Children's Privacy Notice
This page summarizes, in everyday language, how VoiceBloom handles data when your child uses the app. For the full legal text, see our Privacy Policy. If anything below contradicts the full Privacy Policy, the full Privacy Policy controls.
Who VoiceBloom Is Built For
VoiceBloom is an Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) app for children. It is intended to be set up and operated by an adult (a parent, legal guardian, therapist, or organization staff member) on behalf of a child user.
We do not collect data directly from your child
VoiceBloom does not ask children to fill in forms, create accounts, enter their location, or upload anything. Every piece of information about a child is entered by the responsible adult, on that adult's account or, for a student added by a school board, on the board's account.
What data is associated with a child profile
When you create a child profile, the following is stored:
- First name only (or a nickname; we don't ask for last names or addresses)
- Age and communication-skill level, used to set the right starting board
- Symbol taps made on the board (which word, when, in which order), used to generate progress reports
- Custom photos you upload (e.g., family photos as symbol tiles): only stored if you choose to add them, and stored only with the child's profile
That's it. We don't record audio. We don't take photos through the camera. We don't track location. We don't put advertising cookies anywhere in the app. We don't sell any data.
How We Use What We Collect
- To make the board work and personalize it to your child's level
- To generate the weekly progress reports you see on the Parent dashboard
- To draft therapist notes if you've connected a therapist via share code
- To help us fix bugs when something goes wrong (technical logs only, no symbol-tap content or child names)
Who Sees Your Child's Data
The Adult Who Owns the Account
You. Through the Parent tab in the app.
A Therapist You've Shared With
Only if you give them your child's share code from Settings. You can revoke access any time from the Profile Access panel in Settings.
Your Child's School or Clinic
If your child's profile was created by their school board, the board decides which staff it adds to your child's school, and those staff see school-hours activity only. If your child uses VoiceBloom through a clinic, the clinic's administrator and the staff it assigns can see your child's progress. If you shared your own family profile with a school or a clinic using a share code, you can remove that access at any time in Settings.
Our Service Providers
We use a small set of vetted third-party companies (Supabase, Vercel, Stripe, Anthropic, Google Cloud Text-to-Speech, Resend, Sentry, Google Analytics / Firebase Analytics, and HeyCatch) to run and improve the app. They are all bound by contracts that limit them to operating VoiceBloom on our behalf. The premium voice option sends the text being spoken to Google to synthesize audio; the default on-device voice sends nothing. See the full subprocessor list.
Usage Analytics
We use Google Analytics and Firebase Analytics to understand how the app and website are used (for example, which screens are opened, and which features and sign-up steps people use) so we can improve them. This is set up for privacy: advertising is turned off, no advertising identifier is collected, and they do not receive your child's name, your email, or the words your child taps.
We also use a third service, HeyCatch, for analytics on our website and on the signed-in account pages that you as the parent or guardian use. HeyCatch does receive your own email address, so that we can tell repeat visits apart. It is never loaded inside the communication board or inside the iOS and Android apps, so it never receives your child's name or the words your child taps.
On the website, all of this analytics only runs after you accept optional cookies, and you can decline with "Essentials only".
Your Rights as a Parent or Guardian
At any time you can:
- See what we have: Settings → "Download My Data" exports everything as a JSON file
- Delete your child's profile: Settings → "Children" → the trash icon next to a profile name
- Delete your entire account: Settings → "Delete My Account" removes everything permanently
- Cancel your subscription: Settings → "Manage Billing" routes you to Stripe's portal
- Ask us anything: info@voicebloom.ca
We respond to all data requests within 30 days.
How We Got Your Consent
During onboarding you confirmed that you are the parent or legal guardian (or that you are acting under the parent's authorization, if you are a therapist). That confirmation is logged in our database with a timestamp and the consent method. We can show you that record any time you ask. Students added by a school board are covered by the board's agreement with us, so their families are not asked to consent through VoiceBloom.
The 30-day free trial does not require a credit card. During the trial, the parent or legal guardian establishes verifiable parental consent by creating and signing in to an account they control and confirming, during onboarding, that they are the parent or legal guardian (logged with a timestamp and the consent method, as described above). When you continue on a paid Family or Therapy plan, the payment transaction processed through Stripe adds the "monetary transaction" verification method recognised by COPPA's Rule, 16 CFR § 312.5(b), and the payment record becomes part of the consent audit trail. For a student added by an Ontario school board there is no consent step in VoiceBloom: the board is responsible for that information under Ontario's Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (MFIPPA) and decides how families are told. See students added by an Ontario school board. For a school district in the United States, FERPA applies instead, and we will prepare a FERPA addendum with the district.
You may withdraw your consent at any time. Withdrawing consent results in the deletion of your child's data on the schedules described above.
If we learn we have data we shouldn't
If we discover we've collected information from a child under 13 without proper parental consent, or if you let us know you didn't realize what was being collected, we will delete that data promptly. Just email info@voicebloom.ca.
Organizations and Therapists
If you operate an organization or clinical practice and want to use VoiceBloom for the children in your care:
- You confirm in your agreement with us that you are allowed to share each child's information with VoiceBloom, and that you have given families any notice your own rules require
- You can sign our Data Processing Agreement (GDPR) or Business Associate Agreement (HIPAA): email us to request
- An Ontario school board can work from its own information sharing agreement or privacy schedule instead, or we will prepare terms with the board
- VoiceBloom is not a system of record. You must maintain primary clinical or educational documentation in your own compliant systems. For Ontario schools, VoiceBloom is not the Ontario Student Record (OSR) and does not replace it. If staff save a VoiceBloom report into a student's OSR, that copy is the board's record and is handled under the board's OSR procedures
See our pages for Education and Therapists for more.
Questions or Concerns
Email: info@voicebloom.ca
Privacy Officer: VoiceBloom, a Canadian business. Full operator details available on request.
You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (priv.gc.ca) or your local data-protection authority. For a profile created by an Ontario school board, contact the board first, and then the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario (ipc.on.ca).