below shows what each one receives. These companies work internationally, so your data may be handled outside the country where you live. The applicable international-transfer arrangements remain part of the legal review.
- Cloudflare runs the website and the app, and holds the database and the picture storage, so it holds everything listed above on our behalf. As the network provider it also sees the IP address of every visit. Our marketing pages may use Cloudflare Web Analytics, which counts visits without cookies.
- OpenAI provides the AI that writes each card and draws its picture. For each word it receives the word, the sentence if a parent added one, and the labels of any meanings of that word already in the shared bank. To draw the picture it receives a short description of the scene, written from the word's meaning. It does not receive an email address, a nickname, a time zone, exam dates, answers or progress.
- Amazon Web Services (SES) sends our emails. It receives the email address and the content of each message: a sign-in code and link, or the waitlist confirmation.
These companies handle data under their own terms and privacy policies. We use no advertising services and no cross-site tracking. The only analytics is the cookieless Cloudflare Web Analytics described above.
How long do we keep it?
We keep data for as long as we need it for the reasons in this notice, and then delete it. The list below gives the period for each kind of data. Two time limits are already built in: a sign-in code stops working after 15 minutes, and a signed-in session stops working after 90 days.
- Account, child profiles, words, answers and progress: kept while the account is open. On a deletion request, we delete your personal data within 30 days of a verified deletion request, subject to any legal requirement to retain particular records. If another parent shares your family, we separate your account deletion from decisions about their account and shared child records, and explain what will be deleted.
- Shared cards and pictures: kept while useful for vocabulary practice, provided they contain no personal data. If personal data is found in a shared card or picture, we remove or correct it rather than treating it as anonymous. We do not intentionally include account details in shared content.
- Waitlist details and consent records: deleted after 12 months from signup, or earlier if you ask to leave.
- Daily AI-usage counts and request metadata: deleted after 12 calendar months. For daily counters, the period runs from the end of the recorded UTC day. Request metadata records the family, provider, model, token counts, outcome and estimated cost. It does not contain the word, pasted sentence, generated content or API credentials.
- Sign-in code and session records, including IP addresses: deleted 30 days after they expire. Signing out deletes the current session immediately.
Automatic cleanup runs every five minutes; an expired record is removed by the next successful cleanup run. Account deletion is handled manually after we verify the request.
What are your rights?
Under the UK GDPR you can ask us for access to your data, ask us to correct it, delete it or restrict how we use it, ask for a copy of it, object to how we use it, and withdraw a consent you gave. To use any of these rights, email hello@vocabgecko.com. A parent can use them on behalf of their child. We may need to check that you are the parent on the account before we act, and the law gives us one month to reply.
If you joined the waitlist and ticked the box for occasional tips, you can withdraw that consent at any time by emailing us. Withdrawing it does not affect anything we did before you withdrew it.
How do I delete my account or leave the waitlist?
Email hello@vocabgecko.com from the address you used, and say which you want. We will delete a waitlist entry or an account on request. There is no button in the app yet to delete an account or leave the waitlist, so for now both are done by email.
- To leave the waitlist, ask us to remove you. We will delete your waitlist entry: your email address, school year, exam, the page you joined from, your tips choice, your consent record and the IP address stored with it.
- To delete an account, ask us to delete it. We delete your account details, personal practice records, sign-in and session records, and applicable daily AI-usage counts within 30 days of a verified request. If the whole family account is closing, we also delete its child profiles, words, answers and progress. If another parent remains, we first explain how shared child records and their account are affected. Shared cards and pictures may remain only if they contain no personal data.
- To delete one word, a parent can already delete a single word from a child's list in the grown-ups' area. The answers already recorded for that word are not removed by this. They are deleted with the account. Its card and picture remain in the shared bank.
How do we protect children's data?
Your child's area has no ads and no trackers, the grown-ups area is PIN-locked, and data is not sold or used for advertising. VocabGecko is for children aged 8 to 11, so a parent or carer creates the account and makes every choice for their child. Children do not have accounts or email addresses of their own.
- A nickname, not a real name. The app asks for a nickname, and you don't need to use your child's real name.
- A PIN-locked grown-ups' area. Adding and approving words and changing settings need the parent's PIN. The PIN is stored hashed, and the area locks for a few minutes after repeated wrong attempts.
- You approve every word. Nothing reaches your child until a parent has approved it, and the AI is told to refuse words and sentences that are not suitable for children.
- No ads and no trackers in your child's area. The only analytics are on the marketing pages, and they use no cookies.
The UK GDPR gives children's personal data extra protection. VocabGecko is likely to be used by children in the UK, so the Age Appropriate Design Code (the Children's Code), published by the Information Commissioner's Office, applies to it. The Code asks online services to collect only the data they need, to give children a high level of privacy by default, and not to use their data in ways that harm them. This draft sets out how VocabGecko works today, and the legal review will check it against the Code.
Which law applies, and who can I complain to?
UK data-protection law, the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018, applies to the data of families in the UK. If you have a question or a complaint, please email us first at hello@vocabgecko.com. You can also complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK data-protection regulator. Other data-protection laws may also apply depending on the circumstances. This notice does not restrict your rights or your ability to contact a competent regulator.
See also our terms of use, the questions parents ask and the free beta waitlist.