Story Blossoms Privacy Policy

Last updated: June 2026

Story Blossoms (Pty) Ltd (registration number 2026/508095/07), trading as “Story Blossoms” (“we”, “us”), makes personalised audio stories for families. This policy explains what information we hold, why we hold it, and the choices you have. We keep it simple: we collect only what we need to run the service, we never sell your information, and we don’t use it for advertising.

What we collect

• Your account. When you sign up we store your email address — it’s how you sign in and how we contact you about your account.
• Age categories. The age category you choose (for example “Foxes, ages 6–7”, or “Family”) and the settings you keep for that category.
• Story requests and the stories we make. When someone asks for a story out loud, we turn the spoken request into text so we can write the story, then discard the audio immediately — we don’t keep your voice. We don’t create or store any voiceprint or other biometric identifier, and we never use voice to identify anyone. Our story creation is also designed to ignore and not store personal details someone might say out loud — such as a surname, address, or school name. We keep the stories, narration and pictures created in your account, and a short plain note of each request’s topic (e.g. “a story about dragons”) to help keep the service safe and reliable.
• Payments. If you buy jelly beans, we keep a record of the order — the amount, a reference, and the email used — for receipts, support and refunds. Your card details are handled by our payments provider, not by us.
• Basic usage data. The everyday technical information needed to run, secure and debug the service, such as logs and rough usage counts.

How we use it

To create and play your stories, manage your account, apply fair-use limits, take payments, keep content age-appropriate and safe, and keep the service running well. No advertising, no selling your data, no third-party tracking.

Stories, narration and pictures are generated automatically by AI. This automated processing doesn’t make any decision that has a legal or similarly significant effect on you.

Children’s privacy

Story Blossoms is a family service designed to be safe for children, and it’s built so that a child never has their own account or profile. We don’t ask for or store any child’s name, birthday or age — only the age category a parent picks (for example “Foxes, ages 6–7”). A parent or guardian sets up and controls the account, and a PIN protects the parent settings. We don’t show advertising to anyone, we don’t build profiles of children, and we don’t use anyone’s information for behavioural advertising. If you believe a child has given us personal information directly, email support@storyblossoms.app and we’ll delete it.

Who we share it with

We rely on a few trusted providers who process data on our behalf, only to deliver the service:

• Google — the AI that creates the stories, narration and pictures, via Google’s Gemini Developer API. We currently use Gemini 3.5 Flash (story text), Gemini 2.5 Flash (turning a spoken request into text), Gemini 3.1 Flash TTS (voice narration) and Imagen 4.0 (illustrations). Google also provides our hosting, database, storage and sign-in (Firebase / Google Cloud).
• Creem — our payments provider and Merchant of Record for jelly-bean purchases, and the safety check on the image prompt before a picture is drawn.

Some of these providers operate outside South Africa — your information may be processed in the United States, where our AI and hosting providers run. We transfer it abroad under section 72 of POPIA, on the basis that the recipients are bound by agreements (such as their standard data-processing terms) that provide substantially similar protection — including limits on onward transfer — or because the transfer is necessary to provide the service you asked for. You can ask us about these safeguards at support@storyblossoms.app.

Keeping and deleting

We keep your stories until you delete them or close your account. You can manage your age categories and settings, or delete your whole account and everything in it, from the app at any time. Request notes and operational logs are kept for up to 12 months and then removed or anonymised; payment records are kept for as long as we need them for refunds, support and tax.

Your rights

You can ask what we hold about you, have it corrected, or have it deleted — the in-app controls are the quickest way, and you can also email us. You can also withdraw any consent you’ve given at any time. We do not sell your personal information, and we don’t share it for cross-context behavioural advertising. These are your rights under POPIA and similar privacy laws. Story Blossoms (Pty) Ltd is the responsible party; you can reach our Information Officer at support@storyblossoms.app. If we can’t resolve a concern, you may lodge a complaint with South Africa’s Information Regulator at inforegulator.org.za.

Cookies

We use one essential cookie to keep you signed in, and your browser’s local storage to remember in-app preferences. We don’t use analytics, advertising or tracking cookies.

Security

Access is authenticated and scoped to your account, data is encrypted in transit, and your Settings PIN is stored only as a salted hash.

Changes and contact

We’ll update this policy from time to time and change the date above. Questions about your privacy? Email support@storyblossoms.appor use the in-app “Suggestions & bug reports” option.