SpeakDuo Privacy Policy

Last Updated: October 11, 2026

SpeakDuo is a trade name of Pengguin Inc., the registered company that operates SpeakDuo. References to “SpeakDuo,” “we,” “us,” or “our” in this Privacy Policy mean Pengguin Inc. operating under the SpeakDuo trade name. Pengguin Inc. is the data controller responsible for the personal information described in this policy.

Your privacy and the security of your data are important to us. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, share, store, and delete your information when you use the SpeakDuo website, mobile application, and related services, including connected-account features where available. Privacy questions and requests can be sent to support@speakduo.com.

1. Information We Collect

A. Voice Audio Data

To provide AI-powered language feedback, we collect and process voice recordings submitted through the app.

Purpose: This data is used for transcription, pronunciation analysis, and generating linguistic feedback.
Source: Audio is recorded for speech analysis during the AI voice test, AI interview practice and peer-to-peer breakout room conversation (the latter two are for Pro members only), and only after explicit consent.

B. Account Information

When you create an account, we collect basic information such as your name, email address, and language preferences.

You may create or access your SpeakDuo account using Sign in with Google or Sign in with Apple instead of an email/password combination. These services use the industry-standard OAuth 2.0 / OpenID Connect protocols.

Google user data we access: When you choose Sign in with Google, our application accesses only the following Google user data: your name, your email address, and your Google user ID (a unique account identifier). We request only the basic profile and email scopes and do not access any other data in your Google account.

What we receive: Only the information you authorize the provider to share — your name, email address, and a unique account identifier (Google user ID or Apple user identifier). With Sign in with Apple, you may choose to hide your real email using Apple's Private Relay; in that case we receive and store only the relay address Apple provides.
What we never receive: Your Google or Apple password. Authentication happens entirely on the provider's secure servers, and SpeakDuo never sees, stores, or has access to those credentials.
Tokens: We use short-lived OAuth access/ID tokens solely to verify your identity at sign-in. We do not use these tokens to access any other data in your Google or Apple account (e.g., contacts, files, calendars, photos, or messages), and we do not request scopes beyond basic profile and email.
Purpose limitation: Data received through Google or Apple sign-in is used exclusively to create and authenticate your SpeakDuo account. It is never used for advertising, tracking, or shared with third parties for their own purposes, in line with the Google API Services User Data Policy (Limited Use) and Apple's App Store Review Guidelines.
Revoking access: You can disconnect SpeakDuo at any time from your Google account permissions page (myaccount.google.com/permissions) or your Apple ID settings (Settings → Apple ID → Sign-In & Security → Sign in with Apple). You can also delete your SpeakDuo account and all associated data in-app via Settings.

D. Usage Data

We collect anonymized usage data (e.g., features used, session duration, no device IDs or identifiers) to improve our services. Connected-account identifiers and imported LinkedIn information are personal data, not anonymous usage data.

E. LinkedIn Account Connection and Member Data Portability

Separate permissions: LinkedIn sign-in and Member Data Portability are distinct features. The descriptions below apply only to features that are enabled, permitted for our application by LinkedIn, available to you, and authorized by you. This policy does not represent that LinkedIn has approved an access request or endorsed SpeakDuo.

Sign-in and account connection: If you choose to connect LinkedIn using OpenID Connect, we may receive your application-specific member identifier, name, profile photo, locale, and email address where provided and authorized. We also receive the authentication tokens needed for the permitted connection. Basic sign-in does not provide employment or education history, messages, or posting permissions. It authenticates an account connection; it does not verify your real-world identity or the accuracy of your professional background.
Member Data Portability: This requires separate authorization. For professional-profile import and conversation-partner matching, the information requested may include the relevant profile details, employer, role, employment dates, and education shown in the consent notice, but only where available through approved APIs. We access and retain only the fields necessary for the feature you select. For these features, we do not collect your private messages, connection lists, third-party contact information, or unrelated LinkedIn activity. Professional information you type directly into SpeakDuo is supplied by you; we do not obtain it by scraping a LinkedIn profile URL.
Informed choice: Before accessing LinkedIn data, we explain the specific categories requested, the purpose, who receives them, when and how often collection occurs, retention, and how to withdraw consent or request deletion. Consent must be specific, informed, freely given, and expressed through a clear affirmative action; it is not inferred from accepting this policy.
Collection timing: Sign-in information is obtained during a connection or sign-in you initiate. Portability data is imported when you authorize an import or expressly request a refresh. Any recurring retrieval must be separately explained and authorized before it begins. Expired or revoked authorization does not permit continued collection or storage; renewed consent is required where the applicable LinkedIn terms require it.
Credentials and controls: Authentication takes place through LinkedIn. We never request, receive, proxy, or store your LinkedIn password. You can use SpeakDuo without connecting LinkedIn; declining an optional import does not prevent use of unrelated features. Features that genuinely need the relevant data may be unavailable after you decline or withdraw that permission.

2. How We Process Your Data

A. Third-Party AI Processing

For Pro members only, with explicit consent obtained before breakout room participation or audio submission: Voice audio from conversations is transmitted securely to our servers, then to verified third-party AI providers via secure APIs for processing.

Our Providers: OpenAI, Microsoft Azure and Groq.
Processing Only: These providers process your audio solely for transcription and analysis during your specific session. No data is retained by them beyond processing.

B. AI Training & Ethics (Our Commitment)

We do not use your personal voice data to train the foundational or baseline models of our third-party AI providers. Your data is used exclusively to deliver your personalized learning experience and is not shared with third parties for their own marketing or model-development purposes.

Use: Google user data (your name, email address, and Google user ID) is used solely to create your SpeakDuo account, authenticate you at sign-in, and link your account to your learning profile. We do not use Google user data for targeted, personalized, retargeted, or interest-based advertising; we do not sell it to data brokers or information resellers; and we do not use it for credit-worthiness, lending, or any purpose unrelated to providing or improving SpeakDuo's user-facing features.
Sharing & transfer: We do not sell, rent, transfer, or disclose Google user data to third parties for their own purposes. Google user data is disclosed only to the service providers strictly necessary to operate SpeakDuo (our cloud hosting/storage and authentication infrastructure), solely to provide and improve the app's functionality, and under contractual confidentiality and data-protection obligations.
AI / machine learning: We do not use Google user data obtained through Google APIs to develop, improve, or train non-personalized (generalized) AI or machine-learning models.
Limited Use compliance: Our use of information received from Google APIs adheres to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including its Limited Use requirements.

Permitted purposes: We use authorized sign-in data to connect and authenticate your account. Where separately enabled and authorized, we use the selected professional-profile data to pre-fill an editable SpeakDuo professional summary and personalize conversation-partner recommendations, including Founders-for-Founders (F4F) events. Matching may categorize professional backgrounds, such as founder or investor, to suggest compatible conversation partners. It is not used to make employment, credit, insurance, or other decisions with legal or similarly significant effects. Any additional purpose requires advance disclosure and any necessary separate consent.
Sharing with providers: We disclose only the information necessary to service providers supporting the authorized feature, such as hosting, storage, authentication, and matching infrastructure. They act on our instructions under written confidentiality and data-protection obligations, not for their own advertising or independent purposes. We do not send LinkedIn access credentials to voice-feedback AI providers. Any AI processing of imported professional information requires specific prior disclosure and consent, and restrictions against training generalized models.
Sharing with other members: Only professional-profile information you choose to share through a disclosed profile or matching feature may be shown to other members. Your email address, account identifiers, authentication tokens, and full LinkedIn data export are not disclosed to other members through those features.
Purpose restrictions: We do not sell or rent LinkedIn data, use it for advertising or cross-service tracking, or supply it as a standalone third-party data API or data feed. We do not use it to train general-purpose AI or machine-learning models. We do not use it in ways that facilitate discriminatory practices based on sensitive or legally protected characteristics, or attempt to re-identify anonymized data.
Approved access only: We do not obtain LinkedIn data through scraping, crawling, or third-party scraped sources. Sign-in and portability authorization do not permit us to publish posts, send messages, or edit your LinkedIn profile. We do not describe imported data as “verified” or “confirmed” by LinkedIn, or imply LinkedIn sponsorship or endorsement.
Required disclosures: We may disclose information when legally compelled to do so, limited to what the law requires. Any legally required retention is subject to the narrow exception in Section 3.B.

Our use of LinkedIn data is subject to the applicable LinkedIn API Terms of Use, Data Portability API Terms, and incorporated Data Processing Agreement for Business Development Agreements. The Portability Terms take precedence where they conflict with the general API Terms. LinkedIn is independently responsible for its own services under its Privacy Policy; this policy governs Pengguin Inc.’s handling of data in SpeakDuo.

E. Automated Safety Moderation of Live Video

To keep live sessions safe, an automated system watches the camera streams of live sessions and samples still frames from each camera a few times per minute. The frames are analysed on our own servers by a model that detects exposed genitalia. Frames are processed in real time and are not stored, with one exception: when the system detects a violation, it keeps a few frames from the seconds around the detection as evidence so that our team can review the decision. A detected violation leads to removal from the session and a temporary suspension from live sessions; our team reviews these cases and lifts suspensions that were made in error. You can appeal a suspension by writing to support@speakduo.com.

To prevent suspended users from returning under new accounts, and to keep blocked people apart, the same system also derives a face template, a short numeric representation of facial features, from your camera during live sessions and compares it with the templates of other accounts. Face templates are stored securely, are used only for safety and for detecting duplicate accounts, are never shared with third parties or used for advertising, and are deleted together with your account. Where the law requires explicit consent for this processing, we ask for it before your camera is enabled.

3. Data Storage and Security

A. Cloud Storage

We use industry-leading cloud storage providers (Cloudflare R2 buckets) for account information and user-saved audio.

Security: Personal data — including Google user data, LinkedIn data, and authentication credentials — is protected by encryption in transit (TLS/SSL) and at rest. Access is limited to authorized personnel and systems that need it for the permitted purpose, with confidentiality obligations and appropriate technical and organizational safeguards. Authentication credentials are not made public or used beyond their authorized scope. We address security vulnerabilities and incidents and notify affected people, regulators, and relevant partners where required by law or our agreements. No storage or transmission system can be guaranteed completely secure.

B. Data Retention

Processing Cache: Audio is stored temporarily only during active transcription/analysis and is deleted once processing completes.
User Recordings: Saved sessions are stored until you delete them.
Account & Google/Apple user data: Account information, including information received through Google or Apple sign-in, is retained only as long as needed for the purposes in this policy, generally while your account is active, unless a longer period is required or permitted by law. When the retention period expires, you close your account, or you request deletion via support@speakduo.com, we delete or destroy the associated data within 30 days. This general period does not apply to LinkedIn data.
LinkedIn data and credentials: We retain LinkedIn data only while necessary for the authorized purpose and while we have the required consent, authorization, and continuing legal basis. We immediately delete all of your LinkedIn data, including all Member Portability Data, when you request deletion or close your SpeakDuo account. This includes member identifiers, OAuth access tokens, imported information, and identifiable summaries or matching attributes derived from it. We also stop further retrieval and delete LinkedIn data when you disconnect or withdraw the consent on which its processing relies. The deletion requirement applies to copies held on our behalf by service providers; routine cache or backup retention does not override it. The only exception is when deletion would itself violate a law or an obligation imposed by a governmental authority. In that case, we isolate the minimum information legally required, use it only to satisfy that obligation, and delete it when the obligation ends.
Moderation evidence and face templates: evidence frames from a detected violation are kept for as long as the related suspension or review is open, and no longer than 12 months. Face templates are kept while your account exists and are deleted when the account is deleted.

C. Legal Bases for Processing

Where applicable data-protection law requires a legal basis, we process account information to perform our contract with you and provide the services you request; rely on consent for optional LinkedIn imports and matching, and for audio recording and AI processing where required; and process necessary information to meet legal obligations. We may rely on legitimate interests for proportionate service security, fraud prevention, support, and improvement where those interests are not overridden by your rights. We do not use legitimate interests to override withdrawal of consent for optional LinkedIn processing. Withdrawing consent does not affect the lawfulness of processing before withdrawal.

D. International Data Transfers

Personal information may be processed in countries other than your own where we or our service providers operate. Where required by applicable law, transfers are protected by recognized safeguards, such as an adequacy decision or Standard Contractual Clauses with any required UK or Swiss adaptations and supplementary protections. You may contact support@speakduo.com for information about the safeguards applicable to your data or a copy where available.

4. Your Rights and Choices

You can manage your information through the available account controls or contact support@speakduo.com. Depending on applicable law, your rights include:

Access and copies: Request access to your personal information, including data imported from LinkedIn, and information about its processing. Saved recordings can also be reviewed in-app.
Correction: Update editable SpeakDuo profile information or ask us to correct inaccurate information and matching inputs. Editing SpeakDuo does not change your LinkedIn profile; source-profile corrections must be made on LinkedIn.
Deletion: Delete specific recordings or your account, or request deletion of particular personal data without closing your account. LinkedIn data is subject to the immediate-deletion rule in Section 3.B, not the general 30-day period.
Consent withdrawal and disconnection: Withdraw consent through available SpeakDuo connection controls or by emailing us. You can also revoke LinkedIn access in LinkedIn’s permitted-services settings. Revoking access stops future access but does not itself guarantee that a previously imported copy has been removed from SpeakDuo; contact us or use SpeakDuo’s deletion controls to request removal. Once we receive or become aware of your withdrawal, we stop the affected processing and apply Section 3.B.
Portability, restriction, and objection: Where applicable, request a structured, commonly used, machine-readable copy of eligible data, ask us to restrict processing, or object to processing based on legitimate interests.
Matching transparency: Ask about the professional information used for recommendations and correct it. Optional LinkedIn-based matching is subject to your consent and the limitations in Section 2.D.
Complaints: Contact Pengguin Inc. using the details in Section 8. You may also complain to the data-protection authority in your country or region where applicable.

We may take proportionate steps to confirm that a request is genuine, but never ask for your LinkedIn password. We respond within applicable legal deadlines, explain any lawful limitations, and cooperate with relevant providers where needed to fulfill your rights. General request-response deadlines do not replace LinkedIn’s immediate-deletion requirement.

5. Children's Privacy

SpeakDuo is not for children under 13. We do not knowingly collect data from children under 13 and will delete it immediately if discovered. LinkedIn-connected features also require users to meet LinkedIn’s account eligibility requirements and applicable legal consent requirements; using SpeakDuo does not waive those requirements.

6. App Store Privacy Nutrition Label

The following describes our data practices for App Store privacy disclosure purposes; the categories collected depend on the features you use:

Data Linked to You: Email, name, audio for the functionality described in this policy, and account identifiers received via Google or Apple sign-in. Where LinkedIn features are enabled and authorized, LinkedIn account identifiers, profile details, and imported professional information are linked to your account for the disclosed authentication, profile, and personalization purposes.
Data Not Linked: Anonymized Usage Data (Analytics). Connected-account identifiers and identifiable LinkedIn information are not included in this category.
Tracking: We do not use the data described here to track you across other companies’ apps or websites.

7. Changes to This Policy

If we make material changes to how we access, use, store, share, or delete your data — including Google or LinkedIn data — we will notify you in-app and/or via email before the changes take effect and update the “Last Updated” date above. Where required by law or the applicable provider terms, we will obtain renewed consent before collecting new categories of data, introducing recurring access, or using or disclosing connected-account data for a new purpose. A policy update alone does not authorize an expanded use of LinkedIn data. We encourage you to review this policy periodically.

8. Contact Us

Legal operator and data controller: Pengguin Inc., operating under the trade name SpeakDuo.

Privacy inquiries, rights requests, and complaints: support@speakduo.com

Public privacy policy: speakduo.com/privacy

Please identify the relevant SpeakDuo account and the request you wish to make. Do not include passwords or authentication tokens.