Berry is built for children, so we collect as little as we can, never show adverts and never sell data. This page says exactly what we keep, why, who helps us run it, and how to get rid of it.
1. Who we are
SyntaxPlanet makes Berry and is responsible for your data.
Berry is published and operated by SyntaxPlanet ("we", "us"). SyntaxPlanet is the data controller for the personal information described here. Write to us about anything on this page at hello@syntaxplanet.com. A person replies, normally within two working days.
2. The short version
| We collect | We do not collect |
|---|---|
| Your email address and how you sign in | Your password from Google or Apple |
| Each child's first name or nickname, birth year and avatar | A child's full date of birth, email, phone number or address |
| Reading progress: pages, minutes, streaks, badges | Location (GPS or precise) |
| Whether your subscription is active | Card or bank details (Apple or Google handle payment) |
| App usage and crash reports, with advertising features switched off | Advertising identifiers, or tracking across other apps and websites |
| A photo for an avatar, only if you choose to add one | Voice recordings (voice search stays on the device) |
3. Information about you, the grown-up
Your email, your sign-in method, your subscription status, and the device notifications go to.
- Account details. Your email address and which sign-in method you used (email and password, Google, or Apple). If you sign in with Google or Apple, we receive only what they share for sign-in, which can include your name. If you use Apple's "Hide My Email", we receive Apple's relay address, not your real one. We never see your Google or Apple password; email passwords are stored only as a secure hash by our sign-in provider.
- Subscription status. If you subscribe, Apple or Google takes the payment. We receive a record that a subscription is active, which plan, and when it renews or ends, so the library can unlock. We never receive your card number.
- Notification device. If you allow notifications, we store a push token for that phone or tablet, along with its model, operating system version, the Berry version installed, its language and time zone. We use these to send the right notification to the right device and to help with support. We never store the device's name or any advertising or hardware identifier.
- Messages to us. If you email us, we keep the conversation so we can help you.
4. Information about your child
A first name, a birth year, an avatar, and reading progress. Children never create accounts.
- Profile. For each child profile you create, we store a first name or nickname, a birth year and a chosen avatar. The birth year picks age-appropriate books; we never ask for the day or month.
- Optional photo. You can add a photo as a child's avatar. It is optional, stored privately under your account, never shown to anyone else, and you can remove it at any time.
- Reading activity. While a child reads, Berry records which books were opened, which pages were read, choices made in Pick Your Path books, minutes read per day, streaks and badges. This lets progress carry between your devices and fills in your parent dashboard. Nothing a child does in Berry is visible to any other user.
- Searches. Recent searches are kept only on the device, not on our servers.
5. Information collected automatically
Anonymous-style usage and crash data so we can fix problems. Advertising features are switched off before the app starts.
- App analytics (Google Analytics for Firebase). We see which screens are used (by screen type, never with names or ids in them) and reading events such as "a book was finished", tagged with the book, the format and an age band (for example 6–8). A child's profile, name and session are never sent. Google may infer an approximate country or region from the network address. All advertising features are disabled in the app's build settings: no advertising ID, no Android SSAID or vendor identifier collection, no ad storage, no ad personalisation, and no ad-network registration.
- Crash reports (Firebase Crashlytics). If Berry crashes or hits a serious error, we receive a technical report: what went wrong in the code, device model, operating system and app version, linked to the parent account's random identifier so we can match it if you write to us.
- App integrity (Firebase App Check). Your device's platform service (Apple App Attest or Google Play Integrity) confirms requests come from the real Berry app. This protects your account and our servers from abuse. It does not identify you.
- Sign-up protection. When someone creates an account, our sign-in provider checks for signs of automated abuse and disposable email addresses.
- App launch and install reports. When the app starts, it reports a random install identifier generated by Berry, the app version and the platform, so we can tell whether a new release is working.
6. Device permissions
Berry asks only when a feature needs it, and works without every one of them.
| Permission | Used for | What leaves the device |
|---|---|---|
| Notifications | New-book announcements and reminders you turn on | A push token and the device details in section 3. Reminders you schedule are set on the device itself. |
| Photos / camera | Only when a parent chooses a photo for a child's avatar | The one photo you pick, stored privately under your account |
| Microphone and speech recognition (where available) | Letting a child search for a book by speaking | Nothing. Speech is turned into text by the device's own speech service, is never recorded, and is never uploaded by Berry. |
Berry does not request location, contacts or the iPhone tracking (ATT) permission.
7. How we use information, and our legal bases
To run the app you asked for, keep it safe, and make it better. Never for ads.
| Purpose | Legal basis (UK / EU GDPR) |
|---|---|
| Create and secure your account, sync progress between devices, show the parent dashboard | Performing our contract with you |
| Unlock the library when you subscribe, restore purchases | Performing our contract with you |
| Fix crashes, understand which features and books are used, improve Berry | Our legitimate interest in a working, improving app, with advertising features switched off and children not identifiable |
| Prevent fraud, abuse and fake sign-ups | Our legitimate interest in keeping Berry safe |
| Send notifications | Your consent, given through your device's permission prompt. Turn it off any time in your device settings. |
| Store a child's avatar photo | Your consent, by choosing to add it. Remove it any time. |
| Reply to your messages, handle deletion and data requests | Performing our contract, and complying with the law |
| Keep records the law requires | Legal obligation |
8. What we never do
No adverts. No selling. No chat. No tracking across other apps.
- Berry has no advertising of any kind, and never will.
- We do not sell or rent personal information, and we do not "share" it for cross-context behavioural advertising as defined by California law.
- There is no messaging, comment or social feature, so a child cannot be contacted through Berry.
- We do not build advertising profiles, and we do not track you or your child across other companies' apps or websites.
- Nothing a child sees in Berry links out to the web.
9. Who processes data for us
A short list of service providers, each bound to use the data only to run Berry.
We share personal information only with the providers below, who process it on our instructions, and when the law requires it. If SyntaxPlanet or Berry were ever sold or merged, this policy would continue to apply to your data and we would tell you in the app first.
| Provider | What they do | What they receive |
|---|---|---|
| Google (Firebase) | Sign-in, database, file storage, server functions, analytics, crash reports, app integrity, Android push notifications | Everything stored in your account, encrypted, plus the usage and crash data in section 5 |
| Apple | Sign in with Apple, App Store payments, iOS push notifications, App Attest | What you share with Apple directly; a push token to deliver notifications |
| Google Play | Android payments and Play Integrity | What you share with Google directly |
| RevenueCat | Keeps track of subscription status across Apple and Google | Your account's random identifier and purchase records from the store. No names, emails or child data. |
| Discord (internal team tool) | Private alerts to our small team about sign-ups, subscription changes and app health, so we can spot problems and answer support quickly | The parent's email address and account events. Never a child's name or photo; a child appears only as a random profile id. |
| Vercel | Hosts this website | Standard web request logs (see section 15) |
The narration you hear in Berry is recorded in advance when a book is made. No information about you or your child is sent to any voice or AI service.
10. Where your data is stored
On Google Cloud servers in the United States.
Berry's database, files and server functions run on Google Cloud in the United States. If you live in the UK, the EU or elsewhere, your information is transferred to the US. Where the law requires it, these transfers are protected by the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses (and the UK addendum) that our providers include in their data processing terms, or by the provider's certification under the EU–US Data Privacy Framework.
11. How long we keep it
As long as your account exists. Delete the account and it is gone.
- Account, profiles, reading history and photos: until you delete them or the account. Deleting a child profile deletes its progress, streaks and badges.
- Deleting the account removes, immediately: your account record, every child profile, all reading activity and progress, uploaded photos, your subscription record at RevenueCat, and finally your sign-in record.
- Unfinished sign-ups: an email account that is never verified and not used for a week is deleted automatically.
- Analytics and crash data are kept by Google under the retention limits in our Firebase settings (analytics event data for at most 14 months; crash reports for about 90 days), then deleted. They contain no names or email addresses.
- Notification devices are removed when the platform reports the token is no longer valid, or with the account.
- Team alerts and support emails are kept only as long as useful for support. We delete them on request.
- Payment records are held by Apple or Google under their own policies, and may be kept longer where tax law requires.
12. Security
Encrypted in transit and at rest, and walled off per family.
Data is encrypted in transit (HTTPS) and at rest. Server security rules mean a parent's account can read only what sits under that account; no other user can reach it. App Check blocks requests that do not come from the genuine app. Deleting an account requires you to sign in again first, so a phone left unlocked is not enough. Only a small number of people at SyntaxPlanet can access production systems, and only to run and support Berry. No system is perfectly secure; if a breach ever affects your information, we will tell you and the relevant authorities as the law requires.
13. Your rights and choices
See it, correct it, download it, delete it. Any time, free.
In the app
- Edit or delete any child profile, and remove any photo, from the parent area.
- Delete your whole account: parent area, Settings, Delete account. See how account deletion works.
- Turn notifications off in your device settings.
By email
Email hello@syntaxplanet.com from the address on the account to ask for a copy of your data, a correction, deletion, or to object to or restrict a use of it. We may ask you to confirm you own the account before acting. We answer within 30 days (within 45 days where California law applies), and it is free.
Where you live
- UK and EU: you have the rights of access, rectification, erasure, restriction, portability and objection, and you may withdraw consent at any time. You can complain to your data protection authority (in the UK, the Information Commissioner's Office, ico.org.uk), though we would like the chance to help first.
- California and other US states with privacy laws: you may ask to know, access, correct or delete your personal information, and to opt out of its sale or sharing. We do not sell or share it, and we do not use sensitive personal information to infer characteristics. We will never treat you differently for using these rights. An authorised agent may make a request for you with your written permission.
- Everywhere else: email us and we will honour the same requests.
14. Children's privacy (COPPA, GDPR-K and the UK Children's Code)
Only a parent can create a profile. Parents see and control everything.
Berry does not let children create accounts or give us information on their own. Every child profile is created by an adult account holder, who can view, edit and delete it at any time. We collect no more from a child than is needed for the app to work, settings are private by default, and there are no ads, no chat and no links out. Our full notice to parents under the US Children's Online Privacy Protection Act is on the Children's Privacy page.
If you believe a child has given us information without a parent's permission, email hello@syntaxplanet.com and we will delete it.
15. This website
No cookies, no analytics, no trackers.
berrykids.app sets no cookies, runs no analytics and loads no third-party scripts, fonts or trackers. Our host, Vercel, keeps standard server logs (such as IP address, browser type and the page requested) for a short time to deliver the site and protect it from abuse. Store badges link to Apple's App Store and Google Play, which have their own privacy policies.
16. Changes to this policy
If we change what we collect, we tell you in the app first.
We will show a notice inside Berry before any change that affects what we collect or how we use it, and where the law requires it we will ask for your consent again. The date at the top of this page always shows the current version.
17. Contact
SyntaxPlanet
Email: hello@syntaxplanet.com