👋 Introduction
TaleBuddy ("we", "our", or "us") is committed to protecting the privacy of children and families who use our app. This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect, how we use it, and how we protect it.
TaleBuddy is designed for children ages 3–12 and their parents/guardians. We comply with applicable child privacy laws including COPPA (Children's Online Privacy Protection Act).
📋 Information We Collect
Account Information
When you create an account, we collect:
- Phone number or Google account email (for authentication)
- Display name and profile information you provide during onboarding
Family Member Information
When you add family members to create personalized stories, we collect:
- Name, gender, and year of birth
- Photos you upload (used solely to generate cartoon character likenesses in stories)
Content You Create
We store the stories, illustrations, audiobooks, and movies you create within the app. This content is associated with your account and accessible only to you.
Usage Data
We collect anonymous analytics data to improve the app experience, including app opens, feature usage, and crash reports. We use Firebase Analytics for this purpose.
🔧 How We Use Your Information
- Story Generation — Your child's name, photo, and story preferences are sent to AI services to generate personalized stories. Photos are used exclusively to create cartoon character likenesses.
- Authentication — Phone number or Google account is used solely for sign-in and account security.
- App Improvement — Anonymous usage analytics help us understand which features are most popular and identify issues.
- Customer Support — If you contact us, we use your information to respond to your inquiry.
🤖 AI & Third-Party Services
TaleBuddy uses the following third-party services to power its features:
- Google Firebase — Authentication, database, file storage, analytics, and cloud functions.
- Kie.ai — AI image generation and text-to-speech for story illustrations and narration.
- Google Gemini — AI text generation for story creation and text-to-speech narration.
- RevenueCat — Subscription and in-app purchase management.
Photos uploaded for story generation are processed by AI services and may be temporarily stored on their servers during processing. We do not sell or share photos with any third parties for marketing or advertising purposes.
🔒 Data Security
We take reasonable measures to protect your information:
- All data is transmitted over encrypted HTTPS connections.
- User data is stored in Firebase with security rules that restrict access to authenticated users only.
- Photos and generated content are stored in private cloud storage buckets accessible only to the account owner.
- We do not store passwords — authentication is handled securely by Firebase Auth and Google Sign-In.
👶 Children's Privacy
We are committed to protecting children's privacy:
- We do not knowingly collect personal information from children without parental consent.
- The app is designed for families — parents set up accounts and children enjoy creating stories together with their family.
- All AI-generated content is filtered with strict child-safety guardrails.
- We do not serve advertisements to children.
- We do not share children's personal information with third parties for marketing purposes.
🗑️ Data Deletion
You can delete your account and all associated data at any time from Settings → Delete Account in the app. This permanently removes:
- Your account and profile information
- All family member profiles and photos
- All stories, illustrations, audiobooks, and movies
- All usage data associated with your account
You can also contact us at support@talebuddy.com to request data deletion.
📝 Changes to This Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of significant changes through the app or by email. Your continued use of the app after changes constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.
📬 Contact Us
If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or our data practices, contact us at: