Privacy Policy

Information We Collect

We collect the minimum information needed to provide StoryHug:

• Parent: name, email address, subscription status
• Child profile: first name (or nickname), age, and story interests, all entered by the parent
• Usage: stories listened to, progress, badges earned, and listening time
• Voice recordings: if a parent chooses to record their own voice for personalized narration (see "Voice Recordings & Voice Cloning" below)
• Messages a child sends to the in-app story companion (see "AI Story Companion" below)
• A device push-notification token, so we can deliver the reminders you turn on

Children never enter personal information directly, and we do not collect location, photos, contacts, or advertising identifiers.

How We Use Information

• Personalize story recommendations by age and interests
• Track listening progress and award badges
• Narrate stories in a parent's recorded voice, if enabled
• Power the in-app story companion that helps your child find a story
• Send only the notifications a parent turns on (bedtime reminders, streaks)
• Generate parent insight reports

We do not use your family's data for behavioral advertising, ad targeting, or selling to data brokers.

Voice Recordings & Voice Cloning

StoryHug lets a parent or family grown-up record a short sample of their OWN voice so stories can be narrated in that familiar voice. This is optional and is never required to use the app.

• Only the grown-up who taps record is recorded. Children are not asked to record their voice.
• The recording is uploaded to our secure storage and sent to our voice technology provider, Replicate, to create a personalized narrator voice (a "voice clone").
• A voice recording is sensitive, biometric-style data. We collect it only with the recording grown-up's knowledge and consent, use it only to generate narration inside StoryHug, and never sell it or use it for any other purpose.
• You can delete a recorded voice and its generated narrator at any time from the My Voices screen, which removes it from our storage and requests deletion from Replicate.

AI Story Companion

StoryHug includes a story companion that helps your child describe what kind of story they want.

• The story companion runs on your child's device. Your child's typed or spoken request is not sent to a third-party cloud AI provider.
• Companion interactions are used only to help pick or shape a story inside StoryHug. They are never used for advertising or sold to anyone.

Children's Privacy (COPPA)

StoryHug is designed for children ages 3-10, and we follow the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and similar children's privacy laws:

• Only a parent or guardian can create an account. Children never sign up or enter personal information on their own.
• We obtain verifiable parental consent before a child profile is created and before any optional voice recording is made.
• We practice data minimization: we collect only what is needed to run the app, and nothing more from or about a child.
• Parents can review, export, or delete their child's data at any time (see "Your Rights").
• We never show behavioral advertising to children and never sell children's personal information.

Data Retention

• Account data: kept while your account is active
• Child profiles: deleted when you remove them
• Voice recordings & generated narrator voices: kept until you delete them, then removed from our storage and requested for deletion from Replicate
• Story companion messages: used to deliver the experience and not retained for advertising
• Listening history: kept for your insight reports and deleted with the child profile

You can delete your account and all associated family data in the app, or contact support@storyhug.in for help.

Data Security

• All data encrypted in transit (TLS) and at rest
• Voice recordings stored in private, access-controlled storage
• Authentication tokens stored in device secure storage
• Row-level security ensures families only access their own data
• PIN-protected parental controls

Your Rights

As a parent, you can:

• View the data we hold about your child
• Export your child's data
• Delete your child's profile, recorded voices, and all associated data
• Delete your entire account and revoke consent

These controls are available in the app under Settings, and you can also reach us at support@storyhug.in. To delete your account and data, see our Data Deletion page.

Third-Party Services

StoryHug relies on a small number of service providers, each under a data-processing agreement:

• Supabase: database, authentication, and secure storage
• Replicate: voice cloning for personalized narration (receives parent voice recordings; API inputs and outputs are automatically deleted within one hour)
• Deepgram: speech timing for word-by-word highlighting (receives generated narration audio, which may include a child's first name; we opt out of Deepgram's model-improvement program so this audio is not used to train models and is retained only for the time needed to process it)
• OpenRouter: AI processing for the parent support assistant only (receives parent support-chat messages with contact details redacted; it does not receive your child's name or account identifiers)
• Expo / the platform push services (Apple, Google): deliver the notifications you enable

Support chat messages are also processed by an AI service to answer your question from our help center; contact details such as email addresses and phone numbers are redacted before processing, and please do not include personal information in support messages.

We do not sell or share personal information with third parties for their own marketing.

Contact Us

For privacy questions, data requests, or to exercise any of your rights:

Email: support@storyhug.in