ListenToMe — Privacy Policy

Last updated: October 29, 2026

ListenToMe is an app for Android, iPhone and iPad, with a web version, that converts PDF documents, ebooks and images into spoken audiobooks. It is designed primarily for blind and visually impaired users. This policy explains what information the app collects, how it is used, which service providers process it, and how to request deletion.

Who we are

ListenToMe is developed by Yogen Ghodke and operated by BlitzApply, Pune, Maharashtra, India. BlitzApply also collects the payments for passes bought on the ListenToMe website. You can reach us at yogenghodke@gmail.com.

What information we collect

• Account information: When you sign in with Google or Apple, we receive your email address (with Sign in with Apple this can be a private relay address) and a unique user identifier from Firebase Authentication. We do not receive your password.
• Files you upload: The PDF and image files that you choose to upload through the app are stored in Google Cloud Storage so they can be processed into audio. You explicitly initiate every upload.
• Generated audiobooks: The MP3 files produced from your uploads are stored alongside your account so you can play them on demand.
• Job metadata: Filename, processing status, page count, and timestamps are stored in Firebase Firestore so the app can show you the state of each conversion.
• Listening progress: For each book you play in the Android or iPhone app, we store a short summary linked to your account: how long you listened, how far into the book you got, your last position and playback speed, whether you finished it, and the days and hours of the day you listened (by your device's clock). We use it to understand how people use ListenToMe and to improve it. It never contains the book's text, and it is deleted when you delete the book or your account. Your resume position is also kept on your device.
• Ask AI chats: The questions you type or speak and the AI's answers are saved per book in Firebase Firestore, linked to your account, so you can return to a chat. We also keep a copy of each question and answer to improve ListenToMe. A daily question count is kept on the server to enforce the limit of 100 questions per day. Before you ask your first question, the app notifies you that the question and parts of the book's text are sent to AI providers.
• Notes: Notes you type or dictate for a book are saved to your account in Firebase Firestore as separate entries, which you can edit or delete at any time. They are deleted when you delete that book or your account. Note text is never sent to analytics and is not used to answer Ask AI questions.
• Ask AI reports: If you report an Ask AI answer, we store your report (the reason you choose and any comment you add), the answer, and the question it answered, linked to your account so we can review the report and improve answers. Reports are deleted when you delete your account.
• Notifications: If notifications are enabled, Firebase Cloud Messaging stores a device-specific notification token so we can tell your device that an audiobook is ready or that processing failed.
• Device and security information: When a signed-in person opens the Android app, the iPhone app, or the website, we record the IP address the request came from, the app version, the phone or computer model, the browser or app type, and a device identifier: on Android, the device ID the operating system gives our app; on iPhone, a random ID our app saves on the phone; and on the website, a random ID saved in the browser. The device ID we store is converted into a code (a one-way hash), not the original ID. We use this to keep the free plan fair and the service secure, for example to notice when one person uses several accounts on the same phone to get extra free pages, and to stop misuse. We do not use this to find out where someone is, we do not use it for advertising, and we do not sell or share it. It is kept for 90 days after the last time we saw that device or address, then deleted automatically.
• Usage analytics: Firebase Analytics automatically collects app activity such as first opens, sessions, screen views, and an app-instance identifier. It may also derive coarse location and device information from technical data. The app also records which features are used, for example signing in, uploading a book (file type, size range and chosen language), playing, pausing and finishing a book, changing speed, copying a book's text, and when Ask AI and View text are used, including whether a question was typed, spoken or a suggested starter, but never the question or answer text, and whether a screen reader such as TalkBack or VoiceOver is turned on. These Analytics records are kept separate from your account. We use this information to understand reliability and improve the app. We do not set Analytics user IDs, send document content, filenames or titles to Analytics, or use Analytics for advertising.
• Payments: If you buy a pass on the ListenToMe website, the payment is handled by Razorpay. You enter your card, UPI or bank details on Razorpay's secure checkout, not on our servers, and we never see or store full card numbers, UPI PINs or bank passwords. We store, linked to your account, the order ID and payment ID, the plan, the amount and currency, the payment status and time, the pass end date and any refund. We use these records to add your pass, to answer your questions about payments, to handle refunds and for our accounts.

What we do NOT collect

• We do not collect advertising identifiers for ads: the Android app removes the Advertising ID permission, and the iPhone app never asks to track you across other apps.
• We do not access your contacts or any files outside of files you explicitly select for upload. The camera is used only when you choose Take a photo or Guided camera, to photograph a page you want turned into an audiobook. Those photos are uploaded and handled like any file you choose, and the camera is never used in the background. The app uses the microphone only while you tap the Mic button in Ask AI or in Notes, to turn speech into text. Speech is turned into text by your device's speech recognition (on the device when the device supports it and your language is installed; otherwise the device's speech recognition service, for example Google's on Android or Apple's on iPhone, may process the audio). ListenToMe never receives or stores the audio, only the text you choose to keep.
• We do not sell or share your data with third parties for marketing purposes.
• We do not use your uploaded content to train our own AI models.

How your files are processed

When you upload a PDF, image, or other file, its pages and text are processed by our own processing systems, including cloud servers we rent, and by third-party AI services acting on our behalf to read text from page images, detect the language, translate, and generate speech. These services process content to provide the conversion, and some may keep it for a limited time under their own terms; on one service tier we use, the provider may use submitted content to train its models. The resulting MP3 file is stored in your private Firebase Storage area and made available to you on your device. We do not sell uploaded content or use it to train our own models.

If your file is locked with a password, you can type the password in the app. It is used once to open the file and is deleted right away.

When you use Ask AI, your question, recent messages from that chat, and passages of the book's text are sent to third-party AI services to search the book and produce answers. Each service handles the data under its own terms and privacy policy; some may keep it for a limited time or use it to improve their models. We keep a copy of your Ask AI questions and answers to improve ListenToMe, even after you start a new chat or delete the book; that copy is deleted when you delete your account. We do not sell this data.

How long we keep your files

• Uploaded source files: Kept while the book is in your library so Ask AI can view diagrams and pictures on the original page. Deleted when you delete the book or your account. Files from books that failed are deleted after 10 days.
• Generated MP3 audiobooks: Kept in your library until you delete the book in the app or ask us to delete your account. Failed or abandoned conversion jobs are cleaned up after the retention window.
• Local downloads: An audiobook downloaded to your device remains there until you delete it or remove the app's local data.
• Account information: Persists until you ask us to delete your account by emailing the address above.
• Listening progress: Kept until you delete the book or your account.
• Ask AI chats: Shown in the app until you tap 'New chat' or delete the book (the chat is removed from the app within about a day). We keep a copy of the questions and answers to improve ListenToMe until you delete your account.
• Notes: Kept until you delete the book or your account.
• Ask AI reports: Kept until you delete your account.
• Analytics data: Retention is controlled by the Firebase Analytics property and is separate from uploaded files. Analytics data does not contain your document text or filenames.
• Payment records: Kept with your account. They may be kept after you delete your account where the law requires it, for example for tax and accounting.

How to delete your data

You can delete any individual book from inside the app, which removes the source file, the audiobook, its job metadata and its listening progress from our backend. Deleting a book also removes its Ask AI chat and notes from the app (within about a day). To request deletion of your entire account and associated data, including Ask AI chats, our copy of your Ask AI questions and answers, notes, and Ask AI reports, without reinstalling the app, use the account deletion request page. You can also email yogenghodke@gmail.com from the address you signed in with. We verify the request, delete the account and associated backend records, and explain any data that must be retained temporarily for security or legal reasons.

Children

This app is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect information from children.

Third-party services

The app uses the following services to function:

• Firebase Authentication — for Google Sign-In and Sign in with Apple
• Firebase Cloud Firestore — for storing job metadata, listening progress, Ask AI chats, and notes
• Firebase Cloud Storage — for storing uploaded files and generated audio
• Firebase Cloud Messaging — for audiobook-ready and failure notifications
• Firebase Analytics — for app activity and reliability measurement
• Third-party AI services — for reading text from page images, detecting language, translating, generating speech, and powering Ask AI search and answers
• Cloud computing providers — for running our processing systems
• Razorpay — for processing payments for passes bought on the ListenToMe website

Firebase is a Google service governed by Google's privacy policy: https://policies.google.com/privacy. Razorpay handles the details you give at checkout under its own privacy policy. Each AI service and cloud provider we use handles data under its own terms and privacy policy. To ask which services currently process your data, email us.

Security

All data in transit between your device and our backend is encrypted via HTTPS. Your files are stored in your private Firebase Storage area, accessible only to your authenticated account.

Changes to this policy

If we update this privacy policy in a meaningful way, the "Last updated" date at the top of this page will change. We recommend checking this page periodically.

Contact

For questions about this privacy policy or your data, email yogenghodke@gmail.com.