Effective Date: October 25, 2025
This Privacy Policy describes how KidsEarnIt ("we," "us," or "our") handles information in connection with your use of the KidsEarnIt mobile application (the "App").
1. Our Privacy-First Approach & The Information We Handle
Our core philosophy is to empower families while ensuring the highest level of privacy. We achieve this through client-side encryption and a "Zero-Knowledge" commitment regarding your personal family data. This means sensitive information is encrypted on your device before it is ever stored on our servers, making it unreadable to us.
We handle information in two distinct categories:
A. Encrypted Family Data (What We CANNOT See)
The following information is always encrypted on your device using a key that only your authorized family members can access. We cannot read this data. This encrypted data is synchronized via Google's Firebase Realtime Database to enable sharing between your family's authorized devices.
- User & Family Names
- Payee (Child) Names
- All Financial Data (Balances, Savings, Goals)
- All Task & Activity Log Data (Descriptions, Values, Statuses)
B. Service & Administrative Data (What is Visible to Us)
To provide core app functionality, we rely on Google's Firebase platform. For essential administrative purposes, the Firebase console makes a minimal amount of non-encrypted data visible to us:
- Email Address: Visible within the Firebase Authentication console for account management (e.g., assisting with account deletion or troubleshooting login issues).
- Device Identifier (FCM Token): An anonymous token used by Firebase Cloud Messaging to send generic push notifications.
C. Password Information (What Only You and Firebase See)
- Password: Managed entirely by Firebase Authentication. We never see, nor have access to, your plaintext password.
2. Our Role as Administrator & Our Commitment to You
To operate, maintain, and secure the KidsEarnIt service, a designated administrator has access to the underlying application infrastructure provided by Google Firebase.
Our commitment to you is built on three principles:
- Purpose Limitation: We will only access the application infrastructure for legitimate operational purposes, such as system maintenance, debugging, security audits, or to comply with a legal obligation.
- Data Minimization: Our App is designed so that we never need to view your decrypted family data to provide the service.
- Confidentiality: We pledge not to access, use, or disclose your encrypted data or encryption keys for any purpose outside of the strict operational needs described in this policy.
3. How We Use Information
Our use of information is strictly limited to providing the App's features:
- To Operate the App: Your encrypted data is decrypted only locally on your device to display your family's information to you.
- To Secure Your Account: Firebase Authentication uses your email for login.
- To Enable Family Syncing: Encrypted data is synchronized via Firebase Realtime Database so that authorized members of your family can see the same information on their respective devices.
- To Send Notifications: Our system uses serverless Cloud Functions to trigger generic push notifications (e.g., for task approvals).
4. Data Sharing and Disclosure
We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information. We only disclose information in the following limited circumstances:
- With Our Service Provider (Google Firebase): We use Google's Firebase platform for authentication, database synchronization (of encrypted data), and cloud functions. Your use of our App is also subject to the Google Privacy Policy.
- Within Your Family Group: When an administrator uses the "Invite to Family" feature, a unique code linked to your Family ID is intentionally shared with the person you invite.
- For Legal Compliance and Safety: We may access or disclose information we have access to if we believe in good faith that such action is necessary to: (a) comply with a legal obligation, such as a court order or subpoena; (b) protect and defend our rights or property; or (c) prevent or investigate possible wrongdoing in connection with the App, particularly in cases involving a threat to the safety of any person.
5. Data Security
We take the security of your data extremely seriously. Our security model is built on client-side encryption for data in all states, including data at rest on your device and on our cloud servers.
- Client-Side Encryption: Your sensitive family data is encrypted on your device before it is ever written to local storage or synchronized to the cloud.
- Secure Authentication: User login is handled by the robust and industry-standard Firebase Authentication service.
- Access Control: Data is partitioned by a unique Family ID. Our database security rules are designed to prevent one family from ever accessing another family's data.
6. Data Retention
- Active Account Data: Your encrypted family data is retained as long as your family account is active.
- Account Deletion: The family account holder can delete the family account at any time. This is an irreversible action that permanently deletes all associated family data from our databases and removes all associated users from our authentication system.
- Activity Logs: To protect privacy and practice data minimization, activity logs are retained for a period of 6 months, after which they are subject to automated deletion.
7. Your Choices and Rights
- Managing Your Family: Administrators can add or remove users from the family account. The account holder can delete the entire family account, which will permanently remove all users and delete all associated family data.
- Managing App Permissions: You can grant or revoke Camera and Notification permissions at any time through your device's system settings.
- Accessing and Correcting Data: You can view and modify all your family's data directly within the App's interface.
8. Children's Privacy
We are committed to complying with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and other privacy regulations. Our App is designed to be used by an adult Account Holder who creates and manages all accounts and data within the family group.
- Parental Control: All information related to a child is provided and controlled by the adult Account Holder. We do not knowingly collect personal information directly from children.
- Limited Data Use: All information associated with a child's profile is used solely to provide the App's features within the family unit and is subject to the same client-side encryption.
- No Third-Party Sharing: We do not share any data associated with child profiles with any third party for marketing, advertising, or any other purpose.
- Parental Rights: As a parent or guardian, you have the right to review your child's information, request its deletion, and refuse any further use of the information by discontinuing use of the App.
9. Changes to This Privacy Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any changes by posting the new policy within the App and updating the "Effective Date" at the top.
10. Contact Us
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us at:
superdadsmith@gmail.com