The short version
- We collect what the app needs to run your account and keep your progress safe: your email address, your learning progress and basic technical data.
- The app is free because it shows a few Google AdMob banner ads. In the EU, UK and Switzerland, Google only uses personal data for ads if you agree, and you can change your mind at any time.
- We never sell your data.
- You can delete your account and all your progress from inside the app at any time.
- We delete accounts that are unused for two years, after emailing you first.
1. Who we are
Finally French (the iPhone and Android app, and this website) is made by William Newell, based in France. In this policy, “we” and “us” mean William Newell, the data controller responsible for your information.
Questions or requests about your data: support@finallylearnfrench.com.
2. What we collect
Your account
- Email address, and your password if you sign up with email. Passwords are stored only in a scrambled (hashed) form that nobody can read.
- If you use Sign in with Apple or Sign in with Google: the email address and name they share with us. Apple lets you hide your real email address.
Your learning
- Lessons you have completed and your scores, your review cards and when each one is due, your review history, your daily goal and the days you practised.
- The last time the app synced, so we know the account is still in use.
Your lessons and progress live on your phone first. They are copied to our servers so they are backed up and appear on all your devices.
Advertising data (Google AdMob)
Google collects some information when the app shows an ad. Section 4 explains this in full.
Technical data
- Our servers record your IP address, the time and the type of request in short-lived security logs.
- When the app checks for updates, it sends its version number and your phone’s operating system, so it gets the right update.
What we don’t collect
The app does not use your microphone, camera, contacts or precise location, and it contains no analytics or tracking tools of our own. The French audio is spoken by your phone’s built-in voice, on your phone. Nothing you hear is sent anywhere.
3. Why we use it, and our legal basis
| What we do | Legal basis (GDPR) |
|---|---|
| Create and run your account, sync your progress, send sign-up and password reset codes | Performing our agreement with you (the terms of use) |
| Keep the service secure, prevent abuse, and email you before deleting an unused account | Our legitimate interests |
| Show ads that use personal data (personalised ads, and storing or reading information on your device for ads) | Your consent, where the law requires it |
| Show limited or contextual ads without consent, measure and protect ads against fraud | Legitimate interests (Google’s and ours) |
| Respond to legal requests and keep records the law requires | Legal obligation |
4. Advertising with Google AdMob
Finally French is free for everyone and paid for by a small number of banner ads from Google AdMob, a service of Google Ireland Limited and Google LLC. Ads appear at the bottom of some browsing screens and the lesson-complete screen, never during a lesson or review. We ask Google to show only ads suitable for general audiences, and we block gambling, dating and political ads.
When an ad is shown, Google may collect your device’s advertising identifier (where you allow it), your IP address (to estimate your general location), information about your device and the app, and how you interact with ads. Google uses this to choose, show and measure ads, to limit how often you see the same ad and to detect fraud. Google acts as an independent controller for this data.
Your choices
- In the EU, EEA, UK and Switzerland, the app asks for your consent the first time it opens, using Google’s consent form. If you don’t agree, Google can still show non-personalised or limited ads, which use less data. To change your choice at any time, open the You tab and tap Ad privacy choices.
- On iPhone, the app doesn’t ask for permission to track you across other companies’ apps, so Google doesn’t receive your iPhone’s advertising identifier.
- On Android, you can reset or delete your advertising ID in your phone’s settings, under Privacy > Ads or Google > Ads.
Read more in how Google uses information from apps that use its services and Google’s privacy policy.
5. Who we share it with
We never sell your personal data. We share it only with the companies that run parts of Finally French for us, under contracts that require them to protect it:
- Supabase: our database and sign-in service. It stores your account and progress in the United States (US East, Virginia).
- Resend: sends our emails, such as sign-up codes (United States).
- Expo: delivers app updates (United States).
- Hostinger: hosts this website.
- Apple and Google: if you use their sign-in, and as the app stores you download the app from.
- Google AdMob: shows ads, as described in section 4.
We may also disclose information if the law requires it, or to protect the rights and safety of our users or ourselves.
6. Transfers outside Europe
Our database (Supabase) and several of these companies are in the United States, so your data is transferred outside Europe. These transfers are protected by the EU–US Data Privacy Framework or by the European Commission’s standard contractual clauses, which require the same level of protection as in Europe.
7. How long we keep your data
- While you use Finally French, we keep your account and progress.
- If you delete your account (in the app, under You > Delete account), your account and all your progress are deleted from our servers straight away. Copies in our backups disappear within 30 days.
- Unused accounts: if you haven’t used the app for two years, we delete your account and progress. We email you 30 days beforehand, and opening the app is enough to keep it.
- Accounts never used: if you sign up but never finish a lesson, we delete the account after 90 days, with an email 30 days beforehand.
- Unconfirmed sign-ups, where the email address was never confirmed, are deleted after 30 days.
- Review history older than one year is deleted. Your progress and review schedule are kept.
- Security logs are kept for a short time, normally a few days.
Data held by Google for advertising is kept according to Google’s own policies.
8. Your rights
Under data protection law (including the GDPR) you can ask us to:
- give you a copy of your data, or send it to you in a portable format,
- correct data that is wrong,
- delete your data (you can also do this yourself in the app),
- restrict or object to how we use it,
- withdraw your consent at any time (for ads, through Ad privacy choices).
Email support@finallylearnfrench.com and we’ll reply within one month. If you are not satisfied, you can complain to the French data protection authority, the CNIL, or the authority where you live.
9. Age
Finally French is made for adults. You must be at least 16 to create an account. We do not knowingly collect data from children under 16. If you believe a child has created an account, email us and we will delete it.
10. Security
Data travels over encrypted connections, and each learner’s data is locked so only their own account can read it. No system is perfectly secure, but we work to protect your information. If a breach ever puts your data at risk, we will tell you and the authorities as the law requires.
11. This website
finallylearnfrench.com uses no cookies, no analytics and no ads. Our host, Hostinger, keeps standard server logs (such as IP addresses) for security.
12. Changes to this policy
If we change this policy, we’ll update the date at the top. If a change is significant, we’ll tell you in the app or by email before it takes effect.
13. Contact
William Newell, Finally French, France. Email: support@finallylearnfrench.com.