Privacy Policy

Last updated: October 1, 2026

Englishorts (englishorts.com, app.englishorts.com and the Telegram bot @englishorts_bot) is a free game for learning English by ear. A short scene from a movie, TV series or cartoon plays, pauses after a line, and you type, pick or assemble what the actor said. The game adapts to your level, tracks your progress and shows translations into your language. This policy explains what data we collect, why, and what control you have over it.

1. Data we collect

Account data

Telegram sign-in (Mini App or Telegram Login on the website): your Telegram user ID, first name, username, profile photo URL and language code, as provided by Telegram.
Google sign-in: your Google account ID, email address, name and profile picture. We request only the basic profile and email scopes.
Email sign-in: your email address, to which we send a one-time code.

Learning and game data

Your answers to exercises, scores, XP, level, streak, daily goal, chosen interface and native languages, settings, liked scenes and saved phrases.
YouTube links you choose to send to the bot to suggest a new scene, and messages you send to support via /help.

Technical data

IP address, approximate country (derived offline from the IP address, without third-party requests), device type and browser user agent.
Loading performance of videos (start time, buffering) and anonymous error reports, used to keep the game fast.
Website analytics via Yandex Metrica (pages visited, session length, device); it uses cookies. See the Yandex privacy policy.

Payments

Optional Premium is paid with Telegram Stars inside Telegram. We receive only the payment status, amount and period — never card details.

2. How we use the data

To sign you in and keep your progress across devices.
To pick scenes and exercises that match your level and to show translations into your language.
To show the weekly leaderboard (your first name, photo and weekly XP are visible to other players).
To send you Telegram messages you would expect: streak reminders, the result of a scene you suggested, replies to your support requests. You can stop them by blocking the bot.
To prevent abuse, fix errors and improve loading speed.

We do not sell your data, do not use it for advertising profiles, and do not share it with third parties except the service providers needed to run the game (hosting in Finland by Hetzner, email delivery by Resend, Telegram for the bot and payments, Google for Google sign-in, Yandex Metrica for analytics).

3. Google user data and YouTube API Services

Englishorts' use and transfer of information received from Google APIs adheres to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements. Data from Google sign-in is used only to create and identify your account; it is not used for advertising, not sold and not used to train AI models.

Englishorts uses YouTube API Services only to publish our own promotional videos to our own YouTube channel. We do not access, store or analyse YouTube data of our players. By using features that rely on YouTube you also agree to the YouTube Terms of Service; see also the Google Privacy Policy. You can revoke access at any time at Google security settings.

4. Storage and retention

Data is stored on our server in the EU (Finland) and protected with HTTPS and access control.
Individual answers are deleted after 120 days, loading telemetry after 14 days, one-time email codes after they expire.
Account data, progress and the history of scenes you have watched are kept while your account exists.

5. Your rights

You can ask us to show, correct or delete your data, or to delete your account entirely. Send /help to @englishorts_bot in Telegram and write your request; we answer there. Deletion is done within 30 days.

6. Children

Englishorts is not directed to children under 13 and we do not knowingly collect their data. If you believe a child has given us data, contact us and we will delete it.

7. Changes

We may update this policy; the date at the top shows the latest version. Significant changes will be announced in the bot.