Privacy Policy

1. Information we collect

Account information

Creating an account is required before you can translate. You can sign up and sign in either with Google or via an email magic link; either way, we store your name, email address, profile image (if provided by Google), and the technical identifiers needed to keep you signed in. A magic-link sign-in also means our email-delivery provider processes your email address to send that link (see “Third parties who process your data” below). We use a session cookie to keep you signed in; this is a necessary functional cookie required for the service to work and does not require separate consent.

Payment and subscription information

After the free trial, an active subscription is required to keep translating. Payment is handled entirely by Stripe — we never see or store your card details ourselves. We store a minimal subscription record linked to your account (your Stripe customer and subscription identifiers, subscription status, and renewal date) so we can determine whether your account is entitled to translate.

Account status and access settings

We keep a record of whether your account is active and of any access we have granted you outside a paid subscription: complimentary Premium access or test access to the translator. These settings are stored against your account and are set by Itumo staff (see “How we use your information” below). We also store how many of your free-trial translations you have used.

IP addresses

When your account claims its free trial and when you start a subscription checkout, we store the IP address the request came from, linked to your account, together with which of those two events it was and when it was first and last seen. We use this only to prevent abuse of the free trial and of subscriptions: to make sure the free trial is claimed once per person, and to let us spot one person using several email addresses. We do not use it to track your location or your browsing, and we do not record your IP address for ordinary translation requests or page visits (our hosting provider’s standard request logs are described separately below).

Text you submit for translation

Once you’re signed in, on the free trial or with an active subscription, text you enter into the translator is sent to our translation infrastructure and to our third-party AI provider (see “Third parties who process your data” below) so it can be translated and checked for accuracy. This may include personal information if you choose to include it in the text you translate — please avoid submitting sensitive personal data (such as health, financial, or government ID information) unless necessary.

Cookies and local storage

Beyond the necessary session cookie described above, Itumo sets a cookie/local storage value to remember your light/dark theme preference. We do not currently use analytics cookies or any advertising cookies — Itumo does not run ads. See “Cookies” below for the categories we define and how consent works for each.

What we still don’t collect

Itumo does not store a database of the text you submit for translation, and does not build a history of your past translations.

2. How we use your information

We use the information described above to:

• Create and manage your account, authenticate you, and keep you signed in.
• Process payments and determine subscription status, since an active subscription (or access we have granted you) is required before any translation can be performed.
• Administer accounts: activate or deactivate accounts, grant or withdraw complimentary Premium or test access, and assign administrator rights to staff.
• Provide, operate, and improve the translation service, including detecting and correcting orthography issues (missing tone marks, diacritics, or script errors) in the text you submit.
• Diagnose technical problems, prevent abuse, and keep the service secure and available.
• Limit the free trial to one per person and prevent the same person from using several accounts: if another account has already claimed the free trial from your IP address, your account does not receive one, and staff may block an IP address from the translator and from new subscriptions where several accounts appear to belong to one person.
• Remember your display preferences (such as light/dark theme) between visits.

Staff access: a small number of Itumo staff with administrator rights can view account records — your name, email address, account status, access settings, free-trial usage, subscription status, and the IP addresses recorded as described above — through an access-controlled admin dashboard, and only to operate the service and support users. Staff cannot see the text you translate, because Itumo does not store it. Administrator actions are limited to the account administration described above.

Itumo does not run advertising, so none of your information is used for ad serving or ad measurement.

3. Third parties who process your data

We work with a small number of third-party service providers (“subprocessors”) to operate Itumo. We share only what each provider needs to perform its function.

• Anthropic (translation engine). The text you submit for translation is sent to Anthropic, which operates the AI model that performs the translation and correctness check. Anthropic is a company based in the United States. Because our initial audience is concentrated in the EU/EEA (Germany, Austria, Switzerland) and beyond, sending text to a US-based processor is an international data transfer. We rely on appropriate safeguards for this transfer, such as standard contractual clauses, as required by applicable data protection law.
• Vercel (hosting). Itumo is hosted on Vercel’s infrastructure. Vercel processes standard web request data (such as IP address and request metadata) as part of serving the site and keeping it available and secure.
• Google Sign-In (optional). If you choose to sign in with Google rather than an email magic link, Google processes your Google account information (such as your name, email, and profile image) to authenticate you.
• Resend (email delivery, optional). If you sign in using an email magic link instead of Google, Resend delivers that email and processes your email address to do so.
• Stripe (payments). Stripe processes your payment details and subscription status if you subscribe to Premium. We never receive or store your full card details ourselves.
• Neon (database hosting). Account, sign-in, subscription, free-trial, and IP address data described above is stored in a Postgres database hosted by Neon.

Voice typing and read-aloud. These optional features use the speech engine built into your own browser and device. Itumo never receives or stores your audio. Depending on your browser, voice typing may send your speech to the browser maker for recognition (for example, Google for Chrome, Microsoft for Edge, or Apple for Safari), under that company’s own privacy terms. The microphone is only used after you press the microphone button and grant permission, and stops when you press it again. The resulting text is then handled like any typed text, as described above.

Itumo does not run advertising and has no integration with Google AdSense or any other ad network.

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not share translation text with anyone other than the subprocessors named above for the purposes described here.

4. Cookies

Cookies are small pieces of data stored in your browser. Itumo does not run advertising, so there is no advertising cookie category — we use two categories only:

• Necessary cookies (active today, no consent required). The session cookie that keeps you signed in, and a cookie or local storage value that remembers your light/dark theme preference. These are required for the site to function — since translation itself requires an account — and do not require consent under most cookie laws.
• Analytics cookies (not currently used, opt-in). We don’t use an analytics provider today. This category is reserved for possible future use; if we add one, nothing in it will load until you actively consent via our cookie banner, and you’ll be able to withdraw consent at any time using the “Cookie settings” link in the footer.

5. Data retention

Itumo does not store a database of the text you submit for translation. Text you enter is sent to Anthropic to be processed for that single translation request; Itumo itself does not retain a copy after the response is returned to you. Anthropic may retain data for a limited period as described in its own data processing terms (for example, to detect abuse), independent of Itumo. Standard technical logs (such as server request logs used for security and reliability) may be retained by us and our hosting provider for a limited period.

We retain your account information (name, email, profile image) and subscription records for as long as your account is active, plus a limited period afterward as needed for legal, tax, or fraud-prevention purposes. You can request deletion of your account and associated data at any time using the contact details below.

IP addresses recorded for the free trial and subscriptions are kept for as long as your account exists and are deleted together with it. If staff block an IP address, that address and the reason are kept on a block list until the block is removed.

A deactivated account is kept rather than deleted, so that the decision can be reviewed and reversed and so that records needed for legal or fraud-prevention purposes are not lost. Deactivation blocks sign-in and use of the translator; it does not by itself delete any data. If you want your data erased after deactivation, ask us and we will delete it, subject to any records we are legally required to keep.

6. Your rights

Depending on where you live, you may have rights over your personal information, including the right to:

• Access the personal information we hold about you.
• Request correction (rectification) of inaccurate information.
• Request erasure of your information.
• Object to, or request restriction of, certain processing.
• Request a portable copy of your information.
• Lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority.

You can view and manage your subscription directly from the Account page, including canceling or updating payment details through Stripe’s secure customer portal. For account deletion, data access, or correction, contact us using the details below. Because Itumo does not store a database of your translation text itself, most translation-related requests are already satisfied by us simply not retaining that text after your session ends. We process translation text and account/subscription data on the basis of the contract needed to provide the service you signed up for. We process IP addresses for the free trial and subscriptions on the basis of our legitimate interest in preventing fraud and abuse of the free trial; you can object to this processing using the contact details below.

Decisions to deactivate an account, withdraw access, or block an IP address are made by Itumo staff, not by automated means. The one automated rule is the free-trial limit: if another account has already claimed the free trial from your IP address, your account does not receive a free trial. This only affects the free trial, never a paid subscription, and because several people can share one IP address, you can ask us to review it. If your account is deactivated or your access is restricted, you may ask us in writing for the reason and ask us to review the decision; we will respond using the contact details below.

7. International data transfers

Itumo is used by people around the world, with an initial focus on Africa, its diaspora, and the EU (particularly Germany, Austria, and Switzerland). Using the service may mean your information is transferred to and processed in countries other than your own, including the United States (via Anthropic) and wherever our hosting provider operates its infrastructure. Where required, we rely on recognized safeguards, such as standard contractual clauses, to protect information transferred internationally.

8. Children’s privacy

Itumo is not directed at children under 16, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, please contact us using the details below and we will take appropriate steps to remove it.

9. Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy as Itumo changes. We’ll update the “Last updated” date above when we do, and where changes are significant, we will make reasonable efforts to bring them to your attention.

10. Contact us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or want to exercise any of the rights described above, contact us at privacy@itumo.online.