Privacy Policy

Pointly ("we," "us," or "our") is a family points and rewards application that helps parents motivate children through a fun, game-based system. Children earn points by spending tokens and demonstrating good behavior, then redeem those points for family-chosen rewards.

We are committed to protecting the privacy of all our users, especially children. This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect, how we use it, and the choices you have. We comply with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) where applicable, and other relevant privacy laws.

By creating a Pointly account, you acknowledge that you have read and understood this Privacy Policy.

We collect only the minimum information necessary to operate the Pointly service. We do not collect information beyond what is described below.

Parent Account Information

• Email address (used for authentication and account recovery)
• Display name (chosen by the parent, shown within the family)
• Password (cryptographically hashed; we never store or have access to your plaintext password)
• Family name (a label chosen by the parent to identify the family group)
• Device push-notification token (only if a parent enables notifications) — an identifier issued by Apple, Google, or the browser, used solely to deliver notifications to that parent's own device

Child Account Information

• Display name (chosen by the parent, visible only within the family)
• Username (chosen by the parent, used only for child login within the family)
• PIN (a numeric code set by the parent for child login, cryptographically hashed; we never store or have access to the plaintext PIN)

Guest Account Information

• Email address — used to send a guest invitation and for guest login. Guests are adults a parent invites to help with the family (for example, a co-parent or caregiver), never children.
• PIN (a numeric code for guest login, cryptographically hashed)

Family Invitations

• When a parent invites a co-parent or guest, we collect the invitee's email address solely to deliver that invitation. A child may be shared across more than one family (for example, two households); the child's information stays visible only to members of the families they belong to.

Activity Data

• Points balances and point transaction history
• Token spend results and token usage
• Reward redemption records

Information We Do Not Collect

• Real names of children (parents choose display names and usernames)
• Photographs or user-uploaded images
• Geolocation or GPS data
• Device identifiers or advertising IDs for children
• Cookies for tracking or advertising purposes (we use only essential session cookies for authentication)
• Contact information for children (no email, phone, or address)

We use the information we collect solely to:

• Operate and maintain the Pointly service, including authenticating users, tracking points, and processing reward redemptions
• Send transactional emails to parents only (such as account verification, password reset, and important service notifications)
• Send push notifications to parents who opt in (for example, when a reward redemption needs approval) — delivered only to parent devices, never to children
• Ensure security of the service, including rate limiting and fraud prevention
• Monitor for and resolve errors and technical issues (using anonymized or parent-only error reporting)

We Do Not:

• Sell, rent, or share personal information with third parties for their marketing purposes
• Display advertising of any kind within Pointly
• Build behavioral profiles of any user, including children
• Use personal information for purposes unrelated to operating the Pointly service
• Send marketing or promotional communications to any user

Pointly is designed for use by families, and we recognize that children interact directly with our application. We take children's privacy seriously and comply fully with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).

Parental Consent

Only parents (or legal guardians) may create a Pointly account. Parents must be at least 18 years of age. By creating an account and adding a child to the family, the parent provides verifiable parental consent for the collection of limited information about that child as described in this policy. Parents have full control over their child's account at all times.

Minimal Data Collection

We collect only what is strictly necessary for children to use Pointly: a parent-chosen display name, a parent-chosen username, and a hashed PIN for login. We do not collect email addresses, real names, photographs, geolocation, or any other personal information from children.

No Direct Communications to Children

We never send emails, push notifications, or any other direct communications to children. All communications are directed exclusively to the parent's email address.

No Behavioral Tracking of Children

We do not use analytics, tracking pixels, advertising identifiers, or any other mechanism to track children's behavior within or outside of Pointly. Error tracking tools are configured to exclude child user context entirely.

No Public Profiles

Children's information is never made publicly accessible. Display names and activity data are visible only to members of the same family. Child usernames are not discoverable by users outside the family.

As a parent or legal guardian, you have the following rights regarding your child's information:

• Review your child's data: You can view all information associated with your child's account directly within the Pointly application at any time.
• Delete your child's account: You can remove a child from your family at any time. When a child account is deleted, all associated data — including display name, username, PIN, points history, token history, and redemption records — is permanently and irrevocably removed from our systems. We do not use soft deletes for child data.
• Delete your family account: You can delete your entire family account, which permanently removes all parent and child data from our systems.
• Revoke consent: You may revoke your consent for the collection of your child's information at any time by deleting the child's account or by contacting us at privacy@getpointly.app.

To exercise any of these rights, you may use the account management features within the app or contact us at privacy@getpointly.app. We will respond to all requests within 30 days.

We use a limited number of third-party service providers to operate Pointly. These providers process data only on our behalf and are contractually prohibited from using it for their own purposes.

• Cloudflare (Hosting & Infrastructure): Our API runs on Cloudflare Workers. Cloudflare processes requests and provides DDoS protection and CDN services. Cloudflare's privacy policy is available at cloudflare.com/privacypolicy.
• Railway (Database Hosting): Our database is hosted on Railway. All user data is stored in a Railway-hosted PostgreSQL database. Data is encrypted at rest and in transit.
• Sentry (Error Monitoring): We use Sentry for error tracking to maintain service reliability. Sentry is configured to associate error reports with parent user IDs only. Child user context is never sent to Sentry. No personally identifiable information (such as names or emails) is included in error reports.
• Resend (Transactional Email): We use Resend to send transactional emails (account verification, password reset) to parent email addresses only. Resend never receives any information about children.
• Expo (Mobile App Infrastructure & Push Delivery): Our mobile app is built with Expo. Expo's push service relays notifications to parent devices via Apple (APNs) and Google (FCM). No information about children is sent through this service.
• Stripe (Payment Processing): Stripe processes subscription payments for paid plans. Stripe collects payment information (card number, billing address) directly — Pointly never stores or has access to payment details. Stripe's privacy policy is available at stripe.com/privacy. Only parent accounts can make purchases; no payment information is associated with child accounts.

We implement industry-standard security measures to protect your information:

• All passwords and PINs are cryptographically hashed using modern hashing algorithms before storage. We never store plaintext credentials.
• All data transmitted between your device and our servers is encrypted using HTTPS/TLS.
• Authentication tokens are single-use or time-limited to reduce the risk of unauthorized access.
• Rate limiting is applied to authentication endpoints to prevent brute-force attacks.
• Database access is restricted to our application servers and is not publicly accessible.

While we take reasonable measures to protect your information, no method of electronic storage or transmission is 100% secure. If you believe your account has been compromised, please contact us immediately at privacy@getpointly.app.

We retain your information only for as long as your account is active and as needed to provide the Pointly service.

• When a parent deletes a child's account, all data associated with that child is permanently removed from our database. This includes the child's display name, username, hashed PIN, points history, token history, and redemption records. We do not retain any child data after deletion.
• When a parent deletes the family account, all data associated with the family — including all parent and child accounts, activity history, rewards, and configurations — is permanently removed.
• We do not use soft deletes for child data. Deletion is permanent and irreversible.
• We do not retain personal information for purposes beyond operating the service.

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, technology, or legal requirements. If we make material changes to how we collect, use, or share information — particularly information about children — we will notify you by sending an email to the address associated with your parent account before the changes take effect.

We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically. The "Last updated" date at the top of this page indicates when the policy was last revised.

If you have any questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or our data practices, please contact us at:

privacy@getpointly.app

We will respond to all inquiries within 30 days. For COPPA-related requests (such as reviewing, deleting, or revoking consent for your child's data), we will prioritize your request and respond as promptly as possible.