Privacy Policy

Last updated: October 1, 2026

Ya Qalbi is a Lebanese Arabic learning app made by Chayland Design, LLC ("we", "us"). This Privacy Policy explains what data we collect, why we collect it, and how you can control it. It covers the Ya Qalbi app, the optional Ya Qalbi Premium subscription, and the yaqalbiapp.com website.

Plain summary: we collect the minimum needed to run the app, we never sell your data, payments are handled by Apple and we never see your card, you can delete your account at any time, and you can use the app fully without an account if you prefer.

1. Information we collect

1.1 If you use the app without signing in

Your progress and settings (Nour, your Nar streak and streak history, Dahab, ta2a energy, completed lessons, practice history, selected phoenix, your answers to the setup questions, and reminder settings) are stored locally on your device. We do not receive or store any of this on our servers. If you uninstall the app or reset it, this progress is permanently lost.

1.2 If you sign in

When you sign in with Apple, Google, or an email address and password, we store the following in our database, hosted by Supabase in its United States region:

• A unique user ID (not shown to anyone)
• Your email address, and how you signed in (Apple, Google, or email)
• Your name, if your sign-in provider shares it, which we use to greet you in emails
• The username you pick inside the app (shown publicly on the leaderboard)
• Your selected phoenix character
• Your learning progress: Nour (points), Nar (current and longest streak) and the days you studied, Dahab, ta2a (energy) and its refill timer, practice history, completed lessons, and the date you last studied
• Your answers to the setup questions, such as why you are learning, and your age if you gave it
• Your reminder and email preferences, and a record of which learning emails we have sent you

If you sign in with Apple and choose to hide your email, we receive Apple's private relay address instead of your real one.

We do NOT collect: precise location, contacts, photos, browsing history, advertising identifiers, microphone or camera access, or any biometric data.

1.3 If you subscribe to Ya Qalbi Premium

Subscriptions are sold and billed by Apple through the App Store. We never receive your card number, billing address, or Apple Account password. To unlock Premium, the app asks Apple, on your device, whether your Apple Account has an active subscription, and Apple answers with the plan, whether it is in its free trial, when it renews or ends, and whether it will renew. The app keeps that answer on your device; we do not store your purchases on our servers. Apple sends us sales and financial reports that do not identify you. Apple's handling of your payment is covered by Apple's Privacy Policy.

1.4 If you sign up for our emails on yaqalbiapp.com

We store the first name and email address you submit, a non-identifying record of your browser type and the page that referred you, which of our emails we have sent you, and whether you have unsubscribed. We use your first name to greet you and your email address to send four short emails over two weeks (a welcome, your first Lebanese word, a look inside the app, and a reminder that a few minutes a day is enough), each with the link to download the app, and occasional Ya Qalbi news such as new chapters.

To keep automated sign-ups off the list, we check that the part of your email address after the @ can receive mail (a standard DNS lookup of that domain, never your full address), and we count sign-up attempts from each connection using a one-way code made from your IP address, never the address itself. Those counts are deleted after two days.

1.5 If you submit a bug report from inside the app

The flag/report button collects your note plus the lesson context (lesson ID, page type, the question you saw, your answer, and the expected answer) so we can investigate. If you are signed in, the report also includes your username and email address so we can follow up with you. Reports go to our internal Slack workspace.

1.6 Reminders and the home-screen widget

Daily reminders are scheduled by the app on your device, and the streak widget reads your streak from your device. Neither sends anything to us, and you can turn reminders off in the app's Settings or in your iPhone's Settings.

1.7 Automatic error reports

When something goes wrong in the app, it may send an automatic error report: what failed, on which screen, the app and iOS version, and a random id made on your device. Error reports contain no name, email or account details and are used only to fix problems. They go to our internal Slack workspace.

2. How we use your information

• Run the app for you. Sync your progress across your devices, show the leaderboard, and show your profile.
• Provide Premium. Check with Apple, on your device, whether your subscription is active, and unlock unlimited ta2a.
• Send account emails. Confirming your email address, resetting your password, confirming an email change (and letting your previous address know it changed), and confirming an account deletion. These are sent only when needed and cannot be turned off while you have an account.
• Send learning emails, if you have an account. For example a note after your first lesson, a message when your streak ends, and streak milestones. Every one has an unsubscribe link.
• Send the emails you signed up for on yaqalbiapp.com, as described in 1.4. Every one has an unsubscribe link.
• Respond to support and bug reports. Reply to the email you used to contact us.
• Improve the curriculum. Aggregate stats like which lessons people complete most often, so we know what to expand.

We do not use your data for advertising or behavioral profiling. We do not run ad networks inside the app. We do not sell, rent, or share your data with anyone for marketing purposes.

3. Service providers we use

These services receive parts of your data:

• Supabase (database and sign-in). Stores your account, profile, and progress, and the email sign-up list. Supabase Privacy Policy.
• Apple (Sign in with Apple, and App Store purchases and subscriptions). Apple handles your payment and tells the app whether your subscription is active. Apple Privacy Policy.
• Google (Sign in with Google, if you use it). Tells us your email address and name when you sign in. Google Privacy Policy.
• Resend (email delivery). Receives your email address, and your first name where we greet you, only when we send you an email. Resend Privacy Policy.
• Slack (our internal workspace). Receives the bug reports described in 1.5 and the error reports described in 1.7. Slack Privacy Policy.
• Cloudflare (public DNS). When you sign up for our emails, the part of your address after the @ may be looked up through Cloudflare's DNS service to check that it can receive mail. Your full address is never sent. Cloudflare Privacy Policy.
• Vercel (web hosting for yaqalbiapp.com). May collect standard server logs (IP address, browser type, page requested) for security and performance. Vercel also tells the website which country you are visiting from, so it knows whether to show the cookie banner; we do not store it. Vercel Web Analytics also counts page views for us: it sets no cookies, does not follow you between websites, and we see only totals, never individuals. Vercel Privacy Policy.
• Google Analytics (visit statistics for the yaqalbiapp.com website only, not the app). Records which pages are viewed, the site that sent you, your approximate location (country or city) and your device and browser type. Google Analytics does not log or store IP addresses. Our Google Analytics data-sharing settings are on, so Google may also use this data for its own purposes, such as maintaining and improving its services, as described in How Google uses information from sites that use its services. Google Privacy Policy.

Apple and Google act as independent providers under their own privacy policies when you sign in or pay with them, and Google may also use website analytics data as described above. Supabase, Resend, Slack, Cloudflare and Vercel are data processors, not data resellers: they act on our instructions and cannot use your data for their own purposes. On our website, Google's advertising features are turned off: no advertising cookies, no ad personalization, and no Google signals.

4. Children's privacy

Ya Qalbi is intended for users aged 13 and older. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child under 13 has provided us with personal information, please email yaqalbiapp@gmail.com and we will delete it.

5. Your rights and choices

• Access: email us and we'll send you a copy of everything we have on you.
• Correction: edit your profile inside the app, or email us if a field isn't editable.
• Deletion: in the app, go to Profile → Settings → Edit Profile → Delete account, or email us. We delete your account, profile, and progress within 7 days. Without an account, Settings → Reset progress on this device clears everything the app stored. Deleting your account does not cancel a Premium subscription: cancel it in the app under Settings → Subscription → Manage subscription, or in your iPhone's Settings. To remove your email sign-up from yaqalbiapp.com, email us.
• Emails: every learning and sign-up email has an unsubscribe link, or email us to be taken off. Account emails, like password resets, are still sent while you have an account.
• California residents (CCPA / CPRA): you have the right to know, delete, correct, and opt out of "sale" or "sharing" of your personal information. We do not sell your personal information for money, and we do not use it for cross-context behavioral advertising (Google's advertising features are off on our website). Website visit statistics are shared with Google through Google Analytics as described in sections 3 and 9; you can stop that on the website with the cookie banner where it is shown, your browser settings, or Google's opt-out add-on. The rights to know, delete, and correct are exercised by emailing us as above. You may also designate an authorized agent to make these requests on your behalf.
• EU / UK residents (GDPR): you have the rights of access, rectification, erasure, restriction, portability, and to object to processing, and you can complain to your local data protection authority. Email us to exercise any of these. Our legal bases: running your account and your subscription is performance of a contract (Article 6(1)(b)); the emails you sign up for on yaqalbiapp.com are based on your consent (Article 6(1)(a)), which you can withdraw by unsubscribing; learning emails to account holders and our anti-abuse checks rely on our legitimate interests (Article 6(1)(f)), and you can object at any time.

6. Data retention

Account data is retained as long as your account is active. After you delete your account, we remove your profile and progress within 7 days. Backups expire on a 30-day rolling schedule. Email sign-ups from yaqalbiapp.com are kept until you ask us to delete them; if you unsubscribe, we keep your address marked as unsubscribed so we don't email you again. Sign-up attempt counts are deleted after two days. Bug reports are kept only as long as we need them to fix the problem. Apple keeps its own records of your purchases under its policies.

7. Data security

Your data is transmitted over HTTPS and stored encrypted at rest by Supabase. Access is restricted by row-level-security policies so only you can read or modify your own data. We do not store passwords directly; authentication is handled by Apple, Google, or Supabase's built-in sign-in (which stores email/password accounts' passwords only as bcrypt hashes).

No system is perfectly secure. If we ever experience a breach affecting your personal data, we will notify affected users, and the authorities where required, as applicable law requires.

8. International transfers

Our servers are located in the United States. If you are using the app from outside the US, your information will be transferred to and processed in the US. Supabase and our other processors maintain Standard Contractual Clauses (or equivalent transfer mechanisms) for international data transfers from the EU and UK.

9. Cookies and similar technologies

The yaqalbiapp.com website uses Google Analytics to count visits and see which pages people use. It sets first-party cookies (named _ga) to tell a returning visitor from a new one. If you visit from the EU, the EEA, the UK or Switzerland, you see a cookie banner, and these cookies are set only if you tap Accept. Until then, or if you tap Decline, visits are counted without cookies. You can change your answer at any time with Cookie settings at the bottom of any page; your choice is remembered in your browser. Vercel Web Analytics, which counts page views, sets no cookies at all, so it runs for everyone. Our Google Analytics data-sharing settings are on, so Google may use the visit statistics it collects for us for its own purposes as well, such as maintaining and improving its services (see How Google uses information from sites that use its services). The website uses no advertising cookies or pixels, and Google Analytics never receives your name or email address, including anything you type into the email sign-up form. You can block these cookies in your browser settings or with Google's opt-out add-on.

The pages that open from our emails (confirming your email, choosing a new password, unsubscribing) do not load Google Analytics. The iOS app does not use Google Analytics or any other analytics or tracking: it keeps only what it needs on your device, such as your progress and the sign-in token that keeps you signed in between launches, and sends only the anonymous error reports described in 1.7.

10. Changes to this policy

If we make material changes, we will notify signed-in users via email and update the "Last updated" date at the top of this page. Continued use of the app after the change constitutes acceptance.

11. Contact

Questions, requests, or complaints:

yaqalbiapp@gmail.com
Chayland Design, LLC
5101 Santa Monica Blvd Ste 8 PMB1063
Los Angeles, CA 90029
United States