Kototap Privacy Policy

1. Information we collect

Information you provide or create

• Account information: your email address, account and authentication identifiers, sign-in provider, and profile information made available by Google, Apple, or your email sign-in method.
• Learning and activity information: your self-rated Japanese level, reading difficulty and other settings, timezone, notification preferences, reading history, story sessions and choices, word and grammar lookups, saved items, mastery and review records, reading activity, and content generated for your account.
• Subscription information: subscription status, product, trial or promotion eligibility, purchase and transaction identifiers, and related billing events received from Apple, Google, or RevenueCat. We do not receive your full payment-card number from the app stores.
• Communications: support requests, feedback, deletion requests, marketing choices, and other messages you send us.

Information collected automatically

• Device and technical information: device and browser type, operating system, app version, language and locale, IP address, approximate region inferred from IP address, access times, cookies or similar identifiers, and network and request information.
• Usage and analytics information: screens and pages viewed, features used, taps and other interactions, story completion, referral information, and related event timestamps.
• Diagnostics: crash reports, error messages, logs, performance traces, and information about the state of the Service when a problem occurs.
• Push-notification information: an Expo push token, device platform, and notification status when you enable push notifications.

On supported mobile builds, our analytics tools may collect session-replay screenshots of Kototap screens and related gestures so we can understand usage and diagnose product issues. Text-entry fields are configured to be masked. Session replay is disabled on the Kototap website. We do not use session replay for advertising.

Kototap is not designed to collect precise GPS location, address-book contacts, photos, microphone recordings, or advertising identifiers.

2. How we use information

We use information to:

• create and authenticate accounts and provide the Service;
• generate and annotate stories, personalize reading difficulty, track progress, and schedule reviews;
• provide audio, notifications, account features, and customer support;
• process and administer subscriptions, trials, and promotions;
• analyze usage, debug problems, monitor performance, protect the Service, and prevent fraud or abuse;
• evaluate and improve stories, prompts, models, personalization, and other product features;
• send service communications and, with your separate choice, marketing email or marketing push notifications; and
• comply with law, enforce our terms, and resolve disputes.

3. AI processing and product improvement

Kototap uses third-party AI providers to generate stories and perform language analysis. We may send those providers generated story text and the learner context reasonably needed for the task, such as level, difficulty, preferences, prior story context, and learning targets. We seek to avoid sending direct account identifiers such as your name or email when they are not needed for the task.

We require our third-party AI providers not to train their models on Kototap data. They may process and retain data as needed to provide and secure their services under our agreements and configured service terms.

Pounce Studio may use account-linked learner information, generated content, analytics, and diagnostics to debug user-specific problems, review story and annotation quality, compare prompts and models, research personalization, improve the Service, and develop, train, or fine-tune AI models that Pounce Studio owns or controls. Authorized personnel may review this information when reasonably necessary for those purposes.

We do not currently offer a separate opt-out from these internal improvement and model-development uses. You can stop future collection by stopping use of Kototap and deleting your account. Account deletion does not require us to reverse aggregate findings or improvements already incorporated into a model when those results do not identify you.

4. How we disclose information

We may disclose information to:

• Service providers that provide authentication, cloud hosting, database and file storage, AI inference and tracing, text-to-speech, analytics and session replay, crash reporting, email, push notifications, customer support, and security services. These include providers such as Google/Firebase, Neon, Google AI, xAI, LangSmith, PostHog, Sentry, Microsoft Azure, and Expo.
• Payment and app-store providers, including Apple, Google, and RevenueCat, to administer purchases, subscriptions, trials, refunds, and subscription access.
• Authorities or other parties when we reasonably believe disclosure is required by law or is necessary to protect rights, safety, security, or the integrity of the Service.
• A successor or transaction participant in connection with a financing, merger, acquisition, reorganization, sale of assets, or similar business transaction, subject to appropriate safeguards.
• Other parties at your direction or with your consent.

We do not sell personal information, share it for cross-context behavioral advertising, or use it to serve third-party targeted advertisements. We require service providers that receive user data to protect it consistently with this policy and applicable law.

5. Your choices and privacy requests

Access, correction, and deletion

You may ask to access, correct, or delete your personal information by emailing gary@kototap.com. We may take reasonable steps to verify your identity before completing a request.

You can delete your account in Kototap under Settings → Account → Delete Account. The account and core study data are removed from active systems when the in-app deletion completes, and associated data in other active systems and processors is deleted within 30 days. If you cannot access the app, follow the instructions on our account-deletion page.

Deleting your Kototap account does not cancel an Apple App Store or Google Play subscription. Cancel the subscription through the applicable store to stop future charges.

Marketing and notifications

Marketing email is optional and requires a separate, unchecked opt-in. You can unsubscribe using the link in a marketing email. You can manage push preferences in Kototap and in your device settings. Withdrawing marketing consent does not stop account, security, billing, deletion, or other necessary service communications.

Cookies and similar technologies

You can limit cookies through your browser settings, although doing so may affect parts of the website. Because we do not sell personal information or use it for cross-context behavioral advertising, Kototap does not currently respond to opt-out preference signals as sale or sharing requests.

6. Retention

Our general retention periods are:

• account and learner data while your account remains open;
• identifiable account-linked data in active systems and processors for no more than 30 days after a valid deletion request;
• backup copies for no more than 30 days after deletion;
• security and fraud logs for 90 days, or longer when reasonably necessary for an active incident, investigation, legal obligation, or dispute;
• support correspondence for two years;
• payment and tax records for seven years; and
• marketing suppression records as needed to honor an unsubscribe request.

We may retain records longer when law requires it or when reasonably necessary to establish, exercise, or defend legal claims. We may also keep genuinely aggregate statistics that cannot identify or be linked to you. We do not retain a user-level de-identified learner dataset after account deletion.

7. Security

We use reasonable administrative, technical, and organizational measures designed to protect information, including encryption in transit. No security measure or method of transmission is completely secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security.

8. Age eligibility

Kototap is for users age 18 and older and is not directed to children. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18. If you believe a person under 18 has provided information to us, contact us so we can investigate and delete it as appropriate.

9. Data processing locations

Pounce Studio is based in the United States. We and our providers may process information in the United States and other locations where they operate, subject to contractual and legal safeguards as applicable.

10. Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy as Kototap changes. We will post the updated policy here, revise the “Last updated” date, and provide additional notice when a change is material and applicable law requires it.

11. Contact us

Pounce Studio LLC
418 Broadway Ste N
Albany, NY 12207, United States
Email: gary@kototap.com
Phone: +1 (518) 900-9140