Terms of Service

These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern your use of the ArabyBuddy mobile application and website (the "Service"), operated by Gadir Tech Ltd ("we", "us", or "our"). By accessing or using the Service, you agree to be bound by these Terms. If you do not agree, you may not use the Service.

The Service

ArabyBuddy is an Arabic language learning application that teaches Arabic through interactive lessons with live pronunciation feedback. The Service is available on iOS, Android, and web.

Eligibility

You must be at least 13 years old to create an account and use the Service. By creating an account, you confirm that you meet this minimum age requirement. If we become aware that a user is under 13, we will terminate their account and remove their associated data.

Account Registration

You may use the Service with an anonymous guest account and are not required to provide an email address. You can later register or link that same account using email, Google, or Apple to make recovery and use across devices easier. Guest progress, Membership, hibr, and purchases remain tied to the anonymous user ID unless the account is linked; switching to a different account does not transfer them. You are responsible for maintaining the security of any linked account credentials and for all activity under your account.

Email Communications

We will send you transactional emails relating to your account, security, and billing as part of operating the Service. These emails are necessary for the Service to function and cannot be opted out of without closing your account. Marketing emails (tips, lesson recaps, dialect spotlights, and product updates) are sent only if you opt in during onboarding or in Account → Email Preferences. You can opt out of marketing emails at any time, either from Account → Email Preferences or via the unsubscribe link included in every marketing email.

Push Notifications

If you grant notification permission, we may send push notifications for transactional purposes such as daily learning reminders, streak alerts, account or security messages, and community announcements. We do not use push notifications for advertising. You can disable push notifications at any time from your device settings or from Account → Notifications inside the app.

Subscription and Free Trial

ArabyBuddy offers limited learning access without a subscription, while Membership unlocks the member features shown in the app. Where a free trial is offered, its duration and eligibility are shown by the Apple App Store or Google Play before confirmation. Unless you cancel before the trial ends, it automatically converts into a paid subscription at the price and billing period shown for your region. Subscriptions renew automatically until cancelled.

Billing, free-trial terms, renewals, and refunds are handled by the Apple App Store or Google Play in accordance with their terms; we do not directly process payments. You can manage or cancel your subscription at any time in your device's subscription settings — and to avoid being charged when the trial ends, cancel at least 24 hours before it finishes. Cancelling stops future renewals and takes effect at the end of the current billing period. Nothing in these Terms affects your statutory rights as a consumer.

Hibr (Virtual Currency) and In-App Purchases

The app includes a virtual currency called "hibr". Hibr can be earned by completing learning activities and purchased in packs as consumable in-app purchases through the Apple App Store or Google Play. Hibr can be spent only inside the app on features we make available from time to time (for example, restoring a lost learning streak).

The first active Membership activation grants 400 hibr once for that user ID. Registering or linking an email address does not grant hibr, and renewal, restore, or resubscription does not repeat the one-time Membership grant.

Hibr is a limited, revocable, non-transferable licence to use a feature of the Service — it is not money or property, has no cash value, cannot be exchanged for cash or transferred to another account, and is not refundable except where required by law or by the applicable store's refund policy. Purchased hibr does not expire. We may change the rate at which hibr is earned, the price of hibr packs, and what hibr can be spent on. If you delete your account, any remaining hibr balance is deleted with it. Store refunds of hibr pack purchases will be deducted from your balance.

Acceptable Use

You agree to use the Service for personal, non-commercial language learning purposes only. You agree not to:

• Use the Service for any unlawful or fraudulent purpose
• Attempt to reverse-engineer, decompile, or extract the source code of the application
• Interfere with or disrupt the Service or its infrastructure
• Share your account credentials with others, or create multiple accounts to abuse free trials or promotions

Community Features

ArabyBuddy includes opt-in community features. The public leaderboard displays your username and progress stats to other users of the Service of the same dialect if you choose to participate. Leaderboard participation is opt-in and can be changed at any time in your Account settings.

Members with a paid subscription can also opt in to a Community profile and friends, off by default. Once you join, other users can find your Community profile by submitting a username search. Search returns a small set of matching opted-in profiles; it is not an open directory and does not show an endless list of users. Friendships require a mutual request: you send a request by username and the recipient must accept it before you become friends. Once accepted, you and that friend can open each other's learning profile, including curated identity, current dialect, account join date, rank and grade stars, leaderboard position, XP, streak, words learned, aggregate linguistic skills, collected achievement items, and daily learning-activity counts shown on a calendar. It does not disclose lesson content, answers, exact activity times, timezone, notes, or messages. These accepted-friend profile stats are part of the one Community agreement; they are not controlled by separate stat-by-stat settings. You can hide your Community profile at any time in Account settings.

You are responsible for choosing a username that does not impersonate another person, staff, or an "official"-sounding identity, and that does not include offensive, harassing, sexual, hateful, violent, or otherwise harmful content, or otherwise violate these Terms. When using Community features you also agree not to: harass, bully, or send unwanted contact to other users; impersonate any person, ArabyBuddy staff, or an official account; post spam or solicitation; or attempt to evade a block, a username rejection, or other moderation action. If you violate these rules, we may remove content, require you to change your username, hide or suspend your Community profile, or restrict your account. The in-app Report and Block tools are the primary way to flag bad behaviour and protect yourself from another user — see our Community Guidelines for details on expected behaviour and how to use them.

The app contains a link to the ArabyBuddy Discord community server. The Discord server is a separate platform operated by Discord Inc. Your use of Discord is subject to Discord's own Terms of Service and Community Guidelines. We are not responsible for content or conduct on Discord. You must be at least 13 years old to join Discord.

Voice Processing

When you use the speech feature in lessons, your device's built-in speech recognition transcribes your audio and your pronunciation is scored locally on your device. For that feature, voice recordings are not sent to our servers and are not stored after processing.

Separately, if you start a realtime voice conversation with an AI character (the "Speak" feature), your microphone audio is streamed to OpenAI to power the conversation. This audio goes directly to OpenAI and is not stored on our servers. This is an optional feature, available to users aged 13 and over, and requires an active Membership (including a trial) plus enough in-app "hibr" currency on the same user ID. Pausing the conversation UI does not pause hibr billing while the connected voice session remains open. See our Privacy Policy for what is sent, what is stored, and how long.

AI Grading and Moderation

Some activities ask you to type free-form Arabic responses (chat simulations, picture descriptions). To grade these, we send the text you type, along with the activity context, to Google Gemini through our own server-side function. Gemini returns scores and brief feedback. We use the same provider to moderate username choices against our acceptable-use rules. Grading and moderation happen automatically. AI-generated feedback is provided for educational purposes and may not always be accurate. See our Privacy Policy for what is sent, what is stored, and how long.

Our realtime voice conversations (the "Speak" feature) are powered by an AI language model (OpenAI). The AI character is not a real person and its responses are generated automatically — they are intended for language practice and may be inaccurate or incomplete, so you should not rely on them as factual, professional, or personal advice. We ask the model to keep conversations appropriate for language learners, but we cannot guarantee every response, and you use the feature at your discretion.

Intellectual Property

All content in the Service, including lesson content, 3D character models, animations, artwork, and software, is owned by Gadir Tech Ltd or its licensors and is protected by copyright and other intellectual property laws. You may not reproduce, distribute, or create derivative works from any part of the Service without our prior written consent.

Disclaimer of Warranties

The Service is provided "as is" and "as available" without warranties of any kind, whether express or implied. We do not guarantee that the Service will be uninterrupted, error-free, or free of harmful components.

Limitation of Liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, Gadir Tech Ltd shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or any loss of profits or revenues, whether incurred directly or indirectly, arising from your use of the Service.

Account Deletion

You may delete your account from within the app, or request deletion by emailing support@arabybuddy.com with the subject line "Delete My Account" if you cannot access the app. Account deletion removes the account data and user-owned files we control, but does not itself cancel App Store or Google Play subscriptions. Subscription cancellation remains subject to the relevant store's billing flow.

Changes to These Terms

We may revise these Terms from time to time. The revised version will be effective as of the date it is published on this page. Continued use of the Service after changes are posted constitutes acceptance of the updated Terms.

Governing Law

These Terms are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of England and Wales. Any disputes arising from these Terms or the Service shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.

Contact Us

If you have any questions about these Terms, please contact us at support@arabybuddy.com.