ይህ ሰነድ የቀረበው በእንግሊዝኛ ብቻ ነው።

Privacy Policy

Last updated: 30 July 2026

Stellar PLC ("we", "us", "our") builds Banana, a mobile application that teaches English to Amharic-speaking learners. This Privacy Policy explains what personal information the app collects, why we collect it, who we share it with, and the choices and rights you have.

This policy covers the Banana mobile app for iOS and Android and the backend service at the domain that serves it. It does not cover third-party services you reach from the app, each of which has its own privacy policy.

If you do not agree with this policy, please do not use Banana.

1. Summary

2. Information we collect

2.1 Account information

You create an account by signing in with Google. We receive from Google, and store:

• your name (as held by your Google account)
• your email address
• your Google profile picture URL, if your account has one
• a stable account identifier from Google, and OAuth tokens used only to keep you signed in

We never receive or store your Google password.

2.2 Profile and learning preferences

Information you provide during onboarding and in Settings:

• display name
• age range (a band such as 18–24, not a date of birth)
• how you heard about the app (referral source)
• your learning goal and motivation
• your CEFR level and diagnostic/placement score
• daily goal in minutes, preferred session length, and daily reminder time
• exam date, if you are studying for IELTS/TOEFL
• interface language, theme, text size, contrast, audio speed and other accessibility and display preferences

2.3 Learning activity

• lessons started and completed, exercise answers and scores
• vocabulary you are learning and your spaced-repetition review history
• XP earned, streaks, badges and other progress records
• reading/listening comprehension and writing submissions, and the grades produced for them

2.4 AI tutor conversations

• the text messages you send to the AI tutor and the tutor's replies, stored as a conversation transcript
• derived session data: number of turns, grammar errors detected, session score, XP awarded, and the CEFR level in effect for the session
• transcriptions of what you said during voice and live conversation practice

2.5 Voice recordings

When you use speaking practice, pronunciation scoring, the speaking placement sample, or live voice conversation, the app records audio from your microphone and sends it to our server, which forwards it to our AI provider for transcription and assessment.

We do not store your audio recordings. Audio is held in memory only for the length of the request and is discarded once the transcript or score is returned. The resulting text transcript and score are stored as described above.

Live voice conversations are streamed directly between your device and our AI provider over an encrypted real-time connection using a short-lived token issued by our server.

2.6 Payment information

If you buy credits ("Bananas"), a Practice Pass, or a subscription:

• We never receive or store your card number, mobile-money PIN, or bank credentials. Payment is completed on the payment provider's own hosted checkout page.
• We store the transaction reference, the item purchased, the amount, the currency, the status, and the timestamps, so we can grant what you bought and support you if something goes wrong.
• Your email address is passed to the payment provider so it can identify and receipt the transaction.

Where a purchase is made through the Apple App Store or Google Play, the store processes the payment under its own privacy policy and gives us only a purchase confirmation.

2.7 Technical and session information

• an authentication session token, and the IP address and device user-agent string recorded with that session, so we can keep you signed in and detect abuse
• server logs of requests to our API, including timestamps, endpoints, and error details
• counters used for rate limiting and for metering AI usage against your credit balance
• a device push token, if you enable practice reminders

2.8 What we do not collect

We do not collect your precise or approximate location, your contacts, your calendar, your photos or camera roll, your health data, your browsing history, or your advertising identifier. The app requests camera access only because a video-calling library requires the permission to be declared; Banana does not use your camera.

3. How we use your information

We do not use your conversations, recordings, or learning data to train our own AI models, and our AI provider is contractually prohibited from using data sent through our API to train its models.

4. Legal bases (EEA and UK users)

Where the GDPR or UK GDPR applies, we rely on:

• Performance of a contract — to provide the account, lessons, AI tutoring and purchases you asked for.
• Legitimate interests — to keep the service secure, prevent abuse and fraud, control cost, and improve the product. We balance these against your rights.
• Consent — for microphone access, push notifications, and any optional feature that asks you first. You can withdraw consent at any time in your device settings or in the app.
• Legal obligation — where we must retain or disclose information by law.

5. Artificial intelligence

Banana uses third-party large language models to generate tutoring replies, corrections, grades, and synthesised speech.

• What you type to the tutor, and transcripts of what you say, are sent to our AI provider (OpenAI) to generate a response.
• Your name, email address, and payment details are never sent to the AI provider. Requests are associated with an internal user identifier and the learning context needed to tutor you (such as your CEFR level and the current scenario).
• AI output can be wrong. Corrections, level estimates, pronunciation scores and exam-style feedback are learning aids, not authoritative assessments, and must not be relied on as a professional language certification.
• Do not type or say sensitive personal information — such as identity numbers, financial account details, or health information — to the AI tutor.

6. Who we share information with

We share personal information only with the service providers below, only to the extent they need it to perform their function for us, and under contracts that require them to protect it. We do not sell personal information.

We may also disclose information:

• to comply with a law, regulation, subpoena, court order, or lawful government request;
• to enforce our Terms of Service or investigate suspected fraud or abuse;
• to protect the rights, safety, or property of our users, the public, or us; or
• in connection with a merger, acquisition, financing, or sale of assets, in which case we will notify you and this policy will continue to apply to the transferred information until it is replaced.

7. International transfers

We operate from Ethiopia. Our AI provider and some infrastructure providers process data in the United States and other countries. If you use the app from the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, or another country with data transfer restrictions, your information will be transferred outside that country. We rely on Standard Contractual Clauses or equivalent safeguards with our providers where required. You may request a copy of the relevant safeguards by writing to privacy@stellarplc.com.

8. How long we keep information

When you delete your account — in the app, or by asking us (Section 9.3) — we delete your profile, learning progress, credit balance, and conversation transcripts, and retain only what the law requires us to keep (principally financial records, stripped of the link to you), plus any backups until they age out on their normal cycle.

9. Your rights and choices

9.1 Everyone

• Access and correction — you can view and edit your profile and preferences in the app, and request a copy of the rest of your data from us.
• Deletion — you can delete your account and its data yourself, from inside the app, at any time (Section 9.3), or ask us to do it for you.
• Microphone — you can revoke microphone access in your device settings at any time. Speaking features will stop working; the rest of the app continues to work.
• Notifications — you can turn the daily reminder off in Settings, or revoke notification permission in your device settings.

9.2 How to make a request

Email privacy@stellarplc.com from the address associated with your account, or use the deletion route described in Section 9.3. We will respond within 30 days, or sooner where the law requires it. We may ask you to verify your identity before acting on a request.

9.3 Deleting your account

In the app (immediate). Open Profile → Settings → Account → Delete account and confirm. The deletion runs straight away — there is no waiting period and you do not need to contact us. Your account and the data described below are removed from our live systems as soon as you confirm, and you are signed out.

On the web. If you can no longer sign in — because you uninstalled the app or lost access to the Google account you used — request deletion at banana.stellarplc.com/legal/data-deletion. We send a verification link to the address you give us, and nothing is deleted until you open that link and confirm. Verified requests are completed within 30 days.

By email. You can also email privacy@stellarplc.com with the subject "Delete my account", from the email address you signed in with. We will confirm and complete the deletion within 30 days.

Every route deletes the same things: your account and sign-in identity, profile and preferences, learning progress, streaks, vocabulary history, AI conversation transcripts, credit balance and history, and your subscription records. What remains is described in Section 8 — principally payment transaction records, which we must keep for accounting and tax purposes and which we detach from your identity when your account is deleted.

Deletion is permanent: learning progress, streaks, and any unused credits or remaining pass time are lost and cannot be restored or refunded.

9.4 EEA and UK users

You additionally have the right to object to or restrict processing, the right to data portability, the right to withdraw consent, and the right to lodge a complaint with your local supervisory authority.

9.5 California users

Under the CCPA/CPRA you have the right to know, delete, and correct personal information, and the right to opt out of sale or sharing. We do not sell or share personal information, so there is nothing to opt out of. We will not discriminate against you for exercising your rights.

The categories of personal information we have collected in the last 12 months are: identifiers (name, email, account ID, IP address); commercial information (purchase records); internet or network activity (app usage); audio information (voice recordings, transiently); and inferences about your language level. The sources, purposes, and recipients are described in Sections 2, 3, and 6.

10. Children's privacy

Banana is not directed to children under 13, and you must be at least 13 to create an account. In the European Economic Area and the United Kingdom, if you are under 16 (or the lower age set by your country, no lower than 13) you may use the app only with the consent of a parent or guardian.

We do not knowingly collect personal information from a child below the applicable minimum age. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, contact privacy@stellarplc.com and we will delete the account and its data.

11. Device permissions

12. Security

We protect your information with HTTPS/TLS in transit, encrypted storage of session tokens on your device (iOS Keychain / Android Keystore via secure storage), server-side access controls, and rate limiting. No method of transmission or storage is perfectly secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security. If we become aware of a breach affecting your personal information, we will notify you and the relevant authorities as required by law.

13. Cookies and similar technologies

The mobile app does not use advertising cookies or tracking pixels. It stores an authentication cookie/session token and your local preferences on your device so you stay signed in and your settings persist. Our sign-in flow opens a browser window controlled by Google, which may set its own cookies under Google's policies.

14. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as the app changes. We will update the "Last updated" date at the top and, for material changes, notify you in the app or by email before the change takes effect. Continuing to use Banana after a change means you accept the updated policy.

15. Contact us

Stellar PLC
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Privacy enquiries: privacy@stellarplc.com
General support: support@stellarplc.com
Website: https://stellarplc.com