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Esatto privacy policy

Last updated: October 29, 2026

Esatto teaches the 10,000 most common Italian words, one sentence at a time, on iPhone. It is made by Dave Paola and published by Enginery. In this policy, "I" is Dave. On the App Store, the seller's name is Zen Space Labs, Inc., the company that holds the Apple developer account. Here is exactly what the app collects, and why.

In short

  • After your first round, the app asks for your email address, so that your words are never lost. You need it to play the second round. There is no password and no sign-in code.
  • Every answer you give is saved to the Esatto server, so a new phone gets your progress back.
  • The app sends usage events and screen recordings to PostHog, an analytics service, so I can see where learners get stuck. The recordings show what is on Esatto's screens, with your email address covered. Your email never goes to PostHog.
  • There are no ads, and the app does not track you across other companies' apps or websites.
  • You can delete your account in the app, in Settings.

Your email address

After your first round, the app shows "Salva le tue parole · Save your words" and asks for your email address. You can tap "Non ora · Not now" once, but the second round needs it.

  • What: the address you type, and nothing else. The app does not check it with a code, so type it carefully.
  • Where: the Esatto server, which runs on Cloudflare and stores it in Cloudflare's database (D1) with your account.
  • Why: to keep your words. If you install Esatto on a new phone and type the same address, your progress comes back.
  • Not for analytics: the address is never sent to PostHog. PostHog sees a random account ID instead.
  • No email from me yet: the app does not send email. If I ever write to you about Esatto, every message will have a way to stop them.

One thing to know. Because the address is the only key, anyone who types your address into Esatto on another phone joins your account. They can see your word list and add answers to it. Your account holds no payment details, no name and no messages, only your Italian practice. If this happens, email me and I will separate the accounts.

What the Esatto server stores

  • Your account: your email address, a random account ID, and the date you gave the address.
  • Your answers: one entry for each card you answer or mark as known, and for each round you finish: the word, the sentence, how you answered, how many tries it took, and the time. The app rebuilds your cards, your known words and your streak from these entries. The list only grows until you delete your account.
  • Your phones: a random ID for each install, made by the app, and a secret that proves the phone is yours. The server keeps only a scrambled copy (a hash) of the secret and of each sign-in token, never the secret itself.
  • Your subscription, if you have one: what Apple tells the server about it (see Subscriptions, below).

Cloudflare, which runs the server, also receives the IP address of each request. The server uses it to limit how often one phone or one network can link email addresses.

Usage analytics and screen recordings

The app sends usage events to PostHog, an analytics service, which stores them on its US cloud, in the United States. I use them to see whether Esatto works: whether learners remember the words, where they stop, and whether they come back. The events include:

  • When you open the app, start a round, finish it, or leave it, and at which card
  • The cards the app shows you, how you answer each one (right, wrong, which letters were wrong, whether you asked for help), and how many seconds you took
  • When you play a sentence's audio, mark a word as known, report a sentence, or export your known words (the count, not the words)
  • When the app asks for your email, and whether you give it or tap "Not now" (never the address)
  • When you delete your account, with the number of saved answers it had
  • When the app shows the subscription screen, whether you buy, close it, or restore a purchase, the plan and its price
  • Your one-tap answer to "Come hai conosciuto Esatto? · Where did you hear about Esatto?", if you answer
  • With every event: the app's version, the version of the word collection, and how many days since you first opened the app
  • Your device model, iOS version, language and region setting, time zone, and screen size, which PostHog's software adds
  • Crash and error reports from the app: what went wrong in the code, with the device and app details above

The Esatto server also sends PostHog a few events of its own: when an email links to an account, when your answers reach the server, when a new phone restores your progress, and when Apple tells the server that a subscription started, renewed, was cancelled, expired or was refunded.

Screen recordings. The app records its own screens while you use it and sends the recordings to PostHog, so I can watch where learners get confused. A recording shows what is on Esatto's screens: the sentences, the answers you type, and where you tap. Your email address is covered with a black box on every screen that shows it, before the recording leaves your phone. PostHog keeps recordings for 30 days. The app does not record other apps, your camera, or your microphone.

PostHog also receives the IP address of each request and uses it to estimate an approximate location: the city, the region and the country. The app itself never asks for your location.

All of this is linked to you. Before you give your email, events carry a random ID made for your install. After you give it, they carry your random account ID, so the events of all your phones are grouped together. They never carry your email address, your name or your Apple ID. I never sell this data or use it for advertising.

Subscriptions

The first 1,000 words are free. Words 1,001 to 10,000 need a subscription, which you buy through Apple. Apple handles the payment; I never see your card or your Apple ID. When you buy, the app attaches your random account ID to the purchase, and Apple's App Store Server Notifications then tell the Esatto server about the subscription: the plan, its status, when it renews or ends, whether it renews automatically, and Apple's transaction ID. The server keeps these with your account. On a phone, a subscription unlocks words only for the Apple ID that bought it.

What stays on your phone

The app keeps your cards, settings and a queue of answers not yet sent (when you are offline) in its own storage on your phone. The random install ID, its secret and your sign-in token are in the iPhone's Keychain, so a reinstall on the same phone can find your progress again. The Italian audio comes from the iPhone's built-in Italian voice, on the phone; no recording of your voice is made. When you export your known words, the iPhone's share sheet opens, and nothing leaves the phone unless you choose where to send it.

What the App Store privacy details say

None of the data below is used to track you. All of it is linked to you through your account ID or your install ID.

  • Email Address: for app functionality (keeping your words)
  • User ID: the random account ID, for app functionality and analytics
  • Device ID: the random install ID, for app functionality and analytics
  • Product Interaction: your answers and the usage events above, for app functionality and analytics
  • Other Usage Data: the screen recordings, the properties on each event, and the device details PostHog adds, for analytics
  • Purchase History: your subscription's status from Apple, for app functionality and analytics
  • Crash Data and Other Diagnostic Data: crash and error reports, for app functionality
  • Coarse Location: the approximate location PostHog works out from the IP address, for analytics

What the app does not do

  • No ads, and no advertising software.
  • No tracking. The app does not combine its data with other companies' data, does not share data with data brokers, and does not use the advertising identifier, so it never shows Apple's App Tracking Transparency prompt.
  • No contacts, photos, camera, microphone or precise location.

The developer section and TestFlight

Esatto's Settings has a hidden developer section, which opens after five taps on the version number. Opening it marks your install as a test install in PostHog, so I leave its events out of my charts. The section can also import a list of words you already know, from a file you choose. On TestFlight builds only, it can also unlock every word for testing.

TestFlight is Apple's service for beta versions: Apple sends me crash reports from the beta and any feedback you submit. Apple's TestFlight terms and privacy policy cover what Apple collects.

Children

Esatto is not directed at children under 13, and I do not knowingly collect data from children.

Your choices

  • Turn off usage analytics: in Esatto's Settings, turn off "Statistiche d'uso · Usage analytics". The app then stops sending usage events and screen recordings, and the Esatto server stops sending events for your phone's requests. Two things continue. Your answers still go to the Esatto server, because that is how your words are kept. If you have a subscription, the server still sends an event each time Apple tells it about your subscription, because those notices come from Apple, not from your phone.
  • Delete your account: in Esatto's Settings, tap "Elimina account · Delete account". The server deletes your email address, your account, every saved answer, and what Apple told it about your subscription. This does not cancel a subscription; cancel it in the iPhone's Settings, under your name, then Subscriptions. It also does not delete your events and recordings in PostHog; for those, see the next item. If you never gave an email address, the button is not there, and your first-round answers are on the server under a random install ID only. To delete them, save an email address, then delete the account.
  • See or delete what PostHog holds: email me with the address you gave in Esatto, and I will find your events and recordings and send them to you or delete them, whichever you ask for.
  • Stop all collection by deleting the app. It then sends nothing more. Deleting the app does not delete your account; use Delete account first if you want that.

Anyone can use these, wherever you live. If you are in the EU or the UK, you can also complain to your local data protection authority, though I hope you would tell me first.

Changes to this policy

If I change this policy, I will update the date above and post the new version at this address, and note material changes in the release notes of the next version of the app.

This website

This page is on enginery.co, which counts its own visits with PostHog. The site's privacy page describes that.

Contact

For any question about this policy or how Esatto handles your data, email [email protected]. Esatto is published by Enginery, Pittsburgh. There is no support team, so I answer it myself.