Short version: Soltura has no accounts, no ads, no tracking, and no analytics SDKs. Your practice history stays on your device. To give you feedback, the app sends what you practise — in the web app, that's a short voice clip every time you check a sentence; in the iOS app it's usually just text — to a small relay we run on Cloudflare. That relay exists for one reason: to keep our AI key secret, because the app can't call Google directly without exposing it. It attaches the key, passes your request to Google's Gemini AI, and streams the answer back — it doesn't store, log, or review your sentences or audio. The only record it keeps is an anonymous daily usage counter (a random token and a number, deleted automatically within 48 hours) to enforce the free daily limit. Nothing is tied to a name or account — there aren't any. We are not running a server that collects or reads your practice; the relay is a locked pass-through, and the actual language processing is Google's.
1. Who we are
Soltura is made by Tim Weston Apps, an independent app developer based in Australia, operating at timwestonapps.com. You can contact us at tim@timwestonapps.com. Our philosophy is simple: build genuinely useful apps without tracking who you are, selling your data, or requiring any personal information.
2. The two versions of Soltura
This policy covers both versions, which differ in one important way:
- Soltura for iOS — converts your speech to text on your iPhone (Apple speech recognition), then sends only the text for correction. A voice recording leaves your phone only when you explicitly tap Deep Check.
- Soltura web app (in your browser, or installed to your home screen) — is voice-first: every time you record a sentence and check it, the short voice clip itself (up to 15 seconds) is sent for analysis. There is no way to use the web version's checking feature without sending audio — that is how it listens, corrects, and can comment on your pronunciation.
Everything else — no accounts, no tracking, history kept on your device, the same locked relay — is identical.
3. What's stored on your device
Everything you build up in Soltura is stored locally on your device — on your iPhone (iOS app) or in your browser's local storage (web app) — and is never uploaded to us:
- Your correction history, pronunciation checks, and "Tell me more" explanations
- Your accuracy scores
- Your settings (practice language, explanation language, theme, text-to-speech speed)
- An anonymous, random device identifier (a UUID created on your device) used only to enforce the free daily limit. It is not linked to you, your Apple ID, or any account.
You can erase all of it at any time with Settings → Delete all data, or by deleting the app (iOS) / clearing the site's browsing data (web). You can also export your history to a file you keep (Settings → Export backup) — that file is created on your device and goes only where you choose.
4. What leaves your device, and when
Soltura makes a network request only when you ask it to check something. There is no background communication, no telemetry, and no "phone home."
Web app
- Checking a sentence — when you tap the microphone and speak, the app records a clip of up to 15 seconds. When you stop, that audio clip, your target and explanation languages, and the anonymous device identifier are sent to our Cloudflare relay, which attaches our AI key and forwards them to Google's Gemini API. Gemini listens to the clip and returns the transcript, correction, and explanation, which are saved on your device only. Recording starts and stops only when you tap — never in the background.
- "Check my pronunciation" — re-analyses the same clip you already recorded. It does not record you again; it sends that clip once more for a closer listen and returns pronunciation notes.
- "Tell me more" — sends the already-corrected sentence back for a longer explanation. Text only, no audio.
iOS app
- Grammar correction — the recognised or typed sentence text, your languages, and the anonymous device identifier are sent through the same relay to Gemini. Audio is not sent in this path — only text.
- "Tell me more" — text only, as above.
- Deep Check (only when you tap the Deep Check button) — records up to 10 seconds of audio and sends that clip through the relay to Gemini for a verbatim transcript, correction, and pronunciation notes. This is the only iOS feature that sends your voice off the device.
In both versions: the relay doesn't keep your sentences or your audio, and neither do we.
5. Speech recognition & the microphone
Web app: your browser will ask for microphone permission the first time you record. The microphone is active only while the record button shows it is recording. The web app does not use your browser's built-in speech recognition — your clip goes directly to Gemini for transcription (section 4).
iOS app: the normal Practice mic uses Apple's built-in Speech Recognition to turn speech into text as you speak.
- iOS uses on-device recognition where your iPhone and chosen language support it, so your audio is processed on your phone and only the resulting text is sent for correction. Where on-device recognition isn't available, iOS may send the audio to Apple for transcription under Apple's Privacy Policy.
- When iOS asks for Speech Recognition permission, it shows Apple's own wording ("Speech data from this app will be sent to Apple…"). That sentence is added by iOS itself for any app that uses Apple's speech framework and cannot be reworded or removed.
- The iOS app never records, stores, or uploads your Practice audio itself. The only time a voice recording leaves your iPhone is Deep Check, which you trigger explicitly.
6. Text-to-speech
When you tap a speaker button to hear a sentence, Soltura uses the speech synthesiser built into your device or browser. Soltura sends nothing over the network for playback (on a small number of browsers, the browser's own voices may be processed by the browser vendor under their policy).
7. Permissions
- Microphone — used only while you are actively recording.
- Speech Recognition (iOS only) — a separate iOS permission, used to convert your Practice speech into text (see section 5).
Soltura does not request access to your contacts, location, photos, or your Apple ID, and the web app sets no advertising or tracking cookies.
8. Third-party services
- Cloudflare Workers (Cloudflare, Inc.) — hosts the web app and the small relay we run so our Google AI key stays secret instead of being embedded in the app. Your request passes through it on the way to Google; your sentences and audio are not stored, logged, or read there. The one thing the relay does keep is an anonymous daily usage counter — your random device token and a count of today's checks, used to enforce the free daily limit — which is deleted automatically within 48 hours and contains no content and nothing that identifies you. See Cloudflare's Privacy Policy.
- Google Gemini API (Google LLC) — the AI model that generates corrections and pronunciation feedback. Your sentence text and, where described in section 4, your short audio clip are sent here to produce your feedback, under Google's API terms and Google's Privacy Policy.
What we, the developer, keep or look at: nothing beyond that expiring counter. We run no database of your practice, no server logs of your sentences or audio, and we don't read or review what you say. No analytics, no advertising, no crash-reporting SDKs, no social logins, and no tracking are used in the app.
9. Accounts & payments (coming)
Soltura currently has no accounts and collects no personal information. When paid subscriptions launch, they will work like this: payments will be handled by a payment provider acting as merchant of record (you pay them, and your card details never reach us), and subscribers will optionally sign in with just an email address so their subscription works across devices. Free use will continue to require no account at all. This policy will be updated with the specifics before subscriptions go live.
10. Data retention & deletion
Your history and settings live on your device until you delete them (Settings → Delete all data, deleting the iOS app, or clearing the site's browsing data in the web app). Apart from the anonymous usage counter that self-deletes within 48 hours, we hold no server-side copy of anything — there is nothing for us to delete. You can export your data to a file at any time (Settings → Export backup); that file is created on your device and shared only where you choose.
11. Children's privacy
Soltura is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you have concerns, please contact us at tim@timwestonapps.com.
12. Changes to this policy
If we make material changes to this privacy policy, we will update the date at the top of this page. Continued use of the app after changes constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.
13. Contact
For any questions about this privacy policy or your data, please email tim@timwestonapps.com.