EasyAkuru

EasyAkuru Privacy Statement

Effective date:
Last updated:

The short version: EasyAkuru reads your keystrokes so it can turn Latin letters into Sinhala, but it does that only in your PC's memory. It has no network features, so nothing you type is ever sent to us or to anyone else. It saves only your settings and the word choices you make, in your own Windows user profile. This website sets no cookies and runs no analytics.

Read this in Sinhala: සිංහල සාරාංශය. The Sinhala page is a plain-language summary; if it differs from this English statement, this English statement applies.

1. Introduction and scope

This statement explains how Ratcon ("we", "us") handles personal data in connection with:

  • The EasyAkuru app – a Windows 10 and Windows 11 system-tray app that lets you type Sinhala phonetically ("Singlish") in any application. For example, typing mama produces මම.
  • This website – the pages under https://ratnayake.info/easyakuru/.
  • Distribution through the Microsoft Store – to the extent described in section 7.3.

EasyAkuru is published by Ratcon and written by Isuru Ratnayake. We have tried to write this statement in plain language and to describe only what the app and website actually do. It does not cover other companies' products or websites, including the apps you type into while using EasyAkuru, which have their own privacy practices.

2. Personal data we collect

We designed EasyAkuru so that we do not need to collect personal data at all.

What we do not collect

  • We do not receive your keystrokes, the text you type, or anything derived from it. The app has no network features and cannot send them anywhere.
  • We do not collect usage statistics, telemetry, crash reports, device identifiers or location from the app.
  • There are no user accounts, no sign-in, no advertising and no in-app purchases.
  • This website does not use cookies, analytics, tracking pixels, web fonts or third-party scripts.

What is involved

  • Data kept on your device. The app saves your settings and the word choices you make in its suggestion box to files in your Windows user profile. These files stay on your PC; we never receive them. See section 7.1.
  • Website request data. When you visit this website, our hosting provider, Cloudflare, processes the technical information any web server needs to deliver a page, such as your IP address, browser user agent, the page requested and the time. See section 7.2.
  • Messages you send us. If you email us, we receive your email address, your name if you include it, and whatever you write in the message and any attachments.
  • Microsoft Store data. If you get EasyAkuru from the Microsoft Store, Microsoft processes data about your purchase and installation under its own privacy statement. See section 7.3.

3. How we use personal data

  • On your device, the app uses what you type only to show Sinhala suggestions and insert the Sinhala text, and uses its saved files only to remember your settings and put your preferred spellings first.
  • Emails you send us are used only to reply to you, to investigate and fix the problem you report, and to improve EasyAkuru based on your feedback.
  • Website request data is processed by Cloudflare to deliver the website and to protect it against abuse, such as denial-of-service attacks.

We do not use personal data for advertising, profiling or automated decision-making, and we do not sell it.

4. Reasons we share personal data

The app has nothing to share: it never sends data off your PC. For the limited personal data we do handle (mainly emails you send us), we share it only:

  • with service providers that operate on our behalf, namely our website host (Cloudflare) and our email provider, only as needed to run those services;
  • when you ask us to or agree to it;
  • when we believe in good faith that the law requires it, for example to respond to a valid legal request, or to protect the rights, property or safety of our users, the public or us.

We do not sell, rent or trade personal data.

5. How to access and control your personal data

Data the app keeps on your PC

Everything the app saves is in the folder %AppData%\EasyAkuru, which you control directly:

  • See it: open the folder and view settings.json and user-dictionary.json in any text editor.
  • Delete your word choices: choose Exit from the EasyAkuru tray menu, then delete user-dictionary.json. EasyAkuru starts again with no learned choices.
  • Delete everything: exit EasyAkuru and delete the whole EasyAkuru folder. If you used an earlier version called "SinhalaInput", also delete %AppData%\SinhalaInput if it exists (see section 7.1).
  • Pause it: press Ctrl+Space, or clear Enabled in the tray menu, to type ordinary text without EasyAkuru converting it.
  • Stop it starting at sign-in: turn EasyAkuru off in Windows Settings > Apps > Startup, or on the Startup apps page of Task Manager. Versions not installed from the Microsoft Store also offer this option in EasyAkuru's Settings window.
  • Uninstall it: go to Windows Settings > Apps > Installed apps, select EasyAkuru, and choose Uninstall. For a Microsoft Store installation, Windows normally stores the app's files in a location private to the app and removes them when you uninstall. If you installed EasyAkuru another way, or want to be sure, delete the folders listed above.

Data we hold

The only personal data we hold about you is any email correspondence you have had with us. You can ask us to access, correct, delete or export it, or object to how we use it, by emailing isuru.sampath@ratnayake.info. We may need to confirm that the request comes from you, and we will reply within 30 days. Depending on where you live, you may also have the right to complain to your local data protection authority.

For website request data held by Cloudflare, and for Microsoft Store data held by Microsoft, see the links in section 7.

6. Cookies and similar technologies

This website does not set cookies and does not use local storage, web beacons, fingerprinting or similar tracking technologies. It loads no content from third parties: every page, stylesheet and image is served from this site. The EasyAkuru app does not use cookies or any similar technology.

7. Product-specific details

7.1 The EasyAkuru app

Keystrokes

To convert text in any application, EasyAkuru uses a standard Windows system-wide ("low-level") keyboard hook, which lets it see each key you press. This is how a system-wide phonetic keyboard has to work. EasyAkuru handles those keys as follows:

  • The Latin letters of the word you are currently typing are held in memory only until the word is finished (converted to Sinhala or kept as Latin) or discarded, and are then cleared.
  • Keystrokes are never written to disk, logged, or sent over a network. The app's source code includes an explicit rule that keystroke data must never be logged to any file, console or diagnostic output.
  • While EasyAkuru is paused, it still receives keys from Windows but ignores them.

Password fields (best effort)

Before handling each key, EasyAkuru checks whether the focused box is a standard Windows password box. If it is, EasyAkuru does not buffer, suggest, convert or learn from anything typed there, discards any partly typed word, and lets your keys pass through unchanged. This check is best effort: it recognizes password boxes built with the standard Windows edit control, but some apps and websites draw their own password boxes, and EasyAkuru may not recognize those. Even then, keystrokes are not stored or sent anywhere; the only effect is that the suggestion box could appear. You can pause EasyAkuru with Ctrl+Space before typing a password if you prefer.

Files EasyAkuru saves

EasyAkuru saves two files in the folder %AppData%\EasyAkuru:

FileWhat it containsWhen it is written
settings.json Two on/off preferences: whether conversion is enabled, and whether EasyAkuru starts when you sign in. When you change a setting.
user-dictionary.json Your word choices: for each word where you picked a suggestion by number, the Latin spelling you typed (for example mama) and the Sinhala spelling you picked. When you pick a suggestion by number. Never from a recognized password box.

These are ordinary files in your Windows user profile. EasyAkuru never uploads, syncs or shares them. When upgrading from an earlier version called "SinhalaInput", EasyAkuru copies these two files from %AppData%\SinhalaInput to %AppData%\EasyAkuru once, if the new files do not already exist. It copies rather than moves them, so the old copies remain until you delete them.

Starting at sign-in

EasyAkuru starts automatically when you sign in to Windows. The Microsoft Store version uses the Windows startup task feature for packaged apps; other installations use a per-user entry in the Windows registry that contains only the path to the app. Neither involves sending any information anywhere. See section 5 to turn it off.

No network access, telemetry or ads

EasyAkuru contains no networking code. It does not check for updates itself, collect usage statistics or crash reports, or include any third-party analytics, advertising or tracking libraries. Updates to the Microsoft Store version are delivered by the Microsoft Store.

7.2 This website

This website is a set of static pages with no forms, accounts, cookies, scripts or analytics. It is hosted on Cloudflare Pages. To deliver and protect the site, Cloudflare, acting as our hosting provider, processes standard request data such as your IP address, browser user agent, the page requested, the referring page and the time of the request, and may keep it in its logs. Cloudflare may make aggregated traffic statistics available to us; we do not use them to identify visitors. Cloudflare's handling of this data is described in the Cloudflare Privacy Policy.

Links to other websites, such as the Microsoft Store, take you to sites with their own privacy practices.

7.3 The Microsoft Store

EasyAkuru is distributed through the Microsoft Store (product ID 9P65C2RS1N87). When you get, install or update EasyAkuru from the Store, Microsoft processes data such as your Microsoft account, acquisition and installation details, and any diagnostic or crash data your Windows settings allow, under the Microsoft Privacy Statement. Microsoft may make aggregated reports, such as download counts, ratings and reviews, and crash summaries, available to us as the publisher. We use these only to understand how EasyAkuru is doing and to fix problems.

8. How we secure data

The strongest protection is not collecting data in the first place: your keystrokes stay in memory on your PC, and the app has no networking code. The files EasyAkuru saves are stored in your Windows user profile and are protected by Windows' normal access controls for that profile; EasyAkuru does not encrypt them itself, so anyone with access to your Windows account can read them. You can use Windows features such as BitLocker device encryption to protect your whole drive. This website is served only over HTTPS. We keep email correspondence in an access-controlled email account.

9. Where we store and process data

Data the app saves stays on your PC. Website request data is processed by Cloudflare, which runs a global network, so it may be handled in a data centre outside your country. Emails you send us are stored by our email provider and may likewise be processed outside your country. Where the law requires it, we rely on our providers' safeguards for international transfers.

10. How long we keep data

  • Keystrokes: only in memory, until the current word is finished or discarded.
  • App files on your PC: until you delete them or uninstall the app, as described in section 5.
  • Emails: for as long as needed to handle your request and keep a reasonable record of support history, after which we delete them. You can ask us to delete them sooner.
  • Website request data: kept by Cloudflare for the periods described in its privacy policy.

11. Children

EasyAkuru and this website do not collect personal data from anyone, including children. Neither has accounts, and the app sends nothing off the device. If a child has emailed us and a parent or guardian would like that message deleted, contact us and we will delete it.

12. Changes to this statement

We will update this statement when our practices change, for example if a future version of EasyAkuru adds a feature that uses the network. When we do, we will change the "Last updated" date at the top of this page. If the change is significant, we will also describe it in the app's Microsoft Store release notes.

13. How to contact us

If you have a privacy question, concern or request, contact:

Ratcon (publisher of EasyAkuru)
Attn: Isuru Ratnayake
Email: isuru.sampath@ratnayake.info

We aim to reply within 30 days.