HelloTalk

Is HelloTalk safe?

HelloTalk is a reasonable place to practise a language, as long as you treat it like a social network full of strangers, because that is what it is. We score it 47/100, level with Azar and Wizz, and well below Duolingo (61), which has no private messaging at all.

The app matches you with native speakers of the language you are learning. You can chat by text, voice or video, post to a public Moments feed, and join livestreams and group Voicerooms. Built-in translation and correction tools make it genuinely useful. The two problems are what happens to your data and who might be on the other end.

How much data does HelloTalk collect?

Far more than its store labels suggest. Apple's privacy label lists only a device ID used to track you, an email address linked to you, and a few items not linked to you. Google Play's data safety section says the app shares no data with other companies.

The privacy policy, updated on 22 October 2026, tells a different story. Its table of third-party SDKs includes 15 used for advertising: Google AdMob, Meta Audience Network, TopOn, Pangle, Mintegral, BIGO Ads, Chartboost, Vungle, Digital Turbine, Huawei's Petal Ads and several smaller ad exchanges. Analytics tools such as AppsFlyer, ThinkingData and Sensors Data collect device identifiers, network details and, in several cases, the list of apps installed on your phone. The policy says it shares interests and age with AdMob, Meta, TopOn and Pangle to personalise ads. When a policy discloses this much more than the labels, we score the policy.

Other points in the policy:

• Phone number. HelloTalk collects it to meet "online real-name system requirements", and a completed real-name check cannot be removed without deleting the account.
• Video verification. In some sign-ups you record a video. HelloTalk may analyse the audio to judge whether you really speak your stated native language, and keeps it for up to 180 days.
• Location. GPS location is optional and used to match partners nearby. The policy says your exact location is never shown to others.
• AI features. Conversations with HelloTalk's AI tools may be used, after de-identification, to train its models. You opt out by contacting the company, not with a switch.

The company behind the app is Global Connection Technologies Limited in Hong Kong, with a team in Hong Kong and Shenzhen. The SDK list includes Alibaba Cloud storage, Tencent Cloud, ByteDance's Volcano Engine for voice calls and speech recognition, and NetEase's YiDun, which receives the text, pictures, audio and video users publish so it can flag risky accounts. The policy says data goes to "third countries" but does not name them.

Are your chats private?

Not in the way they are on WhatsApp or Signal. Nothing on HelloTalk is end-to-end encryptedEnd-to-end encryptionEncryption in which only the sender and the recipient can read a message. The company running the service cannot see its content.More in the glossary, and the policy only promises SSL/TLS encryption in transit "if necessary". It says delivered messages are deleted from its servers, and that undelivered ones are kept encrypted for up to 30 days. It also says HelloTalk does not monitor or record voice and video calls, and warns that your partner can.

We found no two-step login option and no public bug bounty. One useful protection exists: when you sign in on a new device, HelloTalk locks profile edits and account deletion until you have used that device for 7 active days. We found no reported breach.

Scams and strangers

HelloTalk is unusually frank about this. Its help centre describes three common scams. Romance scammers pose as men working on oil rigs or peacekeeping missions and soon ask for money. Investment scammers pose as young businesswomen from China, Hong Kong or Singapore and push stocks or crypto. "Pig butchering" scammers, mostly connecting from Southeast Asia, build a relationship and then lead victims to fake gambling or trading platforms. All three try to move you to WhatsApp, Line, WeChat or KakaoTalk, where HelloTalk cannot ban them.

Paid Practice adds a money angle: users can pay HT coins to message people who enable it, and those people earn diamonds they can redeem for cash. That is legitimate tutoring for most, but it gives strangers a reason to keep you talking.

For minors, the design is better than at most stranger-chat apps. Under-18s can only search for other minors, and the limit covers Moments, comments, livestreams and Voicerooms. The catch is that age rests on the birth date entered at sign-up. HelloTalk does not appear in NCMEC's list of services that sent child-exploitation reports in 2025, but as a Hong Kong company it is not bound by the US reporting law.

We found no fine or order naming HelloTalk from a privacy or consumer regulator in the EU, the US, South Korea or mainland China.

How to use HelloTalk more safely

1. Never send money, crypto or gift cards to a language partner, whatever the story.
2. Before moving to another app, start a video call inside HelloTalk to check the person is real.
3. In Settings, then Privacy, turn off personalised ads and hide your age and location if you do not need them shown.
4. Limit who can message you by age range, and use Hide from Search if you only want to chat with people you add.
5. Keep the web version of your profile switched off unless you want it public.
6. On iPhone, choose "Ask App Not to Track"; on Android, delete your advertising ID.

How we scored it

Privacy (30) is the weakest factor: 15 ad networks, installed-app collection and Chinese cloud and moderation providers, none of which the store labels show. Scams and harmful content (45) reflects scams the company itself documents, softened by its separation of minors. Security (45) suffers from the lack of end-to-end encryptionEnd-to-end encryptionEncryption in which only the sender and the recipient can read a message. The company running the service cannot see its content.More in the glossary and two-step login. The regulatory record (86) is clean, though no regulator has examined the app.