Privacy Policy

Effective date: 7 October 2026 (replaces the policy dated 15 March 2025)

EnglishFirm (“EnglishFirm”, “we”, “us”) is a PTE Academic coaching provider based in Sydney, Australia. This policy explains what personal information we collect when you use the EnglishFirm PTE Assistant mobile app and the EnglishFirm web app at app.englishfirm.com (together, the “Service”), how we use it, who we share it with, and the choices you have.

We handle personal information in accordance with the Australian Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles. If you use the Service from outside Australia, local privacy laws such as the GDPR may also apply, and the rights described below are available to you.

1. Information we collect

Account information — when you create an account or sign in: your name, email address, phone number (optional), and a password that we store only as a secure hash. If you sign in with Apple or Google, we receive your name and email address (or Apple’s private relay address if you choose “Hide My Email”) and an account identifier from that provider. We do not receive your Apple or Google password.

Study profile — your target PTE score and planned exam date, which you enter in the app.

Practice content you create — your spoken answers (audio recordings made when you use the microphone in speaking practice), your typed answers and essays, and your selections in reading and listening tasks.

Coach conversations — the messages you send to EF Coach, our AI study assistant, and the replies you receive. If you ask EF Coach to book a free one-to-one session, we also collect your preferred day and time and the phone number you provide.

Scores and progress — the scores, feedback and transcripts generated for your practice attempts, your practice history, milestones and activity dates.

Usage and device information — how you use the app (screens viewed, features used, taps), app version, device type and operating system version, and an app-instance identifier generated by Google Analytics for Firebase. We do not collect precise location, contacts, photos, or your device’s advertising identifier, and we do not use the information for cross-app tracking.

2. How we use your information

• To run the Service: sign you in, keep your progress, and show you your scores and history.
• To score your practice: your recordings and written answers are sent to our scoring systems (see section 4) to produce estimated PTE scores, pronunciation and fluency feedback, and transcripts.
• To provide EF Coach: your messages, study profile and recent practice results are used to generate relevant answers and study suggestions.
• To arrange services you ask for: free one-to-one sessions, live classes and plan changes.
• To understand and improve the Service through aggregated usage analytics.
• To contact you about your account, bookings, and service changes. Marketing emails are sent only with your consent and always include an unsubscribe link.
• To keep the Service secure and to meet our legal obligations.

We do not sell your personal information.

3. Audio recordings

The app uses the microphone only while you are recording an answer in a speaking task, and only after you grant permission. Nothing is recorded in the background. Recordings are uploaded over an encrypted connection to our servers in Sydney, Australia, and are processed by our speech-scoring providers (section 4) to produce your score and transcript. Recordings are kept so that you, and trainers you choose to share with, can review your attempts. You can delete an attempt from within the app (“Clear attempt”) or delete your whole account (section 7).

4. Service providers we share information with

We share personal information only with providers that process it on our behalf, under contract, for the purposes above:

Provider	What they process	Purpose
Amazon Web Services (Sydney region)	All Service data, including recordings	Hosting and storage
Microsoft Azure Speech Services	Audio recordings	Pronunciation and fluency assessment
OpenAI and Anthropic	Written answers, transcripts, EF Coach messages, study profile and recent results	AI scoring, feedback, and EF Coach replies. These providers do not use your data to train their models under our agreements
Google Analytics for Firebase	Usage and device information	App analytics
Apple and Google	Sign-in details	“Sign in with Apple” and “Sign in with Google”
Zapier and Calendly	Name, email, phone, preferred time	Booking free sessions and classes and notifying our trainers
Stripe	Payment details (entered on our website only; the app contains no purchase)	Plan payments

Some of these providers process data outside Australia (for example in the United States). We take reasonable steps to ensure they protect your information to the standards required by Australian law.

We may also disclose information when required by law, to protect our rights or the safety of others, or as part of a business transfer, in which case this policy continues to apply.

5. EnglishFirm trainers

EnglishFirm trainers may view your practice attempts, scores and recordings to give you feedback and to run your one-to-one sessions and classes. Trainers are bound by confidentiality obligations.

6. Data retention

We keep your account data and practice history while your account is active so that you can track your progress. Coach conversations are retained to provide continuity between sessions. When you delete your account (section 7), we remove your personal details immediately; residual practice records that no longer identify you may be kept in anonymised form for service analytics. Backups are overwritten on a rolling basis within 35 days. We may keep records longer where the law requires it.

7. Your rights and choices

• Access and correction — you can view and change your name, email, target score and exam date in the app, or ask us for a copy of your information.
• Delete your account — in the app, open your profile avatar → Settings → Delete account. This permanently removes your account, personal details and Coach conversations, and anonymises any remaining practice records. You can also email us to request deletion. Deleting your account does not cancel a paid plan; manage plans at app.englishfirm.com.
• Microphone — you can withdraw microphone permission at any time in your device settings; speaking practice will then be unavailable.
• Analytics — you can disable analytics collection in your device’s privacy settings for the app, where offered by the operating system.
• Marketing — unsubscribe using the link in any marketing email.
• Complaints — contact us first (section 10). If you are not satisfied, you may complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (oaic.gov.au) or your local data-protection authority.

8. Security

We protect your information with encryption in transit (HTTPS), encrypted storage of credentials, access controls limiting staff and trainer access, and hosting in secured cloud infrastructure. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure; if we become aware of a data breach that is likely to cause serious harm, we will notify you and the regulator as required by law.

9. Children

The Service is intended for people aged 16 and over who are preparing for the PTE Academic test. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has provided us information, contact us and we will delete it.

10. Contact us

EnglishFirm, Sydney, Australia
Email: [email protected]
Web: https://englishfirm.com

11. Changes to this policy

We will post any changes on this page and update the effective date. For significant changes we will notify you in the app or by email.

“EnglishFirm PTE Assistant” is the current name of the app previously published as “Englishfirm AI Assistant”; this policy covers both.