Privacy Policy

Yarnable turns a child’s story idea into an illustrated audiobook. This policy follows that process step by step and says what data each step uses, where it goes, and how long we keep it. It covers the website at yarnable.app and the Yarnable app for iPhone, iPad, and Android.

The ideas come from children, but the accounts belong to adults. A parent or guardian signs up and enters everything, so anything Yarnable knows about a child comes from them.

Who runs Yarnable

Yarnable is run by Andrew Pope, an individual based in the Netherlands, who is the controller of the personal data in this policy. Privacy questions and requests go to privacy@yarnable.app.

When you create an account

You sign in with Apple, Google, or your email address. With email, we send a one-time code each time you sign in, so you do not need a password. If you choose to set one anyway, our authentication provider stores it as a hash. With Google or Apple we receive your email address and an account identifier, never your password. If you use Apple’s “Hide My Email”, we only ever see the relay address.

Subscriptions and credit packs are bought through the App Store or Google Play and managed by RevenueCat. We learn which plan you are on and whether it is active. Card details stay with Apple or Google.

We remember your language: in a cookie on the website, and on the device in the app.

When you enter your child’s idea

You type in your child’s idea, or pick a suggested one, and choose an age band (toddler, young child, child, or teen). The idea can include your child’s name. A nickname works just as well, and there is no separate child profile: the name only exists inside the stories that use it.

We send the idea to our AI providers, listed below, to write the story, draw the pictures, and record the narration. They use it only to make your story.

The idea, the story, its pictures, and its narration are kept in your library until you delete them. Your library is private to your account, and its files sit in private storage. We do not sell any of it, use it for advertising, or train our own models on it.

When we check a story for safety

Yarnable is for children, so text is checked before you see it. Your idea, story details, title changes, and edit requests are checked first, then the finished story. The checks are automated and only ever see text, never photos or voice recordings.

We keep the result of the latest check with the story. It helps us answer a report about that story and improve the checks over time.

When you add a photo

A reference photo is optional. If you add one, our AI providers use it to draw your characters. We only send photos to services that offer zero data retention, so they do not keep the photo or train on it, and neither do their subprocessors.

We delete the photo as soon as your characters are drawn. If that fails we keep it so we can try again, but every photo is deleted within 24 hours of upload. The character drawings stay with the story so later pictures match.

When you record a voice

On Family+ you can record a short sample so stories are read in a voice you choose. You must confirm you have the speaker’s permission first. Our voice provider, ElevenLabs, turns the recording into a voice for narration. We do not keep the recording, only the name you gave the voice.

Deleting the voice in Settings also deletes it at ElevenLabs. Deleting your account does the same for every voice you made.

When you listen, download, or get notified

Pictures and audio are streamed through private links that expire after a short time. On paid plans you can download stories; downloaded files stay on your device until you delete them, even after you sign out.

If you allow notifications, we store a push token for your device so we can tell you when a story is ready. Expo delivers the notification.

When you send a story to Yoto

Connecting Yoto gives us tokens that let us upload to your Yoto account. The long-lived refresh token is stored encrypted. Only the stories you choose to send leave Yarnable. Disconnecting Yoto revokes the tokens.

Analytics, errors, and reports

PostHog, on its EU servers, tells us which screens and features are used. On the website we do not record clicks automatically, because a click can carry a story title, and a session replay may be recorded with every piece of text and every form field masked. The app does not record replays.

Sentry, on its EU (Germany) servers, collects crash and error reports so we can fix them. It receives your account ID but not your email address, and email addresses and sign-in tokens are scrubbed from reports before they are sent.

Analytics and error data are kept for the retention period set on our PostHog and Sentry accounts, then deleted or aggregated.

We use your IP address and account ID to rate-limit requests and stop abuse. The counters expire when each time window ends.

If you use Report an issue in the app, we store your message with your app version, device model, operating system, the screen you were on, and the story it concerns. Reports are deleted with your account.

When you delete things

Deleting a story removes it from your library. Deleting a custom voice removes it here and at ElevenLabs.

How to delete your account

Sign in and use Delete account in the app (Settings) or on the website (Account). Deletion happens immediately and removes your account, your stories with their pictures and audio, your custom voices, any reference photos still waiting, and connected services such as Yoto. We keep only the billing records the law requires us to keep.

We cancel Google Play subscriptions for you. Apple does not allow that, so cancel an App Store subscription in your Apple ID settings or it will keep billing. Downloads stay on your device until you remove them. Signing up again does not bring back an App Store introductory offer already used on that Apple ID, or free credits already granted.

Who we share data with

Only the service providers below, under contract, to run Yarnable. They process data on our behalf and not for their own purposes.

We may also disclose data when the law requires it, or to protect the safety of Yarnable’s users.

Some of these providers process data outside the European Economic Area, including in the United States. Those transfers rely on the European Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses or an adequacy decision.

The GDPR details

This section covers what the EU GDPR and UK GDPR ask us to set out.

Why we are allowed to use your data

• Contract: running your account, making and storing your stories, and managing your plan and credits.
• Legitimate interests: safety checks, security, abuse prevention, error monitoring, and analytics. We weigh these against your rights, and you can object.
• Consent: reference photos, custom voices, notifications, and connecting Yoto. You can withdraw consent at any time.
• Legal obligation: billing records kept for tax.

Your rights

You can ask to see the data we hold about you, have it corrected or deleted, restrict or object to how we use it, receive a portable copy, and withdraw consent. Deleting your account is self-serve (see above). For everything else, or if the in-app controls do not work for you, email privacy@yarnable.app. You can also complain to your local data protection authority. In the Netherlands that is the Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens.

Children

We do not knowingly collect data from children directly. If you think a child has given us information without a parent, tell us and we will delete it.

Cookies

The website uses essential cookies to keep you signed in, remember your language, and protect the service, plus PostHog for analytics. There are no advertising cookies.

Changes and contact

When this policy changes, the date at the top changes with it. If a change matters to how your data is used, we will also tell you in the app. Questions go to privacy@yarnable.app.