Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

Welcome to StorytimeGPT. We are committed to protecting your privacy and the privacy of your children. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your information when you use our service to create personalized bedtime stories.

By using StorytimeGPT, you agree to the collection and use of information in accordance with this policy. If you do not agree with our policies and practices, please do not use our service.

2. Information We Collect

Account Information (Parent/Guardian)

When you create an account, we collect:

• Phone number - Used for account authentication via SMS verification
• Email address - Optional, for account recovery and notifications
• Name - First name, middle name (optional), and last name
• Birthday - To verify you are 18 or older
• Gender - To personalize your character in stories
• Profile photo - Optional, used to generate your character sheet

Children's Information

With parental consent, we collect the following information about children to create personalized stories:

• Name - First name, middle name (optional), and last name (optional)
• Birthday - Used to determine age-appropriate content and reading level
• Gender - To personalize their character in stories
• Reading level - To generate stories appropriate for their comprehension
• Profile photo - Optional, used to generate AI character sheets

Generated Content

When you use our service, we store:

• Stories - Text content, illustrations, and cover art
• Character sheets - AI-generated artwork based on uploaded photos
• Audio narration - Text-to-speech recordings of your stories
• Chat conversations - Messages exchanged with our AI assistant

Payment Information

We use Stripe for payment processing. We do not store your credit card details. Stripe may collect and store payment information in accordance with their privacy policy. We store:

• Transaction history and amounts
• Subscription status and billing period
• Stripe customer ID (a reference number, not payment details)

Usage Data

We collect information about how you use our service:

• Credit usage and transaction history
• Generation job records (for cost tracking and service improvement)
• Feature usage patterns to improve our service

3. How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect to:

• Provide our service - Generate personalized stories, illustrations, and narration featuring you and your children
• Process payments - Handle subscriptions and credit pack purchases
• Authenticate your account - Verify your identity via phone or email
• Improve our service - Analyze usage patterns to enhance features and fix issues
• Communicate with you - Send service updates, respond to inquiries, and provide support
• Ensure safety - Prevent fraud, abuse, and violations of our terms

We do not sell your personal information or your children's information to third parties. We do not use children's information for targeted advertising.

4. AI-Generated Content Disclosure

StorytimeGPT uses artificial intelligence to generate stories, images, and audio. We want you to understand how AI is used in our service:

Text Generation

Our stories and chat responses are generated by AI language models from:

• Anthropic (Claude) - Story writing, content analysis, and chat interactions
• OpenAI (GPT) - Story generation and conversational AI

Image Generation

Character sheets and story illustrations are created by AI image models from:

• Google (Gemini) - Character illustrations and story artwork
• Leonardo AI - Character sheets and scene illustrations

Voice/Audio Generation

Story narration is generated by text-to-speech AI from:

• ElevenLabs - Primary voice narration with natural-sounding voices
• OpenAI TTS - Alternative narration option

AI Analysis

We use AI to analyze uploaded content:

• Photo analysis - To generate accurate character descriptions for illustrations
• Name analysis - To help personalize the experience (e.g., suggesting appropriate pronouns)

5. Third-Party Services

We share information with the following third-party service providers to operate our service:

Each third-party service has its own privacy policy governing their use of your data. We encourage you to review their policies.

6. Children's Privacy (COPPA Compliance)

StorytimeGPT is committed to protecting children's privacy in compliance with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).

Parental Consent

• Only parents or legal guardians (18 years or older) may create StorytimeGPT accounts
• Parents add children to their account and provide consent for data collection
• By adding a child to your account, you consent to the collection and use of their information as described in this policy

What We Collect About Children

• Name (first name required; middle and last names optional)
• Birthday (to determine age-appropriate content)
• Gender (to personalize story characters)
• Reading level (to generate appropriate story complexity)
• Photos (optional, with parental consent, to create character artwork)

Photo Processing & Deletion

• Photos are temporarily uploaded only for the duration of character artwork generation
• Original photos are permanently deleted immediately after character sheets are created
• Only the AI-generated character artwork (not the original photo) is stored in your account
• You must acknowledge consent for photo processing before each character creation
• We record consent timestamps for compliance and audit purposes

How We Protect Children's Data

• Children's data is only accessible by the parent who added them
• We do not sell children's personal information
• We do not use children's data for targeted advertising
• We do not allow children to make their information publicly available
• Children's photos are deleted immediately after character artwork generation

Parental Rights

As a parent or guardian, you have the right to:

• Review - View all information collected about your children
• Delete - Request deletion of your children's information at any time
• Refuse - Decline further collection of children's information
• Revoke consent - Withdraw consent for data collection at any time

To exercise these rights, contact us at privacy@storytimegpt.com.

7. Data Retention

We retain your information for as long as necessary to provide our service and comply with legal obligations:

When you request account deletion, we will delete or anonymize your data within 30 days, except for records we are legally required to retain.

8. Data Security

We implement appropriate technical and organizational measures to protect your information:

• Encryption in transit - All data is transmitted over HTTPS using TLS encryption
• Encryption at rest - Database data is encrypted at rest
• Access controls - Row-Level Security ensures users can only access their own data
• Secure authentication - We use ES256 JWT tokens and phone/email verification
• Payment security - Payment processing is handled by Stripe, a PCI-DSS compliant provider

While we strive to protect your information, no method of transmission over the Internet is 100% secure. We cannot guarantee absolute security.

9. Your Rights

You have the following rights regarding your personal information:

• Access - Request a copy of the personal information we hold about you
• Correction - Request correction of inaccurate information
• Deletion - Request deletion of your personal information
• Export - Download your stories and images
• Opt-out - Unsubscribe from marketing communications

To exercise these rights, contact us at privacy@storytimegpt.com.

10. California Privacy Rights

If you are a California resident, you have additional rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA):

• Right to know - What personal information we collect, use, and share
• Right to delete - Request deletion of your personal information
• Right to opt-out - We do not sell personal information, so this right does not apply
• Right to non-discrimination - We will not discriminate against you for exercising your rights

Notice: We do not sell personal information to third parties. We do not share personal information with third parties for their direct marketing purposes.

11. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any material changes by:

• Posting the new Privacy Policy on this page
• Updating the "Last updated" date at the top of this policy
• Sending you an email notification for significant changes (if you have provided your email)

We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically for any changes.

12. Contact Us

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