BrainFable Privacy Policy
BrainFable is made for school learners, many of them children. It is used by a parent or guardian, who creates the account and the learner profiles. This policy explains what we collect, why, and the choices a parent has.
1. The short version
- BrainFable works offline. A learner's answers, progress and history are stored on the device.
- Nothing about a learner leaves the device unless a parent creates an account. The only exception is one anonymous message the first time the app is opened, saying it was installed and on which kind of phone, so we can count installs. With an account, a small summary is synced so it can be shown to the parent and, if the parent chooses, on leaderboards.
- With Premium, the household's full learning record is also backed up to the parent's account, so a new phone picks up where the old one stopped. Deleting the account deletes the backup.
- Learners cannot type messages to anyone. There is no chat, no search for other people and no public profile. Social features use a fixed set of reactions and need a parent's consent.
- We do not sell personal information, show advertising, or use data to profile children for advertising.
- Purchases are a Premium subscription or extra study packs, made by a parent through Google Play or the App Store. Avatars and other decorations are unlocked with BrainCoins, which are earned by studying and never sold.
2. What we collect, and why
| Information | When | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Parent's email address, name (optional) and password (stored only as a salted hash) | When a parent creates an account | Sign-in, account recovery, purchase records |
| Sign-in identifier from Google, Apple or Huawei, and the email address that provider shares | If the parent signs in with one of them | To link that sign-in to the parent account |
| Learner profile: first name or nickname, avatar, grade, curriculum, and the countries chosen for extra questions | When a profile is backed up with an account | Restoring progress on a new device |
| Study summaries: topic studied, number of questions, number correct, XP earned, time spent, when | When a signed-in device syncs | Backup, progress reports to the parent, leagues and leaderboards |
| Social participation: display name, avatar, grade, and, if the parent enters them, school name and town; group membership, challenge results, reactions sent from the fixed list, and reports of a group | Only if a parent enables social features | Study groups, challenges, leagues and safety reports |
| Cloud backup (Premium only): each learner profile and its full learning record on the device (every answer given, mastery, bookmarks, flashcard progress, XP, coins, badges, streaks, cosmetics owned and worn, challenge results), and the household's app settings (theme, colour theme, study reminder, school name and town, and the parent PIN as stored on the device), plus the name of the device that saved it | Automatically on a signed-in Premium device, after a quiz and when the app is put away | Restoring everything on a new or replacement device |
| An install count: one message saying the app was installed, the kind of phone (Android, iPhone or other) and the day. No account, name, device identifier or anything else that tells one phone from another | Once, the first time the app is opened with a connection | Counting how many people use BrainFable |
| Purchase records: product, price, currency, store transaction identifiers | When a parent buys something | Granting and restoring what was bought, refunds, accounting |
| Push notification token and a device label | If notifications are allowed on a signed-in device | Telling a learner it is their turn in a challenge |
| Technical error reports: the error, app/server version and device type; no names, emails or request contents | If something fails on our server | Fixing faults |
We do not collect a learner's location, contacts, photos, microphone, camera, advertising identifier, or any free-text messages.
3. Children
An account is created by a parent or guardian, who must be an adult. Learners use profiles inside that account. A learner cannot create an account, enter an email address, or contact another user with their own words; the only words a learner types that another child sees are the name of a study group they make, which needs the parent's consent. Joining a study group or adding a friend requires the parent's consent, a block is permanent, and reporting a group closes it straight away while we review it. Leaderboards are off until a parent turns them on.
If you believe a child has given us personal information without a parent's consent, contact us at support@brainfable.app and we will delete it.
4. Who we share it with
We share information only with service providers that run part of BrainFable for us, under their own privacy terms, and only as much as each needs:
- Google (Play Billing, Firebase Cloud Messaging, Google Sign-In) and Apple (App Store purchases, Sign in with Apple, push notifications) and Huawei (Push Kit, Huawei ID): to verify purchases, deliver notifications and sign in.
- Our hosting, email and error-reporting providers: to run the service, send password-reset emails and report faults.
We disclose information to authorities only where the law requires it.
5. How long we keep it
- Cloud backup: only the newest copy is kept; each save replaces the last. It is deleted with the account.
- Account, profile and study data: while the account exists. Deleting the account in the app's Parents area deletes it from our servers, purchase records included. Google Play and the App Store keep their own records of every purchase, under their own privacy terms.
- Password-reset links expire after a short time. Sign-in sessions expire and can be signed out from the Parents area.
- Error reports: up to 90 days.
- Our own server backups, kept only to recover from a failure, are replaced on a rolling basis, so anything deleted is gone from them within 35 days.
- The install count: kept as a total. It cannot be tied to anyone, so there is nothing in it to delete for a particular person.
- Data on the device stays until the app is deleted or the profile is removed.
6. A parent's choices and rights
- Use BrainFable without an account: nothing about the learner is sent to us, only the anonymous install count described above.
- See, correct or delete a learner profile in Settings.
- Turn leaderboards and social features on or off.
- Delete the whole account in the app's Parents area, or ask us at support@brainfable.app (how to delete an account).
- Ask for a copy of the information we hold, or object to how we use it.
Depending on where you live, data-protection laws such as South Africa's POPIA, Kenya's Data Protection Act, Botswana's Data Protection Act, Ghana's Data Protection Act, Namibia's and Zimbabwe's data-protection laws, the EU and UK GDPR and the US COPPA give you these rights, and you may complain to your data-protection authority.
7. Security
Connections to our servers are encrypted. Passwords, reset links and session tokens are stored only as hashes. Access to production systems is limited to the people who run the service.
8. International transfers
Our servers and service providers may be outside your country. Where that happens we rely on the safeguards the applicable law requires.
9. Changes
If we change this policy in a way that matters, we will say so in the app before the change takes effect.
10. Contact
Dakwa Technologies, 5417 Nigel, Ekurhuleni, 1496, South Africa. Information officer: Billy Dakwa, support@brainfable.app.