Legal
Privacy & data policy
Who runs this website
Learn Tamil (https://learntamil.msdevbuild.com/) is a free educational website made by Suthahar Jegatheesan under the MSDEVBUILD name. It is a personal, non-commercial project. Questions about privacy can be sent through the contact page.
Information we collect
No personal information. The site has no sign-up, no login, no forms and no comments. We do not ask for names, email addresses, ages, photos or any other personal details, and we do not run advertising scripts.
Anonymous usage statistics (only if you allow them)
When you first visit, a notice asks whether we may count visits. Nothing is loaded or sent unless you tap “Allow”. If you allow it, the site uses Google Analytics for Firebase to learn which lessons and games are useful. It records pages visited and simple events such as “a game was started”, “a story was finished”, “a badge was earned” or “a certificate level was passed”, together with general technical details (approximate country, device type, browser). It stores a random visitor ID in first-party cookies (_ga, _ga_*) so repeat visits can be counted. We have turned off Google signals, advertising cookies and ad personalisation, and we never send names, the certificate name or anything your child types. Google processes this data under the Google Privacy Policy. If you tap “No thanks”, or change your mind later, the site works exactly the same. Your choice is saved in this browser (localStorage lt-consent).
Your choice is saved in this browser.
What is saved on your device
To make the site work, a few small values are saved in your browser's own storage. They never leave your device and we cannot see them.
| What | Where | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Light or dark theme | localStorage lt-theme | Remembers your colour choice |
| Game progress: tokens, badges, letters heard, words read, stories finished | localStorage lt-progress | Remembers your child's rewards and progress |
| Name typed for a certificate, and certificate results | localStorage lt-cert-name, lt-progress | Puts the name on the certificate and remembers which levels are passed. The certificate PDF is made inside your browser; the name is never sent anywhere. |
| Questions and words already shown | localStorage lt-cert-seen, lt-spin-seen | So certificate retakes and the Spin wheel give new questions and words instead of repeating |
| Reminder device token | localStorage lt-push | Only if you turn reminders on; deleted when you turn them off |
| When the “support this project” note was last shown | localStorage lt-support | So the note appears only now and then, and rests after you answer it |
| Visit counted, random session ID and approximate place | sessionStorage lt-counted, lt-sid, lt-geo, lt-located | So one visit is counted once; removed when the tab is closed |
| Your cookie choice | localStorage lt-consent | Remembers whether you allowed anonymous usage statistics |
| Best game scores and sound on/off | localStorage lt-best-*, lt-sfx | Shows the best score for each game; remembers if game sounds are muted |
| Closed voice message | sessionStorage lt-notice | Keeps the “no Tamil voice” message closed until the tab is closed |
| Your letter recordings | IndexedDB (only on record.html) | Keeps recordings you make until you download or delete them |
You can remove all of this at any time with Reset progress in the 🪙 My rewards panel, or by clearing this site's data in your browser settings.
“Learning around the world” counter
The home page shows how many visits the site has had, how many people are learning right now, and the top countries and cities. To make this work, each visit adds one to a shared counter in Firebase Realtime Database (Google), and an open page keeps a temporary anonymous entry (a random ID, removed when the page is closed) so it can be counted as “learning right now”. No cookies are used for this.
Only if you allowed the cookie notice, the site also asks GeoJS for the approximate country and town of your internet connection, and adds one to that country and town on the map. Your IP address is sent to GeoJS for this lookup but is never stored by Learn Tamil; only the country and town name are kept, as part of the totals. If you tap “No thanks”, no place is looked up.
Reminders (push notifications)
You can choose to get occasional reminders, such as “Time to learn a new letter!”. They are off until you tap Turn on reminders and your browser asks for permission. When you turn them on, Firebase Cloud Messaging (Google) gives this browser a random device token so a reminder can be delivered. The token is not linked to a name, email or any other personal detail, and is saved in this browser (localStorage lt-push). Turning reminders off deletes the token. You can also block notifications for this site in your browser settings at any time.
Microphone
Only the optional Letter Recorder page uses the microphone, and only after you allow it and press Record. Recordings stay in your browser. They are never uploaded by this website; they leave your device only if you choose to download the zip file yourself.
Services provided by others
Like most websites, Learn Tamil relies on a few outside services. They may receive technical information such as your IP address and browser type when your browser contacts them:
- GitHub Pages hosts the site and may keep standard server logs. See the GitHub Privacy Statement.
- Google Analytics for Firebase (project
learntamil-js) receives the anonymous usage statistics described above, only if you allow them. - Firebase Realtime Database keeps the anonymous visit totals for the “learning around the world” counter.
- Google reCAPTCHA (through Firebase App Check) quietly checks that requests to our Firebase services come from this real website and not from automated scripts, to keep the counter and reminders free of spam. It runs in the background, never shows a puzzle, and works under the Google Privacy Policy and Terms.
- GeoJS looks up an approximate country and town, only if you allowed the cookie notice (see the counter).
- Firebase Cloud Messaging delivers reminders, only if you turn them on (see Reminders).
- Google Fonts supplies the Tamil and English fonts. See the Google Fonts privacy FAQ.
- cdnjs (Cloudflare) supplies a zip library, only on the Letter Recorder page.
- Buy Me a Coffee: the “Buy me a coffee” link opens buymeacoffee.com, where you can choose to support the project. This website does not load any Buy Me a Coffee script and sends it nothing. If you decide to support, Buy Me a Coffee handles the payment under its own privacy policy, and may share with the creator the name and message you choose to leave.
- GitHub Issues is where you can report bugs and give feedback. Issues are public: your GitHub username and whatever you write can be seen by anyone, and are handled under GitHub's privacy statement. Please do not include personal details, especially about children. For private questions use the contact page.
- Your browser's text-to-speech voice reads letters and words aloud. Some voices (for example Microsoft Edge “natural” voices or Google voices) are online services: your browser may send the text being spoken — Tamil letters and words from this site — to that provider. No personal information is part of that text.
Children's privacy
Learn Tamil is made for children and is designed so that it does not collect personal information from anyone, including children. Anonymous usage statistics are collected only after a parent or teacher allows them, with advertising features off. There are no ads, no chat, no sharing features and no links that ask for personal details. We recommend that young children use the site with a parent or teacher.
Changes to this policy
If this policy changes, the new version will be posted on this page with a new “Updated” date.
Contact
For any privacy question or request, please use the contact page.