Privacy Policy

Kariyasu.com is operated by Soutien aux Études Kariyasu, a business registered in Quebec, Canada. The person responsible for protecting your personal information can be reached at hello@kariyasu.com.

Business details required for purchases from Japan are on the Specified Commercial Transactions Act notice.

Only what running the site requires:

• Your email address, so you can sign in, and your name if you give one.
• Your practice record — which exercises you attempted, when, and how you scored. For a mock test, this includes the answers you gave: the option you chose, the letters you typed into a blank, the order you put words in. That is how the results page can show you each question again.
• Your pronunciation scores — numbers only. Not a recording, and not a transcript. See “Your voice” below, which is the part most worth reading.
• Subscription status — your plan, whether it is active, and the payment identifiers Stripe gives us. We never see or store your card number.
• Usage counts, so AI feedback allowances can be metered.
• How you found us — when you arrive through a link we placed ourselves, such as an ad, a post, or a partner’s site, we record which link it was and the website that sent you, for example google.com. We never store the full address of the page you came from. We record this once, on your first visit, keep it in your browser for 30 days, and save it with your account if you create one. We use it only to see which of our own links bring people who find the site useful. It is never used to build a profile of you, and never sold or shared. You can switch this off before creating an account by using private browsing, or by clearing site data at any time; the site works exactly the same either way. Clearing your browser storage removes it, and deleting your account deletes it.

Speaking exercises record you. That recording is sent to OpenAI, which converts it to text. We do not keep the audio. It is not saved to our database or to any file storage — it is transcribed and gone.

We do not keep the transcript either. Your words are used to produce the feedback and are then gone. What we keep is the score — a number for pronunciation, the same kind of record we keep for every other exercise.

Because nothing is kept, the results screen is your only chance to save them. There is a Copy and a Download button there, and we would encourage you to use one.

The mock test follows the same rule. In its Listen and Repeat part, each recording is sent to be compared with the sentence you heard, so that the words you repeated can be counted. The recording is not kept; we keep the count for each sentence. In its interview, your answers are converted to text for the feedback, the text waits in your own browser until the feedback is written, and then it is gone. The feedback is shown once, at the end, with a Copy button. We keep a note that you answered and that feedback was shown, and nothing of what was said.

In the practice exercises, written work is treated differently, and more privately. When you submit a Write an Email or Academic Discussion response, it is sent for evaluation and the feedback is returned to you — but the text itself is never stored on our servers. We keep the score, not the writing. If you want to keep a copy, the Save button on those exercises downloads one to your own device.

The mock test is the one exception, and it is temporary. A mock test is timed, so your writing is saved as you type, in case your connection drops or you close the page. It stays on our servers only until it has been graded, and is erased the moment the grade is recorded. If you end a sitting early, it is erased then. If it is never graded, it is erased automatically within 7 days. Afterward we keep the score and the grader’s comments, not your text. The comments may mention a word or phrase from your writing.

Feedback is generated by two providers, and your work is sent to them to produce it:

• Anthropic — evaluates written responses and analyzes speaking transcripts.
• OpenAI — converts your speech recordings to text, and powers two of the speaking drills.

Both are American companies and process this material in the United States. Your name and email are not sent with it — they receive the work, not your identity.

• Accounts and practice records — Supabase, in the United States (Northern Virginia).
• The website itself — Netlify, an American company.
• Payments — Stripe. Card details go to Stripe directly and never reach us.
• Email we send you — Resend.
• Visit statistics — Umami. It uses no cookies and cannot follow you between sites. It records the page, the country, and the kind of browser. Umami itself is not linked to your account.

We are telling you this because information held in another country falls under that country's laws.

• Your account and practice record — to provide the service you signed up for.
• Payment records — to complete your purchase and meet tax and accounting obligations.
• Visit statistics — our legitimate interest in knowing whether the site is useful. No cookies, no profile, no tracking between sites.
• How you found us — our legitimate interest in knowing which of our own links are worth placing. It is the only thing in this list that is kept with your account rather than counted anonymously, which is why it has its own entry here and its own way to switch it off.

• Your account and practice record — until you ask us to delete it, after which it is removed within 30 days.
• Recordings and transcripts of your speech — not kept at all.
• Writing from a mock test — until it is graded, and never longer than 7 days. Writing from practice exercises is not kept at all.
• Payment records — kept as long as tax and accounting rules require, which is longer than the account itself.
• Visit statistics — aggregate only, and never tied to you.
• How you found us — 30 days in your browser. The copy saved with your account is deleted when the account is.

Wherever you live, you may ask us to:

• tell you what we hold about you
• correct anything wrong
• delete it
• send it to you in a portable form
• stop using it, where we rely on your consent

Email hello@kariyasu.com. There is no charge and you do not need to give a reason.

Kariyasu is intended for people preparing for the TOEFL test, and for the teachers helping them. We do not knowingly collect information from anyone under 16. If you believe a child has given us information, email hello@kariyasu.com and we will remove it.

If we change this policy we will update the date above. If a change affects what actually happens to your information — rather than just tidying the wording — we will say so on the site before it takes effect.

If you are not satisfied with how we have handled something, you can complain to a regulator: in Quebec, the Commission d'accès à l'information du Québec; in Japan, the Personal Information Protection Commission; in Europe or the UK, the data protection authority where you live.