Privacy Policy: Phonicademy: Phonics Games app

What the app is

Phonicademy: Phonics Games (version 3.0 and later, for iPhone, iPad and Android) is a phonics game app for young children. It replaces the earlier app called ABC Phonics & Sounds for Kids and uses the same store listing. The app is designed for children aged 5 and under, and it is listed in the Apple App Store Kids Category and on Google Play for families. The app is published by Phonicademy.

Short answer

We do not collect any data from your child or from you. The app does not send anything to us or to anyone else. The sections below explain how that works in plain words.

What stays on the device

• Progress. Which sounds your child has played, stars and stickers, and the grown-up settings (profile, time limits) are saved in a small file on the device. We never receive it.
• Profiles. You can pick an animal and a badge for each child. A nickname is optional, is only shown to grown-ups, and also stays on the device.
• Device backups. Your phone or tablet may include the app's files in its own backup (for example iCloud or Android backup). That is your device's feature under your Apple or Google account. We cannot see it.
• Deleting it. Delete the app and everything it saved on the device goes with it.

The microphone (optional)

The microphone is used in three places, always optional:

• Say It and the Song Stage singing echo: your child's voice is recorded to a temporary file on the device, played back once, and then deleted.
• Clap games (Rhyme & Clap, Jump Sounds): the microphone listens live to count claps. Nothing is recorded or saved.

In every case the microphone is switched on or off by a grown-up in Settings, a note for grown-ups behind the parental gate comes before the system permission prompt, and the sound never leaves the device. It is not sent anywhere, not analyzed by any service, and not kept. If you say no, or turn it off in Settings, the rest of the app works the same.

What the app does not have

• No accounts, no sign-in, no e-mail address or name asked for.
• No ads and no ad networks. The app does not read the advertising ID.
• No analytics, no crash-reporting tools, no tracking of any kind, and no third-party SDKs that collect data.
• No chat, no social features, no sharing between children, no user-generated content.
• No location, contacts, photos or camera access.
• No push notifications.
• No data sold, rented or shared with anyone.

The app works fully offline. It has no server of ours to talk to.

Purchases

The full app is opened with a one-time unlock. The purchase is handled completely by Apple (App Store) or Google (Google Play), under their own privacy policies. We never see your name, card or payment details. The app only learns from the store whether the unlock has been bought, and keeps that answer on the device.

If you had a subscription in the old ABC Phonics & Sounds app, Restore purchases in Settings recognizes it and opens everything. That check is also done by Apple or Google on your device. Old subscriptions keep renewing until you cancel them in your Apple ID or Google Play subscriptions; the app cannot cancel them for you. Progress from the old app is not carried over: version 3.0 starts fresh.

Grown-up lock and outside links

Settings, purchases, restoring purchases and every link that leaves the app (the contact e-mail, our other app in the store, this policy) sit behind a grown-up lock: hold a button and solve a small multiplication. Children cannot reach them by accident. Printable worksheets in the grown-ups area open your device's print or share sheet; where they go from there is your choice, and the app does not see it.

Children's privacy (COPPA, GDPR-K, UK Children's Code)

• COPPA (United States). The app does not collect personal information from children, so no verifiable parental consent is needed. There is no data to review, correct or delete on our side.
• GDPR and GDPR-K (EU). We do not process personal data of children or adults through the app, so there is no legal basis to record and no data to transfer. Your rights to access, correct and delete are met because nothing is held by us.
• UK Age Appropriate Design Code (Children's Code). The app follows the code's standards by design: data minimization (none), no profiling, no nudging, no location, and strong defaults.
• Store rules. The app follows the Apple Kids Category rules (no third-party analytics or advertising, links and purchases behind a parental gate) and Google Play's Families policy.

Changes to this policy

If a future version of the app ever collects anything, we will update this page first, change the store privacy labels, and ask for any consent the law requires. The date at the top of this page tells you when it was last changed.

Contact

Questions about privacy? Write to doodlecub.com@gmail.com. We reply within a few working days.

This policy covers the app only. Our website and the Phonicademy web app (phonicademy.com) work differently and have their own website privacy policy.