Glancewords privacy policy
Effective 3 November 2026
Glancewords is a vocabulary app for Android. It has no account, no ads and no analytics. Its own code doesn't send anything about you anywhere, and the developer receives no data from the app. Learning works offline.
The only part that goes online is Google Play's billing library. It checks which courses you own and what they cost when you open the app, and handles buying a course (see Purchases).
What stays on your phone
- The word lists, including any you import.
- Your progress on each word and a log of your answers, used for spacing reviews and for the statistics screen.
- Your settings.
- How many of each course's free words you've used.
- Which courses you've bought, as Google Play last confirmed it, so they stay unlocked offline. This list is kept out of backups.
All of it lives in the app's private storage. Uninstalling the app or clearing its data deletes it.
Backups
- Backup and restore in the app: a backup is written only when you tap Back up, to a place you choose (your phone, a memory card or a cloud folder you pick in Android's file picker). A restore reads only the file you choose. What happens to a file after that depends on where you saved it.
- Android backup: if backup to your Google account is turned on in your phone's settings, Android may include this app's data in it, as it does for most apps. Google runs that backup under its own privacy policy, and the developer can't see it.
Purchases
The first 100 words of each built-in course are free. Unlocking the rest is a purchase on Google Play, made through Google's Play Billing library, which talks to the Play Store app on your phone and, through it, to Google. Google collects your payment details directly and processes the purchase under Google's privacy policy; the app never sees them. The app asks Google Play which courses you own and what they cost. Google's library may also send Google diagnostic data about the purchase process. As with any app sold on Google Play, Google gives the developer order details (such as the order number, product, price and country), used only for refunds, support and accounting.
Permissions
| Permission | Why |
|---|---|
| Phone ("make and manage phone calls") | Only to check whether a call is ringing or in progress, so the word card never covers a call. Nothing about your calls is read, stored or sent. Optional. |
| Notifications | The word notification, reminders, and the small notice Android requires while the app waits for the screen to turn on. |
| Full-screen notifications, display over other apps | To show the word card on the lock screen when you turn the screen on. Optional; you choose the lock-screen style. |
| Set wallpaper | The wallpaper style draws the word on your lock-screen wallpaper. Turning the style off removes it. |
| Run at startup, foreground service | So the lock-screen card keeps working after a restart and while the phone is idle. |
| Internet, network state, Google Play billing | Added by Google Play's billing library, for buying courses and checking which ones you own. The app's own code makes no network requests. |
Other apps the app hands off to
- Pronunciation uses the text-to-speech engine on your phone, which is a separate app with its own privacy policy.
- The search button passes the word to your search app or browser, which runs the search under its own privacy policy.
Children
Glancewords isn't directed at children under 13.
Changes
If this policy changes, the new version will be published at this address with a new effective date.