Terms of Use

In effect from October 8, 2026

Welcome to HanziBee.

These Terms of Use govern your access to and use of the HanziBee application for iOS and Android, the HanziBee servers the application connects to, the web pages that support it (such as the password reset page) and the related content, features or services, hereinafter collectively referred to as the "Service".

HanziBee's website is https://hanzibee.com.

In these Terms, "HanziBee", "we", "us" or "our" means the operator of HanziBee. "You" or "user" means the individual who accesses or uses the Service.

1. Acceptance of the Terms

By downloading, registering for, accessing or using HanziBee, you confirm that:

1. You have read and understood these Terms.
2. You agree to be bound by these Terms and by HanziBee's Privacy Policy.
3. You have full legal capacity and capacity for civil acts to enter into this agreement, or you have been permitted to do so by your parent or lawful guardian.

When you create an account with an email address, you accept these Terms by ticking the box on the Create an account screen. When you continue with Apple or Google, you accept them by continuing, as the sign-in screens state. We record the version of these Terms in effect when your account is created. The version and the date it took effect are shown at the top of these Terms in the application.

If you do not agree to these Terms, you should not continue to use the Service.

2. Eligible users and minors

HanziBee is an application that supports learning Chinese, intended for learners of all ages.

Users under 16 years of age should create an account and use the Service only under the guidance, supervision and with the consent of a parent or lawful guardian.

A parent or guardian who allows a minor to use HanziBee is responsible for:

• Reviewing the Terms of Use and the Privacy Policy.
• Supervising the minor's use of the application.
• Ensuring that the information provided is appropriate.
• Contacting HanziBee when the child's data needs to be reviewed or corrected, or deleting the child's account in the application at You → Delete account or by asking us at You → Help and feedback (Section 16).

If we discover that a child's data has been collected without the necessary consent, we will take appropriate measures, including restricting the processing of or deleting that data.

3. User accounts

You can use every HanziBee feature without an account. Without an account, your progress, decks and settings are stored only on your device. An account lets you keep your progress if you lose or replace your device and synchronise it across the devices you sign in on. You can create an account with an email address and password, or continue with Apple or Google.

You agree to:

• Provide accurate and up-to-date information.
• Use an email address that you control. HanziBee does not send a message to confirm your address when you create an account, and password reset links are sent to that address.
• Not create an account using another person's identity.
• Not transfer, sell or share your account without authorisation.
• Keep your login credentials and your device secure.
• Notify HanziBee if you suspect that your account has been accessed without authorisation.

You are responsible for activities carried out through your account, except where such activities result from HanziBee's fault or from events beyond your reasonable control.

When you sign in with Apple or Google, your use of that sign-in service is also governed by the terms of the respective provider.

Joining sign-in methods. If you continue with Apple, or with Google using a Gmail or Google Workspace address, and the provider confirms an email address that already belongs to a HanziBee account, you are signed in to that existing account and the new sign-in method is added to it. If that account had a password, the password is removed and every device signed in to it is signed out; from then on you sign in to it with Apple or Google. A Google sign-in with any other address never joins an existing account: it creates a separate HanziBee account that holds no email address, and the existing account is not changed.

Staying signed in. You stay signed in on a device until you sign out, reset your password or delete your account, or until you have not used HanziBee on that device for 60 days.

4. HanziBee's content and features

HanziBee may provide features such as:

• Looking up Chinese words and characters, with pinyin, meanings, example sentences and related words.
• Listening to the pronunciation of words, example sentences and passages.
• Viewing character components and stroke order, and practising writing characters by hand.
• Reviewing vocabulary with spaced repetition, and practising listening, reading (passages with English translations and questions) and writing.
• Tracking progress, daily goals, study streaks and statistics.
• Organising words into decks: HSK and topic decks provided by HanziBee, and your own decks, including word lists you import by pasting them (for example from Pleco or Anki).
• A daily study reminder.
• Synchronising your progress across your devices when you are signed in.
• Other features introduced in the application.

We may add, modify or discontinue certain features in order to improve the product, ensure safety, comply with the law or meet technical requirements.

5. Educational purpose and limits of the content

HanziBee is a learning-support tool, not an educational institution that awards degrees or certificates, unless expressly stated for a specific programme.

We strive to ensure that the content is accurate and useful. However:

• Language may have multiple usages, pronunciations and interpretations depending on context.
• Dictionary content, translations, pinyin, examples and computer-generated (text-to-speech) audio may contain errors. Part of the dictionary data comes from community-maintained sources (Section 6).
• The content does not fully replace teachers, specialised dictionaries or official academic materials.
• Learning outcomes depend on each user's methods, time and circumstances.

You should verify important content before using it for academic, professional or legal purposes, or for communication with significant consequences.

6. Content from open sources

Some of HanziBee's learning content is adapted from sources published under open licences. The application lists each source, its licence and a link to it at You → Licences. At the time of this version they are:

• CC-CEDICT, under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence (CC BY-SA 4.0). HanziBee's word readings and English glosses are adapted from CC-CEDICT, and the adapted data is shared under the same licence.
• Make Me a Hanzi, under the GNU Lesser General Public License version 3 or later, with its stroke data under the Arphic Public License.
• complete-hsk-vocabulary, under the MIT licence.
• Tatoeba example sentences, obtained through ManyThings.org, under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 France licence (CC BY 2.0 FR).
• Fonts under the SIL Open Font License 1.1.

Content we use under an open licence is governed by that licence. Nothing in these Terms restricts the rights that licence gives you.

7. Right to use the Service

Provided that you comply with these Terms, HanziBee grants you a right to use the Service that is:

• Limited.
• Revocable.
• Non-exclusive.
• Non-transferable.
• For personal, educational and non-commercial purposes only, unless otherwise agreed in writing.

This right does not constitute a transfer of ownership of HanziBee's software, content, brand or intellectual property.

8. Intellectual property rights

The application, source code, interface, design, logo, trademarks, illustrations, exercise system and content developed by HanziBee itself are owned by HanziBee or the respective licensor.

Except for content we use under an open licence (Section 6), you may not:

• Copy or distribute a substantial part of the Service.
• Sell, rent, sublicense or commercially exploit the content.
• Reverse engineer, disassemble, decompile or attempt to obtain the source code, except where permitted by law.
• Remove copyright notices or proprietary information.
• Use the HanziBee brand in a way that causes confusion about sponsorship or partnership.
• Collect data automatically using bots, crawlers or scrapers without permission.
• Use HanziBee's content or data to train machine learning models without written consent.

Some dictionaries, fonts, Chinese-character data, example sentences, audio or software libraries may be owned by third parties and are used under the respective licences (Section 6).

9. User content

"User content" includes information that you enter, create or submit through the Service, such as:

• The titles of decks you create and the words you add to them, including word lists you import.
• Your display name.
• Your answers, review history and other learning data.
• Your settings.
• Feedback and bug reports.
• Other content that you provide.

You retain ownership of your User content.

When you use HanziBee without an account, your User content stays on your device, apart from feedback you send and the dictionary lookups described in the Privacy Policy.

You grant HanziBee a limited right to store, copy, process, transmit and display that content to the extent necessary to:

• Provide the Service to you.
• Synchronise data between devices.
• Handle support requests.
• Protect the safety and integrity of the system.
• Carry out purposes to which you have consented.

This right ends when the content is deleted from the system, except for the records and copies that the Privacy Policy says are kept for a limited time (for example, records of deletions that let your other devices learn about them, and backup copies) or data that must be retained by law.

You may not upload content that:

• Violates the law.
• Infringes the intellectual property rights or privacy of others.
• Contains malicious code or harmful content.
• Is fraudulent, threatening, harassing or seriously offensive.
• Contains personal data of other people that you have no right to provide.

10. Prohibited conduct

You may not use HanziBee to:

1. Engage in unlawful conduct or infringe the rights of others.
2. Gain unauthorised access to accounts, servers, APIs or technical systems.
3. Circumvent access limits, usage limits or security mechanisms.
4. Spread viruses or malicious code, or carry out denial-of-service attacks.
5. Interfere with the normal operation of the application.
6. Impersonate HanziBee, HanziBee staff or other users.
7. Mine data in bulk without permission.
8. Use the Service to develop a competing product by systematically copying its content or design.
9. Use the reporting, support or feedback features to send spam or harmful content.

11. Third-party content and services

HanziBee relies on, displays or links to:

• Sign in with Apple and Google sign-in.
• Providers that host our servers, store and deliver content and audio, send email, and receive crash reports from the application (Sentry), as listed in the Privacy Policy.
• Dictionary, example-sentence, character and font data from the open sources listed in Section 6.
• External web pages, such as the licence pages, which open in your device's browser.

Third-party content and services are governed by their own terms and policies.

HanziBee's display of third-party links or content does not by itself mean that we endorse the views, accuracy or availability of that content in its entirety.

12. Price

HanziBee is currently provided free of charge. It has no paid plans, in-app purchases, subscriptions or advertising.

If we introduce paid features in the future, we will update these Terms before they become available, and the price and conditions will be shown before you pay.

13. Data on your device and synchronisation

HanziBee works offline first: your reviews, practice, decks and settings are saved on your device and, when you are signed in, synchronised with our servers when a connection is available. This happens when the app starts or returns to the screen, when a session ends, when the connection returns, and in the background about every six hours, as far as your device's system allows.

Please note that:

• When you use HanziBee without an account, your data exists only on that device. It is lost if the device is lost, reset or replaced, or if you uninstall the application, unless your device's own backup restores it.
• When you sign in on a device that holds progress made without an account, that progress is added to the account you sign in to.
• Signing out removes HanziBee's data from that device and returns the application to guest mode. Changes that have not yet been synchronised are lost; the application warns you before you sign out.
• Your device's own backups (iCloud or Google) may include HanziBee's data on the device, but not your sign-in credentials.

14. Availability of the Service

We strive to keep HanziBee stable and secure but do not guarantee that the Service will always operate continuously or error-free.

Reviews, practice, statistics and settings work without a connection. Signing in, synchronisation, importing words outside the built-in dictionary, downloading content and audio, sending feedback and deleting an account need a connection.

The Service may be temporarily unavailable due to:

• Maintenance and upgrades.
• Network or infrastructure failures.
• Incidents at third-party providers.
• Force majeure events.
• Security or legal requirements.

Where possible, we will try to minimise downtime and give notice of changes with a significant impact.

15. Suspension and termination of accounts

You may stop using the Service or delete your account at any time.

HanziBee may warn, restrict, suspend or terminate an account where there are reasonable grounds to believe that:

• You have seriously or repeatedly breached these Terms.
• The account is being used for fraud or to cause harm.
• Continuing to provide the Service may create a security or legal risk.
• HanziBee is required to do so by a competent authority.
• Providing the Service is no longer technically or commercially feasible.

Except where immediate action is needed to prevent harm, we will try to notify you and give you a reasonable opportunity to explain or remedy the situation.

Termination of an account does not extinguish obligations that by their nature must continue in effect.

16. Deleting your account and data

You can delete your account:

• In the application at You → Delete account (at the bottom of the You tab while you are signed in; you confirm by typing DELETE); or
• By asking us at You → Help and feedback.

When handling a request sent through Help and feedback, we may need to verify your identity in order to protect the account.

When your account is deleted:

• It closes immediately. Every sign-in session ends; a device that is using the account at that moment loses access within 15 minutes.
• When you delete it in the application, HanziBee's data is removed from that device, which returns to guest mode.
• HanziBee's access to your Apple ID is removed at once. If you used Google, the application also disconnects HanziBee from your Google account; on Android this may not succeed if the application was restarted since you signed in, and you can then remove HanziBee in your Google account's settings.
• Seven days later, we permanently delete the account and all the data synchronised with it. The deletion cannot be undone, and until then the account's email address cannot be used to sign in or to create a new account.

Some data is not part of the account and is kept for the limited periods set out in the Privacy Policy, or for longer where the law requires:

• Messages you sent to support.
• Crash reports.
• Server logs.
• Backup copies.

Details are set out in the Privacy Policy.

17. Reasonable disclaimer

To the extent permitted by law, HanziBee is provided on an "as is" and "as available" basis.

We do not guarantee that:

• All content is entirely free of errors.
• The Service will be compatible with every device or operating-system version.
• Using the Service will guarantee a particular proficiency level or exam result.
• Text-to-speech audio, dictionary data, translations or the checking of handwritten strokes will always be accurate.

These Terms do not exclude warranties or liabilities that cannot be excluded under consumer protection law.

18. Limitation of liability

To the extent permitted by law, HanziBee is not liable for indirect, incidental or consequential damages arising from:

• Relying entirely on unverified learning content.
• Loss of access due to device, network or third-party provider failures.
• Unauthorised acts of other users or third parties beyond HanziBee's reasonable control.
• Data lost because the user deleted it, shared login credentials or failed to protect their device.
• Data stored only on a device (Section 13) that is lost with the device, when the application is uninstalled, or when the user signs out with changes that have not yet been synchronised.

Nothing in these Terms limits HanziBee's liability for intentional misconduct, fraud, breach of mandatory obligations or cases in which the law does not permit liability to be limited.

19. User liability for third-party claims

You are liable for reasonable damages arising directly from your:

• Intentional breach of these Terms.
• Unlawful use of the Service.
• Infringement of the intellectual property rights, privacy or lawful rights of a third party.

HanziBee will notify you of any related claim and give the parties a reasonable opportunity to cooperate in resolving it.

20. Feedback and suggestions

When you submit ideas, feedback or suggestions, you permit HanziBee to use that information to improve the product without paying remuneration, provided that such use does not make your personal data or private content public without your consent.

21. Changes to the Terms

We may update these Terms to reflect:

• Changes to the Service.
• Requirements of the law or of distribution platforms.
• New security measures.
• Changes to the business model.

The version and the date on which it took effect are shown at the top of these Terms in the application, which always shows the most recent version it has received.

If a change significantly affects your rights or obligations, we will notify you by an appropriate method before it takes effect, such as an email to the address on your account, where your account has one.

You are not asked to accept a new version again. Your continued use of the Service after the date on which the new Terms take effect is deemed acceptance of the new Terms, unless the law requires a different form of consent. If you do not agree to the new Terms, you may stop using the Service and delete your account (Section 16).

22. Governing law and dispute resolution

These Terms are governed by the law of Vietnam, except where mandatory consumer protection rules in your place of residence apply.

If a dispute arises, the parties will first seek to resolve it through good-faith negotiation.

You may send complaints to us in the application at You → Help and feedback.

If the dispute is not resolved through negotiation, each party has the right to request a competent authority to resolve it in accordance with the law.

These Terms do not limit your right to lodge complaints or denunciations, to bring a lawsuit, or to request assistance from a consumer protection authority in accordance with the law.

23. Severability

If any part of these Terms is held to be invalid or unenforceable, the remainder continues in full force and effect. The invalid provision will be adjusted to the minimum extent necessary to comply with the law and to come as close as possible to its original purpose.

24. Contact

Any questions about these Terms of Use may be sent to us in the application at You → Help and feedback.

Website: https://hanzibee.com