Ponderoo · Legal and safety

Children's Privacy Notice for Parents

Effective October 31, 2026. This is our direct notice to parents under the US Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and the EU/UK rules for children’s data.

Family linking

A parent can follow their child's progress from their own phone. The parent starts it: on the parent's phone, "I'm a parent" opens the Family page, where the parent agrees to this notice, creates a family and adds each child with a nickname. The app then shows a one-time link code that the child types on their own device. Nothing about a child reaches our server before the parent has agreed and added the child.

After linking, the child's device shares only a small summary (see the table in the Privacy Policy): nickname, avatar, age and progress numbers. It never shares answers, questions or anything typed. The parent can change the daily goal, allow or stop Ask Byte, remove a child, or delete the whole family at any time. Removing or deleting erases the data on our server at once; the child keeps their progress on their own device. A family has no password: the parent's phone keeps a recovery code, which the parent can write down to open the Family page on another phone. A parent may also add a recovery email. We keep only a scrambled form of it and a short hint, so we can email a one-time code only when the parent types the address again, and we use it for nothing else. A link code can also be shown as a QR code, which the child's camera opens in Ponderoo; the child still confirms the link.

Pilot program

Sometimes we invite families to a pilot to test new versions. Taking part is optional and needs a parent: in the Grown-up dashboard, the parent types the pilot code and ticks a box to agree. The app then shares one anonymous summary per child per learning day (a random pilot number, age path, language, minutes, goal reached and totals such as worlds passed). Never names, answers or anything typed. Parents can leave the pilot at any time in the same place, and the summaries are deleted automatically after 200 days, or sooner on request.

Goals, streaks and reminders

Children pick how many minutes a day they want to learn. The app counts learning time, streaks and awards on the device only. A streak is never simply lost: rest days cover missed days, and a comeback quest wins it back. A parent can hide streaks for any child. Daily reminders are off until a grown-up switches them on, come at most once a day, never once the goal is reached, and stop by themselves after a week without opening the app. They are scheduled on the device and nothing is sent to us.

Quiz Race

Children can play live quiz games with friends and family who have the 4-letter room code. Players only ever see made-up names like "Zippy Owl", chosen from fixed word lists. There is no chat, no free text and no public ranking, and the room is deleted from our server when the game ends (within one hour). No consent is needed because no personal information is collected.

The Grown-up dashboard

Settings, purchases, the AI tutor and these legal pages sit behind a "grown-ups only" check that a young child can't easily pass. Children can't buy anything or follow links out of the app on their own.

Information collected from children

Without parental consent (stays on the device)

A nickname, an age, an avatar, optional interests and learning progress. The app asks for a nickname rather than a real name and can suggest one ("Swift Fox"). It lets the app greet the child and pick examples. It is stored only on the device and never sent to us.

Only with your consent (Ask Byte and natural voice)

• What: the text your child types to Byte, the last few messages of that chat, an age band and the app language; sentences to be read aloud. Ready-made prompts include the child's age (for example "I'm 9"). The child's name is never sent.
• Why: only to answer the question and to read text aloud. Never for advertising, profiling or training AI models.
• Who receives it: our server (Cloudflare) and our AI provider Anthropic, as service providers bound by contract. Anthropic keeps API data only for a limited time for safety monitoring and does not use it for training by default. We disclose children's information to no one else.
• How long: we don't store questions or answers. Only usage counts (numbers) are kept, for up to 40 days. If you or your child tap "Report", that one question and answer are kept 90 days so we can review it.

Children could type personal details into a question. Byte is instructed never to ask for personal information and to remind children to keep it private, and the app reminds them too. We still recommend talking with your child about what not to share.

How we get your consent

Before Ask Byte or the natural voice works for any child, a parent must: (1) pass the grown-up check, (2) read a summary of this notice and agree to it, and (3) buy the AI Tutor subscription with the Apple or Google account that is linked to a payment method. Separate consent is required for disclosing the child's questions to our AI provider. You can withdraw consent at any time by switching Ask Byte off for that child in the Grown-up dashboard and cancelling the subscription.

In the EU, the UK and similar regions, a parent must consent for children under the national age of digital consent (for example 15 in Denmark, 14 in Spain and 16 in many other countries). Ponderoo asks a grown-up before Ask Byte is switched on for any learner, whatever their age.

Your rights as a parent

• Review: you can see your child's profile and progress in the Grown-up dashboard at any time.
• Delete: delete a learner in the Grown-up dashboard, or delete the app. For anything on our server (for example a report), email hello@ponderoo.app and we'll delete it within 30 days.
• Refuse further collection: untick your child under Who may use Ask Byte. Your child can keep using all lessons without it.

We will never require a child to share more information than needed to take part in an activity.

Data retention and deletion policy

Contact

Nielsen, Los Angeles, California, USA. Email: hello@ponderoo.app.