Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how Taleswitch ("we", "us", "our") collects, uses, stores, shares, and protects personal data when you use the Taleswitch mobile application and related services (the "Service"). This document is a global master privacy policy, intended to support a worldwide launch and to cover all current and planned features, including AI-generated content, personalized children's stories, images, and audio narration.

1. Scope & Legal Framework

This Privacy Policy is designed to comply with applicable international data protection laws, including but not limited to:

• EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
• UK GDPR
• U.S. Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA)
• California Consumer Privacy Act / CPRA (CCPA)
• PIPEDA (Canada)
• Comparable privacy and consumer-protection laws worldwide

It also fulfills Apple App Store and Google Play (Family & Kids) policy requirements.

2. Data Controller

Controller: Pi Engineering e.U. (operating Taleswitch)
Country: Austria
Contact: hello@taleswitch.com

3. Children's Privacy & Parental Consent

Taleswitch is a family-oriented service intended for children only under the supervision of a parent or legal guardian.

• Children do not create accounts.
• All personal data relating to a child is provided by a parent or legal guardian.
• By creating an account and using the Service, the parent provides verifiable parental consent for the collection and processing of the child's data as described in this Policy.
• We do not knowingly collect personal data directly from children without parental consent.

4. Categories of Personal Data

4.1 Parent / Guardian Data

• Email address
• Account credentials
• Subscription and purchase status

4.2 Child-Related Data (Provided by Parent)

• First name or nickname
• Age range
• Story preferences and themes

4.3 User-Generated Content

• Text prompts and story inputs
• Uploaded images (e.g. child photos or drawings)
• Uploaded audio recordings (e.g. voice samples)

4.4 AI-Generated Content

• Story texts
• Illustrations
• Audio narrations (including synthetic voices)

4.5 Technical & Usage Data

• Device type, operating system, app version
• IP address, timestamps, log data
• Crash and security logs

4.6 Payment & Transaction Data

All payments are processed by Apple App Store or Google Play. Taleswitch receives confirmation of purchases but does not receive payment card details.

5. Biometric & Sensitive Data

Our premium “Character Photo” feature allows parents to upload a photo of their child. The photo is used as a visual reference by our AI illustration system to adapt the storybook hero's appearance (hair, eyes, face shape, skin tone) into a gouache illustration style. No biometric templates, face embeddings, or facial recognition data are created or stored.

• This feature is strictly opt-in and requires explicit parental action
• Photos are stored in secure cloud storage (Supabase Storage) and are only accessed during story image generation
• An AI-generated text description of the child's appearance is also stored as a fallback
• Users can delete their photos at any time from the app (Profile screen or Create wizard)
• When a photo is deleted, only the text description remains — no image data is retained
• A toggle in Profile settings allows disabling the feature entirely without deleting photos

6. Purposes of Processing

We process personal data for the following purposes:

• Providing and personalizing stories, images, and audio
• Operating and maintaining the Service
• Managing accounts and subscriptions
• Customer support and communication
• Content safety, moderation, and abuse prevention
• Improving the Service using aggregated and anonymized data
• Legal and regulatory compliance

7. Legal Bases for Processing (GDPR)

Where applicable, processing is based on:

• Consent (Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR)
• Performance of a contract (Art. 6(1)(b))
• Legal obligations (Art. 6(1)(c))
• Legitimate interests (Art. 6(1)(f))

8. AI Technologies & Processing

Taleswitch uses artificial intelligence systems to generate text, images, and audio content.

• User inputs are processed solely to generate requested outputs
• AI-generated content is clearly disclosed as synthetic
• Personal data is not used for AI training without explicit consent

We implement safeguards to reduce the risk of inappropriate or unsafe outputs, especially for child audiences.

9. Third-Party Service Providers

We use trusted third-party providers for:

• AI text, image, and audio generation
• Cloud hosting and infrastructure
• Security and system reliability

These providers act as processors under our instructions and are contractually bound to data protection obligations.

10. AI-Generated Audio

Taleswitch uses AI text-to-speech to generate audio narration for stories. All synthetic voices are clearly labeled as AI-generated.

11. Data Retention

• Personal data is retained only as long as necessary for the stated purposes
• Parents may delete content and accounts at any time
• Deleted data is removed from active systems and purged from backups according to retention schedules

12. International Data Transfers

Taleswitch operates globally. Data may be processed in countries outside your jurisdiction.

Where required, we implement appropriate safeguards, such as:

• EU Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs)
• Equivalent legal transfer mechanisms

13. Your Rights

Depending on your jurisdiction, parents and users may have the right to:

• Access personal data
• Correct inaccurate data
• Delete personal data
• Withdraw consent
• Restrict or object to processing
• Request data portability
• Lodge complaints with supervisory authorities

14. Security Measures

We apply appropriate technical and organizational measures to protect personal data, including encryption, access controls, and secure infrastructure.

15. Changes to this Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Material changes will be communicated.

16. Contact

For privacy-related questions or requests, contact us at:

Email: hello@taleswitch.com