Terms of Service & Refund Policy

Echo Korean · Effective October 6, 2026

These terms set out the rights and duties between Tium Lab (티움랩, "we") and you when you use Echo Korean, our Korean-learning app (the "Service"). We have tried to keep them in plain English. Please read Section 6 (Cancellation and refunds) and Section 7 (Changes and shutdown) in particular, because they are about money.

1. Purpose and terms used

• Service: the Echo Korean app and web app (echo-korean.pages.dev), which translate what you say in English into Korean, read it aloud, and let you save, review and get explanations of those sentences, plus the servers behind them.
• You / user: anyone who agrees to these terms and uses the Service.
• Paid features: features offered through a subscription, described in Section 5.
• Subscription: a payment for a fixed period (one month or one year) that renews automatically unless you cancel.

2. How these terms apply and change

• These terms are posted in the app's Settings screen and on our website. By starting to use the Service, you agree to them.
• We may change these terms within the limits of the law. We announce changes on this page and in the app at least 7 days before they take effect (30 days for changes that are important or work against you).
• If you do not agree to the changed terms, you can stop using the Service and delete your account. If you are on a paid plan, you can ask for a refund for the remaining period under Section 6.
• Anything not covered here follows the laws of the Republic of Korea — including the Act on Consumer Protection in Electronic Commerce, the Content Industry Promotion Act and the Act on the Regulation of Terms and Conditions — and common commercial practice.

3. What the Service includes

• Speech recognition and Korean audio use features built into your device (Android or browser). Recognition accuracy and voice quality vary with your device and internet connection.
• Translations, explanations and practice sentences are made automatically by AI. They are a learning aid and are not guaranteed to always be correct (Section 10).
• We may add, improve or change features, and we will announce important changes in the app in advance.

4. Your account

• Some features, such as syncing your history, require signing in with a Google account. We never create or store a separate password.
• The Service is intended for people aged 14 or older.
• You are responsible for your account and records. You may not lend or sell your account to anyone else.
• You can delete your account and all stored data at any time from the app's Settings or by following the account deletion page. For how we handle personal data, see our Privacy Policy.

5. Paid features and payment

Prices

Prices differ by country. The price that applies is the one Google Play shows you, in your currency and including any applicable taxes, at the moment you pay. If we raise prices, we will tell you at least 30 days in advance, and the new price never applies to a period you have already paid for.

How payment works

• Payment is made through Google Play in-app billing, and Google handles your payment details (card number, etc.). We never receive or store your card number.
• Unless you cancel, your subscription renews automatically at the end of each period and is charged to your payment method on file.
• You can cancel at any time in the Google Play app → your profile picture → Payments & subscriptions → Subscriptions. After you cancel, you keep the paid features until the end of the period you have already paid for.

Free trials

• 💡 Sentence explanations are free for 7 days, starting the first day you use them.
• If you start a subscription with a free trial through Google Play, you will not be charged if you cancel before the trial ends. When the trial ends, it turns into a paid subscription automatically.

6. Cancellation and refunds

6-1. Change of mind (within 7 days of paying)

If you ask within 7 days of the payment date and have not used the paid features for that period (unlimited translation, explanations, etc.), we give a full refund without asking why, as required by Article 17 of Korea's Act on Consumer Protection in Electronic Commerce. If you have already used the paid features, withdrawal may be limited under Article 27 of the Content Industry Promotion Act, and Section 6-2 applies instead.

6-2. Cancelling for your own reasons

Example: if the yearly plan cost 39,000 and the monthly plan 5,900, and you ask in the 3rd month, we refund 39,000 − (3 × 5,900) = 21,300.

6-3. When you can't use the Service because of us

If you cannot use the paid features because of something we are responsible for — the Service shutting down, an outage lasting 24 hours or more, or our breach of these terms — we refund the whole remaining period, calculated by day. Where Korean consumer dispute standards provide for further compensation, we follow them.

6-4. How and when refunds are made

• Within 48 hours of paying: the fastest way is to request it yourself in Google Play (Play Store → Payments & subscriptions → Budget & history).
• Otherwise: email us at the contact address below with your Google account email and your order number (starting with GPA.). We process the refund through Google Play within 3 business days of receiving your request. Your card company may take a few more days to show it.
• Refunds go back to the payment method you used. Once a refund is complete, the paid features stop immediately.
• If your use was suspended because you broke these terms (Section 8), we may not give a refund.

7. Changes and shutdown

• If we shut down the whole Service, we will announce it in the app, on our website and by email (if we have it) at least 30 days before the shutdown date.
• From the day a shutdown is announced, we stop new payments and automatic renewals.
• Anyone with subscription time left after the shutdown date gets a refund of the whole remaining period under Section 6-3. We do this ourselves; you do not need to ask.
• Before the shutdown, you can save your records as a text file with the app's export feature. After the shutdown, records cannot be recovered.
• We will give notice before pausing the Service for maintenance or updates. In an emergency we may tell you afterwards.

8. Your obligations

You may not do the following. If you do, we may restrict your use without warning.

• Hack, reverse-engineer or tamper with our servers or app, or send abnormally large numbers of requests with automated tools
• Extract translations or explanations in bulk to resell them commercially
• Use someone else's account or a payment method you are not entitled to use
• Enter, store or spread content in the Service that breaks the law or public decency

9. Content and rights

• What you say and write, and the records of it, belong to you. We process them only as far as needed to provide the Service. See our Privacy Policy for details.
• We hold the rights to the app's design and software, its curated sentences, and the name and logo "Echo Korean". Copying or distributing them for anything other than personal study needs our permission.
• You are free to use the AI-made translations and explanations for your own learning.

10. Limits of liability

• Translations and explanations are learning aids made automatically by AI. We are not liable for loss caused by relying on them as-is where accuracy matters, such as contracts, medical or legal situations.
• Problems caused by your device's speech recognition or speech synthesis, your internet connection, or outside services such as Google Play are beyond our control, though we will explain the cause and help you fix it.
• Where we are found liable, compensation is limited to the fees you actually paid for that period — except in cases of our intent or gross negligence.
• For features provided free of charge, we are not liable except where the law specifically requires it.

11. Resolving disputes

• If you have a complaint or dispute, please contact us first at the address below. We reply within 3 business days.
• If we cannot settle it together, you can apply for mediation to the Korea Consumer Agency (1372 Consumer Counseling Center) or the Content Dispute Resolution Committee.
• These terms are governed by the laws of the Republic of Korea. If a lawsuit is needed, the competent court is the one set by Korea's Civil Procedure Act.

12. Business information

Email us about payments or refunds and we will reply within 3 business days. For questions about Google Play payments you can also get help from the Google Play Help Center.

Effective date

• These terms take effect on October 6, 2026.