Last updated 29 July 2026. This is the whole of it — there is no longer legal version behind it.
This is the plain-English version, and it is the actual terms — there is no longer legal version hiding behind it. If something here is unclear, email [email protected] and I will fix the wording rather than tell you what it "really" means.
Patwa Partner is built and run by Gyason Chambers. Contact: [email protected].
A licence to use Patwa Partner to learn Jamaican Patois, for yourself. That includes:
working if I stop working on it
Patwa Partner is not open source and is not in the public domain. Without written permission from me, you may not:
Two things I want to be explicit about, because people assume the answer is no and it usually isn't:
Teaching with it. If you want to use Patwa Partner with a class, a church group, a family learning circle, or a community programme, ask me. The answer is usually yes and usually free.
Quoting it. Normal quotation for review, criticism, teaching, or commentary is fine and does not need my permission. Credit and a link is all I ask.
Patwa Partner is a practice tool. It is built on published descriptions of Jamaican Creole — the Cassidy-JLU orthography, standard phonological reference material, and parish history.
It is not a certified translation service, professional language instruction, or a substitute for speaking with native speakers. The mouth animation is a moving diagram, not a medical or phonetic recording — it teaches direction and contrast, not exact articulation, and no native-speaker articulation study currently backs it.
Patois is a living language with real regional and generational variation. Where the app presents one form, that is a teaching choice, not a ruling about what is correct.
Some features use AI language and voice models, which you connect using your own API key. AI output can be wrong, and sometimes confidently wrong. Check anything that matters. Do not rely on it for anything consequential — legal, medical, employment, or immigration language especially.
Your API key is stored on your own device and is used only to talk to the provider you gave the key for. It is not sent to me. I have no way to see it, because there is no server.
There is no account, no analytics in the app, and no server holding your data — because there is no server. Your progress, your recordings, your family audio clips, and your API keys live in your own browser's storage on your own device.
That has a consequence worth knowing: clearing your browser data deletes your progress. Use ⚙️ Settings → Export to keep a backup.
There is a second consequence that is specific to iPhone, iPad and Safari on a Mac. Those browsers delete everything a website has saved if you have not opened that site for seven days — your progress included, and without asking. It is a privacy feature and it applies to every site, not just this one. Two things stop it: add the app to your Home Screen, which exempts it from the sweep, or export a backup file, which lives outside the browser entirely. The app checks which situation your device is in and says so in ⚙️ Settings → Progress; if you are at risk it tells you once, with the fix.
When the app throws an error it writes a short note about it — the build number, the page you were on, the size of your screen, and the error text — into that same browser storage on your own device. It keeps the last twenty and throws older ones away. API keys and email addresses are stripped out before the note is written, so what is stored is already clean.
Nothing is sent. There is no endpoint for it to go to. You can read the notes at ⚙️ Settings → "Someting break?", and if you want me to see them you copy or download them and email them yourself. That is the only way they ever leave your device, and it happens because you pressed a button, not because the app decided to.
The app has no analytics in it. The web host that serves the site does keep ordinary server request logs — which pages were requested, roughly when, and from which country — the same way every web server on the internet does. Those logs are counts, not people: no cookies are set, no tracking script runs, and nothing in them is tied to your progress, your recordings, or you.
If you use the AI features, your conversations go directly from your device to the provider whose key you supplied (Anthropic, ElevenLabs, or your own proxy). Their terms and privacy policy apply to that; mine cannot.
If you record a relative and add them to the app, those recordings stay on your device. I never receive them. Please get their permission first — this is somebody's voice and it usually ends up being the most valuable thing in the app to you, so treat it accordingly.
Patwa Partner is provided as-is, without warranty of any kind. I cannot promise it is free of errors, that it will work on every device, or that it will always be available.
To the extent the law allows, I am not liable for any loss arising from your use of the app, including lost progress or lost recordings. Nothing here limits liability that cannot legally be limited.
I may update these terms. The version date at the top changes when I do. Continuing to use the app after a change means you accept the updated terms. If a change is significant I will say so in the app rather than quietly editing this page.
These terms are governed by the laws of the State of New York, United States.
© 2026 Gyason Chambers. All rights reserved.