Speak English Terms of Use
Welcome to Speak English (Chinese name 开口喵, formerly 绘本闯关; the “App”). These terms are the agreement between you and Douwantech (“we”, “us”) about your use of the App. Please read them before you use it; installing or using the App means you have read and accepted these terms.
1. What the App provides
- English picture books suitable for children: sentence-by-sentence read-aloud examples, words broken into beats, illustrations, and a pixel-art map to work through;
- Read-along scoring based on speech recognition that runs on the device;
- Book content and audio are downloaded over the network; the speech recognition model is downloaded to the device the first time it is used;
- A parent may optionally sign in with Apple to sync progress across devices; every feature works without signing in;
- The first few books are free — the App shows which ones; a membership unlocks all of the books. There is no advertising.
2. Accounts
- Accounts are created through Sign in with Apple and are held and managed by a parent. Please do not let a child sign in or delete the account on their own.
- You can sign out or delete your account at any time in Settings. Deleting the account permanently removes the account and the synced progress from the server, and cannot be undone.
- Please keep your Apple Account secure; actions taken through your account are treated as your own.
3. Membership and payment
- What a membership includes: while it is active you can read and practise every book, including books added later. Free books are always free.
- How to buy: through in-app purchase in the Apple App Store. The plans on offer and their prices are those shown on the membership page inside the App; they may vary by region and may change over time.
- Auto-renewal: a subscription renews automatically at the same price within 24 hours before the end of the current period, unless you cancel before then in the Subscriptions settings of your Apple Account. You may cancel at any time after purchase and keep access until the end of the current period.
- Restore purchases: after changing device or reinstalling, tap “Restore Purchases” on the membership page. The same Apple Account is all that is needed; you do not have to sign in to an account in this App.
- Refunds: payment for in-app purchases is taken by Apple, so refunds must be requested from Apple (reportaproblem.apple.com). Whether a refund is granted is Apple’s decision under its own policy.
- Minors: purchases should be completed by a parent. Please do not give a child your Apple Account password or Face ID / Touch ID authorisation.
4. About the scoring
Read-along scoring relies on an offline speech recognition model. Its accuracy is affected by background noise, microphone quality and pronunciation habits, and the speech of children and non-native speakers is inherently among the hardest cases for speech recognition. The score is for learning purposes only and is not an assessment of a child’s pronunciation. A parent can adjust how strictly reading is scored inside the App.
5. Acceptable use
When using the App, you must not:
- Reverse engineer, decompile or tamper with the App, or circumvent its technical protection measures;
- Scrape, resell or publicly redistribute the book text, illustrations, audio or other content in the App;
- Make large numbers of automated requests to our content servers or otherwise interfere with normal operation;
- Use the App for any purpose that breaks the law.
6. Intellectual property
- The software, interface design, story text, AI-generated illustrations and building artwork, and example audio in the App are owned by us or used under licence.
- The App uses a number of open-source components and openly licensed art and sound assets. Their licences and attributions are listed in the Credits, and we use them under their respective terms.
- You may use the content in the App for your own personal learning. Commercial use requires our written permission.
7. Privacy
Reading audio is recognized on the device and is never uploaded. If you are not signed in, learning progress stays on the device; if you are signed in, it is synced to the server. See the Privacy Policy for the full explanation; it forms part of these terms.
8. Disclaimers
- The App is a learning aid and we make no promise about any particular learning outcome;
- We are not liable for interruptions or content-loading failures caused by network faults, system maintenance, device or operating system problems, or force majeure, but we will do our best to restore service quickly;
- Book content may be adjusted or replaced in later versions; we do not guarantee that any particular content remains available indefinitely.
9. Changes and termination
- We may amend these terms as the App changes. Amendments will be published on this page with an updated effective date; continuing to use the App means you accept them;
- You may end this agreement at any time by uninstalling the App;
- If you seriously breach these terms, we may stop providing the service to you.
10. Governing law and disputes
These terms are governed by the laws of the People’s Republic of China. Any dispute arising from these terms should first be resolved through friendly negotiation; failing that, it shall be submitted to the competent people’s court at our place of business (Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China).
11. Contact us
- Operator: Douwantech
- Email: mark@douwantech.com