Terms of service
These terms are an agreement between you and Sheng (“we”, “us”) governing your use of the Sheng app and this website (together, the “Service”). By using the Service you agree to these terms. If you don't agree, please don't use the Service.
1. The Service
Sheng is a Mandarin pronunciation training app. It provides listening and speaking exercises, tone grading of your speech, and progress tracking. The Service is for personal, non-commercial learning use.
2. Eligibility and accounts
You must be able to form a binding contract in your place of residence to accept these terms (or have a parent or guardian accept them for you). Sheng does not require an account; your progress is stored on your device (and in your iCloud device backup, if you back up your iPhone).
3. Subscriptions and purchases
- Parts of Sheng are free; some features require a paid subscription, billed through your Apple ID.
- Subscriptions renew automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. You can manage or cancel in your Apple ID settings (Settings → your name → Subscriptions).
- Prices may change; changes apply to renewal periods after we notify you, and you can cancel before they take effect.
- Refunds are handled by Apple under Apple's media-services terms. We can't issue refunds directly, but we're happy to help you with a request — see Support.
4. Acceptable use
You agree not to:
- reverse-engineer, copy, resell, or redistribute the Service or its content (audio, exercises, illustrations, and the Sheng marks);
- use the Service to build a competing dataset or train machine-learning systems;
- interfere with or disrupt the Service or attempt to access it by any means other than the app and this website.
5. Your content
Voice recordings you make in the app are yours. You grant us the limited license needed to process them in order to provide the Service (for example, analyzing a recording to grade your tones), as described in the Privacy Policy. We claim no other rights over your voice.
6. Intellectual property
The Service — including its exercises, audio, design, illustrations, and software — is owned by us or our licensors and protected by copyright, trademark, and other laws. These terms grant you a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to use the app on Apple-branded devices that you own or control, consistent with Apple's App Store terms.
7. Learning disclaimer
Sheng's tone grading is an automated aid, not a human examiner. Verdicts are estimates and may occasionally be wrong. The Service is not a substitute for professional language instruction or certified proficiency assessment.
8. Changes to the Service
We are always improving Sheng and may add, change, or remove features. If we discontinue the Service or materially reduce a paid feature, we will provide reasonable notice where required by law.
9. Termination
You can stop using the Service at any time by deleting the app. We may suspend or terminate access if you materially breach these terms. Sections 5–12 survive termination.
10. Disclaimers and limitation of liability
The Service is provided “as is” and “as available”, without warranties of any kind, express or implied, to the fullest extent permitted by law. To the same extent, we will not be liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or any loss of data, arising from your use of the Service. Our total liability for any claim is limited to the amount you paid us in the twelve months before the claim arose. Some jurisdictions do not allow certain exclusions, so parts of this section may not apply to you; nothing in these terms limits rights you have as a consumer under mandatory local law.
11. Apple-specific terms
These terms are between you and us, not Apple. Apple has no obligation to provide support or maintenance for the app and is not responsible for any product claims, though Apple and its subsidiaries are third-party beneficiaries of these terms and may enforce them against you.
12. General
These terms are the entire agreement between you and us regarding the Service. If a provision is found unenforceable, the rest remains in effect. We may update these terms; for material changes we will give notice in the app, and continued use after the effective date constitutes acceptance.
13. Contact
Questions about these terms: support@shengchinese.com with the subject “Terms”.