Privacy & Data Policy

We believe you should know exactly what happens with your data, in plain language. No legalese walls, no buried clauses.

The Short Version

📵

Offline by default

Install any of our apps and nothing leaves your device. Period.

🤝

Opt-in, not opt-out

Cloud features require your explicit consent. You choose what to share.

🔬

Always pseudonymized

If you do opt in, data uses random identifiers that cannot identify you or your child.

🚫

Never sold

Your data is never sold to advertisers, data brokers, or aggregators. Not now, not ever.

How It Works

Our apps operate on a two-tier model. The default tier is completely private. The second tier is your choice.

🔒

Tier 1: Default Install

No action required
  • ✓ All app data (scores, progress, settings) is stored locally on your device
  • ✓ No network calls are made for analytics, tracking, or telemetry
  • ✓ No device identifiers, IP addresses, or location data are collected
  • ✓ No ads are shown, and no advertising SDKs are included in the app
  • ✓ The app functions fully without an internet connection

This is the default experience. If you never touch any settings, this is what you get.

📊

Tier 2: Cloud Insights

Explicit opt-in required

If you want richer scoring, progress tracking, or learning metrics that benefit from cloud processing, you can opt in. Here's the deal:

  • → You get enhanced learning analytics — see how your child progresses across categories, identify strengths, and spot areas for more practice
  • → In exchange, anonymized usage patterns (which game modes are played, which items are interacted with, difficulty levels reached) are shared with us
  • → We use this aggregated data primarily to make the app better at teaching — adjusting difficulty curves, improving content, and identifying where kids get stuck
  • → We may also use aggregated insights to inform development of other EmersonDigital products

What "pseudonymized" means, specifically:

Before any data reaches our servers, it is pseudonymized. We don't store names, emails, or device hardware IDs. Instead, we use a random app-instance identifier that groups gameplay sessions from the same installation — but cannot identify who is using the app. What we see is aggregate patterns linked by random identifiers — "40% of sessions in the 4-5 difficulty range replayed Memory Cards 3+ times" — not "your child played Memory Cards at 7:03 PM on Tuesday."

What We'll Never Do

✗

Sell your data to advertisers or data brokers

Your data — whether anonymized or not — will never be sold, licensed, or traded to third-party advertisers, data aggregators, or brokers. This is a hard line.

✗

Use your data for advertising purposes

We don't run ads, we don't build advertising profiles, and we don't use your data to target you with marketing from third parties.

✗

Collect data from children without parental consent

Our apps designed for children (like North Star Learning) require a parent or guardian to enable any cloud features. The opt-in flow includes age verification to ensure a child cannot consent on their own.

✗

Make it hard to opt out

If you change your mind, one tap turns off cloud data sharing. We also provide one-tap local data deletion. No dark patterns, no guilt trips.

Your Controls

Opt in or out at any time

Cloud features can be enabled or disabled from app settings. When you opt out, data sharing stops immediately.

Delete your local data

Every app includes a one-tap option to delete all locally stored data — scores, progress, settings, everything.

Request deletion of cloud data

If you previously opted into cloud features and want your anonymized data removed from our systems, email us at contact@emersondigital.dev and we'll handle it.

Children's Privacy

North Star Learning is designed for children ages 2-7. We take COPPA (Children's Online Privacy Protection Act) seriously.

  • The default install collects zero data and requires no account creation.
  • Cloud features can only be enabled by a parent or guardian through a verified consent flow.
  • We never collect names, photos, voice recordings, or precise location from children.
  • If cloud insights are enabled, only anonymized interaction patterns are collected — never content that could identify a specific child.
  • Parents can disable cloud features and request data deletion at any time.

Our Commitment

If our data practices ever change, we'll update this page and notify users in-app before any changes take effect. We'd rather lose a feature than lose your trust.

Questions about our data practices? Reach out at contact@emersondigital.dev