Privacy Policy

Effective 23 September 2026 · Last updated 23 September 2026

Controller: Witold Bobrowski, sole developer of Parola, Zielona 2/7, 80-746 Gdańsk, Poland. Contact hello@heyparola.com.

The short version

The Parola app collects no personal data. There's no account, no sign-in, no analytics, no crash reporting, no ads, and no tracking. The only exceptions — purchase verification via RevenueCat, and the optional newsletter — are explained below. We don't sell or share your data with anyone.

Your collection

Your saved words and collections live in a database on your iPhone by default. They aren't sent to us. If you turn on iCloud backup (a Parola Ultra feature), your collection is also stored in your own private iCloud database, kept by Apple under Apple's privacy policy. Parola can't access it. Turning backup off, or deleting the data in iPhone Settings → your name → iCloud, removes it.

Dictionary lookups

The app downloads dictionary entries and language indexes from data.heyparola.com, hosted on Cloudflare R2. Each request names the word or file you're looking up, and like any web request it exposes your IP address to Cloudflare. Parola doesn't link these requests to you, and keeps no logs of its own. See Cloudflare's privacy policy.

Pronunciation audio is fetched from Wikimedia Commons (upload.wikimedia.org), which likewise sees your IP address under the Wikimedia Foundation's privacy policy.

Translation

When a dictionary entry isn't available in your language, Parola can use Apple's Translation framework, which translates on your iPhone. Apple may download language files to your device for it; the words you translate aren't sent to us.

Purchases (Parola Ultra)

Purchases are handled by Apple; we never see your name, Apple Account, or payment details. The app uses RevenueCat to verify purchases and unlock Ultra. RevenueCat receives an anonymous app-generated ID and purchase receipt data (products, dates, storefront) — not your name or email. See RevenueCat's privacy policy.

If you sign up on heyparola.com, your email address goes to Buttondown, our newsletter provider, only to send Parola news. You can unsubscribe anytime via the link in every email.

The website

heyparola.com uses no cookies and no analytics. It's hosted on Cloudflare, which sees your IP address when you visit, like any web host.

Legal bases

Under GDPR, Parola relies on:

performing our contract with you, to verify purchases and unlock Parola Ultra;
your consent, to send the newsletter (withdraw it anytime by unsubscribing);
our legitimate interest in delivering dictionary lookups and audio you ask for, and in keeping the service secure.

How long we keep it

Your collection stays on your iPhone and in your iCloud for as long as you keep it there. Parola keeps no logs of lookups. Your newsletter address is kept until you unsubscribe. Purchase records are kept by RevenueCat and Apple for as long as needed to provide your purchase and meet accounting and tax obligations.

International transfers

Cloudflare, RevenueCat, Buttondown and the Wikimedia Foundation are based in the United States, so some data may be processed there. These transfers rely on the EU–US Data Privacy Framework or the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses.

Security

All of Parola's network traffic uses HTTPS. iCloud backup is stored and encrypted by Apple. No method of transmission or storage is perfectly secure, but we keep what we handle to a minimum.

Legal requests

We would disclose information only if the law requires it, such as a valid court order. Since we hold almost nothing, there is little to disclose.

Your rights

Under GDPR, you have the right to access, correct, erase, restrict, or port your data, to object to its use, and to complain to a supervisory authority — in Poland, the Prezes Urzędu Ochrony Danych Osobowych (uodo.gov.pl). Since we hold nothing about app users on our servers, most requests are trivially satisfied: delete the app to erase your local data, delete your iCloud data in iPhone Settings → your name → iCloud if you used backup, or email us about newsletter data.

Children

Parola isn't directed at children under 13, and we don't knowingly collect personal data from them.

Changes

If this policy changes, we'll update this page and the date above. Material changes will also be noted in the app's release notes.

Read the Terms of Use or visit Support.