Privacy Policy

Etymology is operated by Moruk, LLC. The website and app are designed to work without an account while helping you look up word origins. The app also lets you save favorites and revisit previous lookups.

Information We Process

• Words you search for and website or app interactions needed to provide the lookup experience.
• Locally stored favorites, history, and cached results on your device.
• Device, browser, app version, locale, diagnostics, and crash information used to improve reliability.
• App interaction and search analytics, which may include a persistent app-generated identifier and bounded lookup content when advanced analytics is permitted.
• Advertising consent signals and ad events when ads are enabled.

AI-Assisted Lookups

Web and app etymology explanations may be generated through a backend AI gateway. Search text and request metadata may be processed to return the result, prevent abuse, monitor quality, and troubleshoot failures.

Request metadata may include IP address, country, browser or device information, app version, language, time zone, and viewport. We use this information for security, rate limiting, regional operation, diagnostics, performance monitoring, and product measurement.

App Analytics

The mobile app uses Firebase Analytics and Google Analytics 4 to understand app usage, lookup reliability, and feature performance. Analytics starts in basic mode. Basic mode sends structural events such as screen names, lookup completion or failure, duration, result counts, language, and stable error categories. It does not attach Etymology's app-generated analytics identifier or lookup content.

Advanced analytics is used when consent is not required or when the Google UMP consent flow reports that storage and access on the device is allowed. Advanced events may add the searched word, language hint, origin language, root, meaning, language path, a bounded excerpt of the generated etymology response, bounded and filtered diagnostic error text, and a persistent app-generated analytics identifier. Firebase and Google may also process app instance, device, network, and approximate location information as part of their mobile analytics service.

If consent is unknown, unavailable, required but not granted, or later withdrawn, the app uses basic mode and removes the explicit analytics user identifier from future events. You can revisit the applicable privacy choices in the app settings. App Tracking Transparency controls tracking across other companies' apps and websites and is separate from Etymology's first-party analytics choice.

Ads and Consent

The free Etymology mobile app uses Google AdMob banner, interstitial, and app open ads. Google's User Messaging Platform (UMP) resolves the applicable advertising consent flow before the Mobile Ads SDK initializes. On iOS, App Tracking Transparency (ATT) is handled separately after UMP when applicable. You can reopen Ad Privacy Choices in the app settings to review, change, or withdraw an available consent choice. A changed or withdrawn choice applies to future ad requests and does not undo processing that occurred lawfully before the change.

The Google Mobile Ads SDK may process information such as your IP address, general device and app information, approximate location, advertising consent signals, ad interactions, and a platform advertising identifier such as Apple's IDFA or the Android Advertising ID when that identifier is available and its use is permitted. Refusing personalised advertising or ATT permission does not necessarily remove all ads. Etymology may still show contextual or non-personalised ads where available and permitted. You can also reset or delete the advertising identifier and manage ad personalisation through your device settings.

What We Do Not Do

• We do not require sign-in for normal app use.
• We do not sell personal information.
• We do not use your favorites or local history to create a public profile.

Third-Party Providers

We use Firebase Analytics and Google Analytics 4 for app analytics, Sentry for crash and diagnostic reporting, Cloudflare and other infrastructure providers for hosting and security, AI providers for etymology generation, and Google AdMob for advertising. These providers process information under their own terms and privacy commitments as needed to operate, measure, secure, and improve the service.

Your Choices

You can clear local history and cached data through device or app controls where available. For the website, Cloudflare Zaraz sends limited usage events to Google Analytics 4 only after the applicable regional consent decision. Website analytics can include lookup outcomes, broad duration buckets, navigation choices, calls to action, and store clicks. Website analytics does not include searched words or generated etymology text. Use Cookie settings in the website footer to change your choice. You can also control ad personalization through platform settings and consent prompts.

Data Deletion and Privacy Rights

Depending on where you live, you may have rights to access, correct, delete, restrict, or object to processing of personal data. Etymology has no user account, but we will make a reasonable effort to locate identifiable data associated with support or service activity. Read the Data Deletion instructions or email hi@moruk.co with the subject “Etymology Data Deletion Request”.

Retention

Local history and favorites remain on your device until you remove them or uninstall the app. The app-generated analytics identifier remains on the device until app data is cleared or the app is uninstalled, and it is no longer attached to new events after advanced analytics is withdrawn. Firebase Analytics, Google Analytics 4, Sentry, advertising, service, security, and support records are retained according to the configured provider retention periods, operational needs, and legal obligations, then deleted, aggregated, or de-identified when no longer needed. Aggregate analytics reports may remain after event-level or identifiable records are deleted.

Children's Privacy and Age

Etymology is a general reference and learning service and is not directed to children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information directly from children. If you are below the age at which you can consent to data processing where you live, use Etymology only with permission from a parent or guardian. Contact us if you believe a child has provided personal information that should be reviewed or deleted.

Contact

For privacy questions, email hi@moruk.co. For support questions, visit Support.