Privacy policy
Last updated 3 October 2026
In short: Isma has no accounts, no ads and no tracking. Your learning progress lives on your phone, with a backup tied to a random ID rather than to your name or email. Payments are handled by Apple or Google. We never sell your data.
Who we are
Isma is an app for learning Arabic, operated by Isma (“we”, “us”). We are the data controller for the information described here. Questions, requests and complaints go to rawaz@theisma.app.
What we collect, and why
| What | Why | Where it’s kept |
|---|---|---|
| Your learning progress: the words you save and how your reviews went, which clips you’ve watched, your daily activity, your settings, and your onboarding answers (which Arabic you’re learning, how much you know, minutes a day). | To run the app, and to restore your progress if you reinstall. | On your phone, and backed up to our database (Supabase, servers in London, UK). |
| Why you’re learning Arabic (an onboarding answer such as “Travel” or “Faith”). | To shape your experience. | On your phone only. It is never sent to our servers. |
| A random backup ID, created when you first open the app. It isn’t linked to your name, email or phone number. | To know which backup is yours. | Our database, and securely on your phone. |
| Subscription details: which plan you have, trial and renewal dates, and an anonymous customer ID. | To give subscribers access and let you restore a purchase. | Apple or Google, and RevenueCat, which manages subscriptions for us. |
| Technical data: your IP address, device type, operating system and app version, sent automatically when the app talks to a server. | To deliver content and app updates, and to keep the service secure. | Logs kept by our providers for short periods. |
We don’t collect your name, email address, contacts, location, photos or microphone audio. We don’t run ads, use advertising IDs or track you across other apps and websites. Pronunciation is spoken by your phone’s own text-to-speech, on the device.
Videos from YouTube
Clips play in YouTube’s official embedded player. When a clip plays, YouTube (Google) receives information such as your IP address and device details, and may use cookies or similar technology, as described in the Google Privacy Policy. YouTube’s Terms of Service apply to the videos themselves.
Who we share it with
Only the providers who run the service for us, each bound to use the data only for that:
- Supabase: our database and the anonymous sign-in behind your backup (London, UK).
- RevenueCat: subscription management (United States).
- Apple and Google: payments, and the app stores you download Isma from.
- Expo (650 Industries): delivers app updates (United States).
- YouTube (Google): plays the video clips.
Where data goes outside the UK, it is protected by the safeguards UK law requires, such as the UK’s adequacy regulations or standard contractual clauses. We never sell your data. We would only disclose it if the law required us to.
Our legal basis
Under UK and EU data protection law, we use your data to provide the app you asked for and the subscription you bought (performance of a contract), and to keep backups working and the service secure (our legitimate interests).
How long we keep it
Your progress stays on your phone until you delete the app or choose Reset progress. The backup is kept while you use Isma and deleted when you ask us. Subscription records are kept as long as the law requires for tax and accounting. Provider logs are kept for short periods, typically days to weeks.
Your rights
You can ask us for a copy of your data, to correct it, to delete it, to restrict or object to how we use it, or to move it elsewhere. You can also export your saved words from the app’s Words tab at any time. Because Isma has no accounts, we can’t look your backup up by name or email. The quickest way to erase it is Reset progress in the Words tab, which replaces your backup with an empty one straight away. For anything else, write to rawaz@theisma.app and we’ll work out together which backup is yours. If you’re unhappy with how we handle your data, you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ico.org.uk) or your local authority.
Children
Isma isn’t intended for children under 13, and we don’t knowingly collect data from them. If you think a child has used it, contact us and we’ll delete their backup.
Security
Data is encrypted in transit. The sign-in that unlocks your backup is stored encrypted on your phone, and our database only ever lets a backup ID read or change its own progress.
Changes
If this policy changes, we’ll update this page and the date at the top. If a change matters, we’ll tell you in the app.