Legal documents

Terms of use

Last updated: 27 August 2026

1. General and acceptance of these terms

Welcome to "English Vocabulary Words". The Site offers a free, browser-based tool for learning vocabulary between any two of its 68 supported languages, in both directions. These terms of use, the privacy policy, the cookie and local-storage policy and the disclaimer set out on this page (together, the "Legal Documents") are reachable from a permanent link in the Site's footer and from the storage-choice banner, which is not shown on entry but appears the first time you ask the Site to keep something. The "Agree and save" button concerns storage on your device only; it is not acceptance of the terms and is not acceptance of the privacy policy. Use of the Site is subject to these terms, and the Site's footer says so on every screen. The privacy and cookie policies are notices explaining how information and device storage are handled. If you do not agree to the terms, please do not use the Site.

Language — the English text governs where applicable law permits. The Legal Documents are written in English and, subject to mandatory applicable law and only to the extent enforceable, the English text is the authoritative version. This applies to every translated text anywhere on the Site, and not only to these terms: the disclaimer summarised in the footer, the storage dialog, and any other notice the app shows in a language other than English. The non-English notice, disclaimer-summary and privacy-summary layers were generated by artificial intelligence and have not been proofread, edited or linguistically reviewed by a person. Those translations exist so that a reader who does not read English is still told what the Site is and is not. They are summaries offered for convenience and do not replace the documents on this page. Subject to mandatory applicable law and only to the extent enforceable, they create no right and no obligation of their own, and in case of any discrepancy the English version prevails. Beneath the footer's translated disclaimer summary that sentence is shown twice: in the language inferred for the reader, so that the reader it is addressed to can actually read it, and in English directly beneath it. The English is the original and remains the authoritative one, so that the sentence about faulty translations cannot itself be defeated by a faulty translation of it. The Site's other translated notices do not repeat that sentence. The storage dialog and the footer's privacy summary carry links to the documents on this page instead. The dialog that withdraws consent, and the label shown under the consent button on the settings page, are placed beneath the English text they summarise, which stays on screen beside them — those are translated because withdrawing consent must be as easy as giving it, and the request to store is itself shown in every language the app supports. This clause governs all of them just the same.

2. The service

• The Site is a static site whose application logic and practice data run on the user's device ("client side"), with no application server, no registration and no user accounts. The limited exceptions for hosting logs, email and browser speech services are described in the privacy policy.
• The service is provided free of charge, AS IS and AS AVAILABLE, with no undertaking as to availability, continuity or freedom from faults.
• The Site's word-list content — its headwords, level assignments and translations across 68 supported languages — was generated by artificial intelligence tools and has not been proofread, edited or linguistically reviewed by a person. AI-generated output may contain errors, inaccuracies or translations that do not suit the context. Users should check a translation before relying on it.
• The operator may change, suspend or discontinue the service, in whole or in part, at any time. Notice of a permanent discontinuation will be published on the Site a reasonable time in advance, as far as circumstances allow; temporary interruptions, maintenance and faults do not require advance notice. Because the Site has no registration and no user accounts, the operator has no way to contact users directly, and any such notice will be published on the Site itself. Discontinuation does not delete the data stored on your device — it stays in your browser, but you will not be able to use it through the Site; downloading a copy of the words you added while the service is still running is recommended.
• Advanced Learning (listening mode). Besides the quizzes, the Site offers a screen that reads a round of words aloud rather than asking questions: each word is spoken in the language being practised and then in the language it is practised against, and the Site moves on to the next word by itself. Nothing is spoken on opening the screen — the reading begins only when the user presses Play, and it can be paused, repeated, skipped or left at any time; the pause between the two languages and the pause between words are set on the screen itself. Because one press starts a sequence rather than a single word, that press can hand the whole round to the speech engine, in both languages, including any words the user added themselves that fall in the round; a round can be up to 50 words, and the screen offers to read the same set again or a new one. What that means for the text leaving the device is set out in privacy clause 3. No round played this way is recorded as a game and it changes no statistic or score. The spoken sound is produced by the browser or device, is not recorded, and remains subject to disclaimer clause 5.
• Home Screen icon. The Site offers a control on the home screen, labelled "Install app on this device", which asks the browser or operating system to add a shortcut to the Site. That shortcut is a Home Screen or app-launcher icon for this same Site, labelled helium3words.com. It is not a native application, it is not distributed through an app store, and it does not create an offline copy of the Site. Opening the Site from that icon is use of the Site and remains subject to these terms and the other Legal Documents, including the same on-device saving after "Agree and save". A network connection is required; without it the shortcut will not present the Site. It is not an application distributed through an app store. The operator publishes no app under this name in any app store and is not responsible for anything that claims to be one. A browser may still offer its own shortcut or bookmark in addition to the Site's control. Earlier releases could leave a service worker or Cache Storage copy used for offline use; this release does not offer offline use, deletes those leftovers when the browser allows it, and if it cannot, the browser's site-data controls are the remaining route. Removing a Home Screen icon may, but does not necessarily, delete stored data; see disclaimer clause 4.
• Updating the word bank may drop data you have accumulated. The operator may use AI tools to add, regenerate, replace or otherwise change AI-generated word-list content, and may remove content from the bank, at any time. Statistics, favourite marks and the words-to-improve list are stored per word identifier, so if a word is removed from the bank or its identifier changes, what was gathered on it is deleted from your device on the next load, without notice and with no way to restore it. The words you added yourself are not affected.

3. Content added by the user

The Site lets a user add words and translations of their own ("user content") for personal practice, up to 300 words across all the pairs together and 60 characters in each field. That content is stored in the browser's local storage on the user's device only, is not transmitted to the operator and is not stored on a server controlled by the operator; the operator has no access to it and no ability to view, monitor, back up or restore it. User content is not published, is not shown to any other visitor and forms no part of the Site's word bank. One deliberate action has a separate consequence: if the user presses the speak button for a word they added, their browser or operating system may send that text, an IP address and technical data to its speech-service provider, as explained in privacy clause 3. The same applies on the Advanced Learning screen, and there a single press of Play can send several such words in turn rather than one: words the user added under the pair being practised are eligible for the round it reads aloud, and each is spoken in both of the pair's languages. Pausing or leaving the screen stops it.

Responsibility for content a user adds — for its substance, its accuracy and its lawfulness — rests with that user alone. Do not enter personal or sensitive information, login credentials, or content that is unlawful or infringes anyone else's rights into these fields. Because the content is stored in the browser only, it may be erased at any time — for instance by clearing browser data, in private browsing mode, by withdrawing consent to save on the device, or by changing device — and the operator is not responsible for its loss and cannot restore it. A user may delete their content at any time: a single word, or all the words added in the pair currently selected, using the buttons on the "My words" page — the words added in the other pairs are not affected by that button. That deletion is final and cannot be undone. It also deletes the statistics, favourite mark and words-to-improve entry attached to each deleted custom word, but it changes no unrelated data and does not withdraw consent to save. Keeping a downloaded copy is recommended, using the "Download my words as a text file" button on that page, which creates a file on the user's own device; responsibility for keeping and using that file rests with the user. Rights in user content remain with the user; nothing in clause 5 below grants the operator any right in that content.

4. Licence to use

You are granted a limited, personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable and revocable licence to use the Site for personal, non-commercial learning purposes only. To the extent permitted and enforceable under applicable law, any other use — including copying, reproduction, distribution, sale, rental, public display, creation of derivative works, data scraping, or commercial use of the Site's content — requires the operator's prior written permission. Nothing in this clause restricts a use that applicable law does not allow these terms to prohibit.

5. Intellectual property

Rights are reserved only to the extent that they lawfully subsist in the Site's human-authored code, design, structure, arrangement and presentation. Third-party rights, if any, remain with their owners.

The word-list content and translations were generated by artificial intelligence, and the app icon was derived from AI-assisted artwork whose source file carries Content Credentials identifying OpenAI. Depending on the country and the amount of human authorship involved, those elements may not attract copyright protection. Nothing here asserts exclusive rights in an individual word, translation or purely AI-generated element. No claim is made to human editing of the word bank: its entries have not been proofread, edited, corrected or linguistically reviewed by a person. What the operator does claim, where the law permits, is the human-authored part of the Site — its code, its design, its structure and presentation, and the decisions about which languages, which levels and which features to offer. To the extent permitted and enforceable under applicable law, the contractual use restrictions in clause 4 apply independently of whether copyright subsists in every element.

6. Prohibited uses

To the extent permitted and enforceable under applicable law, the following uses are prohibited. Nothing in this clause restricts a use that applicable law does not allow these terms to prohibit.

• Using the Site in breach of any law or of these terms.
• Attempting to disrupt the Site's operation, to circumvent technical limits, or to overload the hosting infrastructure.
• Automated use (bots, crawlers and the like) to copy content, other than lawfully operating search engines.
• Removing or obscuring copyright notices or credits.
• Presenting the Site's content as a certified, sworn or official translation, or as a qualification, certificate or assessment of a language level. See clauses 2a and 2b of the disclaimer.

Reporting an infringement or an error. If you believe that something published on the Site infringes your rights, or that a translation or other content is wrong, write to contact@helium3words.com with enough detail to identify it. Reports are assessed to identify the affected material and decide whether action is needed. Reported material may be removed; affected word-list content may instead be regenerated or replaced using AI. Assessing a report is not human linguistic proofreading, editing or review, and the operator does not manually correct the AI-generated word-list content.

7. Minimum age and minors

The Site is intended for users aged 14 and over. It is not intended for, directed at or marketed to children under 14, and must not be used by anyone under that age. The "Agree and save" action concerns device storage only and is not used as an age declaration. If the law of the user's country of residence sets a higher age for independent consent, that higher age applies. A user below that higher age must not choose persistent saving without the authorisation of a parent or guardian where the applicable law permits that authorisation; the quiz remains usable without persistent saving. In Spain, Article 7 of Organic Law 3/2018 (LOPDGDD) sets the age for a child's own data-protection consent at 14.

The Site has no registration, accounts, advertising, analytics, cross-site tracking or profiling, and the app asks for no name, email address or other identifying detail. Technical server logs, and information sent voluntarily by email, are processed as described in the privacy policy. The operator treats the Site as a general-audience vocabulary tool and does not knowingly collect personal information from a child under 13. That assessment is based on the Site as a whole — including its subject matter, presentation, actual audience and marketing — and not on the age statement in these terms alone. If the audience or presentation changes, the operator must reassess the position under the United States Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).

Use by minors aged 14 to 18 should take place with the knowledge of a parent or guardian. A parent or guardian who believes a child under 14 has used the Site may contact the address in clause 11. Scores, preferences, the words-to-improve list and user-added words can be deleted on the device using the app's deletion buttons or the browser's site-data controls; a request concerning server logs or an email can be sent to the same contact address.

8. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, the operator is not liable for indirect, consequential, special or punitive damage, or for loss of data caused by the browser, the user's device or circumstances outside the operator's reasonable control. Nothing in these terms excludes or limits liability that applicable law does not allow to be excluded or limited, including liability arising from fraud, intentional misconduct or gross negligence where the law so provides. See also the "Disclaimer" section below.

Force majeure: the operator will not be liable for delay, fault or interruption of service arising from circumstances outside its reasonable control — including a fault or outage at the hosting provider, a communications failure, a cyber attack, an infrastructure failure, a change in the browser or operating system on the user's device, or an order of a competent authority.

Responsibility for unlawful use: to the extent permitted by law, a user is responsible for a third-party claim caused directly by that user's intentional unlawful use of the Site or material intentional breach of these terms. This does not apply to ordinary use, to a claim caused by the operator, or where mandatory consumer law provides otherwise.

Time limit for claims: to the extent applicable law permits an agreed period, a claim connected with the Site must be brought within one year of the event giving rise to it. This does not shorten a limitation or prescription period fixed by mandatory law, and in particular does not shorten a period that consumer law fixes for a user; where such a period applies, it prevails over this paragraph.

9. Changes to these terms

The operator may update the Legal Documents from time to time. The date of the last update appears at the top of each document. A material change will be highlighted on the Site in a reasonably prominent notice before it applies, where practicable, and will not retroactively expand the operator's rights over information already provided. If a change requires renewed consent to device storage, the Site will ask for it separately before that storage continues.

The authoritative version of the Legal Documents is always the one published at helium3words.com, identified by its update date. The current release does not offer offline use, including when the Site is opened from a Home Screen icon. A copy kept by the browser itself (for example a previously opened tab) may be older than the current text.

10. Governing law and jurisdiction

These terms make no choice of a governing law and grant no exclusive jurisdiction to the courts of any particular country. Which law applies, and which courts may hear a matter concerning the Site, is decided by the ordinary rules of private international law that apply to the user.

Reservation in favour of consumer users: nothing in these terms derogates from mandatory protective consumer-law provisions that cannot be contracted out of and that apply to the user in their country of habitual residence, and nothing in them deprives the user of the protection those provisions afford. In particular:

• Spain and the European Union — a user acting as a consumer and residing in Spain or another EU Member State may bring proceedings in the courts of their own country of residence, and may only be sued there, in accordance with Articles 17–19 of Regulation (EU) 1215/2012 (Brussels I bis).
• Latin America — a user acting as a consumer retains every right conferred on them by the mandatory consumer-protection law of their country of residence, which in most of the region applies territorially and cannot be displaced by a choice of foreign law: among others Mexico's Ley Federal de Protección al Consumidor, Argentina's Ley 24.240, Colombia's Ley 1480 de 2011 (Estatuto del Consumidor), Chile's Ley 19.496 and Peru's Ley 29571.
• United States — a consumer residing in the United States retains any right conferred on them by the mandatory consumer law of their state of residence.

Where a provision of this clause conflicts with such a protective provision, the protective provision prevails, without affecting the validity of the remaining terms. If any provision of these terms is held invalid, the remaining provisions stay in force.

11. The operator and contact

Who runs the Site. The Site is run by a private individual as a personal project. It is not a company, has no registered business behind it, and is not operated by or on behalf of any organisation. The designated contact route is:

• Email: contact@helium3words.com

Nature of the operator: the Site is run as a personal, non-commercial project by an individual who does not act through a company or a registered business, charges nothing for use of the Site, displays no advertising on it and derives no income from it. There is accordingly no commercial register entry, no tax or registration number, and no professional body or authorisation scheme to declare.

No postal address is currently published. Whether further identification details are required can depend on the law applicable to the actual operator, service and markets deliberately targeted. The Site is already public, so the operator must verify promptly with appropriate local advice whether the email and controller name supplied here satisfy those rules and add any detail that is required. The Site's no-revenue status is a relevant fact, not a universal legal exemption.

How to get in touch: email contact@helium3words.com. This is the Site's contact address for every matter — terms of use, privacy, accessibility and reports of errors in the content. The operator must keep the mailbox working and monitored for as long as the Site publishes it.

Privacy policy

Last updated: 28 August 2026

1. What stays on your device — and the limited exceptions

The Site was designed on a "privacy by default" basis (Privacy by Design & by Default). It has no registration, accounts, forms that submit information, analytics tools (such as Google Analytics), marketing pixels, advertising or cross-site tracking. Scores, favourite marks, the words-to-improve list, round history, preferences and words you added stay on the device. The quiz asks the Site's same-origin API for the words of the current round. Opening Favourites, Words to improve or the hardest-words list, or starting a practice round from them, asks that same API for the display text of the opaque identifiers already stored for those bank words, two languages at a time. Those identifiers are not scores, not typed answers and not the text of words you added; identifiers of words you added are not sent. The operator nevertheless processes limited personal information through the hosting provider's technical server logs and when a person voluntarily sends an email. In addition, a browser or operating-system speech service may process text only after the user deliberately presses a control that produces speech — a speak button, which reads one word, or Play on the Advanced Learning screen, which starts a reading that continues through the round until it is paused or the screen is left. Those exceptions are described in clause 3. The "type the answer" quiz is checked on the device only and the typed answer is neither transmitted nor retained.

A short summary of this policy is shown in the app's footer in the language inferred for the reader, so that a reader who does not read English is still told what reaches the operator. It was generated by artificial intelligence and has not been proofread, edited or linguistically reviewed by a person; it is offered for convenience, it does not replace this policy, and, subject to mandatory applicable law and only to the extent enforceable, this English page governs where the two differ. The contact address and the link to this page sit beside it in English.

2. Data stored on your device only (localStorage and sessionStorage)

Saving progress on your device happens only after express consent (opt-in) given in the consent banner, and it can be withdrawn at any time on the settings page. You are not asked anything when you open the Site. The request appears only when you ask for a persistent feature — for example, marking a word as a favourite, adding a word, collecting words to improve, or pressing "Save on this device". Refusing does not stop or restart a quiz already in progress; the requested item is simply not saved permanently. Without consent, practice progress stays in the current page's memory and disappears when that page closes. Separate records may remember a language or display choice that the user expressly made, and a minimal consent-choice record prevents repeated requests; each is described below. After consent, the following practice data is stored solely in your browser's local storage, on your device. Scores, favourite marks, the words-to-improve list, round history, preferences and words you added are not sent to the operator. Opening Favourites, Words to improve or the hardest-words list, or practising those lists, sends only the opaque identifiers already stored for those bank words so the Site can return their display text in the two languages of the pair; identifiers of words you added are not sent:

• helium3words.com.words-quiz.word-stats.v7 — practice statistics per word and selected language (correct and wrong answers), the words you marked as favourites together with the language each was starred against, and the words-to-improve list together with the count of consecutive correct answers on each word still on it. All three kinds of data live under the same key, but each has its own deletion button and each is deleted on its own: clearing the statistics resets the counters only and leaves the favourite marks and the list intact. The opaque identifiers in this record are what the Favourites, Words to improve and hardest-words screens send when they ask the Site for display text; the counters, marks and list themselves stay in this browser.
• helium3words.com.words-quiz.games.v8 — up to the last 500 rounds (time, score, duration, which of the exercises was played and at which level, the practice direction and which of the pair's two languages was the one being practised).
• helium3words.com.words-quiz.settings.v8 — personal preferences (selected language, the language it is practised against, words per round, how many answers a multiple-choice question offers, how the next word arrives — a waiting time or advancing on click, the answer time limit (off by default), the practice direction, the quiz type, the preferred voices, the speed the words are read out at, the two pauses set on the Advanced Learning screen — between the two languages and between words — how many times each word is read out on that screen, and whether collecting words to improve is switched on — off by default). It also holds which exercise and which level you last practised, written when a round starts, so that the home screen can offer the same one again; that is a record of what you did rather than a preference you set, and it is deleted with the rest of this key.
• helium3words.com.words-quiz.language.v1 — the language being practised, the language practised against it, the selection date, and an internal true/false marker confirming that the choice was explicit. Without valid saving consent, those are the only fields retained. While saving consent is valid, the record may additionally hold up to five recently selected language codes to populate the Recent list; if consent is absent, refused, withdrawn or no longer valid, that earlier-choice history is omitted and any existing copy of it is removed. Codes are short language tags such as pt or pnb; they are not all two letters. The record has no identifier, device details or practice results and is not uploaded to the operator. Loading a selected language does request that public language file from the Site, so its filename may appear in the technical server log described in clause 3; no saved language record, score or identifier is attached. The current-pair record is stored without consent only after the user deliberately chooses a language, as a requested interface preference under the Article 5(3) / Article 22.2 exemption. Before that choice, the page briefly reads the browser's declared language list to suggest an initial pair. That list is a browser setting, not a location detection; it is used for the initial selection, not written to device storage, and consulted again on a later visit only if no explicit choice is saved. The language record expires after one year and can be removed with "Reset settings to defaults", with the full delete-and-withdraw action, or through the browser's site-data controls.
• helium3words.com.words-quiz.display.v1 — how you asked the app to look, and nothing else: whether you chose the dark or the light colours, whether you switched bold text on, and the date you chose. It holds no identifier, nothing about your practice, nothing about your device, and it is never sent to the operator. This record is not stored under consent, on the same basis as language.v1 above it: an interface preference you explicitly requested, by pressing a chip on the settings screen, is within the exemption in Article 5(3) of the ePrivacy Directive as implemented in Spain in Article 22.2 of Law 34/2002 (LSSI). It exists for the same reason too, and the reason is stronger here: a reader who needs a light background or heavier text to read comfortably, and who declined to have their score saved, would be handed the dark theme again on every single visit with no way to stop it. The Site's colours are not taken from what your device prefers — it opens dark for everybody until you choose otherwise here, and the pair of languages described in the entry above is the one thing the Site does take a hint from — and nothing is written at all while the appearance is at its defaults: choosing light or bold creates the record, and setting both back again removes it. It is written in one place only, the settings screen, and it is read by this page of legal documents and by the maintenance page as well, so that they open in the colours you chose rather than staying dark behind a light app; those two pages read it and never write it. It is dropped a year after the date it records; you can remove it sooner with "Reset settings to defaults" on the settings page, which also returns the app to its dark, unbolded appearance, or by clearing this site's data in your browser.
• helium3words.com.words-quiz.custom-words.v2 — words you added yourself on the "My words" page (both sides of the selected pair, those two language codes, and the level), up to 300 words across all pairs. Words added under an earlier release as English plus one other language are kept as that English pair. The app stores and checks that text locally and does not send it to the operator. If you deliberately press the speak button for one of those words, the browser or operating-system speech service may send that word, an IP address and technical data to its vendor for processing; see clause 3. You can edit or delete one word, or delete the selected pair's added words. The download button builds the text file locally and does not upload it.
• helium3words.com.words-quiz.install.v1 — a leftover from earlier releases that used to time an install/offline suggestion. The current release does not write this key. If an older visit left a copy, it is deleted with the rest of the app's keys when you delete all app data, and it contains no identifier or practice results.
• helium3words.com.words-quiz.consent.v1 — the choice (agree or refuse), the date and the applicable policy version. It is valid for no more than 24 months. A refusal is a strictly necessary preference so the Site respects the answer instead of asking repeatedly. This, language.v1 and display.v1 are the only records the Site may hold without consent. A simple refusal does not erase language or display choices already made. The separate full delete-and-withdraw action removes those two preferences and leaves only a minimal refusal record.
• helium3words.com.words-quiz.purge-signal.v1 — not a stored record but a signal to the app's other open tabs. When you delete all app data, the app writes the moment of the deletion under this key and removes it in the same operation, so that another tab can tell a full deletion from an ordinary refusal and stop writing its own data back. It holds nothing about you and does not survive the action that creates it.
• helium3words.com.words-quiz.editor-draft.all.v1, and helium3words.com.words-quiz.editor-draft.es.v1 left by an earlier version of the same tool — a temporary draft from the words editor, held in sessionStorage and only after consent to save. Both are deleted when consent is withdrawn or when the tab's session ends. The editor is a maintenance tool and the server does not serve it, so a visitor to the Site cannot create these entries; they are listed because an earlier visit may have left one.

Every key created by the app uses its unique prefix. Updates may migrate valid saved data from older app-key versions to the current keys and remove the superseded copies; implementation version numbers are intentionally not listed here because they change with releases. The app never clears unrelated browser storage. Withdrawal is synchronised with other open tabs so deleted data is not written back. If a consent record expires or becomes invalid, saved practice data is not loaded and the app removes its dedicated data keys.

The app does not ask for identifying details, and its structured records contain no account or user identifier. Words you add can contain whatever text you choose to enter, including identifying text, so avoid entering personal information you do not want stored in the browser. The saved data remains under your control. The app offers the following deletion and reset actions, each with a defined scope shown to you before it runs:

• "Delete this word" ("My words" page) — deletes the selected word you added and the statistics, favourite mark and words-to-improve entry attached to that word. Other added words, unrelated data and consent to save are unchanged.
• "Delete the statistics only" (statistics page) — deletes the round history (games.v8) and the correct/wrong answer counters inside word-stats.v7, in every language and not only the one the statistics screen is showing. Favourite marks, the words-to-improve list, the words you added, your preferences, and your consent to save are unchanged.
• "Remove all favourites" (favourites page) — removes the favourite marks for the pair currently selected inside word-stats.v7. Favourite marks in the other pairs, the correct/wrong counters on those words, the words-to-improve list, the words you added, your preferences, and your consent to save are unchanged.
• "Remove … from the words to improve" (🗑 on a row of the "Words to improve" page) — takes that one word off the currently selected language's list inside word-stats.v7 and resets the consecutive-correct counter that belongs to it. The other words on the list, lists in the other languages, the statistics on that word, your favourites, the words you added, your preferences, and your consent to save are unchanged. Collecting stays switched on, so a word you get wrong again will rejoin the list.
• "Clear the words-to-improve list" ("Words to improve" page) — empties the list for the language currently selected inside word-stats.v7 and resets the consecutive-correct counters that belong to it. Lists in the other languages, the statistics on those words, your favourites, the words you added, your preferences, and your consent to save are unchanged. Collecting stays switched on, so a word you get wrong again will rejoin the selected language's list; switching the collecting itself off is a separate control on the settings page.
• "Delete all my words in this pair" ("My words" page) — deletes the words you added in the pair currently selected (inside custom-words.v2) and only the statistics, favourite marks and words-to-improve entries gathered on them. The words you added in the other pairs, all other data and your consent to save are unchanged.
• "Reset settings to defaults" (settings page) — returns the preferences in settings.v8 (selected language, the language it is practised against, words per round, answers per question, waiting time, answer time limit, speech speed, voices, practice direction, quiz type, the two Advanced Learning pauses and how many times each word is read there, the record of the exercise and level last practised, and collecting words to improve — which returns to off) to their default values, returns the appearance to the dark colours and normal text weight, and deletes the two separate records that are not stored under consent — the language you selected (language.v1) and the appearance you chose (display.v1) — so that the Site opens in its default colours again, and in the pair of languages it offers someone arriving for the first time, rather than undoing the reset on your next visit. Because the record of your choice is gone, that pair is worked out from your browser's declared languages exactly as it is on a first visit, and the button applies it there and then, so that the screen you are left looking at is the one the next visit will open on. No other data is deleted, the words-to-improve list itself is not emptied, and consent to save is not withdrawn.
• "Delete all app data and withdraw consent" (statistics and settings pages) — deletes every app key listed above, including language.v1, display.v1, a leftover install.v1 from an earlier release, and editor drafts. It then keeps only a minimal consent.v1 refusal record (choice, date and policy version) so the Site does not immediately ask again. It does not clear data belonging to another site or app. A Cache Storage leftover from an earlier release is cleared on load when the browser allows it, or through the browser's site-data controls.

Earlier www origin: before the canonical-host rule introduced on 20 August 2026, www.helium3words.com could open as a separate browser origin and could therefore hold its own consent choice, local storage, Cache Storage and service worker. The current server rules redirect that host to helium3words.com so no new duplicate should be created. Browser security prevents the app on one origin from reading or deleting storage previously created on the other, so anyone who used the earlier www address should use the browser's site-data controls to remove any remaining www.helium3words.com data. The in-app deletion action applies to the origin on which it is run.

2a. Home Screen icon — still the Site, still over the network

The Site offers a control on the home screen labelled "Install app on this device". It asks the browser or operating system to add a shortcut to this same Site. The shortcut is an icon only, labelled helium3words.com. It is not a native application, it is not distributed through an app store, and it does not create an offline copy. Using the Site from that icon is using the Site: the Legal Documents continue to apply. A network connection is required; without it the shortcut will not present the Site. The Site remains fully usable in an ordinary browser tab without adding an icon. A browser may still offer its own shortcut or bookmark in addition to the Site's control. The operator publishes no app under this name in any app store and is not responsible for anything that claims to be one.

The public manifest and icons are requested by the browser so it can display a name and icon. Ordinary hosting logs may record those requests as described in clause 3. A small service worker is registered so that supporting browsers can offer the icon. That worker intercepts no request — the browser fetches each of them from the Site's server itself — and it does not keep a Cache Storage copy of pages for offline use. Leftover Cache Storage from earlier releases that did offer offline use is deleted on load when the browser allows it.

Earlier-version cleanup: older builds could register a service worker automatically or after "Enable offline use", and could write install.v1. This release does not treat those as a current offline choice and it no longer writes install.v1. On load it tries to delete this app's leftover Cache Storage. If the browser prevents that cleanup, clearing the Site's data in browser settings is the remaining route.

Saved progress from the icon. Device storage is unchanged: after "Agree and save", statistics, favourites, added words and settings stay in localStorage on the device, are not sent to the operator, and are managed with the same deletion controls. Opening from the icon does not create a separate store of the Site's own making. On iOS and iPadOS a Home Screen shortcut can have a storage area of its own, separate from the browser tab. Statistics, favourites, added words and the saving choice do not necessarily carry over between the tab and the icon. Removing a shortcut may delete that storage; it is not guaranteed. Use the app's deletion buttons or the browser's site-data controls when deletion must be verified. Keeping a copy of any words you added is recommended.

The scoped deletion actions are confined to the words or records they name. Resetting settings removes language.v1 and display.v1 but no practice data. The full delete-and-withdraw action removes every listed app key and then creates only the minimal refusal record described above. Clearing the site's data in browser settings also removes leftover Cache Storage. In private browsing mode storage may be temporary; the Site keeps working when persistent storage is blocked.

3. Third-party services

• Fonts: the Site does not download or distribute font files and does not call any external font service. Text is displayed using the default fonts already available in your browser and operating system.
• Speech (Web Speech API): words are spoken using the speech engine built into your browser or operating system. The Site sends it text only: it does not record, store or transmit audio, it holds no sound recording of any kind, and the sound you hear is made on your own device or by the voice service of the browser vendor you chose. In some browsers the spoken text, your IP address and technical data about the browser or device may be sent for processing to the browser vendor's servers (Google's network voices, for example). That processing is governed by the privacy policy of the browser or operating-system vendor you chose. This applies to words you added yourself as well, if you press the speak button on one of them.
• How much text a press sends: a speak button sends the one word it sits on. Play on the Advanced Learning screen sends a whole round: every word of the set in turn, each in both of the pair's languages, continuing until you pause it, leave the screen or the set ends. A round holds as many words as "words per round" is set to in the settings — up to 50, which is up to 100 separate pieces of text handed to the speech engine from that one press — and the screen offers to read the same set again or a new one, each of which is a further round. Words you added yourself are eligible for those rounds under the pair they were added to. This changes how much text may reach a browser vendor's servers, not who receives it or on what terms: the recipient, the purpose and the governing policy are the vendor's, exactly as described above. If you would rather no text left the device this way, do not use the speak buttons or the Advanced Learning screen. A device whose voices are all local sends nothing outward in either case, and which voices are local is a property of your browser and device rather than of the Site.
• A Home Screen shortcut: adding an icon is carried out by the browser and operating system after you use the Site's control or the browser's own command. The Site does not receive an installation event and no saved progress is sent. The browser may request the public manifest and icon files, so ordinary hosting logs may record those requests, and the browser vendor may be involved as described in its own privacy policy. Using the Site in an ordinary tab never requires a shortcut.
• The hosting provider and current route: the Site uses a hosting.com-branded hosting account. hosting.com's public company information identifies A2 Hosting, LLC as the operator of that brand, while the current invoice and DPA must still be checked to confirm the contracting entity for this particular account. Public network records checked on 20 August 2026 route the live web and local domain-mail endpoints to a US usc1 hosting environment. That describes the current public endpoints only; logs, backups, support systems or subprocessors may be handled elsewhere under the applicable account terms and DPA. Hosting infrastructure receives technical request data and may record the IP address, request time and resource, browser or user-agent and operating-system information, referrer, response and related security information. An IP address may be personal data. Purpose and legal basis: security, abuse and fault detection, and reliable delivery of the Site, based on the operator's legitimate interests under Article 6(1)(f) GDPR. The logs are not used by the operator for marketing or profiling. Retention: the criterion is the period necessary for those security, delivery and legal purposes under the provider's applicable retention policy. The operator does not ordinarily download or keep a separate copy; an incident copy is deleted after the investigation and any related legal hold end. The provider's exact routine period has not been verified and must not be represented as a fixed number until the account terms or provider confirm it. See hosting.com's privacy information (external link, opens terms.hosting.com).
• Email enquiries: if you write to contact@helium3words.com, the operator receives your email address, any name or signature you provide, message content and ordinary email metadata. They are used only to answer the enquiry, handle a rights or accessibility request, assess a content report and remove or arrange AI regeneration or replacement of affected material, meet a legal obligation or establish and defend legal claims. The basis is legitimate interests in answering and administering enquiries (Article 6(1)(f) GDPR), compliance with a legal obligation where applicable (Article 6(1)(c)), or steps requested by you where Article 6(1)(b) applies. Ordinary correspondence is deleted within 24 months after the matter closes; information reasonably required for an unresolved legal obligation or claim is kept only for the applicable period. Public DNS checked on 20 August 2026 routes domain email through the hosting environment described above. That proves routing, not the mailbox's configuration: the domain's email service and its infrastructure providers process the message to deliver and store it, and any forwarding configured by the operator can involve another recipient or provider.
• Recipients and transfers outside the EEA: hosting.com and the domain's email infrastructure process information needed to host the Site and deliver email; a browser or operating-system speech provider may separately receive spoken text and technical data when the user activates speech. Their infrastructure may process information in the United States or another country. The official US Data Privacy Framework list showed A2 Hosting, LLC / hosting.com as an active participant for non-HR data when checked on 20 August 2026. That framework can apply only if A2 Hosting, LLC is this account's contracting and receiving entity and the processing is covered by its certification. The Site is already public, and the operator must promptly verify and retain the applicable Article 28 data-processing terms, named subprocessor and email-provider chain, and exact Chapter V safeguard for each relevant transfer. Any recipient or processing not covered by that verified framework requires the safeguard stated in its applicable DPA or provider terms. No unconditional choice between Standard Contractual Clauses and the EU–U.S. Data Privacy Framework is asserted without that account-specific verification. The operator does not sell or rent personal information and does not disclose it for behavioural advertising.

4. Compliance — GDPR, Spain, Latin America and the United States

This policy is written to apply the principles of the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and Spain's Organic Law 3/2018 (LOPDGDD) where they apply, together with applicable law in the operator's and user's jurisdictions. It is not a blanket claim that every legal question in every country has been determined. Personal information received by the operator is limited to technical server logs and voluntary email correspondence. A browser or operating-system speech provider may separately process spoken text and technical data; the operator does not receive that speech-service data.

Legal basis (GDPR). Server logs and ordinary correspondence rely on the legitimate interests described in clause 3; a legal request may also require processing under Article 6(1)(c). Persistent practice data relies on consent under Article 6(1)(a), requested separately from the terms and withdrawable at any time. The consent-choice record and expressly requested language and display preferences are treated as necessary functional records. The current release does not create an offline Cache Storage copy. A service worker registered so a browser can offer a Home Screen icon intercepts no request — the browser makes each of them over the network itself — and stores no pages for offline use. Before any saved language choice exists, the page briefly reads the browser's declared language list under legitimate interests (Article 6(1)(f)) to present an initial readable screen. It is not retained or combined with other data. You may object to legitimate-interest processing under Article 21 GDPR at the address in clause 7.

Your rights (GDPR). If you are in the European Union you have the rights of access, rectification, erasure, restriction, portability and objection. The data stored in your browser can be managed and deleted directly on your device, and for any request concerning the server logs, or any other question, you can contact us at the address in clause 7.

Latin America. Users in Spanish-speaking countries of Latin America are covered by their own national data-protection law, among them Mexico's Ley Federal de Protección de Datos Personales en Posesión de los Particulares, Argentina's Ley 25.326, Colombia's Ley 1581 de 2012, Peru's Ley 29733 and Chile's Ley 19.628 (with the new framework under Ley 21.719 as it comes into force). Those laws grant rights broadly equivalent to access, rectification, cancellation or erasure, and objection — known in much of the region as derechos ARCO. The operator applies the standard described in this policy to every user regardless of country, and a request under any of those laws can be sent to the contact address in clause 7 and will be handled in the same way as a GDPR request. Note again that the practice data itself never reaches the operator: it can be inspected and deleted by the user directly, on their own device, at any moment and without asking anyone.

United States. The operator is an individual running a personal, non-commercial project and does not meet the ordinary for-profit business thresholds of the California Consumer Privacy Act as amended by the CPRA. Regardless, the operator does not sell or share personal information for cross-context behavioural advertising. California residents and residents of states with comparable laws may contact the address in clause 7 with a request. The operator treats the Site as a general-audience tool and does not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. COPPA status is assessed from the Site's content, presentation, audience and marketing as a whole; the minimum-age statement is not treated as decisive by itself.

Right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority: if you believe the processing described in this policy is unlawful, you have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority, in addition to any other remedy and without being required to contact us first:

• In Spain — the Spanish Data Protection Agency, Agencia Española de Protección de Datos (www.aepd.es).
• Elsewhere in the European Union — the supervisory authority in your country of residence, your place of work or the place of the alleged infringement, under Article 77 GDPR. A list of authorities is published on the European Data Protection Board's website.
• In Latin America — the national data-protection authority of your country, such as Mexico's authority for access to information and data protection, Argentina's Agencia de Acceso a la Información Pública, Colombia's Superintendencia de Industria y Comercio, Peru's Autoridad Nacional de Protección de Datos Personales, or Chile's competent authority.

We would be glad if you contacted us first at the address in clause 7 — we will do our best to look into it and put it right — but that is not a precondition for complaining.

5. Information security

The Site is intended to be served exclusively over HTTPS. Server rules redirect an HTTP request to HTTPS, redirect the former www host to the single canonical https://helium3words.com origin, preserve the requested path and query, and instruct supporting browsers to use HTTPS for future visits. Using one host prevents the browser from creating separate current storage and service-worker areas for otherwise identical pages. Keeping the browser and operating system up to date is recommended.

In addition, a restrictive Content Security Policy is applied twice over: the server sends it as a response header on every request, and each page carries its own copy, usually tighter still — this page of legal documents, for instance, permits scripts only from the Site and allows no script-initiated connect-src requests such as fetch, XHR or WebSocket, and a browser enforces whichever of the two is stricter. The only script it loads is the few lines that read the appearance you chose in the app, so that these documents open in the same colours as the screen you came from; it reads that one preference and writes nothing. Between them they block framing, confine scripts, styles, images and connections to the Site itself, forbid form submission, and switch off browser permissions the Site has no use for, among them camera, microphone and location. The public manifest, if a browser requests it, is restricted to the Site by that same policy. The service worker used so a browser can offer a Home Screen icon, leftover workers from earlier releases, and any cleanup of leftover Cache Storage, are likewise restricted to the Site; they cannot be loaded from anywhere else. On the app page, a same-origin request asks the Site for the current round of words, and, when Favourites, Words to improve or the hardest-words list is opened, for the display text of the identifiers already stored for those bank words. Scores, favourite marks, words you added and typed answers are not sent. The policy does not govern internal traffic of browser or operating-system services such as the speech engine, which may process information as described in clause 3.

6. Minimum age, minors — and privacy in plain language

The Site is intended for ages 14 and over and is not intended for, directed at or marketed to children under 14. The app does not ask for a name, contact detail or age and has no account or user-submission server. Technical server logs are created for all visits, and an email is processed if someone voluntarily writes to the operator, as described in clause 3. Parents and guardians are welcome to read this policy and contact the operator with a question.

If a child under 14 has used the Site, local scores, preferences, the words-to-improve list and user-added words can be removed immediately using the app's deletion buttons or the browser's site-data controls. A parent or guardian may contact the operator about a server-log entry or an email, although limited log data may not make it possible to identify a particular child without additional information.

For younger users, in plain words: the Site does not ask you for your name, your address or any other detail. Your score and your progress are saved only on your own computer or phone — they are not sent to us. If something is not clear, ask a parent or another adult for help.

7. The data controller and privacy enquiries

Website operator and data controller: First Name: Ronen, Last Name: Adler.

European Union contact and Article 27: people in the European Union can send requests directly to the contact address below. No EU representative is identified on this page. Because the Site is already public and supports people in EU markets, the operator must promptly document with appropriate legal advice whether the actual offering and processing bring it within Article 3(2) and, if so, whether the limited occasional-processing exemption in Article 27(2)(a) is available. If a representative is required, its identity and contact details must be published here without delay. This assessment remains unresolved; the direct contact route does not by itself replace a representative where Article 27 requires one.

Contacting us: for any question or request concerning privacy — including exercising the rights set out in clause 4 — you can write to contact@helium3words.com. We will try to reply as soon as possible, and in any event within the period required by any law applicable to your request (one month under Article 12(3) GDPR, extendable as that Article permits). There is no charge for contacting us. If you are not satisfied with the response, you have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority as set out in clause 4.

Cookie policy

Last updated: 22 August 2026

1. The Site does not use cookies

The Site's code does not create, read or store cookies — no functional cookies, analytics cookies, advertising cookies or third-party cookies are integrated by the Site. Accordingly there is no cookie-consent banner for the Site's code.

This statement concerns the Site's own code, which is what the operator controls. If the hosting provider or an intermediate infrastructure sets a technical cookie of its own at the server level, that is outside the operator's control and is not done on its behalf; should the operator learn of such a cookie, this policy will be updated accordingly.

2. A similar technology: local storage (localStorage and sessionStorage)

For full transparency: the Site uses localStorage to save progress, preferences, words-to-improve, user-added words and an expressly selected language, and sessionStorage for temporary editor drafts. The Site does not attach the contents of those storage databases to ordinary network requests. Selecting a language can separately request that public language file, whose filename may appear in technical server logs. Another exception applies when the user presses a control that produces speech: the text being read may be processed by a remote browser or operating-system speech service — one word for a speak button, or the words of a whole round, each in both languages, for Play on the Advanced Learning screen — as explained in privacy clause 3. None of this is used for tracking, identification or advertising.

The choice is yours — prior consent (opt-in): progress, favourites, words-to-improve, app settings, user-added words and editor drafts are not stored persistently without express consent. The request appears only when you ask for a feature that needs persistent saving. "Agree and save" and "Don't save" are presented together; refusing does not restrict the content, stop an active quiz or erase its in-memory score. Three functional records may exist without consent: (1) the consent choice, date and policy version; (2) after an explicit language choice, only the practised pair, date and an internal explicit-choice marker; and (3) after a non-default appearance choice, colours, text weight and date. While saving consent is valid, the language record may additionally contain up to five recent language codes; without it, that earlier-choice history is not retained. A simple refusal does not erase the current interface choice. "Delete all app data and withdraw consent" deletes all app keys, including the language and display records, and then leaves only the minimal refusal record so the Site does not ask again immediately. Full field and deletion details are in privacy clause 2.

3. No offline copy — a Home Screen icon is not a stored copy of the Site

The current release does not create an offline copy of the Site and does not offer "Enable offline use". The Site is used over the network, including when opened from a Home Screen icon. A public manifest and icons remain available if a browser requests them. A small service worker may be registered so a supporting browser can offer that icon; it intercepts no request — the browser makes each of them over the network itself — and does not write pages into Cache Storage for offline use.

Older builds could register a worker automatically or after an in-app opt-in and could store public Site files in Cache Storage. This release deletes leftover caches in that prefix when the browser allows it. If the browser blocks that cleanup, clear the Site's data in browser settings. A leftover copy, while it lasts, contains public Site files rather than scores, added words or an identifier.

4. Third parties

The Site uses only the default fonts of the browser and operating system, and loads no font files from the Site or from third-party servers. There are no embedded components (videos, maps or social-network buttons) and the Site's code integrates no third-party service that sets cookies. The hosting provider (hosting.com) serves the files and keeps the technical server logs described in the privacy policy; hosting or intermediate infrastructure may set a technical cookie outside the Site's code, as section 1 explains, so production responses must be reverified after deployment. If a browser requests the public manifest or icons for a Home Screen shortcut, ordinary request data may be processed as described in privacy clause 3. The Site's code sets no cookie in that process, and no saved progress is included.

5. Managing and deleting

You can manage local-storage data through the scoped deletion and reset controls described in privacy clause 2 or through the browser's site-data controls. Only "Delete all app data and withdraw consent" withdraws consent. It deletes every app key, including language and display preferences, then stores only a minimal refusal record so the Site does not immediately ask again. It does not clear unrelated sites' storage. Leftover Cache Storage from an earlier release is removed on load when the browser allows it, or by clearing this Site's data in browser settings. Blocking local storage does not prevent quizzes, but progress will not persist between visits.

6. Future changes

If cookies or tracking technologies are added to the Site in future, this policy will be updated in advance, and where the law requires it a suitable consent request will be presented before they are activated.

Disclaimer

Last updated: 22 August 2026

1. Educational content only

The content on the Site is for learning only. Translations may be inaccurate and, to the extent permitted by applicable law, no liability is accepted for loss arising from reliance on them.

Every exclusion or limitation of liability in this disclaimer applies only to the extent permitted by applicable law. Nothing here excludes or limits a mandatory consumer right or liability that cannot lawfully be excluded or limited.

The Site and all its content — including the word bank, the translations, the spoken pronunciation and the statistics — are intended for general learning and enrichment only. They do not constitute professional advice of any kind (linguistic, educational, business, legal or other) and must not be relied on as such.

2. Accuracy of the content

The Site's word-list content, including its English headwords, level assignments and translations across all 68 supported languages, was generated by artificial intelligence and has not been linguistically proofread, edited or reviewed by a person. No native speaker or professional translator has linguistically reviewed any supported language, in whole or in part. Automated checking by AI tools is not independent or human review and does not make the content reliable. Translation is context-dependent: many words have several meanings, and a translation shown usually reflects only one common sense. Each supported language can vary by region, register, script, spelling, context and level of formality; any written standard or spoken variety used by the Site does not represent every form of that language. Where a translation has two common equivalents, both are given, separated by a slash, and either is accepted when the answer is typed. Reports may be assessed by the operator, but the operator does not manually determine or rewrite the linguistically correct wording; affected AI content may be regenerated or replaced using AI, or removed. That process is not human linguistic proofreading, editing or review. The operator does not warrant that the content is free of errors, accurate, complete or up to date and, to the extent permitted by applicable law, accepts no liability for any use made of it, including in examinations, at work or in any other context. Found a mistake? We would be glad to hear about it by email: contact@helium3words.com.

2a. Not for professional, official or critical use

The Site is a vocabulary study aid. It is not a translation service, it is not a dictionary, and it is not a substitute for a qualified human translator or interpreter. To the extent permitted by applicable law, the content must not be relied on, and no liability is accepted for any reliance on it, in any of the following:

• Professional or commercial language work — translation, interpreting, localisation, subtitling, proofreading or language teaching supplied to another person for reward or as part of paid work.
• A certified, sworn, official or notarised translation. Nothing produced here is such a translation, none of it carries a translator's certification, and it must not be presented as one to a court, a public authority, a notary, a registry, an educational institution or an employer. In Spain, only a traductor-intérprete jurado appointed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs may certify a translation, and comparable rules apply in most other countries.
• Medical, health, pharmaceutical, dietary or emergency contexts, including anything a person's safety, diagnosis or treatment could turn on.
• Legal, contractual, financial, tax or insurance matters, including the drafting, signing or understanding of an agreement, a term, a notice or a demand.
• Immigration, visa, asylum, citizenship, customs and other official applications, and the documents that accompany them.
• Safety-critical settings — industrial, aviation, maritime, transport, engineering, chemical, construction or military — and any instruction, warning, label, dosage or item of signage.
• Examinations, coursework, academic submissions and admission or qualification processes, where the institution's own rules and prescribed sources govern.
• Any other situation in which an error in a single word could cause harm to a person, financial loss, legal disadvantage or the failure of a document.

Anyone who needs one of these should use a qualified professional or a source published for that purpose. Using the Site in such a context is a decision taken by the user alone and at the user's own risk.

2b. No promise of a learning result

The Site does not undertake that using it will improve anyone's vocabulary, produce fluency, prepare anyone for a particular examination or lead to any qualification. The three levels and the Mix are an informal grouping of the word bank made for practice: they are not a proficiency assessment, they are not aligned to the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) or to any other scale, and a score, a statistic, a run of correct answers or a completed round is not evidence of a language level. Nothing on the Site is a certificate, a diploma or a record that can be presented to a school, a university, an authority or an employer.

3. Service as is

The service is provided "AS IS" and "AS AVAILABLE", without warranty of any kind, express or implied, including any implied warranty of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose or non-infringement. The operator does not warrant that the Site will operate without interruption or fault, in every browser or on every device. Nor does it warrant that the Site or its files are free of errors or harmful components and, to the extent permitted by applicable law, it accepts no liability for damage caused to the user's device, its software or its data as a result of using the Site.

4. Local data

A user's progress — the statistics, the favourites, the words-to-improve list and the words they added themselves — is stored in the browser only. Clearing browser data, changing device, private browsing mode, a browser fault, and equally a fault, error, update or change in the Site itself, may cause the loss of that data; this list is not exhaustive. Browser storage is limited in size, and when it fills up saving may fail and progress may be kept for the browsing session only; the Site shows a message when that happens. The operator is not responsible for such loss and cannot restore that data — it was never in the operator's possession and is backed up on no server.

Updating the word bank: statistics, favourite marks and the words-to-improve list are stored per word identifier. A word removed from the bank, or whose identifier changes in a Site update, therefore causes what was gathered on it to be deleted from the device on the next load — without notice and with no way to restore it. See clause 2 of the terms of use. The words you added yourself are not affected.

A Home Screen shortcut. The Site offers a control to add an icon. The shortcut stores data on the device just as a tab does, and the same limits apply. After consent, saved progress continues to use localStorage; the icon does not send that data to the operator. On iPhone and iPad a Home Screen shortcut can get a storage area of its own, separate from the browser's: statistics, favourites, the words-to-improve list, words you added and the choice about saving do not necessarily carry over. Removing the shortcut may delete everything it stored — on iOS that separate area generally goes with it. That deletion is performed by the operating system, is outside the operator's control, cannot be undone and cannot be restored by the operator. Downloading a copy of any words that matter to you beforehand is recommended.

Network use: the current release does not offer offline use. Opening from the icon still requires a network connection. The authoritative version of any page is the current one published at helium3words.com.

Scope of the backup: the "My words" page has a button to download the words you added as a text file to your device. That button exports the words you added only: the statistics, the round history, the favourite marks and the words-to-improve list cannot be exported and have no restore path of any kind — once deleted, they are gone. Keeping an offline copy of words that matter to you is recommended.

5. Browser-dependent features

The spoken pronunciation is an illustrative aid and is not an authoritative pronunciation guide. The sound itself is neither recorded nor produced by the operator; it is generated in real time by the speech engine built into your browser or device. Such engines may err in pronunciation, stress or intonation, may read a word according to the language configured for them rather than the context, and may sound different across browsers, voices and devices. Regional accent is a particular limitation: all 68 supported languages can have regional varieties, accents, registers or pronunciation differences outside the Site's control. The app first requests a voice matching the language being practised and, for some languages, also tries regional variants; the browser or device may still choose another available voice. The accent you hear therefore depends on what your device provides. Verifying pronunciation against an additional linguistic source is recommended. Availability of speech depends on your device's capabilities.

A Home Screen shortcut is a feature carried out by the browser and operating system. The Site offers a control that asks for that action; whether the browser presents its own dialog, what the icon is called, and what happens to its data when it is removed are decided by the browser and the operating system. When opened from the icon, some browser chrome (including the address bar) may be hidden. The Site is fully usable in an ordinary browser tab without the icon.

6. External links and services

To the extent the Site refers to external services, the operator is not responsible for their content, their availability or their policies.

7. Overall limitation of liability

The operator's liability in connection with the Site is limited to the maximum extent permitted by law, bearing in mind that this is a free service provided without consideration. Nothing in this section derogates from rights that cannot be contracted out of under applicable law, or from liability that cannot be limited or excluded under applicable law.

Aggregate cap. Where liability cannot be excluded but can lawfully be limited, and where this cap is enforceable under applicable law, the operator's total aggregate liability for all claims connected with the Site is limited to fifty euros (€50). The Site is supplied free of charge and the user pays nothing for it; the stated cap reflects that context and is not a measure of any loss.

Use at your own risk. Use of the Site, and any decision taken on the strength of what it shows, is at the user's own risk.

Survival. This disclaimer and the limitations in it continue to apply after a user stops using the Site and after any discontinuation of the service.

No waiver. A delay or a failure by the operator in enforcing a provision of the Legal Documents is not a waiver of that provision or of any other.

Accessibility statement

Last updated: 27 August 2026

The Site was built with the intention that it be usable by everyone, including people with disabilities. The target set for it is WCAG 2.1 Level AA, the standard referenced by EN 301 549 in the European Union and the most widely used international benchmark for web accessibility.

WCAG 2.1 AA is the operator's stated design target, not a certification or warranty of conformance. Which accessibility laws apply depends on the operator, the service, the user's location and any statutory exemption; this statement does not claim that no accessibility law can apply. Appropriate local advice should be obtained before relying on an exemption.

How the Site was built. It supports keyboard operation, a visible focus indicator and a skip link. Its structure uses semantic HTML, ARIA labels and polite status announcements; practice words carry language attributes. Quiz feedback includes visible words for correct, wrong and timed-out results and a live announcement for assistive technology, so colour is not the only cue. Text and control-boundary colours have been adjusted toward the AA contrast thresholds in both dark and light themes. A light theme and heavier text can be chosen and remembered without consent as requested accessibility preferences. Reduced motion is honoured; sound follows a deliberate press, the Advanced Learning screen included — it speaks nothing until Play is pressed, and Pause stops it; automatic advance can be slowed or disabled, and the two pauses that pace the reading aloud are adjustable on that screen; the optional answer timer is off by default; dialogs close with Escape; and the layout is responsive. The optional "Install app on this device" control on the home screen is a button in the row of tiles and can be reached by keyboard. When the Site is opened from an installed icon, the browser or operating system may hide some of its own chrome, including the address bar; the Site's own content, structure and controls are unchanged. The Site remains fully usable in an ordinary tab.

What has not been assessed. The checks carried out were automated ones, run against the pages and the main screens of the app, together with a reading of the code. Automated tools reach only part of what the standard requires — by common estimate a minority of it — and no amount of them substitutes for testing with real assistive technology and real users. No professional external accessibility audit has been carried out, and the Site has not been tested with screen readers by people who depend on them. The Site is also updated from time to time, and a description written today can fall behind the code. This is therefore a statement of intent and not a statement of conformance: gaps that have not been identified may exist, and the paragraph above should be read as what was aimed at rather than as a guarantee of the result. A known limitation: spoken pronunciation depends on the voices installed on the device, and will not work where none are present.

The record of what was checked. There is no separate audit report, and this statement does not promise one. What was done is what the paragraph above describes: the pages and the main screens of the app were put through automated checking, and the markup was read through by hand against the WCAG 2.1 AA success criteria. No external audit was commissioned, no testing was carried out with people who use assistive technology, and no conformance report exists to send. A question about a particular success criterion is welcome at the contact address below, and will be answered from the code as it stands.

Run into a difficulty? We would like to know and to fix it — contact@helium3words.com. Please describe the nature of the problem, the browser and the assistive technology you are using.