Updated: August 19, 2026
This privacy policy (the “Privacy Policy”) is designed to provide users (“you”) of our websites, apps, software and other online services (the “LectMate”, “Service” or “Platform”) with clear information relating to how Youdao (Hong Kong) Limited and its affiliates (“Youdao” or “We”) process your personal data or personal information (“Personal Information”). If you do not agree with this policy, you should not use the Service.
In this Privacy Policy, you will find the following information:
1. What is Personal Information and Who is the Provider and Controller?
2. Who are We?
3. What Personal Information Do We collect from you?
4. Cookies
5. Why and how do We use your Personal Information?
6. Who Do We Share Your Personal Information with?
7. Your Rights and Choices
8. Data Security and Data Retention
9. Data Transfers, Storage and Processing Globally
10. Modifications to the Privacy Policy
11. Contact Us
12. European Data Protection Specific Information
13. California Privacy Rights
Personal Information refers to any information that could identify you either directly or indirectly, in particular by reference to an identifier such as a name, an identification number, location data, an online identifier, or one or more factors specific to the physical, physiological, genetic, mental, economic, cultural, or social identity of that natural person.
A service provider is a for-profit legal entity that processes personal information on behalf of a business pursuant to a written contract for a business purpose. The types of service providers to whom we entrust personal information may include providers of IT, network, cloud hosting and related services; content moderation; marketing; analytics; payment processing; customer service activities; the provision of the Business Services; and the provision of information and services you have requested, such as Alibaba Cloud, Firebase, Google, Facebook, Apple, App Annie, and OpenAI.
A Data Controller is the entity that determines how and why Personal Information is processed. For the processing activities described in this Privacy Policy, Youdao (Hong Kong) Limited acts as the Data Controller.
Youdao (Hong Kong) Limited is a company established at 2F, Block A, Building 7, West Zhongguancun Software Park, No.10 Xibeiwang East Road, Haidian District, Beijing. For LectMate, we have appointed a Data Protection Officer whom you can contact at LectMate@gmail.com for all matters relating to personal data, including the exercise of your rights in relation to LectMate’s processing of your data.
We collect your information in three ways: Information You Provide, Automatically Collected Information, and Information from Other Sources. More detail is provided below.
User Content. We may collect the content you create or publish through the Service, such as audio recordings, videos, and the associated metadata, including when, where, and by whom the content was created. This includes lecture transcriptions, text content of your notes, and queries you submit to the AI assistant when you use AI-powered features of the Service.
Purchase Information. We may collect your payment card information or other third-party payment information where payment is required. We also collect your transaction and purchase history.
Surveys, Research, and Promotions. We may collect information you provide if you choose to participate in a survey, research, promotion, contest, marketing campaign, or event conducted or sponsored by us.
Information When You Contact Us. When you contact us, we may collect the information you send us, such as proof of identity or age, feedback or inquiries about your use of the Service, or information about possible violations of our Terms of Service or other policies.
Technical Information. We may collect certain device and network connection information when you access the Service, including your device model, operating system, IP address, system language, service-related diagnostic and performance information, crash reports, and performance logs. We may automatically assign you a device ID and user ID.
User-Generated Information. We may collect information uploaded, provided, or created by users while using the Service, including information about the content you view, the duration and frequency of your use, your search history, and your settings.
Content Characteristics and Features. We may detect and collect characteristics and features about videos, images, and audio recordings that are part of your User Content, including the text of words spoken in your User Content, for purposes such as transcription, captions, content moderation, and providing AI-powered features requested by you.
Marketing Information, such as your mobile identifiers for advertising, your preferences for receiving communications about our activities, events, and publications, and details about how you engage with our communications, where permitted by applicable law and with consent where required.
Third Party Platforms and Partners, from which we may collect your personal information, subject to this Privacy Policy and the privacy practices of those third parties.
Other Information that is not specifically listed here, which we will use in accordance with this Privacy Policy or as otherwise disclosed at the time of collection.
Cookies are small text files that are placed on your device when you browse our LectMate platform. We may use cookies and similar technologies to provide users with a simpler and easier-to-use personalized web experience, remember user preferences, analyze use of our services, and, where applicable and with consent where required, support advertising optimization.
If you consented to our use of cookies but later wish to opt out, you may change your cookie preferences through your browser or user selection mechanism. You can also use browser settings to block cookies.
Providing the Service. We may use your Personal Information to provide the experiences, products, and services you request, view, engage with, or purchase, including AI-powered features such as lecture summarization and intelligent Q&A.
Communicating with You. We may use your Personal Information to communicate with you about your account or transactions, send information, or request feedback about features or changes to our policies.
Research and Development. We may analyze your use of the Services to improve the Services and develop new functions and/or Services, subject to applicable law and user choices.
Safety, Security, and Stability. We may use your information to identify and address technical or security issues, bugs, spam accounts, abuse, fraud, and illegal activity.
Sharing Your Information with Third Party Platforms to Provide Features. We may share information at your request when you integrate your account with a third-party service or use features powered by third-party services.
Legal Reasons. We may use your Personal Information to comply with applicable law, respond to valid legal process, investigate or participate in legal proceedings, or enforce our Terms of Service.
With Your Consent. In some cases, we may specifically ask for your consent to collect, use, or share your personal information, such as before sending user content to a third-party AI service provider where required.
For the purposes referred to under this Privacy Policy, we may share your Personal Information with certain recipients. Such recipients will either act as another controller or as a processor acting on behalf of and upon our instructions.
As a global company, the Platform is supported by certain entities within our corporate group. These entities may process information you provide, automatically collected information, and information from other sources for us as necessary to provide important functions, such as storage, content delivery, security, research and development, analytics, online payments, customer and technical support, and content moderation.
We may share Personal Information with third party service providers for a variety of business purposes, including customer communications, internal business insights, measurement, analytics, cloud storage, web hosting, payment processing, and other technology services necessary to provide our services.
We use third-party artificial intelligence service providers, including OpenAI, to provide AI-powered features such as lecture summarization and intelligent question-and-answer functionality.
When you choose to use AI-powered features, we may send the text generated from your voice recordings, namely lecture transcripts derived from your recorded lectures, to OpenAI through OpenAI’s API for processing. We send this text for the purpose of generating summaries requested by you. Where you separately submit questions or note text to AI-powered features, we may also send those questions or note text to OpenAI solely to generate the response or summary you request.
We do not send your payment information, account password, contacts, or other unrelated personal information to OpenAI for AI processing.
Data sent to OpenAI through the API is used solely to generate the AI-powered output you request, such as lecture summaries, explanations, answers, study notes, or other learning assistance. OpenAI’s business/API terms state that customer content submitted through API services is not used to develop or improve OpenAI services unless the customer explicitly agrees to such use. Accordingly, we do not permit OpenAI to use API-submitted data from LectMate to train OpenAI models.
Before sending your personal information or user content to OpenAI for AI processing, we will provide an in-app notice and obtain your consent where required. If you do not agree, LectMate will not call OpenAI’s API for that AI-powered feature and your text will not be sent to OpenAI for AI processing. You may choose not to use the AI-powered features, while continuing to use other available features of the Service where applicable.
Retention: We retain AI-processed data on our servers for up to 365 days, unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by applicable law, necessary for security, fraud prevention, dispute resolution, legal compliance, or requested by you through saved content features. Retention and deletion of data processed by OpenAI through the API are governed by OpenAI’s applicable API terms, data processing terms, retention practices, and privacy policy. OpenAI states that it retains personal data only as long as needed to provide its services or for legitimate business purposes such as safety, security, dispute resolution, and legal compliance, and that deletion requests are handled according to its applicable policies and terms.
Deletion: You may delete content associated with your account through available in-app deletion features or by contacting us at LectMate@gmail.com. After we verify your request, we will delete or de-identify the applicable data from our systems within a reasonable period and, where applicable, make commercially reasonable efforts to request deletion by our processors in accordance with our contractual terms, OpenAI’s API-related policies, and applicable law. Some data may be retained for longer where required for legal, security, fraud prevention, or compliance purposes.
Contractual safeguards: Our third-party AI service providers are required to provide privacy and security protections that are the same as or equivalent to those described in this Privacy Policy. They are contractually required to process data only as instructed, maintain appropriate technical and organizational security measures, restrict access to authorized personnel, not use API-submitted data for model training unless explicitly permitted, and delete or retain processed data only in accordance with their published policies, our contractual terms, and applicable law.
OpenAI policy references: OpenAI Privacy Policy: https://openai.com/policies/privacy-policy/ ; OpenAI Services Agreement: https://openai.com/policies/services-agreement/
Depending on your jurisdiction, you may have rights to access, correct, delete, restrict, object to, or receive a copy of your Personal Information, and to withdraw consent where processing is based on consent. You may exercise these rights through available in-app settings or by contacting us at LectMate@gmail.com.
For AI-powered features, you may choose not to provide consent for sending applicable text to OpenAI. If you do not consent, the applicable AI-powered feature will not call OpenAI’s API and will not send your text to OpenAI for AI processing.
We implement reasonable technical, administrative, and organizational measures designed to protect Personal Information against unauthorized access, use, disclosure, alteration, or destruction. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.
Unless otherwise stated in this Privacy Policy, we retain Personal Information only for as long as necessary to provide the Service, fulfill the purposes described in this Privacy Policy, comply with legal obligations, resolve disputes, enforce agreements, maintain security, and protect against fraud or abuse. AI-processed data retained by us is kept for up to 365 days as described above, unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law or necessary for legitimate security, compliance, or user-requested purposes.
We and our service providers may transfer, store, and process your Personal Information in countries or regions other than where you are located. Where required by applicable law, we use appropriate safeguards for cross-border transfers of Personal Information.
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we make material changes, we will provide notice as required by applicable law, such as by updating the date at the top of this Privacy Policy or providing an in-app notice.
If you have any questions, requests, or concerns about this Privacy Policy or our processing of your Personal Information, please contact us at LectMate@gmail.com.
If you are located in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, or Switzerland, you may have additional rights under applicable data protection laws, including the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority. Where we rely on consent, you may withdraw your consent at any time without affecting the lawfulness of processing based on consent before withdrawal.
If you are a California resident, you may have rights under applicable California privacy laws, including rights to know, access, correct, delete, and opt out of certain processing or sharing of Personal Information, subject to applicable exceptions. To exercise these rights, please contact us at LectMate@gmail.com.