Privacy Policy

Yarnable (“Yarnable”, “we”, “us”) makes personalised, illustrated audiobooks for children. This policy explains what personal data we collect, why, who we share it with, and the rights you have under the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the UK GDPR. It applies to the Yarnable website at yarnable.app and the Yarnable mobile app.

Yarnable is aimed at parents and guardians. It is not directed at children, and children do not create their own accounts. The adult account holder is the person who provides any information about a child.

1. Who is responsible for your data

Yarnable is the controller of the personal data described in this policy. For any privacy question or to exercise your rights, contact us at privacy@yarnable.app.

2. Data we collect

Account data

You can sign in with email and password, Google, or Apple. If you use Google or Apple we receive your email address and a unique account identifier; we do not receive or store that provider’s password. If you use Apple’s “Hide My Email” feature, we only ever see the relay address it generates. If you use email and password we store your email address; the password is stored only as a hash by our authentication provider.

Information about a child

We do not keep a separate child profile. Each story has an age band you choose (toddler, young child, child, or teen) so we can match length and tone. You may include a child’s name or nickname in the idea you type — a nickname works just as well as a real name. That information lives only on the stories in your library, is provided by you as the adult account holder, is used only to tailor those stories, and is never used for advertising or profiling.

Content you create

When you generate a story we store the idea and preferences you enter, together with the resulting story text, illustrations, and audio narration, in your library. This content is private to your account.

Reference photos

If you choose to add a reference photo, we use it to describe the characters and to draw the character sheet for that story. The original is stored in a private account-specific location and automatically deleted after 24 hours. It is sent to OpenAI (to write the character description) and to Google (to draw the character sheet). The written description and the character sheet stay with the story so later illustrations can stay consistent. It is not a persistent photo library and is not used for advertising or profiling. We only send the photo to AI services that provide zero-data-retention processing for image references. The copies sent for AI processing are not retained or used for model training by those providers or their subprocessors.

Custom voices

On Family+ you can record a one-minute sample in the app so stories can be narrated in a voice you choose. We send that recording to ElevenLabs to create an Instant Voice Clone and we do not keep the recording. We store the name you give the voice and ElevenLabs’ identifier for it. You can delete a custom voice in Settings; that also deletes it at ElevenLabs. Deleting your account deletes remaining custom voices. You must confirm you have permission to clone the speaker. Custom voices are not used for advertising, profiling, or training Yarnable’s own models.

Subscription and payment data

Paid plans are handled through the Apple App Store, Google Play, or our billing provider RevenueCat. We receive your subscription status and tier. We never see or store your full card number — that is handled by the app store or payment processor.

Usage, device, and diagnostic data

We collect product-analytics events (for example which screens you visit and which features you use), plus technical data such as your IP address, device and browser type, and error diagnostics. IP addresses are also used for abuse prevention and rate limiting. We store your language preference (a cookie on the website; on the device in the app) so the interface and stories can match the language you chose.

If you report an issue in the app we store your message and device details (app version, model, operating system, and the screen you were on) so we can investigate.

If you allow notifications we store a device push token so we can tell you when a story is ready. On paid plans you can download stories to your device; those files stay on the device until you delete them, including after you sign out.

Yoto connection data

If you connect your Yoto account to push stories to a Yoto player, we store the access and refresh tokens that Yoto issues so we can upload content on your behalf. We only send Yoto the specific stories you choose to publish. You can disconnect Yoto at any time, which revokes these tokens.

3. How we use your data

• To create your account and sign you in.
• To generate, store, and play back the personalised stories, images, and audio you request.
• To manage your subscription and enforce plan limits.
• To operate, secure, and improve the service, including preventing abuse and diagnosing errors.
• To send optional notifications when a story is ready.
• To publish stories to your Yoto player when you ask us to.
• To respond to your support, issue reports, and privacy requests.

4. Legal bases (GDPR)

• Contract: creating your account, generating and storing your stories, and managing your subscription.
• Legitimate interests: securing the service, preventing abuse, and understanding how features are used through privacy-respecting analytics. We balance these against your rights.
• Consent: where required, such as connecting an optional third-party service like Yoto, allowing notifications, or recording a custom voice. You can withdraw consent at any time.
• Legal obligation: keeping records we are required to keep, such as for tax on paid subscriptions.

5. AI processing

Yarnable creates stories using third-party AI providers. Story text, illustrations, and character descriptions are sent through Vercel’s AI Gateway to Google (story text and illustrations) and OpenAI (character and world descriptions, including an optional reference photo). Audio narration, alignment, and optional Instant Voice Clones (from a short recording you make in the app) are sent directly to ElevenLabs. Vercel’s Gateway does not keep those prompts after the request; Google, OpenAI, and ElevenLabs process what they receive to generate your content. We do not sell your data, we do not train our own models on your stories, and we do not use your stories or your child’s information to build advertising profiles.

6. Who we share data with

We share personal data only with service providers who process it on our behalf, under contract, to run Yarnable:

We may also disclose data if required by law, or to protect the rights, safety, or security of Yarnable and its users.

7. International transfers

Some of our providers process data outside the European Economic Area, including in the United States. Where that happens, transfers are protected by appropriate safeguards such as the European Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses or an equivalent adequacy mechanism.

8. How long we keep data

We keep your account data and generated content — including the original idea, any child names or nicknames you put in a story, and the character sheet derived from an optional photo — for as long as your account is active. Reference-photo originals are deleted after 24 hours. Voice-clone recordings are not stored by Yarnable; the clone at ElevenLabs lasts until you delete that voice or your account. When you delete a story it is removed from your library. When you delete your account we delete your personal data and generated content, except where we must retain limited records to meet legal obligations (such as billing records). Downloads on your device remain until you delete them. Diagnostic and analytics data is kept for a limited period and then deleted or aggregated.

9. Your rights

Under the GDPR and UK GDPR you have the right to:

• Access the personal data we hold about you.
• Correct data that is inaccurate or incomplete.
• Delete your data (“right to be forgotten”).
• Restrict or object to certain processing.
• Receive your data in a portable format.
• Withdraw consent where processing relies on it.

How to delete your account

Sign in and use Delete account in the app (Settings) or on the website (Account). Deletion is immediate. It permanently removes your account, your stories (text, illustrations, and audio), custom voices, reference photos, and connected services such as Yoto. We cancel Google Play subscriptions on this account so they do not renew. Apple does not let us cancel App Store subscriptions on your behalf — cancel those in your Apple ID subscription settings so you are not billed again. Offline downloads stay on your device until you delete them. We may keep limited billing records where the law requires it. Deleting your Yarnable account does not cancel an App Store introductory offer on that Apple ID, and it does not restore a free credit grant.

To exercise any of these rights, including if you cannot use the in-app or website controls, email privacy@yarnable.app. You also have the right to complain to your local data protection supervisory authority.

10. Children’s privacy

Yarnable is intended for use by adults on behalf of their children. Children cannot create accounts or enter their own information. Any information about a child is provided and controlled by the adult account holder, who can edit or delete a story at any time and can choose to use a nickname instead of a real name. We do not knowingly collect personal data directly from children. If you believe a child has provided us with data without a parent’s involvement, contact us and we will delete it.

11. Cookies and analytics

We use essential cookies to keep you signed in, remember your language on the website, and secure the service. We use PostHog for product analytics to understand how Yarnable is used. On the website, PostHog may also record a session replay with all text masked. We do not use third-party advertising cookies or sell your data to advertisers.

12. Security

We protect your data with encryption in transit, access controls, and reputable infrastructure providers. No system is perfectly secure, but we take reasonable steps to guard against unauthorised access, loss, or misuse.

13. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. When we make material changes we will update the date at the top of this page and, where appropriate, notify you in the app.

14. Contact

Questions about this policy or your data? Email us at privacy@yarnable.app.