The clear path to answers.

Frequently asked

• How do I cancel my subscription on iOS?▾

  iOS Settings → tap your name at the top → Subscriptions → MíngWay → Cancel Subscription. Cancellation stops the auto-renewal; you keep access until the end of the current billing period, then your account reverts to the free tier automatically. No refund for the unused portion.

• How do I cancel my subscription on the web?▾

  Open Settings → Billing inside MíngWay → Manage subscription → Stripe customer portal → Cancel. Same lifecycle as iOS: access continues until the period ends, then auto-reverts to free. No prorated refund for the unused portion.
• I lost my subscription after reinstalling — how do I get it back?▾

  iOS: open MíngWay → paywall → tap Restore purchases. We pull your transaction history from Apple and re-grant Plus. If “No previous purchases were found” appears unexpectedly, make sure you're signed in to the iOS App Store with the same Apple ID that originally bought the subscription.

  Web: sign in with the same email you used originally — your entitlement is tied to your account, not the device.

• How do I delete my account?▾

  Open Settings, scroll to the “Delete account” panel in the Account section. Type DELETE in the confirmation field and tap the destructive button. Your account, decks, progress, tutor history, push subscriptions, and any Stripe customer record are removed immediately. There is no grace period and no backup we can restore from later.
• Can I get a refund?▾

  iOS purchases: request a refund through Apple at reportaproblem.apple.com — Apple owns the billing relationship for App Store transactions.

  Web (Stripe) purchases: email support@mingway.app within 14 days and we'll evaluate case-by-case.

• How does the free trial work?▾

  New subscribers get 7 days of full Plus access. We don't charge until day 8. You can cancel during the trial without being charged using the instructions above. Cancelling during the trial ends Plus immediately rather than at period end (Apple's standard trial-cancellation policy).
• Why does MíngWay want microphone access?▾

  Only for pronunciation scoring. On a card with audio, tap the microphone icon and speak the phrase. The audio is sent to Microsoft Azure Cognitive Services, which returns a per-word pronunciation score, then the recording is discarded immediately — nothing is retained at rest. To revoke later: iOS Settings → MíngWay → Microphone → toggle off. The rest of the app still works without it.
• How do I report a bad reply from the AI tutor?▾

  Every assistant message has a quiet “Report” link beneath it. Tap it, pick a reason (inaccurate, harassment, hate, sexual, violent, self-harm, spam, other), add optional context, submit. Our team reviews every report. The tutor also runs pre-flight moderation on what you type — clearly harmful prompts get a polite refusal before reaching the AI provider.
• What is the Daily Lantern?▾

  Your study streak. Each day you complete reviews or practice contributions, the lantern stays lit. Reviews on a streak earn +1 XP per streak day, capped at +10. Lookups and library reading don't count toward lighting — they're exploration.
• How does Plus work?▾

  MíngWay Plus opens every shipped world immediately — Jade Market (HSK 2), River Library (HSK 3), and the rest as they ship. You also get unlimited daily new words, full Brush Practice, and the AI tutor scoped to your decks.

  Plus does not skip foundations: you'll still see HSK 1 as your current path. But locked worlds drop the path-gate the moment Plus activates.

• Why is HSK X locked?▾

  Two reasons a world might be locked:

  • Plus required — HSK 2-6 are part of Plus. Free users see a Plus pill. All six worlds (Lantern Gate through Celestial Archive) are now shipped — Plus opens HSK 2 to HSK 6 immediately.
  • Path-locked — free users walk one world at a time. Clear the prior world to open the next.
• Where do I find the AI tutor and tone scoring?▾

  The AI tutor lives at /tutor — also reachable from Today's Quick Actions grid. Tone Trail tone-contour drills appear under each world's Practice Paths; full pronunciation scoring rolls out alongside Plus content shipments.

• What is a World Trial / Final Gate?▾

  Each world ends with a Final Gate — a curated multi-type challenge round. Clearing it (plus the world's 60% completion thresholds) marks the world “completed” and unlocks the next world for free users. Plus users have all worlds open already; Final Gates still count toward mastery.
• What is the Candle Ritual?▾

  A once-per-week save: if you miss a day and the streak would break, the candle protects it. One charge per week — used automatically on the day you'd otherwise lose the streak.
• Where does my data live?▾

  Card states, review history, lookups, and tutor conversations live in MíngWay's database (Postgres on Vercel/Neon). Audio for pronunciation scoring is sent to Azure for transient analysis and is not retained. We don't sell data. We don't train AI models on your conversations. See Privacy for the full inventory + retention windows. GDPR / CCPA requests: privacy@mingway.app.