Privacy Policy

Last updated: March 8, 2026

1. Overview

CitizenReady ("the App") is a U.S. Citizenship Test preparation tool. Your privacy is important to us. This Privacy Policy explains what data the App collects, how it is used, and your rights regarding that data.

The App is designed with a privacy-first approach. We do not require user accounts, we do not collect personal identifying information, and your study progress is stored entirely on your device.

2. Data We Collect

The following table summarizes the data the App may access or process:

Data Type	When Collected	Purpose	Stored By Us?
Audio recordings	When you use Speech Practice mode	Sent to OpenAI for transcription and answer evaluation	No
Device location	When you grant location permission	Determine your U.S. state to look up local elected officials	No
Study progress	As you use the App	Track which questions you have studied, answered correctly, or bookmarked	On your device only
Language preference	When you toggle language	Remember your preferred display language (English or Chinese)	On your device only
Cached political data	After location lookup	Avoid repeated API calls for your state's representatives	On your device only

3. Audio Recordings

When you use the Speech Practice feature, your voice is recorded through your device's microphone. This audio is:

Encoded and sent to our server, which forwards it to OpenAI's API for transcription.
Used only for the purpose of evaluating your spoken answer against the correct answer.
Not stored on our servers. Audio data is processed in real time and discarded after the response is returned.
Subject to OpenAI's Privacy Policy during processing.

4. Location Data

The App requests access to your device's location to determine which U.S. state you are in. This is used solely to look up your current elected officials (senators, representative, governor, and state capital) for relevant citizenship test questions.

Location access is optional. You can deny the permission and the App will still function normally; location-dependent questions will show generic answers.
Your coordinates are used only to determine your state via reverse geocoding on your device. The raw coordinates are not sent to our servers.
Only your state name is sent to our server to look up political representative data.
The resulting political data is cached locally on your device to avoid repeated lookups.

5. Local Storage

The App stores the following data locally on your device using AsyncStorage:

Study progress (which questions you have studied, answered correctly or incorrectly, and bookmarked)
Language preference (English or Chinese)
Cached political representative data for your state

This data never leaves your device and can be cleared by uninstalling the App or using the reset progress feature.

6. Third-Party Services

The App uses the following third-party service:

OpenAI API: Used for audio transcription (converting your speech to text), answer evaluation (checking if your answer is correct), and looking up current political representative data. Data sent to OpenAI is processed according to OpenAI's Privacy Policy.

We do not use any analytics, advertising, or tracking services.

7. Data We Do NOT Collect

To be clear, the App does not collect or store:

Your name, email address, phone number, or any personal identifying information
Account credentials (no accounts are required)
Payment or financial information
Device identifiers or advertising IDs
Browsing history or usage analytics
Contacts, photos, or other personal files

8. Data Sharing

We do not sell, rent, or share your data with any third parties for marketing or advertising purposes. The only data transmitted from the App is:

Audio recordings sent to OpenAI for transcription (Speech Practice mode only)
Your U.S. state name sent to our server for political data lookup (location feature only)

9. Children's Privacy

The App is not directed at children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect any personal information from children.

10. Your Rights

Because the App does not collect or store personal data on our servers, there is no personal data for us to access, modify, or delete. All locally stored data (study progress, preferences) can be cleared by uninstalling the App.

11. Security

All communication between the App and our servers uses HTTPS encryption. Audio data and state lookup requests are transmitted securely and are not stored on our servers after processing.

12. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Changes will be reflected by updating the "Last updated" date at the top of this page. Continued use of the App after changes constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

13. Contact

If you have questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy, please contact us through the App's support channels.