Privacy Policy

Effective Date: March 25, 2026
Last Updated: June 30, 2026

Dear User,

This Privacy Policy applies to the Japanese language learning services provided by HelloJapan (hereinafter referred to as "we", "us", or "our"), including downloading, installing, and using the HelloJapan app (collectively, the "Services"). We deeply respect your personal information and data, and will make every effort to protect it. Please read this Privacy Policy carefully and understand our rules for processing your personal information. Before submitting any personal information or privacy data to us, please read, understand, and agree to this policy. If you do not agree to any term of this policy, you should immediately stop accessing or using HelloJapan and its related services.

We understand the importance of your personal information and are committed to protecting its security. We adhere to the principles of accountability, purpose limitation, consent, minimal necessity, security, user participation, and transparency in protecting your personal information. At the same time, we promise to adopt industry-standard security measures to protect your personal information.

This Privacy Policy will help you understand the following:
1. How We Collect and Use Your Personal Information
2. How We Store and Protect Your Personal Information
3. How We Entrust Processing, Share, Transfer, and Publicly Disclose Your Information
4. Protection of Minors' Personal Information
5. Information and Data Security Measures
6. Information and Data Integrity
7. How to Manage Your Personal Information
8. How This Policy is Updated
9. How to Contact Us

1. How We Collect and Use Your Personal Information

(1) Purpose and Scope of Collecting Personal Information and Data

To provide our products and services, investigate and analyze issues to continuously improve service quality, we may collect certain information and basic usage data from your device as necessary for providing the Services. Additionally, we may collect your information and data as required by laws, regulations, or government authorities.

1. Essential Functions
To ensure your normal use of the Services, maintain the normal operation of HelloJapan's basic functions, optimize product performance, and ensure system operational security, we collect your device name, device type and version, operating system version, IP address, and network type information.

2. Accountless Local Services and Data
This application is designed to be used directly without registration or logging in. You do not need to register or bind any account (including Apple ID) to download and use it. The nickname and avatar you modify within the app, as well as the favorites, learning progress, and growth values generated during your studies, are stored exclusively in the local cache (such as UserDefaults or local database) of your current iOS device. We do not collect, synchronize, or store any of your aforementioned personal profiles or learning records on our servers.

3. Subscription and Payment Service Data Processing
When you use the in-app subscription services or make paid purchases, we collect and process the following necessary information to ensure transaction security and enhance your service experience:

• Transaction Record Information: When you pay to unlock the content from Level 3 to Level 10, the system generates a purchase credential. This anonymous credential is sent by Apple and securely stored encrypted on your local device to activate your paid benefits. We do not associate your personal identity on any cloud servers to establish order tracking profiles.
• Payment Security Related Information: To complete the payment process, identify, and prevent unauthorized transactions or fraudulent behaviors, we temporarily obtain device environment information (such as network type and IP address) and transaction status data returned by the payment institution during your payment process. We do not collect or store core payment credentials such as your bank card number or payment password. All payment operations are completed through the official Apple App Store payment channel, and we do not collect, obtain, or store your Apple ID, bank card number, or any payment password.
• Subscription Management and Benefit Protection: You can view all active subscriptions, historical transaction records, and auto-renewal statuses at any time through the "Subscription Management" page within the app, and independently choose to cancel subscriptions or adjust renewal methods. We will provide corresponding membership benefits based on your subscription status. Since this application adopts an accountless design, if you replace your iOS device or uninstall and reinstall the app, you can use the "Restore Purchases" function provided in the app to initiate credential verification directly with the Apple App Store to reactivate your purchased membership benefits.
• Protection of Minors' Purchases: All in-app paid purchases are processed through the Apple App Store payment system. We recommend that guardians of minor users utilize the iOS "Screen Time" feature or the "Ask to Buy" function within Apple Family Sharing to manage and restrict minors' purchasing behaviors. This application does not independently conduct separate real-name authentication or implement spending limits externally.

4. Growth System Function
When you use the growth system function, to display your growth journey and achievements, we need to collect your learning completion records, growth value changes, achievement acquisition times, and other information. This information is only used to display your growth progress within the app and is not used for other purposes.

5. AI Conversation Practice Function
When you use the AI Japanese conversation practice function, we send the conversation content you input to the DeepSeek API for processing to generate reply content. This conversation content is only used to provide you with immediate conversation replies. We do not use the conversation content for other purposes, nor do we associate your personal identity information with the conversation records.

(2) Circumstances Where Your Consent is Not Required

According to relevant laws and regulations, we may collect or use your personal information without obtaining your authorization in the following circumstances:

• Where it is directly related to national security or national defense security;
• Where it is directly related to public safety, public health, or major public interests;
• Where it is directly related to criminal investigations, prosecutions, trials, execution of judgments, or other judicial or administrative law enforcement activities;
• Where it is necessary to protect your or another person's life, property, or other significant legitimate interests, but it is difficult to obtain timely consent;
• Where you have publicly disclosed your personal information to the public;
• Where personal information is obtained from legally publicly disclosed information (such as government information disclosure, news reports);
• Where it is necessary for entering into or performing a contract to which you are a party;
• Where it is necessary for lawful news reporting.

We will strictly handle the above circumstances in accordance with the law and ensure the legitimacy and necessity of information use.

(3) Other Circumstances

Please understand that the services we provide to you are constantly being updated and developed. If you choose to use other services not yet covered by the foregoing description, and we need to collect your information based on that service, we will separately inform you of the scope and purpose of information collection through page prompts, interaction processes, or agreements, and obtain your consent. We will use, store, provide externally, and protect your information in accordance with this policy and the relevant user agreements. If you choose not to provide the aforementioned information, you may be unable to use a particular service or part of a service, but this will not affect your use of other services we provide.

Additionally, third parties may provide services to you through HelloJapan. When you enter a service page operated by a third party, please note that the relevant services are provided to you by the third party. Regarding the collection of personal information by third parties, we recommend that you carefully review the third party's privacy policy or agreement terms.

2. How We Store and Protect Your Personal Information

To comply with laws, regulations, and regulatory requirements, and to facilitate your inquiry of relevant personal information, we will retain necessary information provided and generated during your use of the Services. We will use physical or logical isolation mechanisms to store your general personal information separately from your sensitive personal information. For sensitive personal information, we will adopt special protection measures such as encryption.

(1) Storage Location

Since this application adopts a completely localized architecture, all your data (including nicknames, avatars, and learning progress) is stored securely and directly on your own iOS device. We do not upload or store your data on any cloud servers, and therefore do not involve cross-border data transmission or centralized geographic storage.

(2) Storage Period and Expiry Handling

Local Retention Period: Since this application adopts a completely localized architecture, your data such as nicknames, avatars, and learning progress will continue to be retained on your current device until you actively uninstall the application, or until the minimum necessary period permitted by laws and regulations expires. During conversations, you can clear the current dialogue history displayed on your chat screen at any time via the refresh button in the user interface.

Expiry and Termination Handling: When the aforementioned data exceeds the necessary retention period, or when you actively choose to uninstall this application, all data stored locally on your device will be immediately and completely erased from your physical device. If we stop operating the Services, we will immediately cease all potential data collection activities, no longer process any of your information, and all local storage data will be completely deleted upon uninstallation.

3. How We Entrust Processing, Share, Transfer, and Publicly Disclose Your Information

(1) Entrusted Processing

Certain specific modules or functions in this business function are provided by external suppliers. To ensure the normal operation of our products and services, we need to share some of your personal information with external service providers or third-party subcontractors we hire. However, we will sign strict confidentiality agreements with them and require them to process and protect personal information in accordance with our requirements, this Privacy Policy, and any other relevant confidentiality and security measures.

(2) Sharing

Under the premise of complying with laws and regulations, we may share your personal information in the following circumstances:

• Your information may be shared within selected third parties to provide you with the full functionality of our products and services, perform necessary business analysis and operations, and help us provide more targeted and comprehensive software and hardware services. We will only share your information within third parties for specific, explicit, and legitimate purposes, and will only share information necessary to provide the services. We will strictly screen third parties with whom information is shared to ensure they have appropriate data security protection capabilities, sign data processing agreements with them, clarify the purpose, scope, and method of data processing, and require them to process your personal information in accordance with laws, regulations, and the terms of the agreement, and not to use or disclose your information beyond the authorized scope. If you refuse to share necessary information with third parties, some functions may not work properly, and we will promptly inform you of the possible impact.
• To ensure the provision of the services described in this Privacy Policy, we may share your necessary personal information with designated third parties such as technical service providers, with the aim of enabling them to successfully complete the services you require. Data sharing will be subject to strict security and confidentiality measures to ensure the security of your information.
• Sharing your personal information based on legal and regulatory requirements or mandatory requirements from administrative or judicial authorities.
• Sharing part of your information with designated third parties after obtaining your explicit consent.
• AI Conversation Service: When you use the AI conversation practice function, we send the conversation content you input to the DeepSeek API (an AI service provided by DeepSeek) to generate reply content. We only transmit the conversation content itself, not your personal identity information such as account information or device identifiers. DeepSeek will process the relevant data in accordance with its privacy policy (https://www.deepseek.com/privacy).

Except as described above, we will not share your personal information with other companies, organizations, or individuals. If you find that your personal information has been collected, used, shared, or disclosed in a manner that violates laws, regulations, or the terms of this agreement, you may request us to delete the information. We will immediately investigate, confirm, delete it in a timely manner, stop the sharing or transfer behavior, and notify the third party to delete it promptly.

(3) Transfer

We will not transfer your personal information to any company, organization, or individual, except in the following circumstances:

• We will transfer your personal information to other parties with your explicit consent;
• In the event of a merger, acquisition, or bankruptcy liquidation involving a personal information transfer, we will require the new company or organization holding your personal information to continue to be bound by this Privacy Policy, otherwise, we will require that company or organization to obtain your authorization and consent again.

(4) Public Disclosure

Personal information should not be publicly disclosed in principle. We will only publicly disclose your personal information in the following circumstances:

• After obtaining your explicit authorization and consent;
• We may disclose your personal data when required by laws, regulations, litigation, public and government authorities.

4. Protection of Minors' Personal Information

We pay special attention to protecting the privacy of minors and urge parents/guardians to actively participate in and pay attention to minors' activities and interests. We do not deliberately collect information about minors. If a parent/guardian finds that a minor's personal information has been collected without prior consent from the guardian, please contact us to delete it and ensure the minor unsubscribes from related services. Without the consent of a guardian, we will not collect or use a minor's information.

For child users, we take stricter protective measures. If you are a child's guardian and have questions about the personal information of the child in your care, please contact us through the methods listed in Section 9 of this policy.

5. Information and Data Security Measures

To protect the integrity of our network, we have adopted industry-standard security measures to protect the personal information you provide, preventing unauthorized access, use, modification, or public disclosure of data. We will take all reasonable and feasible measures to protect your personal information, including but not limited to:

• Conducting security inspections, using encryption tools and software, and other reasonable security measures and procedures;
• Adopting encryption technology to ensure the security and confidentiality of information transmission and storage, and establishing a security incident response team to promptly locate, analyze, and handle issues;
• Limiting authorized access personnel and implementing tiered access control measures, so that only network administrators and personnel who need to know the information for business purposes can internally access users' non-public personal information.

If we become aware that our IT data network security has been compromised or that users' non-public information has been disclosed to unrelated third parties due to external acts (including but not limited to external security attacks), notwithstanding other provisions in this Privacy Policy, we will take reasonable measures we deem appropriate, including but not limited to internal investigations, reporting to and notifying law enforcement agencies, and cooperating with law enforcement agencies. If we find that personal information provided by users to our IT data network has been illegally disclosed in a manner not permitted by this Privacy Policy, we will take prompt and legally appropriate measures to notify affected users, inform them of the information disclosed and the extent of our IT data network's knowledge of the information, and take maximum remedial measures.

6. Information and Data Integrity

We process personal information only for the authorized purposes for which it was collected, and in accordance with this Privacy Policy or any relevant service privacy policy. We monitor the data collection, storage, and processing process to ensure that we only collect, store, and process the personal information necessary to provide or improve our services. We take reasonable measures to ensure the accuracy, completeness, and timeliness of the personal information we process, but this also requires users to update or correct their personal information when necessary.

7. How to Manage Your Personal Information

(1) Querying, Correcting, and Deleting Local Data

Since this application adopts an accountless and completely localized data architecture, you can modify or correct your local nickname and avatar at any time directly within the app's "Personal Center". If you wish to clear all learning records, growth values, and local caches, you can do so by directly uninstalling this application or clearing the application data in your iOS system settings. Upon uninstallation, all locally stored data will be immediately and physically deleted from your device and cannot be recovered.

(2) Exercise of Rights and Contact Channels

If you have any questions regarding local data processing or need to file a complaint about privacy issues, please contact us directly via email at: privacy@hellojapanapp.com.

To protect your information security, when processing your email requests, we may require you to provide partial anonymous identifier information of your device or a screenshot of your in-app purchase receipt to verify your identity. We will reply within 2 to 3 preferred working days upon receiving your email.

(3) Note on Account Cancellation

This application does not feature any account registration functionality; therefore, it does not involve an account cancellation process. Uninstalling the application is equivalent to destroying all local user data. If you need to cancel a continuous subscription ordered through the App Store (if any), please manage and close it independently by tapping your "Apple ID" -> "Subscriptions" within your iOS system settings.

8. How This Policy is Updated

We reserve the right to update or modify this policy from time to time. If this Privacy Policy is updated, we will publish the revised version and effective date within the app for your review. For material changes to the agreement terms, we will also provide more prominent notifications (such as pop-up prompts). After the content changes, we will remind you of the latest version and effective time through page prompts, interaction processes, etc. You need to read it carefully before use and re-authorize your agreement to the new Privacy Policy.

9. How to Contact Us

1. If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, or wish to inquire about your personal data privacy, please contact us through the following methods:

• Email: privacy@hellojapanapp.com

2. For other general customer service inquiries, bug reports, or product feedback, please contact us through the following method:

• Email: support@hellojapanapp.com

Upon receipt of your email, we will conduct the necessary verification, provide a response, and process your request within 2 to 3 business days.

Special Note: The Chinese version of this Privacy Policy is the official text. Other language translations are for reference only. In the event of any inconsistency, the Chinese version shall prevail.