Terms of Service

Last updated: 2026-05-17

---

1. Who can use the service

You may use Spoken Here if you are at least 16 years old. If you are under 16, please do not use the service without a parent or guardian's involvement.

You may use the service only for your own personal, non-commercial purposes. If you'd like to use it in a business or organisational setting (for example, an employer providing it to staff, or a settlement agency offering it to clients), email us first.

---

2. Where the service is offered

Spoken Here is designed and operated for newcomers to Canada. We do not market or direct our services to residents of the United States, the European Union, or other jurisdictions outside Canada.

If you access the service from outside Canada, you do so on your own initiative and at your own risk. You are responsible for compliance with the laws of your jurisdiction. By using the service from outside Canada, you agree that your use is governed by Canadian law and that any dispute will be resolved in Ontario, Canada (see Section 12).

---

3. Your account

You can take the free baseline assessment without creating an account. To save your results and access daily practice, you submit your email address and we send you a one-click verification link.

You are responsible for keeping your email account secure. We use email-based authentication, which means anyone with access to your email inbox can sign in as you. If you suspect your email has been compromised, secure your email account and email us so we can help.

We may suspend or terminate access if we reasonably believe you have violated these terms, are abusing the service, or are putting other users or the service itself at risk. Where possible, we will give you notice before doing so.

---

4. Your content

When you use Spoken Here, you produce content — primarily audio recordings of your voice, and the transcripts and scores generated from them.

You own your content. Spoken Here does not claim ownership of your voice recordings, your transcripts, or any other content you produce while using the service.

You give us a license to process your content for the purpose of delivering the service. Specifically, you grant Spoken Here a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to:

• send your audio to our pronunciation-scoring provider so it can return scores and a transcript;
• send your transcript and scores to our coaching-feedback provider so it can return written feedback;
• store your transcripts, scores, and feedback in our database so you can see them later;
• aggregate non-identifying usage data to understand how the service is being used.

This license is limited to what we need to provide the service to you. It ends when you delete your account, except for aggregated and anonymised data that cannot be linked back to you.

We do not use your content to train machine learning models. We do not sell, rent, or share your content with third parties for marketing or advertising.

For details about what we collect and how we handle it, see our Privacy Policy.

---

5. Acceptable use

Don't use the service to:

• harass, threaten, or harm anyone;
• record audio of anyone other than yourself, or content the recording of which would violate someone's rights;
• upload content that is illegal, hateful, defamatory, or sexually explicit;
• attempt to break, probe, or interfere with the service or its underlying systems (including rate-limit avoidance, automated submission, and security testing without prior written permission);
• attempt to reverse-engineer, scrape, or extract our content, code, or models;
• impersonate another person or misrepresent your affiliation with anyone;
• use the service for commercial resale or sublicensing without our written permission.

We may remove content, suspend access, or terminate your account if you use the service in violation of these rules.

---

6. The service is provided as-is

Spoken Here is an early-access product. We are a small team and we are still building it.

We provide the service as-is and as-available, without warranties of any kind, whether express or implied. Specifically, we do not warrant that:

• the service will be uninterrupted, secure, or error-free;
• the pronunciation scores or coaching feedback are accurate, complete, or suitable for any particular purpose;
• the service will be available in your country, on your device, or in your preferred browser;
• the service will produce any particular outcome in your learning or your communication.

The service is a practice tool. It is not a substitute for a human speech-language pathologist, language teacher, employment coach, immigration consultant, or legal advisor. Do not rely on the service for decisions that have material consequences in your life.

---

7. Limits on our liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law:

• We are not liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages arising from your use of the service.
• We are not liable for loss of data, loss of profit, loss of opportunity, or loss of goodwill.
• Our total liability to you for all claims, taken together, will not exceed the greater of (a) the amount you paid us in the twelve (12) months before the event giving rise to the claim, or (b) one hundred Canadian dollars (CAD $100).

Nothing in these terms limits or excludes any liability that cannot be lawfully limited or excluded — including, where applicable, your rights under Ontario's Consumer Protection Act, 2002, or other applicable consumer protection legislation.

---

8. Subscription and payment (when applicable)

The service is currently free during early access.

When subscription pricing launches, the following will apply:

• Prices, billing intervals, and payment terms will be disclosed at the point of purchase.
• Subscription payments are non-refundable except where required by law.
• If you cancel a subscription, you keep access until the end of the period you've paid for.
• We may change subscription prices going forward. We will give you at least 30 days' notice by email before any price increase takes effect on your subscription, and you may cancel before the increase applies.

Payment processing will be handled by a third-party processor (currently planned: Stripe). Your card or bank details will be handled by the processor and not stored on our servers. The processor's privacy policy will apply to your payment data in addition to ours.

---

9. Founding members

If you create an account during the early-access period (before subscription pricing launches), you are an early-access user. Details of the founding-member offering will be communicated to early-access users by email before subscription pricing launches.

---

10. Ending your use of the service

You can stop using the service at any time. You can delete your account by emailing hello@spokenhere.app. We will delete your personal data within 30 days, with the exception of records we are required to retain for legal or accounting reasons.

We can end your use of the service if you violate these terms, if continued service to you creates legal or operational risk for us, or if we discontinue the service. We will give you notice and a reasonable opportunity to export your data, except where doing so is impractical or unsafe.

If we discontinue the service entirely, we will give registered users at least 30 days' notice by email and a way to export their data before shutdown.

---

11. Changes to the service or these terms

We may update the service, add features, change features, or remove features at any time. We aim to give notice of significant changes through the app or by email.

We may update these terms from time to time. For minor changes (clarifications, typos), we will update the "Last updated" date and post the new version. For material changes (changes that meaningfully reduce your rights or increase your obligations), we will email registered users at least 30 days before the change takes effect.

If you don't agree with a material change, you can stop using the service and request deletion of your account before the change takes effect.

---

12. Governing law and disputes

These terms are governed by the laws of the Province of Ontario and the federal laws of Canada applicable in Ontario, without regard to conflict-of-law rules.

If a dispute arises between you and Spoken Here, we ask that you first contact us at hello@spokenhere.app so we can try to resolve it directly. Most disputes can be resolved this way.

If we can't resolve the dispute informally, you and Spoken Here agree that any legal action will be brought in the courts of the Province of Ontario, located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. You and Spoken Here consent to the jurisdiction of those courts.

If you would prefer to resolve a dispute by arbitration rather than in court, contact us — we are open to arbitration as an alternative where both parties agree. Arbitration is not mandatory, and nothing in these terms requires you to waive your right to bring a claim before a court or to participate in a class proceeding where the law of your province permits it.

Nothing in these terms limits your rights under applicable consumer protection legislation, including Ontario's Consumer Protection Act, 2002.

---

13. Contact

Email: hello@spokenhere.app

Spoken Here is operated from Toronto, Ontario, Canada. We are an early-stage product. If you have a concern, write to us.