Wordaboo · Last updated 19 August 2026
Wordaboo is a language-learning app published by Needed Labs. This policy explains what the app collects, why, who else sees it, and how to get it deleted. It covers the Wordaboo Android and iOS apps and nothing else.
The short version. Your first lesson needs no account at all. To carry on after that you sign in with Google, which is what lets your progress survive a new phone. The app shows ads and offers a paid subscription. It has no analytics or tracking SDK of its own, and your data is never sold.
Needed Labs, Switzerland, is the data controller for the Wordaboo app. Contact: wordaboo@gmail.com.
| Data | When | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Name, email address and account identifier | From signing in with Google, with Apple, or with an email address and password. The first lesson can be completed without an account; continuing after that requires one. | To identify your account so progress can be restored on another device, and to send you a small number of account emails: a welcome when you sign up, and confirmations if you ask to delete your account. There is no marketing email and no newsletter. |
| Learning progress — course, lessons completed, XP, streak, daily goal, and words you answered incorrectly | As you use the app. | To run the app, unlock lessons in order, and drill words you find hard. |
| Two optional survey answers — how you found Wordaboo, and why you are learning | Asked once, when you first set up a course. Both questions can be skipped, and skipping is remembered so you are not asked again. | To understand which courses to build next and where learners come from. Answers are only ever read as totals across all users. See section 5. |
| A shared card — a username you choose, your streak, total XP, XP earned this week, and level | Only if you switch Friends on. It is off unless you turn it on, and turning it off again deletes the card. | So people you have shared a code with can see how you are getting on. See section 6. |
| Microphone audio | Only while a speaking exercise is actively listening, after you tap the microphone. | To check your pronunciation. See section 4. |
| Advertising identifier and device information | While ads are shown (not for subscribers). | Collected by Google AdMob to serve and measure ads. See section 7. |
| Subscription status | If you subscribe to Wordaboo Premium. | To unlock premium features. See section 8. |
Wordaboo does not collect your contacts, photos, files, location, or phone number, and it contains no third-party analytics or crash-reporting SDK.
Your progress is always stored on your device. If you are signed in, a copy is also stored in Google Cloud Firestore, in a document identified by your account identifier, on servers located in the European Union. Only your own signed-in account can read or write that record, and the Friends feature does not change this.
If — and only if — you switch Friends on, a separate and much smaller document is created holding the few things listed in the table above. That one can be read by other signed-in users, which is what makes a friends list work. Your main record is never involved, so nothing else becomes visible to anybody. See section 6.
Until you sign in, nothing leaves your device except the ad requests described below.
Speaking exercises are optional and always skippable. The microphone is only active while an exercise is listening, and the app never records in the background.
Wordaboo does not store your voice and does not send audio to its own servers. Transcription is performed by your device's built-in speech recognition service. On most Android phones that service is provided by Google and, unless your device is configured for on-device recognition, the audio is sent to Google for processing under Google's Privacy Policy. Wordaboo receives only the resulting text, compares it to the expected answer, and discards it.
You can decline or revoke the microphone permission in your device settings at any time. Everything except speaking exercises continues to work.
The first time you set up a course, Wordaboo asks two questions: how you found the app, and why you are learning. Each has a short list of answers to choose from — there is no free text box, so you cannot accidentally tell us anything about yourself.
Both questions are optional. There is a "Skip this" button, skipping costs you nothing, and no feature of the app depends on answering. If you skip, that fact is recorded only so the questions are not asked again on your next launch.
Your answers are stored with your account and are read only as totals — for example "60% of learners chose French" or "most people are learning for travel". They are never used to build a profile of you, are never shown to other users, and are never sold or shared with anyone. Deleting your account deletes them along with everything else (see section 11).
Wordaboo does not use Google Analytics, Firebase Analytics, or any third-party analytics SDK. These two answers and your learning progress are the only usage information the app has.
Wordaboo can show you how people you know are getting on. It is switched off. Nothing about you is shared with anyone until you open the Friends screen and turn it on, and that screen lists exactly what will be shared before you do.
When it is on, a small card is published containing a username you choose, your friend code, your streak, your total XP, the XP you have earned this calendar week, and the level you have reached. That is the complete list. It can be read by other signed-in Wordaboo users.
The username is one you pick, not the name on your Google or Apple account. Your real name is never shared with other users, even if it is the name attached to the account you signed in with. Usernames are unique, so claiming one reserves it, and changing yours releases the old one for somebody else.
It never includes your email address, your survey answers, which lessons you have done, which words you got wrong, or your daily goal. Those stay in your private record, which no other account can read.
People find you by your username or by a seven-character code, either of which you choose to give out — Wordaboo does not read your contacts, and cannot suggest people to you. Who you have added is stored privately on your own record, so nobody can see your friends list, not even your friends.
Turning Friends off deletes the shared card rather than hiding it. Other users stop being able to see you immediately.
Wordaboo shows ads supplied by Google AdMob. To serve, cap and measure them, AdMob may process your device's advertising identifier, IP address, device and app information, and your interactions with ads. Wordaboo does not receive or store that data.
Wordaboo Premium is billed by Google Play. Payment is handled entirely by Google — Wordaboo never sees or stores your card details, billing address, or any payment information. The app receives only whether your subscription is currently active, so it can unlock premium features.
Manage or cancel your subscription at play.google.com/store/account/subscriptions. Refunds are handled by Google under its own terms.
Your data is never sold, and it is never shared for anyone else's advertising. It is processed only by the service providers that make the app work:
Data may also be disclosed where required by law.
Progress stored on your device is deleted when you uninstall the app or clear its storage. Progress stored in your account is kept until you ask for it to be deleted, or until the account has been inactive for three years, whichever comes first.
You can ask to see, correct, export or delete the data held about you, object to processing, or withdraw consent. Depending on where you live these rights come from the Swiss FADP, the EU/UK GDPR, or local law.
To delete your account and all associated data, open the app and go to Account → Delete my account. You can also email wordaboo@gmail.com from the address you signed in with; the account deletion page has both routes in full.
When you delete in the app, your shared Friends card is removed immediately and everything else — your account record, learning progress and sign-in identity — is held for 14 days and then deleted permanently. Signing in again during those 14 days cancels the deletion and restores everything. We email you when the deletion is scheduled and again when it is complete. Requests made by email are completed within 30 days. Nothing is retained afterwards. You can also remove the local copy at any time by uninstalling the app.
Deleting your account does not cancel a Premium subscription — cancel that separately in Google Play.
If you believe your data has been handled improperly you may complain to your local supervisory authority — in Switzerland, the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (FDPIC).
Wordaboo is not directed to children under 13 and does not knowingly collect their personal data. If you believe a child has provided personal data, contact us and it will be deleted.
All communication with our service providers uses encrypted HTTPS connections. Account data in Firestore is readable and writable only by the signed-in account it belongs to. No system is perfectly secure, and no absolute guarantee is offered.
If this policy changes materially, the date at the top of the page is updated and the change is announced in the app before it takes effect. The current version always lives at this address.