Overview
EnglishSponge (“we”, “us”) is the data controller for the personal data described in this policy. This page explains, under UK GDPR and the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR), what we collect when you use englishsponge.com, why, and the choices and rights you have over it.
We keep this deliberately short: the site runs no advertising, analytics or marketing trackers of any kind, so most of what a typical privacy policy has to disclose simply doesn’t apply here.
Data we collect
Account data. If you register, we store the name, email address and password you give us. Your password is never stored or transmitted in plain text. If you upgrade to Premium, we also hold your subscription status — your card details go straight to Stripe and never touch our servers (see Third parties).
Learning activity. For a signed-in account, we record what you watch and your daily progress toward your learning goal, so your dashboard and streaks work across devices. Guests get the same features stored locally in their browser instead — see Local storage.
Messages you send us. If you use our contact form, we receive the name, email and message you provide, so we can reply.
We don’t collect a phone number, postal address, or date of birth, and there’s no marketing mailing list to opt into.
Local storage
We also use your browser’s local storage — never cookies — for interface preferences and, for guests, learning progress. Everything is namespaced under englishSponge:, stays on your device, and is never transmitted to our servers or any third party:
| Name | Purpose | Duration |
|---|---|---|
englishSponge:theme | Your light/dark mode preference. | Until changed |
englishSponge:flourish:{userId} | Your chosen profile colour theme (signed-in members only). | Until changed |
englishSponge:videoProgress | Playback position for the last 10 videos you watched, so you can resume where you left off. | Until the oldest entry is evicted or you clear it |
englishSponge:hideWatched | Whether to hide already-watched videos from the browse grid. | Until changed |
englishSponge:showWatchedIndicator | Whether to show a "watched" badge on videos in the grid. | Until changed |
englishSponge:guestDailyGoal | Your daily learning-minutes goal, for visitors browsing without an account. Signed-in members' goal is stored on our servers instead. | Until changed |
englishSponge:guestDailyProgress | Today's progress toward that goal, for guests only. | Resets daily, or until cleared |
englishSponge:guestResetCountdownHidden | Whether you've dismissed the banner that counts down to your daily goal resetting. | Until changed |
englishSponge:langSynced:{userId} | Marks that we've already matched this browser to your saved account language, so we don't redirect you again on your next visit. | Until this browser's storage is cleared |
Third parties
We keep the list of services that ever see your data short and functional — no ad networks, no analytics platforms, no data brokers:
- Stripe — processes Premium subscription payments. We never see or store your card details; Stripe handles checkout and billing management directly.
- YouTube — hosts our video content. Where a video is embedded directly, playing it may set YouTube/Google’s own cookies under their privacy policy; our About page uses YouTube’s privacy-enhanced, no-cookie-until-clicked embed.
- Our backend infrastructure — processes and stores account and learning data on our behalf, under contract, solely to run the service.
- Your browser’s speech synthesis — the pronunciation examples on our About page play recordings we host ourselves, but if your browser can’t play them it falls back to reading the word aloud with your device’s built-in voice. Where that voice is a network one from Apple, Google or Microsoft, the word or example sentence is sent to them to be spoken — never anything about you or your account.
Legal basis
We process account and learning data under contract — it’s necessary to provide the account and features you’ve signed up for. Strictly-necessary cookies and local storage run on our legitimate interest in keeping the site secure and working correctly. Payment data is processed under contract and to meet our legal obligations around billing and tax records.
Retention
We keep account data for as long as your account is active. If you delete your account, we remove your personal data within a reasonable period, except where we’re required to keep billing records for longer to meet legal obligations. The sign-in cookie expires automatically after 24 hours. Anything stored in your browser’s local storage stays only on your device until you change it, clear your browser data, or (for guest progress) it’s superseded by signing up.
Your rights
Under UK GDPR, you have the right to:
- Access the personal data we hold about you
- Correct inaccurate data
- Erase your data (“the right to be forgotten”)
- Restrict or object to certain processing
- Receive your data in a portable format
- Withdraw consent at any time, where we rely on it
Most of this — updating your name or email, or deleting your account — is self-service in Settings. For anything else, or to exercise any of the rights above, reach us using the details in Contact us. If you’re not satisfied with our response, you have the right to complain to the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk.
Children
EnglishSponge is not directed at children, and we don’t knowingly collect data from anyone under 13. If you believe a child has given us personal data, contact us and we’ll remove it.
Changes to this policy
If we change what we collect or why, we’ll update this page and the “last updated” date above. We’ll post a notice on the site if a change is significant enough to warrant one.
Contact us
Questions about this policy, or want to exercise one of your rights? Email us at contact@englishsponge.com or use our contact form.