GerokPrivacy Policy
Last updated 28 September 2026
- Your stories are yours, and we use them for one thing: teaching you German.
- No ads, no tracking, no analytics, no selling your data.
- Your data is stored in Germany. AI providers help make your lessons, some in the USA under EU safeguards, and only once you’ve agreed.
- Your voice is cloned only if you ask, and you can remove it at any time.
- Delete your account and everything in it from the app at any time: Profile › Delete Account.
1. Who we are
The controller responsible for your data under the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), for the app and this website:
Aleksei ShlykWallstraße 18
10179 Berlin, Germany
Email: privacy@gerok.app
2. What we use and why
| What | Why | Legal basis |
|---|---|---|
| Account: your Sign in with Apple ID and email, and your preferences | Running your account | Contract, Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR |
| Stories, answers and learning progress | Creating your lessons and tracking your progress | Contract, Art. 6(1)(b); explicit consent, Art. 9(2)(a) |
| Private voice, if you make one | Narrating your stories in your own voice | Explicit consent, Art. 6(1)(a) and 9(2)(a) |
| Plan status from Apple | Giving you what your plan includes | Contract, Art. 6(1)(b) |
| Notification token for your iPhone, if you turn notifications on | Telling you when a story or extra you started is ready | Contract, Art. 6(1)(b) |
| Technical logs: IP address, device and requests | Security and fixing errors | Legitimate interest in a secure, working service, Art. 6(1)(f) |
| Messages you send us | Answering you | Contract or legitimate interest in answering you, Art. 6(1)(b) or (f) |
Stories can reveal personal things, such as your health or beliefs, so before your first story the app asks for your explicit consent. You can withdraw it in Profile at any time, but Gerok can’t make new stories without it.
Gerok needs an account and your recordings to work. Your sign-in, unsent recordings and settings stay on your iPhone because the app needs them (§ 25(2) TDDDG), and it uses the microphone only to record.
Notifications. If you turn them on, your iPhone gives Gerok a device token: an identifier from Apple that lets Apple’s push service reach the app on that iPhone. We store it with your account, and when a story or extra you started is ready we send Apple a short, general message for it, such as “Your story is ready”, with a link that opens it in the app. Apple Push Notification service delivers it. The message never contains your story, your recording or anything you said or wrote. We delete the token when you sign out, turn notifications off in Profile or delete your account, and when Apple tells us it no longer works. Turn notifications off in Profile › Ready notifications, or in your iPhone’s Settings › Notifications › Gerok.
3. AI in Gerok
AI turns your recordings into text, writes your German story and exercises, draws pictures, voices your stories and conversation partner, and gives feedback. The app marks AI voices, pictures and partners as AI; see AI transparency. Scores and feedback are learning aids, not decisions with legal or similarly significant effects (Art. 22 GDPR), and you can always try again.
4. Who helps us
The providers below work only on our behalf and for the purposes on this page, under data processing agreements (Art. 28 GDPR). We don’t sell your data or use it for advertising, and we share it with no one else unless the law requires it.
| Provider | What for | Where and safeguard |
|---|---|---|
| Google Cloud | Our servers and storage | Germany |
| ElevenLabs | Speech recognition and AI voices, including your private voice | USA; EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework, Standard Contractual Clauses |
| xAI | AI that writes your German story, exercises, pictures and feedback | USA; Standard Contractual Clauses |
| TypeSafe | Story analysis | USA; Standard Contractual Clauses |
| Cloudflare | This website, email forwarding, and carrying the app’s encrypted connection to our servers | Worldwide; EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework, Standard Contractual Clauses |
Ask us for a copy of the Standard Contractual Clauses (Art. 46(2)(c) GDPR). Providers can change as Gerok grows: we update this page before a new one receives your data. Emails you send us arrive in a mailbox hosted by Google.
Apple runs Sign in with Apple and sells Gerok Plus and Pro in the App Store as a separate controller, under its own privacy policy. We never see your payment details. If you turn notifications on, Apple’s push service also delivers them, receiving your device token and the short message described in section 2.
5. How long we keep it
- Your account and everything in it: until you delete your account, which removes it straight away.
- Notification tokens: until you sign out, turn notifications off or delete your account. A notification waiting to be sent is deleted as soon as it’s sent.
- Your private voice: until you remove it or delete your account; then we delete it at our voice provider too. We never store the sample you record.
- At AI providers: only as long as their agreements with us allow, for example to prevent abuse.
- Technical logs: 30 days.
- Emails: until answered, at most two years.
- Purchases: Apple keeps its records under its own policy; we keep your plan status until you delete your account.
6. Your rights
You can get a copy of your data, correct or delete it, restrict its use, take it with you, and object to processing based on our legitimate interests (Art. 15–18, 20 and 21 GDPR). You can withdraw consent at any time, without affecting what was done before.
- Delete everything: Profile › Delete Account.
- Remove your voice or withdraw your AI consent: in Profile.
- Anything else: write to privacy@gerok.app from your account’s email. We answer within one month.
You can also complain to a data protection authority, such as the one where you live or work, or ours: the Berliner Beauftragte für Datenschutz und Informationsfreiheit, Alt-Moabit 59–61, 10555 Berlin, datenschutz-berlin.de.
7. Adults only
Gerok is for adults. You must be 18 or older to use it.
8. Security
Connections are encrypted, your data is stored encrypted, and your recordings and pictures are private to your account.
9. This website
gerok.app sets no cookies and uses no analytics, third-party fonts or scripts. Cloudflare delivers it, briefly processing your IP address and request data to do so and to protect the site, our legitimate interest under Art. 6(1)(f).
10. Changes
We update this policy as Gerok changes. The date at the top shows the current version, and if a change needs your consent, the app asks you again first.