Privacy Policy

1. Who we are

Pikkolo Pinyin is operated by Rosemary Neil, a sole trader based in New South Wales, Australia. We're responsible for the personal information described in this policy.

For anything privacy-related, email hello@pikkolopinyin.com.

2. The short version

We collect little, and we don't sell any of it. There's no advertising on Pikkolo Pinyin and no tracking cookies, and we never share your information with anyone for marketing.

The one thing worth reading properly is section 5, on talking with Pikkolo — because that feature sends a recording of your voice to another company in order to work.

3. What we collect

• Your account. An email address and a password, which is stored only as a secure hash — we can't see it. Optionally a display name.
• Purchase information. When you buy, Lemon Squeezy collects your name, email, billing country and payment details to process the sale and calculate tax. We receive your name, email and order details from them — never your card number.
• What you've read. Your reading progress, saved words and sentences, and favourite stories, so they follow you between devices.
• Chat usage. A count of how many spoken turns you've used each day, so we can apply the free daily allowance and fair use. A count only — not what was said.
• Emails you send us. If you contact us, we keep the message so we can help and follow up.
• Basic server logs. Our host records standard technical information such as IP address, browser type and pages requested, used for security and diagnosing faults.

4. What we don't collect

• No advertising or cross-site tracking cookies.
• No card or bank details, at any point.
• No recordings of your conversations with Pikkolo — see below.
• No selling or sharing of personal information for marketing, ever.

5. Talking with Pikkolo, and your voice

This is the part worth reading properly. When you speak to Pikkolo, the site records that short piece of audio and sends it to Google's Gemini service, which works out what was said and writes a reply. The reply is then sent to ElevenLabs, which turns it into speech so Pikkolo can answer out loud.

Both are third-party companies outside Australia. Your voice has to leave our site for the feature to work at all — there's no way to do it otherwise, and we'd rather say so plainly than bury it.

We don't keep the recording. It's passed straight through, and once the reply comes back we hold neither the audio nor the words. The only thing stored on our side is a number: how many turns you've used today.

The microphone is never opened without you pressing the button to speak, and the feature requires an account, so nothing is listening in the background. If you'd rather not use it at all, don't — everything else on the site works without it.

Anyone signed in gets 5 spoken turns a day without paying, so you can try it and judge for yourself before deciding.

6. Why we use it

• To give you access to what you've bought and keep it working.
• To remember your reading progress across your devices.
• To apply the free daily chat allowance and fair use.
• To send transactional emails — receipts, renewal and billing notices, and password resets.
• To answer your questions and provide support.
• To keep the site secure and diagnose problems.
• To meet our tax and legal obligations.

7. Cookies and local storage

We use only what's essential. A cookie keeps you signed in, and your browser's local storage holds reading preferences such as which scripts you've chosen to show. Clearing your browser data signs you out and resets those preferences; your account and purchases are unaffected.

We don't use advertising cookies, and we don't track you across other websites.

8. Who we share it with

A small number of providers, each only for the purpose listed:

• Supabase — accounts, reading progress and purchase records.
• Lemon Squeezy — payments, invoicing and tax. They are the merchant of record and handle your purchase under their own privacy policy.
• Google (Gemini) — receives the audio of a spoken turn in order to understand it and write a reply.
• ElevenLabs — receives the text of Pikkolo's reply in order to speak it aloud.
• Vercel — website hosting and delivery.
• Zoho — our email, if you write to us.

9. Where your information is held

Our providers operate servers in various countries, so your information may be stored or processed outside Australia — including in the United States. We only use providers that commit to appropriate safeguards for personal information.

10. Younger learners

Pikkolo Pinyin is for learners of any age, and accounts must be created by someone aged 18 or over. There are no public profiles, no comments, and no way for one reader to contact another.

If a younger learner uses the site through an adult's account, the adult decides whether they use the spoken practice covered in section 5 — knowing the audio goes to Google to be understood, and that we keep no recording.

We don't ask readers their age, and we don't build profiles beyond the reading progress kept in an account. If you believe a child has given us personal information you'd like removed, email us and we'll delete it promptly.

11. How long we keep it

Account and reading data are kept while your account exists. Purchase records are kept for as long as we're required to keep financial records — generally five years under Australian tax law. Chat turn counts are kept for the current billing period and a short while after. Support emails are kept for up to two years. Server logs are kept for a short period only.

Ask us to delete your account and we'll remove your account and reading data within 30 days, keeping only what tax law requires.

12. Your rights

You can ask us for a copy of the personal information we hold about you, correct it if it's wrong, or delete it where we're not required to keep it. Email hello@pikkolopinyin.com and we'll respond within 30 days.

If you're unhappy with how we've handled your information, you can complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner at oaic.gov.au.

13. Security

The site is served over HTTPS. Passwords are stored only as secure hashes, and the rules deciding who may read what run on our servers rather than in your browser, so one reader can't reach another's data. We also keep what we hold to a minimum, which is the most effective protection of all.

No system is perfectly secure, but there is very little here to lose.

14. Changes to this policy

If we change how we handle personal information, we'll update this page and the date at the top. Significant changes will be announced on the site or by email.