Lindenstraat · Dutch on Lindenstraat

Privacy policy

Last updated 10 October 2026

Who we are

Lindenstraat (on the App Store as Dutch on Lindenstraat) is made by Cygnet 7, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Cygnet 7 is the controller of the personal data described here. You can reach us at hello@cygnet7.com.

What stays on your device

The story, the lessons and the explanations are built into the app. What you do with them stays on your phone: your progress, the words and grammar you save, your notes, reviews and settings. If iCloud is turned on for the app, Apple syncs this to your other devices in your own private iCloud database. We can't see it.

Character chat

When you chat with the people of the Lindenstraat (part of Pro):

• The app signs in with an anonymous account (Google Firebase Authentication). It's a random id, not linked to your name or email. Firebase App Check confirms that requests come from the genuine app.
• Your messages, the last few turns of the conversation, your level and how far you've read are sent to our server and to Google Vertex AI (Gemini), processed in the EU, to write the reply and its translation. Google doesn't use them to train its models.
• We don't store the conversations on our server. They stay on your phone. We keep only how many messages you sent each day (and the size of the model's work), to apply the fair-use limit and to see what chat costs.
• If you report a reply, we receive that reply, the message it answered, the reason you chose and any note you add, with your anonymous account id, so we can review it and improve the characters.
• Please don't share sensitive personal information in chat. The characters are fictional and so are their answers.

Subscriptions

Lindenstraat Pro is sold through the App Store. Apple handles the payment; we never see your card or Apple ID. When you subscribe or restore, the app sends Apple's signed confirmation to our server, which checks Apple's signature and stores the subscription's id, product, and expiry date against your anonymous chat account. Apple also tells our server when a subscription renews, ends or is refunded.

Inviting friends

Invites use Sign in with Apple, so each person can use one code. We receive only a stable, anonymous identifier from Apple; we don't ask for your name and your email can stay hidden. We store a one-way hash of that identifier, your invite code, who used it (as hashes, never names), whether they finished their first chapter, how many rewards you've earned this month, and how long your Pro days from invites last.

Deleting your chat data unlinks your Apple ID, revokes the sign-in with Apple, and erases your code and days. To stop the same Apple ID redeeming again or resetting the monthly limit, we keep only the hash with the fact that it used a code and this month's count.

Crash reports and usage statistics

• Crash reports (Google Firebase Crashlytics): when the app crashes, it sends the technical details — what went wrong, device model, iOS and app version — with a random installation id. No content you read or write.
• Usage statistics (TelemetryDeck, an EU-based, privacy-focused service): anonymous signals such as "a chapter was finished" or "a lesson was opened", with an id that is hashed on your device so it can't be traced back to you. No IP addresses are stored, no personal data, no advertising ids.

Voice

Story sentences come with a recorded natural voice. Clips that aren't built into the app are downloaded from our storage on Google Cloud when you play them, and kept on your phone. Like any download, the request includes your IP address, which the host sees briefly to deliver the file.

Feedback

If you email us from the app, the message includes the app version, iOS version, device model, your level and whether you have Pro, so we can help. Nothing else is added. We keep emails only as long as we need them to answer and improve the app.

What we don't do

• No advertising and no advertising ids.
• No tracking across other companies' apps or websites.
• No selling or renting of data, ever.
• No camera, microphone, contacts or location access.

Who processes data for us

• Apple: App Store purchases and iCloud sync.
• Google Cloud and Firebase (EU regions): our chat server (Cloud Run, the Netherlands), Gemini on Vertex AI, anonymous sign-in, App Check, Firestore (subscription status and daily message counts), voice storage and Crashlytics.
• TelemetryDeck (Germany): anonymous usage statistics.

Some of these companies are based in the United States. Where data leaves the EU, it's covered by the EU–US Data Privacy Framework or the European Commission's standard contractual clauses.

How long we keep it

• Chat conversations: not kept on our server.
• Daily message counts: while your chat account is in use, and deleted when you delete your chat data.
• Reported replies: until we've reviewed them, at most a year, or until you delete your chat data.
• Subscription status: as long as the subscription exists, plus what tax and accounting law requires.
• Crash reports: 90 days. Usage statistics: kept only in anonymous, aggregate form.

Legal basis

We process chat, subscription and voice data to provide the app you asked for (performance of a contract), and crash reports and anonymous statistics because we have a legitimate interest in keeping the app working and improving it.

Your rights

Under the GDPR you can ask to see, correct, export or delete your data, and object to or restrict its use. Settings › Delete chat data in the app erases your chat account and everything our server keeps for it straight away. For anything else, email hello@cygnet7.com from the app (Settings › Send feedback) so we can find your anonymous account. Settings › Share crash reports and anonymous statistics turns those off. Deleting the app removes everything stored on your phone; turning off iCloud for the app stops syncing. You can also complain to the Dutch data protection authority, Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens.

Children

Lindenstraat is meant for adults and teenagers learning Dutch. Character chat is only for people aged 16 and over: the app asks before the first chat and keeps chat closed for anyone who says they're younger. We don't knowingly collect personal data from children; if you think a child has used chat, contact us and we'll delete the related data.

Changes

If this policy changes in a way that matters, we'll say so in the app's "What's new" and update the date above.