Privacy policy
The short version
- The account belongs to you, the parent. Your child uses it with you.
- We keep the words your child looks up and the answers they received, so that you can read, download and delete them.
- We do not sell your data, we show no adverts, and we do not build a profile of your child.
- The answers are written by an artificial intelligence, not by a person. It sometimes gets things wrong. See the AI disclaimer.
- We keep technical records for a limited time, and then delete them. The periods are listed below.
- To see, correct, download or delete anything, email wordkeeper@wordaya.com.
For younger readers
A grown-up made this account for you. That is why we ask them about your words, not you.
We save the words you look up and the answers you got, so you and your grown-up can look at them again later. You can ask your grown-up to delete them whenever you want.
The answers are written by a computer, not a person. Computers make mistakes. If an answer looks wrong, or makes you feel worried or unwell, tell your grown-up.
We do not show you adverts, and we do not sell anything about you to anybody.
Who we are
Wordaya is an independent project, run by a single developer. We do not publish a name, a postal address or a country of establishment on this page.
You can reach us at wordkeeper@wordaya.com for anything on this page: access, correction, deletion, a complaint, or a question. If a data protection authority or a court needs the operator's identity, it will be provided.
We are the data controller for the personal data described on this page: that means we decide why it is collected and what happens to it.
What we collect
| What | An example | Why we have it |
|---|---|---|
| Your Google account details | Your name, email address, profile picture link and Google account number | So you can sign in, and so we know whose word history is whose |
| Your two settings | The explanation language, and the age step you picked (4, 5, 7, 9 or 11) | So explanations match your child's age and language |
| The words your child looked up, and the answers they got | "bicycle" and the explanation that came back | So you can review your child's activity, download it, or have it deleted |
| A short-lived copy of answers in your own browser | The last few explanations, stored locally | So a word your child repeats appears instantly instead of being generated again |
| Technical records | IP address, browser type, timestamps, and how much text was processed | To run the service, to apply daily limits, and to trace abuse |
| Generated audio files | The spoken version of an answer, stored under a scrambled filename | So the same clip is never paid for twice. These files are not linked to any account. |
What we do not collect: no date of birth for your child, no postal address, no telephone number, no payment details, no location tracking, no advertising identifiers, no contacts, and no photographs. We do not store passwords at all, because signing in happens at Google.
The age step is deliberately a range rather than a birth date: it is enough to pitch an explanation at the right level, and it is the least we can hold and still do that.
Why we are allowed to hold it
- To provide the service you asked for (performance of a contract): the account, your settings, the word history, and the audio for it.
- To keep the service safe and working (our legitimate interests): technical records, IP addresses and rate limits, which is how we stop abuse and keep the service available for everyone.
- To meet legal obligations and defend claims where that is necessary.
We do not rely on consent for any of the above, because you asked for the service by signing in. If we ever add something genuinely optional, we will ask you first and nothing will load until you agree.
Who else sees it
- Google — for signing in, and for the AI models that write the explanations and read them aloud. Google processes this on our instructions as our service provider, under Google Cloud's Data Processing Addendum. Google also holds your account details as your identity provider, under its own privacy policy.
- Our hosting provider — we rent a single server from a third-party hosting company, which stores the database and the files. It has no access to the content beyond operating the machine.
- Nobody else. We do not sell personal data, we do not share it for advertising, and we do not run third-party analytics or tracking scripts inside the app. The app does contain the code for Google Analytics, but it is switched off and does not run.
Where your data goes
The service runs on a rented server belonging to a third-party hosting company. Google may process data in the United States. Where personal data is transferred out of the European Economic Area or the United Kingdom, we rely on the safeguards written into Google's Data Processing Addendum, which incorporates the Standard Contractual Clauses.
How long we keep things
| What | How long |
|---|---|
| Your account, settings and word history | Until you ask us to delete them. This is your record of your child's activity, so we do not throw it away behind your back. |
| IP addresses | 90 days. They exist only so that abuse can be traced. |
| Technical records (per-request log, audio metering, product events, error logs) | 180 days |
| Sign-in session records | 180 days |
| Cached audio files | No fixed period. See the note below the table. |
| The copy in your own browser | Until you clear it, in the app's Parent Zone or in your browser settings |
If you delete your account, the technical records that refer to it are detached from your identity rather than kept attached to it.
The cached audio files are the exception, and deliberately so. A clip is stored under a filename that is a hash of the explanation text and the voice — it contains no account, no IP address and no date beyond the file's own timestamp — so it is not personal data about your child, and it is not a record of who listened to what. It is closer to a dictionary of spoken explanations: one copy serves everybody who asks for that word, in that language, and it is kept so that it never has to be generated (and paid for) twice. That is why there is no retention period for it, and why deleting your account does not remove it: nothing in it points back to you.
What you can ask for
- Download everything: the Parent Zone has a Word history page with a CSV download. It contains every word and every answer on the account.
- See it, correct it, delete it: email wordkeeper@wordaya.com. We reply within one month. We may ask you to confirm you hold the account, but signing in is usually confirmation enough.
- Delete the whole account: ask us, and we delete the account, the settings and the word history.
- Object or restrict: email us and we will stop the processing you object to, unless we have a legal reason that overrides it.
- Complain: you may complain to a data protection authority at any time. If you are in the European Union or European Economic Area, you may complain to the authority where you live, where you work, or where the problem happened.
Children's privacy
Wordaya is made for children, and it is built so that the adult holds the account. Google requires its account holders to be 13 or older, so a child should not have their own account here, and we do not ask for one.
Because a child uses the service, we keep what we hold deliberately small. There is no date of birth, no child's name, no photograph and no location. The only things that describe your child are the age step you chose and the words they looked up.
There are no adverts, no profiling, and no selling of anything about your child. What they look up is never used to target anything at them.
Wordaya is built to be used by an adult together with a child, not by a child alone. The account is the adult's, the adult stays involved, and the Parent Zone exists so that the adult can see every word and every answer.
You can review and download their history at any time, and we will delete it when you ask. We ask you to read the AI disclaimer and to check answers with your child, especially where an answer might matter.
If you believe a child has given us personal data without a parent or guardian being involved, tell us at wordkeeper@wordaya.com and we will delete it.
Keeping it safe
- The site is served over HTTPS only.
- The database and files live on a server we control, under an account that only runs this service.
- Sign-in is delegated to Google, so we never see or store your password.
- No payment details are stored, because nothing is paid for today.
- If a breach ever puts your rights at risk, we will tell you and the relevant authority without undue delay, and within 72 hours of becoming aware of it.
Automated decisions, and daily limits
There is no automated decision-making, and no profiling, that has a legal effect on you or your child. The app does count how many new audio clips an account generates in a day and stops after the allowance for its tier. That counter is arithmetic, not a judgement about your child.
Changes to this page
When something changes we update this page and move the date at the top. If a change matters, we will say so in the app as well. If we ever begin charging for anything, this page will be updated before that happens.
Contact
These pages are written in English so that there is a single authoritative version. If you would like them in another language, ask us and we will provide a translation.