Privacy Policy
Last updated: 3 October 2026 · applies to Fluent 1.1 and later
Fluent (“the app”) is an AI voice tutor for English speaking practice, published by pLim/lab (“we”, “us”). This policy explains what happens to your voice, your conversations and your data.
- Your voice stays with Apple. Apple’s speech recognition turns what you say into text. Fluent never records or keeps audio, and audio never reaches our servers.
- No conversation database. Conversation text and speech measurements go to our tutor service and its AI provider to generate replies and reports. Short-lived technical logs, including possible excerpts in error logs, are described below.
- Your profile name and history stay on your device. No account, no ads, no tracking, and we never sell data.
Who we are
The data controller under the Swiss Federal Act on Data Protection (FADP) and, where it applies, the EU/UK GDPR is pLim/lab, Switzerland. Contact: privacy@plimlab.ch.
What the app processes
| Your speech | While you practise, microphone audio goes live to Apple’s Speech framework, which turns it into text: on your device when on-device recognition is available (for example when Dictation is turned on), otherwise through Apple’s speech recognition service, under Apple’s privacy policy. Fluent does not record, save or upload audio. |
|---|---|
| Conversation text | What you said (as text) and the tutor’s replies during a session, with your native language and your goal (for example IELTS or Job Interview). They are sent over HTTPS to our tutor service to produce the tutor’s next reply and, at the end, your report. |
| Speech measurements | Measured on your device: number of words, speaking time, pace, pauses, and how sure speech recognition was of your words (including the few words it was least sure of). They give your Fluency and Clarity scores, and are sent with the report request so the tutor can tailor its tips. |
| Your first name | Optional, used to greet you. It never leaves your device: the tutor service only receives a placeholder, and the app puts your name back in. |
| Profile and history | Your profile (first name, native language, goal, daily minutes), your sessions, reports and drill results are stored only in the app on your device, and are included in your device backups if you use them. Deleting the app deletes them. |
Our tutor service
The tutor service runs at encert.plimlab.plimswitzzer.com. It uses conversation text and speech measurements to generate replies and reports. There is no database of conversations and no user account. Technical logs are described below.
Before your first session, the app shows what is sent and who processes it, links this policy and asks for your OK. Nothing is sent to the tutor service before you agree.
AI model providers
To write the tutor’s replies and your report, the service sends the conversation text, your native language, your goal and the speech measurements to OpenRouter (OpenRouter, Inc., USA), which passes them to Anthropic’s Claude model (Anthropic PBC, USA). If that is unavailable, an open-source model running on our own server answers instead. These providers process the data on our behalf to return the answer and handle it under their own terms for API customers. They never receive your audio, your profile first name, a device identifier, or your IP address: requests come from our server.
Technical logs
- Our web server keeps standard access logs (IP address, time, requested address, and app or browser version) for 14 days, to keep the service secure and investigate abuse.
- Application error logs are rotated automatically. When something goes wrong they can include a short excerpt of the AI model’s output, which may quote part of the conversation.
- To prevent abuse, the service counts requests per IP address, in memory, for a few minutes.
What we don’t do
- No account, sign-up or email address.
- No advertising, no third-party analytics or tracking SDKs, and no tracking across apps or websites.
- We never sell your data or share it with advertisers or data brokers.
If you choose to share analytics with app developers in your iPhone’s settings, Apple may give us crash reports and aggregated usage statistics. They don’t identify you.
Permissions
Fluent asks for Microphone and Speech Recognition access during onboarding, after explaining why, and uses them only while you practise in a session or a drill. You can turn them off at any time in the iPhone Settings app, under Fluent; live sessions and drills then won’t work.
Web demo
The web demo at encert.plimlab.plimswitzzer.com/demo/ uses your browser’s built-in speech recognition, which your browser’s maker provides (for example Google in Chrome, Apple in Safari) under their own privacy terms. The conversation text goes to the same tutor service, which does not keep it.
Legal basis
- Providing the service you ask for (GDPR Art. 6(1)(b)): processing the conversation text and speech measurements to hold the conversation and write your report.
- Your permission: microphone and speech recognition access, which you grant and can withdraw in iOS Settings.
- Legitimate interests (GDPR Art. 6(1)(f)): short-lived technical logs to keep the service secure and working.
How long data is kept
- Audio: never stored by Fluent or by us.
- Conversation text and measurements: processed to answer, then discarded by our service. Our AI providers keep request data only as long as their API terms allow.
- Access logs: 14 days. Error logs: rotated automatically.
- Data on your device: until you delete the app.
International transfers
We are based in Switzerland. Our AI model providers are in the USA. Where data is transferred outside Switzerland or the EEA, we rely on recognised safeguards, such as Standard Contractual Clauses.
Children
Fluent is suitable for a general audience and is not directed at children. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children.
Your rights
Subject to applicable law, you can ask for access to, correction or deletion of your personal data, and object to or restrict processing. Write to privacy@plimlab.ch. Because we have no conversation database and don’t link requests to you, we usually hold nothing about you beyond the short-lived technical logs described above. Your history in the app is under your control: deleting the app removes it. You can also complain to your data protection authority (in Switzerland, the FDPIC).
Changes
If we change this policy, we will post the new version here with a new date.
Contact
pLim/lab, Switzerland · privacy@plimlab.ch