Loqu8

Terms of Service

Last updated: October 21, 2026 (the free trial is now 30 days in every app)

These terms govern your use of all applications published by Loqu8, Inc. ("we", "us") — including Copyworks, iCE, Tiempo, Intuition, Bible, and others — across desktop (Windows, macOS, Linux), mobile (iOS, Android), and web platforms. By downloading or using any Loqu8 application, you agree to these terms.

1. License

We grant you a non-exclusive, non-transferable license to use our applications on your personal devices. You may not redistribute, sublicense, or resell any Loqu8 application or derivative of it.

2. Free Tier

Each application includes a Free tier with core features at no cost. No account or payment is required. Free tier limits vary by application. We may change Free tier limits at any time.

3. Paid Plans

Some applications offer paid plans that unlock additional features. Plan names, pricing, and features vary by application:

Annual subscriptions renew automatically each year. Cancel anytime — access continues until the end of your billing period. Lifetime purchases are one-time payments with no recurring charges.

Payments through our website are processed by FastSpring, our merchant of record. FastSpring handles billing, tax collection, refunds, and subscription management. By purchasing, you also agree to FastSpring's terms. Purchases through the Apple App Store, Google Play, or Microsoft Store are governed by those platforms' terms.

4. Refunds

You may request a refund within 30 days of purchase for any reason. Contact us or use FastSpring's order management portal. For App Store, Google Play, or Microsoft Store purchases, request a refund through the respective platform.

5. Free Trial

New installations include a free trial of paid features: 30 days in every app, with no card needed. Depending on the app, the trial starts when you first open it or when you first choose a paid feature. We record it on our server for your device, so that each device receives one trial. When the trial ends, the app reverts to the Free tier unless you purchase a plan.

6. On-Device Processing

Our applications process data locally on your device whenever possible. Speech recognition (in Tiempo and other voice-enabled apps) runs entirely on-device — voice recordings and transcriptions are never sent to our servers. Dictionary lookups, text processing, and document generation all happen locally. See our Privacy Policy for full details on what data we collect.

7. Intellectual Property

Loqu8 applications and their source code, design, and branding are owned by Loqu8, Inc. The content you create with our applications (worksheets, voice notes, documents, etc.) is yours — we claim no rights to your content.

Character data in Chinese-language applications is derived from Make Me a Hanzi (Arphic Public License) and dictionary data from CC-CEDICT (Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0).

Data in Loqu8 iCE. The dictionary is Loqu8's own Chinese dictionary (CC BY-SA 4.0), created with reference to CC-CEDICT, HanDeDict, CFDICT, CC-CIDICT, JMdict and Wiktionary. Cantonese and Hokkien readings come from CC-Canto and CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 3.0), Rime Cantonese (CC BY 4.0, with one table under ODbL 1.0), WikiHan, ChhoeTaigi, Taibun and Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0) and iTaigi (CC0 1.0). Character data comes from the Unicode Unihan Database (Unicode License v3), Make Me a Hanzi (Arphic Public License and LGPL-3.0-or-later), cjk-decomp (Apache 2.0) and the HSK 3.0 word lists (MIT). The optional Technical Dictionaries are © The CJK Dictionary Institute, Inc., used under license. The full list, with each licence, is in iCE under About.

8. No Warranty

Our applications are provided "as is" without warranty of any kind. We do not guarantee uninterrupted or error-free operation, or the accuracy of speech recognition, translation, or other automated features. We are not liable for any damages arising from your use of the software.

9. Limitation of Liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, our total liability for any claim related to any Loqu8 application is limited to the amount you paid us in the 12 months preceding the claim.

10. Changes

We may update these terms. Material changes will be communicated via the app or website. Continued use after changes constitutes acceptance.

11. Governing Law

These terms are governed by the laws of the State of Washington, USA.

Contact

Questions? Email support@loqu8.com

Privacy Policy

Last updated: October 21, 2026

What changed (October 21, 2026): this version says that, for tax purposes, we keep the state or province of your billing address when you buy through our website, and that Copyworks from version 0.17.5, like iCE, treats a country our server cannot tell as outside the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and Switzerland. The version before that is kept here.

Earlier change (October 20, 2026): this version adds Referral credit: when you buy, our checkout page may ask who we should thank for sending you. The answer is optional, and if you give one we keep it with your order record so that the partner you named is paid a share. It says what partners receive, the basis we rely on, and how long we keep the answer. It also says that the record of a visit to this website now includes the kind of device (phone, tablet or computer) and its operating system, without its version, worked out from the description your browser gives of itself (its user agent), which we do not keep with it, and that a visit with Global Privacy Control is kept without a number. And it says what happens where our server cannot tell your country: we treat it as outside the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and Switzerland, so iCE sends usage data with its notice and switch, and an app that cannot reach our server sends nothing until it can. And it says what we record when an app switches on or downloads a dictionary you bought, and why, that iCE sends a daily count of the paid-dictionary definitions shown, whatever the usage-data setting outside the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and Switzerland, that the network address in those records is removed after 60 days, and that the record of the keys handed out stays with your purchase record. The version before that is kept here.

Earlier change (October 14, 2026): this version corrects what we said about Bible. Up to version 1.3.9, the usage events Bible sent after you agreed to share usage data said which book and chapter you opened and which Strong's number you tapped. From October 14, 2026 our server discards those events when they arrive, and on the same day we removed the ones we had stored. Bible versions up to 1.3.7 could also send one error report the first time the app was opened, before you had answered. We removed those reports too. This version also describes the request log that the service running our server keeps for 7 days. The previous version is kept here.

Earlier change (October 13, 2026): this version says what is sent when you send feedback from an app, and that for Bible we keep only the country, without the IP address, the city, the coordinates or the browser's user agent, and that we do not keep the device identifier with feedback from Bible. The version before that is kept here.

Earlier change (October 3, 2026): this version corrects which apps have the switch that stops usage events. Copyworks does not have one yet; the previous version said it did. The version before that is kept here.

Earlier change (September 25, 2026): this version describes how we learn which link, site or email brought you to our apps: the record of each visit to this website, the source code in the name of the installer you download, and the source that a checkout passes back to us with your order. It corrects how the device identifier is made, says that it is linked to your email address when you buy, and sets retention periods for download and visit records. The previous version is kept here.

Loqu8, Inc. ("we", "us", "our") makes the Loqu8 family of applications, including Copyworks, Bible, iCE, Intuition, Tiempo and SoundCheck, for desktop (Windows, macOS, Linux), mobile (iOS, Android) and the web. This policy describes what data we collect, how we use it, and the choices you have.

What We Collect

Usage events. Our apps send usage events so that we can see which features are used and find faults. Each event carries:

• an identifier for your computer, made by a one-way hash of the identifier your operating system gives it, so that it cannot be turned back into that identifier and stays the same if you reinstall (on phones it is a random identifier created on your device)
• the app version, operating system, language setting and the kind of event (for example "app_launch")
• the time the event happened on your device, and, once, the source code and download number of the installer you ran
• the IP address the event came from, with the country, city and approximate coordinates that Cloudflare derives from that address. These describe the location of your network at city level, not the position of your device.

Bible is the exception. For Bible we keep only the country that an event or a download came from, and we do not keep the IP address, the city, the coordinates or the description your browser gives of itself (its user agent), apart from the 7-day request log described under Data Retention.

We do not receive your name, and we do not receive what you read, write or create in our apps, except for the text or audio you send for translation or transcription, described below. Bible versions up to 1.3.9 are the exception. With usage data switched on, they reported the book and chapter opened and the Strong's number tapped. Our server now discards those reports on arrival, and from version 1.3.10 the app does not send them.

Trials and downloads. When an app starts a free trial, we record its device identifier and IP address so that each device receives one trial. When you download an installer from our website, we record the IP address, approximate location, the description your browser gives of itself (its user agent), and any campaign tags in the link you followed.

Where you came from. When you follow a link to our website that names a source, such as a partner's site, a forum post or an email from us, we add that source code to the download link, along with the address of the page that sent you here. We record both with the download, give the download a number, and write the source code and number into the name of the installer file. When the app first runs, it sends that name back to us, which is how we learn which link brought each install. Checkouts started in our apps or on this website carry the same source code, and FastSpring passes it back to us with the order.

Purchases and licenses. When you buy through our website, the payment is handled by FastSpring, our merchant of record, which collects your name, email address and payment details. We receive your email address, the order details and your license key, and we send your license by email through SendGrid. For tax purposes, we keep the state or province of your billing address. Purchase and activation records carry your email address and license key. We never see your card details. When you buy a license, we link the identifiers of the computers that use it to your email address, so that the license works on them. The source code of the install and the visit that led to the purchase are part of that record. Purchases through the Apple App Store, Google Play or the Microsoft Store are governed by those stores' privacy policies. We receive only the transaction information needed to unlock what you bought.

Paid dictionaries. iCE delivers the dictionaries you buy, such as the Technical Dictionaries, to each computer you use them on. To set up a computer, iCE makes a random number for that installation and a key pair whose private half never leaves the computer. It sends us the number, the public half and one proof that you bought the dictionary: the number of the checkout you used, the store’s receipt, or your email address. If you give your email address, we send you a link, and the computer is set up when you confirm. From then on iCE asks us from time to time which dictionaries and editions it should hold, and downloads them. Each edition of a dictionary has one key, the same for everyone who bought it; each computer receives that key sealed to its own key pair, so a copied dictionary opens nothing on another computer. None of these requests carries a word you looked up or any of your text. For each day a paid dictionary is used, iCE later sends, once, how many of its definitions were shown that day, with the device identifier, the app and its version: counts only, never the words. In the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and Switzerland, iCE sends them only when usage data is on; elsewhere, including where our server cannot tell your country, it sends them whatever the setting. We use them to notice a dictionary being copied out in bulk.

We keep the email address or store account your purchase was proved with and, for a store purchase, the store's transaction number. For each installation we keep a fingerprint of its random number, its public key, the app, when it was set up and last seen, which dictionaries and editions it was given and when (never the keys themselves), and how often it asked to start again or reported an older copy, which tells us whether an installation was restored or copied. Each download is recorded with the installation's fingerprint, the dictionary and edition, the network address and the country. An email confirmation that was asked for is kept, with the email address, the installation and the network address it came from, so that we can limit how many emails we send; if it is not confirmed within 24 hours, it is deleted. Versions of iCE before 9.36.0 switch on a dictionary with the device identifier instead. For them we record, each time we hand out keys, the device identifier, the email address of the license, which dictionaries and which version of their keys (never the keys themselves), the network address, the country and the app, and each download with the device identifier, the dictionary, the file and its version, the network address, the country and the app. If we cannot hand out keys because of a fault on our side, we record the device identifier, the app, and where and why it failed.

Because a dictionary's key is the same for everyone who bought that edition, these records are how we find which computers received it if it is ever misused. We keep these records whatever the usage-data setting, and outside the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and Switzerland iCE also sends the daily counts whatever the setting, because they are part of delivering and protecting a dictionary you bought. We rely on our legitimate interest in protecting the dictionaries we license, and you may object at any time by writing to support@loqu8.com. If you do, iCE stops the daily counts for your installations at its next check, and we use the record of the keys handed out only to trace a misused key.

Referral credit. Some websites send readers to us, and we pay them a share of what those readers buy. When you buy, our checkout page may ask who we should thank for sending you. The answer is optional, and you can leave it blank. If you give one, we keep it with your order record, so that the partner you named is paid a share of that purchase. We keep and apply your answer whatever the usage-data setting, because you gave it to us. Where usage data is on and you are outside the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and Switzerland, the link that brought you to us is used in the same way when you have given no answer. Your own answer always comes first.

Partners receive totals only, and we report each figure only when it is 5 or more. They never receive your name, your email address, your device or visit identifiers, your IP address, or anything else about you. We rely on our legitimate interest in paying the partners who send us customers, and you may object at any time by writing to support@loqu8.com. Your answer is kept with your order record, for seven years.

Translation and transcription. Some features send your text or audio to an outside service, and only when you use them:

• Translation (iCE, Tiempo and other apps that offer it). The text you ask to translate passes through our server to one of Cerebras, Microsoft Translator, Google Cloud Translation or DeepL. We record the number of characters, the languages and which service answered. We do not store the text. The translated result is held in Cloudflare's cache for up to one hour, so that an identical request is answered without being sent again.
• Cloud transcription (Tiempo). Audio you record for cloud transcription is sent to Groq, or to OpenAI when Groq is unavailable. We record the length of the audio and its language. We do not store the audio or the transcript.

Each of these services processes what it receives under its own terms. We also use Anthropic and xAI in our own tools that prepare dictionary data. No data from our users is sent to them.

What stays on your device. Dictionary lookups, the built-in voices, on-device speech recognition, and the text iCE reads from your screen are processed on your device and are not sent to us in current versions. Older desktop software reported looked-up words, as described below.

Websites. This website is hosted on Cloudflare Pages, and Cloudflare may log IP addresses for security. It uses no cookies and no third-party analytics. When you open a page on this website, it sends us one record: a random number made for that visit, the link or site that brought you, the page, your country, and the kind of device (phone, tablet or computer) and its operating system (such as Windows, macOS, iOS or Android), without its version. We do not keep your IP address or the description your browser gives of itself (its user agent) with it. A download keeps it for 60 days, as described under Data Retention. The number travels in the page's links, not in a cookie, so if you download or buy we can see which visit led there. If your browser sends Global Privacy Control, we keep the record of the visit without a number, so it cannot be linked to a download or a purchase. The older Loqu8 site still answering at loqu8.com uses Google Analytics until it is retired.

How We Use Your Data

• Usage events: to understand how the apps are used, decide what to build, and find faults.
• IP address and approximate location: to give each device one trial, to prevent abuse, and to see where our users are so that we can choose which languages to support.
• Email address and license key: to deliver and manage what you bought.
• Records of paid-dictionary keys and downloads: to deliver the dictionaries you bought, and to trace a misused key to the computers that received it.
• Daily counts of paid-dictionary definitions shown: to notice a dictionary being copied out in bulk.
• Kind of device and operating system: to know which devices people visit on, so we build and test for them.
• Source codes, visit numbers and download numbers: to learn which links, partners and advertisements bring people to our apps, so that we spend our time and money on what works.
• Text and audio sent for translation or transcription: only to return the result to you.

Data Sharing

We do not sell your data. We share it only with the services that do this work for us:

• Cloudflare: website and server hosting, and the translation cache
• FastSpring: payments, as merchant of record
• Braintree, a PayPal service: payments for Loqu8 iCE 8 licenses
• SendGrid: license emails
• Apple, Google and Microsoft: purchases made in their stores
• Cerebras, Microsoft Translator, Google Cloud Translation, DeepL: translation, when you ask for it
• Groq and OpenAI: cloud transcription in Tiempo, when you ask for it
• Referral partners, such as MDBG.net: totals only, as described under Referral credit

Data Retention

Usage events and trial records are kept without a fixed deletion date. Records of paid-dictionary keys and downloads, and the daily counts of paid-dictionary definitions shown, keep the network address for 60 days, after which it is removed. The rest is kept with your purchase record: the email or store account, each installation and what it was given, and the record of the keys handed out. If you delete your purchase email, we remove it from these records. Download records keep the IP address and the description your browser gives of itself (its user agent) for 60 days, after which both are removed. The product, version, approximate location, source code and download number remain. Visit records are kept for 13 months, after which we keep only totals by source and week. We keep the license and order records, with the email address, for as long as the license can be used and afterwards for as long as tax and accounting law requires. We do not keep the text or audio you send for translation or transcription in current versions. Older desktop software kept translations, as described below.

Request logs. The service that runs our server keeps a log of each request for 7 days. The log holds the network address the request came from and the approximate location of that network. For license, trial, translation and paid-dictionary requests it also holds the device identifier. It does not hold the content of the request. Bible makes none of those three kinds of request, so the log holds no device identifier for Bible.

Older Loqu8 software

Desktop software released before 2020, which includes Loqu8 iCE 8 and earlier and MDBG Chinese Reader, activates through our older servers, and those servers still run.

When that software activates or checks its license, the server records the license key, the hardware identifiers of the computer, the version and the IP address it connected from.

That software sent translation requests either to our server or directly to a translation service (Google Cloud Translation or Microsoft Translator). Our server passed them on to a translation service and stored the text, and the translation when there was one.

That software also reported the words you looked up in its dictionary, with the date, and those words were stored with the IP address of the report.

Licenses for Loqu8 iCE 8 are still sold in our version 8 store. Braintree, a PayPal service, takes the payment and receives your card or PayPal details directly, and our older servers record the purchase with your email address.

We do not use these translations or looked-up words for any purpose. We will state on this page when they have been deleted, and you may ask us at privacy@loqu8.com to delete the records for your computer before then.

Your Rights

You can ask us to delete your personal data, including the usage events, trial records, paid-dictionary download and failure records, and daily counts of definitions shown for your device. Deleting your purchase email unlinks your computers from your purchase, and each removes the paid dictionaries the next time it connects. We keep the license and order records, with the email address, for as long as the license can be used and afterwards for as long as tax and accounting law requires. We also keep the record of the keys and dictionaries handed out to your computers, so that we can trace a misused key, for as long as the license it belongs to can be used and afterwards for as long as tax and accounting law requires; when you ask, we remove its network addresses and, if you delete your purchase email, the email. Write to the address below and we will ask for the details we need to find your records.

Children's Privacy

Our apps are made for general audiences, including parents, teachers and students. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has sent us personal information, write to us and we will delete it.

Turning Off Usage Events

In Bible, and in iCE from version 0.9.29, a switch in Settings stops usage events from being sent. In iCE, the switch also stops the app from reporting which installer it came from. Where iCE (from version 9.36.0) or Copyworks (from version 0.17.5) asks our server whether you are in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom or Switzerland and the server cannot tell your country, we treat it as outside them, so the app sends usage data with its notice and switch. Earlier versions of iCE and Copyworks send nothing in that case until you agree. An app that cannot reach our server sends nothing until it can. Our other apps do not have this switch yet. Until they do, you can ask us to delete your device's records as described above. Trial checks, license checks, and the translation and transcription features contact our server whenever they are used, whatever the setting. So do the requests that deliver a paid dictionary and, outside the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and Switzerland, the daily counts of its definitions shown, described under Paid dictionaries. Feedback that you send from an app is also sent whatever the setting, because you have asked us to receive it. It carries your rating and comment, your email address if you give one, the app version, the operating system, your device identifier and the app's display settings. Feedback from Bible is the exception. We do not keep the device identifier with it. Outside Bible it is recorded like a usage event, with the IP address and approximate location.

Changes

We may update this policy. Each change is posted on this page with a new date, and earlier versions are kept at their own addresses.

Contact

Questions? Email privacy@loqu8.com

Software bought before 2020

Loqu8 iCE 8 and earlier, MDBG Chinese Reader and our other desktop products sold before 2020 remain under the license and return policy of the day they were bought.

Those texts were published together on one page. A dated copy of that page is kept unchanged, with the End-User License Agreement, version 2.2 (October 2016), the return policy, version 1.1 (January 2014) and the legal notices.

Its privacy section of November 2012 is replaced by the policy above, which also covers that software.