Privacy policy

The short version

RetainWord saves the words and phrases you choose to learn, and nothing else from the pages you visit. We don't sell your data, show ads or track you across sites. AI writes the meanings from what you save, without your name or email.

Who we are

RetainWord is run by its developer ("we", "us"). We decide how your data is used: in data protection terms, we are its controller. Questions or requests: write to us through the contact form or at support@retainword.com.

What we collect

• What you save: the word or phrase, the sentence it came from, and the address and title of that page, so you can see where you found it.
• Your progress: your review answers and when you gave them, the sentences you write during practice, and your learning preferences.
• Your account, if you create one: your email address, a password (stored only as a secure hash), the name and avatar you choose, and your name and photo if you sign in with Google.
• Payments, if you upgrade: handled by Paddle, our reseller. We never see your card details; we only learn which plan you have and when it renews.
• Messages you send us: what you write in the contact form, and the email address you give for a reply, if any. We keep them until we have dealt with them.
• Your username and friends: the username you choose, the people you invite and accept, the words you share and with whom, and the thank-yous.
• Technical data: your IP address and basic request logs, kept by our hosting providers for a few days to run and protect the service, and how many meanings you requested this month, for the free plan’s allowance.

Why we use it

• To run the service you asked for: your account, your collection, its meanings, your reviews and syncing between your devices. This is needed to perform our agreement with you, the Terms of use and sale.
• To sell paid plans: our agreement with you, and the tax obligations of Paddle, our reseller.
• To keep the service safe and fair: preventing abuse, limiting requests and counting the free allowance, in our legitimate interest in a service that works for everyone.
• To email you: only what the service needs (confirming your address, sign-in codes, security alerts, receipts). No marketing without your consent.

The browser extension

The extension reads the page only when you ask it to, by pressing Alt+Shift+S, clicking its button or choosing "Save to RetainWord" from the right-click menu. It then reads your selection and the sentence around it, and opens RetainWord to save them. It doesn't read pages in the background or record your browsing history. The only thing it stores is the RetainWord address set in its options.

The use of information received from the RetainWord browser extension adheres to the Chrome Web Store User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements.

Who receives it

• Your device. Everything you save is kept in your browser first, and works without an account.
• Supabase stores your account and collection when you sign in, in a data centre in Paris, France.
• Vercel hosts the site and runs its server, in the United States.
• AI providers (OpenRouter, in the United States, and the model provider it routes to) receive the phrase you saved, its sentence and your practice sentences, never your name or email, to write meanings and examples and to check your answers. Meanings for a phrase are shared between learners, with nothing that identifies you.
• Your friends see your username and avatar, and the words you send them. Whoever you give a link to sees the word, its meaning and your username. Nobody ever sees where you found a word.
• Paddle (United Kingdom) sells the paid plans and processes payments, under its own privacy policy.
• Google, only if you choose to sign in with it: it tells us your name, email address and photo.

We don’t sell your data, and we share it with no one else unless the law requires it.

Transfers abroad

Your account and collection are stored in the European Union (France). Some providers work from the United States (Vercel, OpenRouter): they receive only what they need to run the service, under data processing agreements with the safeguards the law requires, such as the European Commission’s standard contractual clauses or the EU–U.S. Data Privacy Framework.

How long we keep it

• Your account and everything stored with it: until you delete your account. Deletion is immediate and can’t be undone.
• What’s on your device: until you sign out, which clears it, or clear your browser’s data.
• Technical logs: a few days, as set by our hosting providers.
• Payment records: kept by Paddle for as long as tax law requires.
• Notifications: deleted after 30 days.
• Meanings written by AI: kept to serve every learner; they contain nothing about you.

Your rights

You can ask to see, correct, export or delete your data, to limit how we use it or to object to it, and you can withdraw any consent you gave. You can export everything and delete your account yourself from Settings → Account & plan. For anything else, or if you can’t sign in anymore, write to us through the contact form or at support@retainword.com: we answer within 30 days.

You can also complain to the data protection authority of your country, such as the CNIL in France or the AEPD in Spain.

Security

Everything travels encrypted (HTTPS) and is encrypted at rest by our host. Each account can reach only its own data, passwords are stored as secure hashes, and deleting an account needs a code sent to its email address.

Children

RetainWord is not meant for children under 16. If you think a child under 16 has given us their data, tell us through the contact form or at support@retainword.com and we’ll delete it.

Changes to this policy

When this policy changes, we update the date at the top. If a change affects how your data is used, we tell you in the app or by email before it applies.