Privacy Policy

Introduction

At BookieKids, we are committed to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your information when you use our platform. Please read this policy carefully to understand our practices regarding your personal data.

Made for Families

Bookie is made for children and for the grown-ups who read with them. On Google Play the app's target audience is set to children and families, and the app is built to the Google Play Families policy. In practice that means:

• Everything the app collects about a child is set out on this page, in plain words, before you agree to any of it.
• No advertising identifier is read, and no child is shown interest-based or remarketing advertising.
• The app asks for no microphone, no camera, no contacts and no precise location.
• We use no third-party component that is not cleared for a service made for children, and there is no analytics or tracking kit in the app.
• Every reader in a household is created by a grown-up, who is asked to confirm they are that child's parent or guardian.

Information We Collect

We collect information that you provide directly to us and information that is automatically collected when you use our services.

Personal Information

• Name and email address when you create an account
• Username and password (encrypted)
• Profile information you choose to provide
• Communication preferences

Usage Information

• Pages you visit and features you use
• Books you read and your reading progress
• Device information (browser type, operating system)
• IP address and general location data

How We Use Your Information

• To provide, maintain, and improve our services
• To personalize your reading experience
• To communicate with you about updates and new features
• To respond to your questions and support requests
• To protect against fraud and unauthorized access
• To comply with legal obligations

Data Storage and Security

Every connection between your device and Bookie is encrypted in transit, so nothing you send travels in the open. Passwords are stored hashed and we cannot read them back. Files and databases sit in access-controlled storage, and the database is backed up daily. No method of transmission over the internet is completely secure, so we cannot promise absolute security, but we do not keep anything we do not need.

Third-Party Services

We use trusted third-party services to help us operate our platform:

• Google, so you can sign in with a Google account
• Facebook, so you can sign in with a Facebook account
• Amazon Web Services, for hosting, file storage and the emails the app sends
• OpenAI, which drafts the words and pictures of a story before a person reviews it

These services only ever see what they need to do their one job, and each is required to protect it. Nothing about you or a reader is sent to the service that drafts stories: it is given a subject and a style by our own staff, and it never sees an account, a reader, or anything anyone has read.

Children's Privacy

A Bookie account belongs to a grown-up. The readers in a household are added by that grown-up, who confirms they are the child's parent or guardian before a reader is created. We write down what was agreed and when, show it back to you in your settings, and you can withdraw it at any time. The app keeps working if you say no to everything that is not strictly needed.

About a child reader we hold only:

• The first name you type for them. It can be a nickname, and we never ask for a surname.
• Their year of birth, not a date. A year is enough, because the only thing it answers is whether a reader is under 13.
• Where they stopped in a book, so a story opens where they left it. This is the one thing the app cannot work without.
• Which stories they finished and which days they read, if you allow it, used to pick the next book on their own shelf and to draw their reading streak.
• Which stories they said they loved.
• Their reading settings: text size, spacing, typeface, the reading ruler, and the language they read in.

We build no advertising profile of a child, we sell none of it, and we use none of it to train anything. Every reader under 13 is treated as a child: no profiling and no personalised advertising, ever. If you believe a child has given us anything without your agreement, write to privacy@bookiekids.com and we will delete it.

Advertising

Bookie shows no third-party advertising, to children or to grown-ups, and nothing about a child is ever sent to anyone for advertising.

If Bookie one day offers something of its own, such as a printed book, it will never appear inside a story.

What We Declare on Google Play

Google Play shows a Data safety summary on the app's store listing. It says the same as this page, and it says this:

• Collected: your name and email address, your year of birth, the first name and year of birth of each reader you add, and reading activity, meaning the page reached, stories finished, days read, and stories loved.
• Why: to run the app, to open a book where it was left, to pick the next story on a shelf, to send you only the emails you asked for, and to keep accounts secure.
• Shared: nothing is sold, and nothing is shared with anyone for advertising.
• Encrypted in transit: yes, on every connection.
• Deletion: you can delete your account and everything attached to it yourself, from your profile, and it happens immediately.

If any of that stops being true, this page and the Play listing change together. If you find they disagree, tell us, and treat this page as the one we stand behind.

Your Rights

You have the following rights regarding your personal data:

• Access: You can request a copy of your personal data
• Correction: You can update or correct your information
• Deletion: You can delete your account and associated data at any time
• Data Portability: You can request your data in a portable format
• Withdraw Consent: You can withdraw consent for data processing at any time

Cookies and Tracking

We use cookies and similar tracking technologies to maintain your session, remember your preferences, and analyze how you use our platform. You can control cookies through your browser settings, but disabling them may affect your ability to use certain features.

Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any significant changes by posting the new policy on this page and updating the 'Last Updated' date. We encourage you to review this policy periodically.

Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or our data practices, please contact us:

Email:privacy@bookiekids.com