Privacy Policy

chinita.ph helps you learn Hokkien for the people who matter — the person you love and their family. To do that, we need to hold some of your information. This page explains, in plain English, what we collect, why, who we share it with, and how to get it deleted. We only collect what the app needs to work.

01Who we are

chinita.ph (“chinita”, “we”, “us”) is a language-learning app that pairs you with tutors for short Hokkien lessons. We are the party responsible for the personal data described here. You can reach us any time at privacy@chinita.ph.

02What we collect

• Account & identity: your name, email address, and date of birth (used to confirm you are 18 or older).
• Profile: your profile photo, your general location (region and city in the Philippines), a short bio, and your learning goals. If you sign up as a tutor, also the subjects you teach and your weekly availability.
• Lesson activity: the lessons and sessions you book, the lesson plans generated for you, reviews you give and receive, and tutors you favorite.
• Payments & credits: your in-app wallet balance, lesson-pack purchases, and transaction history. Card and billing details are handled by Apple’s In-App Purchase — we never see or store your card number.
• Device: a push-notification token so we can send you lesson reminders and updates.

03How we use it

• To create your account, match you with tutors, and run your lessons.
• To generate a personalized lesson plan from the goal you type (see “Who we share with” below).
• To process lesson purchases and keep your wallet and credits accurate.
• To send you booking confirmations, reminders, and service messages.
• To keep the service safe — preventing fraud, abuse, and misuse.

We do not sell your personal data, and we do not use it for third-party advertising.

04Who we share with

We share data only with the service providers that make the app run:

• Supabase — hosts our database, authentication, and photo storage. Your account and profile data live here.
• Google (Gemini API) — when you ask for a lesson, the learning goal you type is sent to Google’s Gemini model to generate your lesson plan. Please avoid entering sensitive personal details in that field.
• Google (Firebase Cloud Messaging) — delivers push notifications to your device.
• Apple — processes in-app purchases and billing.
• Your tutor — sees the profile and lesson details needed to teach your session (such as your name, goal, and lesson plan).

We may also disclose data if required by law, or to protect the rights and safety of our users.

05Your choices & rights

You are in control of your data:

• Access & correction: view and edit your profile any time in the app.
• Deletion: you can request deletion of your account and associated data from within the app (Account → request deletion), or by emailing privacy@chinita.ph. We remove your personal data except where we must keep limited records (for example, transaction records required for tax or accounting).
• Notifications: turn push notifications off in your device settings at any time.

06Data retention & security

We keep your data only as long as your account is active or as needed to provide the service and meet legal obligations. Data is stored on Supabase’s managed infrastructure and protected in transit and at rest. No system is perfectly secure, but we take reasonable steps to safeguard your information.

07Children

chinita.ph is intended for adults. It is not directed at anyone under 18, and we do not knowingly collect data from minors. If you believe a minor has created an account, contact us and we will remove it.

08Changes to this policy

If we make material changes, we will update the “Effective” date above and, where appropriate, notify you in the app. Continued use after an update means you accept the revised policy.

09Contact

Questions about your privacy, or want your data deleted? Email privacy@chinita.ph. For general help, see our support page.