Privacy Policy

Ming is a small app, and we keep what it collects just as small. This page explains exactly what that is, why, who helps us run it, and how to delete it. There are no ads, no tracking cookies, and we never sell or share your data for advertising.

Who we are

This policy covers the Ming app (iOS, Android and web) and this website. Ming ("Ming", "we", "us") is run by the Ming team, the controller of your personal data under the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). For anything about your data, email support@ming-app.org.

Before you have an account

You can take the placement test and your first lesson before creating an account; after that, an account is needed to keep going. Until then your progress is stored only on your device (in the app's local database, or in your browser's storage on the web). A few things still reach servers so the app works: pronunciation clips are downloaded from our file storage, character stroke shapes for the writing exercise load from the jsDelivr CDN, and on the web the app's fonts load from Google Fonts — all involve your IP address, the same as visiting any website.

What we collect when you have an account

• Account details: your email address and, if you sign in with Apple or Google, the account identifier they give us. If you use "Hide my email" with Apple, we only see the relay address.
• Learning data: the words you've met and how well you know each one, your streak and lesson days, your settings (daily goal, reminder time, level), your placement test result, and a log of your answers (right or wrong, when, and how long you took) so reviews are scheduled correctly and your progress can be shown.
• About you, as you told us: your answers to the short questions when you start (why you're learning Chinese, what's been hardest, what you want from Ming), and, if you answer it, the one-question survey after two weeks. They help us understand who uses Ming; they don't change what the app teaches you.
• Invite programme: your invite code, which account invited yours (if any), and the invite Pro time you've earned.
• Subscription status: whether you have Ming Pro, which plan, where you bought it (App Store, Google Play or Stripe), its renewal and end dates, and the store's reference for the purchase (an Apple transaction ID, a Google purchase token, or a Stripe customer and subscription ID). We never receive your card or bank details — Apple, Google or Stripe handle payment.
• Emails we've sent you: a record that your one-time welcome email was sent, so it's only sent once.
• Messages you send us: if you email support, we keep that conversation to help you.
• Technical logs: our hosting and database providers log IP addresses, timestamps and request details for security and reliability, and keep them only for a short period.

We don't collect your name (unless you put it in an email to us), contacts, photos, location, advertising identifiers, or data from other apps. Daily reminders are scheduled on your device itself; we don't collect a push-notification token.

Usage data

To see where Ming works and where it doesn't, the app sends us, through PostHog, information about how it's used: which screens you open, how the placement test and your lessons go (which exercises, right or wrong, how long), when you start a trial or subscription, and app opens. Before you have an account this is anonymous: a random identifier that lives only in the app's memory and is replaced every time the app starts — nothing is stored on your device for it. Once you sign in, it's linked to your account's internal ID — never your email or name. No session recording, no advertising, no selling, no tracking across other apps or websites.

The legal basis is our legitimate interest in understanding and improving Ming (GDPR Art. 6(1)(f)), kept small: pseudonymous, first-party, used only by us. You can object any time by turning off Settings → Share usage data; the app then stops sending anything. You can also email us to have the usage data linked to your account deleted.

Website analytics

This website counts visits with PostHog in cookieless mode: it stores nothing in your browser — no cookies, no local storage — so there's nothing to accept. To tell one visit from another, PostHog makes a privacy-preserving hash on its servers that changes every day and can't be traced back to you. We see page views, how far pages are scrolled, which links and buttons are clicked, and the kind of browser and device. The legal basis is our legitimate interest in knowing how the site is used (Art. 6(1)(f)); you can object by emailing us, or by using a browser setting or extension that blocks analytics.

Why we use it, and on what legal basis

• To provide Ming — your account, syncing progress across devices, scheduling reviews, your streak, sign-in codes, and Pro features — because it's necessary to perform our contract with you (GDPR Art. 6(1)(b)).
• To sell and manage subscriptions and invite rewards, including checking a purchase is genuine and stopping abuse of the invite programme — contract, and our legitimate interest in preventing fraud (Art. 6(1)(b) and (f)).
• To send a one-time welcome email after you create your account, explaining how Ming works — our legitimate interest in helping new learners get started (Art. 6(1)(f)). We don't send marketing emails or newsletters.
• To keep Ming secure and working, using technical logs — legitimate interest (Art. 6(1)(f)).
• To understand and improve Ming, using usage data from the app and cookieless statistics from this website — legitimate interest (Art. 6(1)(f)), with an easy way to opt out. See the two sections above.
• To meet legal obligations, such as answering a valid legal request (Art. 6(1)(c)).

We don't use your data for advertising, profiling for marketing, or automated decisions that have legal or similarly significant effects on you.

Who helps us run Ming

We share data only with the services needed to run the app, and only what each one needs:

• Supabase — database, sign-in, file storage and server functions (processor).
• Resend — sends sign-in codes and the welcome email (processor).
• Vercel — hosts the web app and this website (processor).
• Spaceship (Spacemail) — our support mailbox (processor).
• Apple and Google — when you sign in with them, or buy Pro through the App Store or Google Play. They act as independent controllers under their own privacy policies; we receive only the purchase and sign-in information described above.
• Stripe and Link — when you buy Pro on the web, or on an iPhone in the United States, Stripe (through its Link service) is the merchant of record: it processes the payment, handles tax, receipts and billing support, and acts as an independent controller of your payment data.
• Google Fonts — the web app loads its fonts from Google, which receives your IP address.
• jsDelivr — a public CDN the app loads character stroke data from, which receives your IP address.
• PostHog — product analytics: the app's usage data and this website's cookieless statistics. Stored in PostHog's EU cloud, in Frankfurt (processor).

We'll also disclose data if the law requires it. We never sell personal data or share it for cross-context behavioural advertising.

International transfers

Some of these providers are based in, or use servers in, the United States and other countries outside the European Economic Area. Where that happens, transfers are protected by the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses or the EU–US Data Privacy Framework, as offered by each provider.

How long we keep it

• Account and learning data: for as long as your account exists. When you delete your account, it's deleted straight away from our live database and disappears from backups within 30 days.
• Technical logs: kept by our providers for a short period (typically up to 30 days).
• Usage data and website statistics: for up to two years, then deleted. Deleting your account also deletes the usage data linked to it.
• Support emails: as long as needed to help you, then deleted.
• Payment records: Apple, Google and Stripe keep their own transaction records for as long as tax and accounting law requires them to.

Deleting your account

In the app, go to Settings → Delete account. Your account, word progress, review history, invite records, subscription records and the usage data linked to your account are permanently deleted. If you subscribed through Stripe, your subscription is cancelled for you first. An App Store or Google Play subscription can only be cancelled by you in that store — the app reminds you before deleting. You can also email support@ming-app.org from your account's address and we'll delete it within 30 days.

Your rights

Wherever you live, you can ask us for a copy of your data or ask us to delete it. If the GDPR or UK GDPR applies to you, you also have the right to correct your data, restrict or object to how we use it (including where we rely on legitimate interests), and receive it in a portable format. Email support@ming-app.org; we'll reply within one month.

You can also complain to a data protection authority — in Poland, the President of the Personal Data Protection Office (UODO), or the authority where you live or work.

If you're a California resident: we don't sell or share your personal information, and we don't use sensitive personal information. You may request access to or deletion of your information by emailing us, and we won't treat you differently for doing so.

Security

Data is encrypted in transit. Our database uses row-level security, so the database itself — not just the app — ensures your data can only be read by your own signed-in account. Subscription records can only be written by our servers after a purchase is confirmed with Apple, Google or Stripe.

Children

Ming isn't directed at children under 13, and we don't knowingly collect their data. In the EEA and UK you must be at least 16 to create an account (or the younger age your country allows, with your parent's or guardian's consent). If you believe a child has given us data, email us and we'll delete it.

Cookies and device storage

Ming doesn't use advertising cookies, and this website uses no cookies at all (see Website analytics). The app stores your progress, your sign-in session and your settings on your device because it can't work without them; that storage is strictly necessary. Nothing is stored on your device for analytics.

Changes to this policy

If we change this policy in a meaningful way, we'll update the date at the top and tell you in the app before it applies to you.

Contact

Ming · support@ming-app.org