Praktika

Is Praktika safe?

Yes, for adults who read the billing terms. Praktika is a speaking app: you talk out loud to an animated AI tutor, which answers in real time and corrects you. There are no other users, no chat with strangers and no public feed, so the scams and harassment that dog language-exchange apps such as HelloTalk simply do not apply.

We score it 56/100, a little below Duolingo (61) and above companion chatbots such as Character.AI (46). The points it loses are about what happens to your voice, how it advertises, and how hard it can be to get money back.

The app comes from Praktika.ai Company, registered in Wilmington, Delaware. Its founders previously built the AI services firm Cleverbots, and in May 2024 it raised $35.5 million led by Blossom Capital, according to TechCrunch. It has more than 10 million downloads on Google Play.

What happens to your voice recordings?

Every lesson is a recording. The privacy policy, last updated on 10 August 2026, says Praktika collects "recordings and transcripts of your conversations with the AI tutor". It uses them to place you at the right level and to grade your grammar and vocabulary, which is what you sign up for. It also analyses them "to identify ways in which we can fine tune our AI models", under its legitimate interests. There is no in-app switch for that. EU and UK users can object by email, and everyone else has to rely on deletion.

The policy does not name the AI companies that process your speech. In 2024 Praktika's chief executive told TechCrunch that it orchestrates several large language models, including GPT-4, Gemini, Claude and Mistral, and that it uses "anonymized data to reinforce the models". The app now also lets you upload photos, PDFs, videos, voice notes and even your CV to turn into lessons, so think about what is in those files.

The advertising side is ordinary for a subscription app but not small. Apple's label lists identifiers and usage data used to track you. The policy says Praktika and its partners use SDKs and cookies to build audiences for its own ads on other platforms, and may share hashed email addresses with Google, Meta, TikTok, AdRoll and AppNexus. Its California section says it "may sell and may have sold" identifiers, commercial information and internet activity in the past 12 months, in the legal sense of the word.

That clashes with Praktika's help centre, which says "we never share your data" and "we don't sell your data", and with Google Play's data safety section, which says nothing is shared. We score the broader disclosure in the policy.

Free trials, renewals and refunds

Billing is where most users run into trouble, and the rules depend on where you paid.

• App Store and Google Play. Apple or Google handle the charge and any refund. Praktika's help centre warns iPhone users to cancel a free trial more than 24 hours before it ends, or Apple may still charge them.
• Website (Stripe). Many people who arrive from Instagram or TikTok ads subscribe at start.praktika.ai. Those subscriptions are cancelled through a Stripe dashboard, not in your phone's settings, and the help centre says refunds are offered only if you ask within 48 hours of the charge.
• Deleting the app or account. Neither cancels a subscription, the help centre confirms.

The terms add that subscriptions renew automatically, a free trial charges you on its last day unless cancelled, fees are otherwise non-refundable except where the law requires, and Praktika's liability is capped at what you paid or $100, whichever is less.

Is Praktika suitable for teenagers?

The company has not decided. Its terms say "you represent that you are over the age of 18" and the privacy policy says the service does not address anyone under 18. Its help centre says the app is for users 13 and older, that under-13s may use it with a parent's permission, and that it is "great for teens". One of the newer avatar tutors is described as an 18-year-old who teaches "everyday teen talk". Apple rates the app 4+ and Google Play rates it Everyone. There is no age check at sign-up.

The content risk is lower than on open chatbots, because conversations are steered by lessons and topics. But Praktika publishes no description of its content filters, so a parent cannot see what stops a tutor going off-script.

We found no fine or order naming Praktika from a privacy or consumer regulator.

How to use Praktika more safely

1. Start a trial through the App Store or Google Play rather than the website, so cancelling and refunds run through the store.
2. Set a reminder for two days before any trial ends, and cancel there if you are unsure.
3. Check for a charge the day a plan renews; for web purchases, the refund window is 48 hours.
4. Do not upload documents with ID numbers, addresses or health details as lesson material.
5. On iPhone, choose "Ask App Not to Track". In California, opt out of "sales" in your profile settings.
6. When you leave, cancel the subscription first, then delete the account from the settings screen.

How we scored it

Regulatory record (86) and scams and harmful content (72) are the strongest factors, because there are no strangers on the app and no fines. Privacy (42) is the weakest: voice recordings feed model tuning and data goes to ad platforms. Transparency and control (50) reflects the short refund window, vague retention periods and contradictory statements about sharing and age.