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Echo

Privacy & Student Data Notice

Effective date: 11 June 2026 · Live at readwithecho.com

Overview

Echo is a reading-first language-learning app: you read real texts, listen, tap words for meaning, and practise reading aloud. This notice explains, in plain terms, what data Echo collects, who can see it, and the choices you have. This is not legal advice. We aim to handle data responsibly and honestly; Echo is currently intended for controlled school pilots and early users, and this notice will evolve.

Who uses Echo (user categories)

Different people use Echo differently, and the data that applies to you depends on which you are:

Data that applies to all users

Independent readers

If you use Echo by yourself and have not joined a class, no teacher sees your progress. Your learning and speaking data is private to you (and to Echo's owners/admins for support and security, as below). If you later join a class, the “Students” section begins to apply.

Students (classroom users)

If you join a teacher's class or complete an assignment, your teacher can see your classroom learning data — your reading progress, read-aloud (speaking) attempts, and quiz/review results for the relevant text — so they can support your reading. Your voice recording is still not uploaded; your teacher sees the recognised text and your score, not your voice. Classroom use may require school, parent, or guardian approval depending on the student's age and your local rules (see “Student / minor data notice”).

Teachers

Teachers create and manage classes, class memberships, assignments, and teacher-created texts. A teacher can see the classroom learning data (progress, speaking attempts, quiz results) of the students in the classes they own / the students they teach — and not other teachers' students. Teachers are responsible for using student data appropriately and within their school's rules.

Owners / admins

Echo's owners/admins (the people who run the service) may access data to operate, secure, debug, and support Echo — for example, to fix a bug, investigate abuse, or help with a support or deletion request. Access is for running the service, not for any unrelated purpose.

Voice and speaking data

Your voice recording stays on your device. When you read aloud, the audio is held only in your browser for immediate playback and feedback, and is then cleared. It is not uploaded to our servers.

What Echo does save (for your progress and, in a class, for your teacher) is the text the browser recognised, the target sentence, a rough match score, and a timestamp — not the audio. Pronunciation scoring is a rough browser dictation match, not a judgement of your speech.

Data export and deletion

Student / minor data notice (plain language)

For younger students, Echo should be used with school, parent, or guardian approval where your local rules require it.

Third-party services (processors)

Echo uses a small number of providers to run the service:

Browser-based pronunciation scoring may use your browser's built-in speech service (e.g. on Chrome this is provided by Google); recording works in any browser and your audio is not uploaded by Echo.

Exam names, trademarks & exam preparation

Echo's Exam Lab offers independent, exam-style practice. Exam names are used descriptively only, to say which test our practice material resembles. Echo uses no official exam logos or branding, and all passages, questions, answer keys, explanations and audio are original materials created by Echo for study and exam-preparation purposes. Echo does not reproduce official test passages, questions, answer keys, audio, diagrams or layouts.

IELTS® is a registered trademark of the British Council, IDP: IELTS Australia, and Cambridge University Press & Assessment. Echo is an independent learning platform and is not affiliated with, approved by, endorsed by, or sponsored by the IELTS Partners. All practice passages, questions, explanations, and audio in Echo are original materials created for study and exam-preparation purposes. Echo does not reproduce official IELTS test materials.

Band scores and any other exam scores shown in Echo are unofficial estimates for practice only. Official IELTS results are issued only by authorised IELTS test centres.

The same principles apply to every exam Echo may add (for example TOEFL, TOEIC, SAT, ACT, GRE, GMAT, Cambridge exams, HSK, JLPT and others): descriptive use of the exam name only, no official logos, no copying of official materials, and an independence / unofficial-score disclaimer shown in-product. Each such exam name is a trademark of its respective owner, and Echo is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any of them.

Contact / support

Use “Report a bug” inside Echo for questions, corrections, or data requests, or email privacy@readwithecho.com. We'll help you export or delete your data.