Privacy Policy
Last updated: 16 August 2026. Applies to the NerLan apps for iOS and Android.
The short version
NerLan has no accounts, no sign-up, no analytics, no advertising, no tracking and no third-party SDKs of any kind. The developer operates no server and receives no data from the app whatsoever — there is nowhere for your information to be sent to, because there is no back end.
Everything the app knows about you lives on your device. The only times data leaves it are ones you start yourself: downloading an episode from the show's own feed, using an AI feature with a key you supplied, or turning on sync to your own cloud account. Each of those is described below.
No data is collected, sold, shared, or used for advertising or profiling — ever. The developer cannot see what you listen to, what you study, or that you use the app at all.
What stays on your device
All of this is stored locally in the app's private storage, and is deleted when you delete the app:
- Your subscriptions, favorites, and per-episode notes
- Downloaded and cached audio, and any downloaded handout attachments
- Playback positions, playback speed, and repeat settings
- Listening statistics (time listened, episodes finished, streaks)
- AI transcripts, handouts, and translations once generated
- Your API key, held in the system keychain / encrypted storage
None of it is transmitted anywhere unless you switch on one of the optional features below.
What leaves your device
The app makes network requests in exactly three situations, all of them user-initiated:
- Fetching shows and audio. When you subscribe to a podcast or play, stream, or download an episode, the app requests it directly from the feed or audio service that publishes it. Those services receive the request as any podcast app's would — typically an IP address and a standard HTTP user agent. They are independent of NerLan and govern that data under their own privacy policies.
- AI features — see below. Off unless you configure a key or server.
- Sync — see below. Off by default.
AI features
Transcripts, study handouts, and translation are optional and inactive until you enter your own credentials. You choose the provider:
- OpenAI, using an API key you supply and pay for. Episode audio is uploaded for transcription, and transcript text is sent for handouts and translation. That processing is governed by OpenAI's privacy policy and billed to your own account. NerLan is not affiliated with OpenAI.
- Your own server — any OpenAI-compatible endpoint, including one on your own machine or local network. In that case the audio and text go only where you point them, and no third party is involved.
Your API key is stored in the device keychain (iOS) or encrypted preferences (Android). It is sent only to the endpoint you configured, and never to the developer.
Sync and backup
Sync is off by default, and every option writes to your cloud account, never to a server run by the developer:
- iCloud (iOS). Mirrors favorites, notes, listening stats, subscriptions, transcripts, and handouts to your own iCloud account so they survive a reinstall and reach your other devices. Governed by Apple's privacy policy. Audio files are never synced.
- Google Drive. Where offered, this signs in to your own Google account and writes to the app's hidden application-data folder, which no other app can read. It is used only to move your own library between the iOS and Android apps. The developer has no access to it, and the app requests no other Drive scope. Signing out revokes the app's access.
Microphone
Shadowing practice records you reading a sentence aloud so you can play it back against the original. Recordings are written to the app's private storage on your device, are never uploaded or synced, and are overwritten by the next recording. The permission is requested only when you first use the feature, and the app does not record at any other time.
Local network
If you choose to search for a self-hosted transcription server, the app browses the local network for that service type only, to fill in the server address for you. It does not scan for anything else and reports nothing.
Children
NerLan is not directed at children and collects no personal information from anyone, including children under 13.
This website
This site is hosted on GitHub Pages and uses Google Analytics to count page views. That applies to the website only — the apps contain no analytics. GitHub and Google may log requests to this site under their own policies.
Changes and contact
If this policy changes, the updated version will be posted here with a new date. Questions can be raised as an issue on GitHub.