Privacy Policy — Rootlette

Last updated: 2026-08-11

Rootlette is a vocabulary-learning app published by Lightbulb Labs LLC ("Lightbulb Labs", "we", "us", "our"). This Privacy Policy explains what information Rootlette collects, how it's used, and the choices you have. It supplements (and, for the app, supersedes where more specific) the general Lightbulb Labs privacy policy.

In short: Rootlette has no accounts and no server. Your learning progress stays on your device, and we never receive it. The app shows ads and collects anonymous, aggregate usage statistics — that's the only data that leaves your device. We don't ask for your name or email, we don't build a profile of you, and we don't track you across other apps or websites.

No account, no server

Rootlette doesn't ask you to sign up or sign in, and there is no Lightbulb Labs server behind it. Your progress — which words you've learned, your review schedule, your streak, your settings — is stored only in local storage on your device. It is never synced, backed up, or transmitted to us, and nobody at Lightbulb Labs can see it. The entire word curriculum ships inside the app, so the app works with no internet connection at all.

Because your progress lives only on your device, your device's own operating-system backup (e.g., iCloud or Android backup), if you've enabled it, may include it — that backup is managed by Apple or Google under their own terms, not by us.

Microphone and speech recognition

Rootlette lets you say a word out loud and scores how you pronounced it. If you use that feature, the app asks for microphone and speech-recognition permission. Recognition runs entirely on your device — your voice is not recorded to a file, not sent to Lightbulb Labs, and not sent to any speech-recognition service over the internet. The app receives only the recognized text, compares it to the target word on your device, and discards it.

Advertising

Rootlette is free and is supported by ads: an interstitial ad appears between words after every few words you complete. Requesting that ad is the only network call the app makes; if you're offline or the ad doesn't load, you simply continue to the next word.

We request non-personalized ads only. That means our advertising provider serves ads based on general context rather than a profile of your interests or behavior, and we do not permit the use of your data for cross-app or cross-site advertising profiling. To serve and measure an ad, the provider's software does receive limited technical information from your device, such as your IP address, device type and operating system version, and a device advertising identifier. That information is handled by the provider under its own privacy policy, and it is used for ad delivery, frequency capping, and fraud prevention.

We never send your learning data — the words you've studied, your answers, your progress, or your voice — to the ad provider or anyone else. Rootlette does not ask for permission to track you across other companies' apps and websites, and it does not do so.

You can limit ad personalization system-wide at any time: on iOS, Settings → Privacy & Security → Tracking and Apple Advertising; on Android, Settings → Privacy → Ads, where you can also delete or reset your advertising ID.

Anonymous usage analytics

We collect a small amount of anonymous, aggregate usage information to understand which parts of the app people actually use and where they get stuck — for example, that a word was completed, that a puzzle was played, or which screen was opened. These are counts of events, not a record of you.

This information is not tied to your name, email, phone number, or any account, because Rootlette has none of those. It never includes the content of your answers or your voice, and it is not used to build an advertising profile or to identify you as an individual. Along with each event, standard technical metadata (app version, operating system, device type, and a random installation identifier) is collected so the numbers are interpretable.

Notifications

If you turn on the daily reminder, Rootlette schedules a local notification directly on your device using the operating system's own notification tools. No reminder data is sent to us or to any push-notification server.

Sharing your progress

When you reach a milestone, Rootlette can generate a shareable image on your device. Nothing is shared unless you tap the share button, and the image is handed to your device's native share sheet — where it goes from there is entirely your choice. Lightbulb Labs never receives a copy.

Information we collect directly

If you contact us — for example, by emailing contact@lightbulblabs.net — we receive your email address and the contents of your message, handled as described in the Lightbulb Labs privacy policy.

How we share information

We do not sell or rent personal information. We share information only with:

• Our advertising provider, which receives the limited technical information described under "Advertising" above in order to serve and measure non-personalized ads.
• Our analytics provider, which processes the anonymous usage events described above on our behalf.
• Apple and Google, as the platforms through which the app is distributed and, where applicable, crash-reporting infrastructure they operate.
• As required by law, or to protect the rights, property, or safety of Lightbulb Labs, our users, or the public.

Data retention and deletion

Your learning data lives only on your device. You can reset your progress in the app, and uninstalling Rootlette removes its local data (subject to any OS-level backup you've separately enabled). Because we never receive that data, there is nothing for us to delete on our end. Anonymous usage events aren't linked to an identity we could look you up by; if you'd like the events tied to your installation removed, email us and we'll do what we can with the installation identifier you provide.

Your rights and choices

Depending on where you live, you may have rights to access, correct, delete, or restrict the use of personal information we hold, including under the GDPR (EEA/UK/Switzerland residents) and the CCPA/CPRA (California residents). We do not sell personal information, and we do not share it for cross-context behavioral advertising. Because your learning data never leaves your device, you already have complete control over it directly in the app. For anything else — anonymous analytics or direct correspondence — email contact@lightbulblabs.net.

International data transfers

Your learning data is not transferred anywhere — it stays on your device. The limited advertising and anonymous analytics information described above may be processed on infrastructure located in the United States and other countries where our providers operate.

Children's privacy

Rootlette is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13.

Security

Your learning data benefits from your device's own operating-system security (device passcode and app sandboxing). For the limited data we do handle, we use reasonable administrative and technical safeguards, though no method of storage or transmission is completely secure.

Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we do, we'll revise the "Last updated" date above; material changes will be highlighted on this page.

Contact

Questions or requests regarding this Privacy Policy can be sent to contact@lightbulblabs.net or by mail to:

Lightbulb Labs LLC
2108 N St Ste N
Sacramento, CA 95816