Privacy

Kinnote is a private, audio-only voice thread between children and the grown-ups who love them. A parent sets up and controls the family; the grown-ups they invite — a grandparent, an aunt or uncle, a family friend — take part by tapping a link. This policy explains what we collect, how we use it, and the choices you have. Kinnote is run by Surettech, a sole proprietorship (Jeff Surette) based in Massachusetts, USA, which is the data controller for the information described here.

Information we collect

• Your account. When a parent signs in with Apple, we store the identifier Apple gives us and, if Apple shares it, an email address and name.
• Family details you add. The names of your children (and an optional date of birth), and the names and phone numbers of the grown-ups you invite.
• Voice notes. The audio recordings sent within your family, and basic details like when they were sent and whether they’ve been heard.
• Device information. If you turn on notifications, a push token so we can alert you to new messages.
• Beta interest. If you ask to join the beta, the email address you give us.

How we use it

We use this information only to run Kinnote — to deliver voice notes between your family members, to let the grown-ups you invite listen and reply, and to notify people when a new note arrives. We do not use it for advertising or profiling.

Who helps us run Kinnote

We keep the list of third parties short and share only what each one needs to do its job:

• Apple — Sign in with Apple (your account) and the Apple Push Notification service (delivering alerts). See Apple’s privacy policy.
• Cloudflare — hosting, our database, and storage of your voice notes. See Cloudflare’s privacy policy.

We do not send your family’s content to any advertising network or data broker, and we do not use any provider under terms that would let them train models on your content.

How we store and protect it

Your data is stored on Cloudflare’s infrastructure and is encrypted in transit and at rest. The grown-ups you invite sign in without a password: their invite link carries a secret we never store in plain text, and you can revoke it at any time by removing that person.

How long we keep it

We keep your information for as long as your family is active. When you delete your account, we remove your family, your messages, and your recordings — including the audio files in our storage. If you remove an individual grown-up, their access ends immediately and their thread is archived. Beta-interest emails are kept until the beta opens or you ask us to remove them.

What we never do

• We never sell your messages, transcripts, or family information.
• We never share your content with advertisers.
• We never use your messages to train AI models.

Children’s information

Kinnote is built for a parent to run on their child’s behalf, and children’s privacy is the part of this we take most seriously. Children do not create accounts, do not sign in, and never interact with Kinnote directly. A parent decides who is invited, controls the family, and enters any information about their child themselves.

A child’s voice notes and details are treated as the parent’s data, held under the parent’s control, and shared only with the specific grown-ups that parent invites. We do not knowingly collect personal information directly from children, and we do not use a child’s recordings for any purpose beyond delivering them within that family. A parent can remove any grown-up, delete any content, or delete the entire family at any time. If you believe a child’s information reached Kinnote without a parent’s involvement, contact us and we will remove it.

Your choices and rights

You can delete your account at any time from the app’s menu, which removes your family, your messages, and your recordings from Kinnote. You can also remove an individual grown-up, which immediately revokes their access. If you’d like to access, correct, or export the information we hold about you, email us and we’ll help.

Your regional rights

California. We do not sell or share your personal information as those terms are used under the CCPA/CPRA, and we do not use it for cross-context behavioral advertising. You have the right to know what we collect, to request deletion or correction, and not to be discriminated against for exercising these rights. Email us to make a request.

UK & EEA. If you are in the UK or European Economic Area, we process your information to provide the service you asked for (our contract with you) and on the basis of our legitimate interest in running Kinnote securely. You have the right to access, correct, delete, or port your data, and to lodge a complaint with your local data-protection authority.

Security incidents

No service can promise perfect security, but if a breach ever affects your personal information, we will notify affected people and the relevant authorities without undue delay and as required by applicable law, and tell you what happened and what we’re doing about it.

Changes

If we make material changes to this policy, we’ll update the date at the top of this page and, where appropriate, let you know in the app.

Contact

Questions about privacy? Email [email protected].