Privacy Policy

Introduction

KidLinks ("we," "us," or "our") is a family networking application designed for parents and guardians. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, and protect personal information in connection with the KidLinks mobile app and website at kidlinks.app. We are committed to protecting your privacy in accordance with Canada's Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA).

Information We Collect

Account information: When you register, we collect your email address via Supabase Auth for authentication and account recovery. We do not collect your name, phone number, or payment information during registration.

Sensitive family data (end-to-end encrypted): Personal details — including names, photos, contact information, events, and messages — are encrypted on your device before transmission. We store only the encrypted result. Our servers cannot read the contents of this data; only you and families you've connected with can decrypt it.

Profile attributes (stored in plaintext for functionality): To power search and local recommendations, we store certain coarse-grained, non-identifying profile attributes in plaintext: children's age ranges (e.g., "school age") and interest categories (e.g., "sports," "arts"). These labels are chosen from a fixed set of options you provide; they are not free-form personal descriptions. You can update or remove these attributes at any time from your profile settings.

Device and usage data: If you enable push notifications, we store a device push token (issued by Apple or Google) associated with your account. We also store operational metadata such as account creation timestamps, encrypted blob sizes, and connection status flags. No browsing history, location data, or analytics are collected.

How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect to:

• Operate and maintain your account
• Send push notifications you have opted into (e.g., playdate invites, new contact submissions)
• Provide technical support and respond to privacy inquiries
• Comply with legal obligations
• Surface relevant local venues, events, and family activities based on the age ranges and interest categories you've shared with us

We do not sell, rent, or provide your personal information to third parties. KidLinks operates a local business directory where venues and activity providers may pay to appear as listings. We use the age ranges and interest categories you've shared to show you relevant listings — the businesses in this directory never receive your personal information, your children's profiles, or any data that identifies you.

Data Storage and Security

KidLinks is built with end-to-end encryption (E2EE) as a core architectural principle. Here is what that means in practice:

• All sensitive data — family profiles, child profiles, events, and messages — is encrypted on your device using AES-256-GCM before transmission
• Our servers store sensitive personal data only as encrypted blobs and wrapped keys. Non-sensitive profile attributes (age ranges and interest categories) are stored in plaintext solely to power search and relevant recommendations.
• Your encryption keys are derived from a PIN you set on your device; only you can decrypt your data
• Even if our servers were compromised, your family's data would remain unreadable to any unauthorized party

Account credentials are managed by Supabase Auth, which uses industry-standard practices including hashed passwords and secure session tokens. All data is transmitted over HTTPS.

Third-Party Services

We use the following third-party services to operate KidLinks:

• Supabase (supabase.com) — Provides our authentication infrastructure and encrypted database storage. Supabase processes your email address and stores encrypted data blobs on our behalf. Supabase is subject to their own privacy policy.
• Expo / Expo Push Notifications (expo.dev) — Provides the push notification delivery infrastructure for iOS and Android. If you enable push notifications, your device push token is shared with Expo solely for delivering notifications you have opted into.

We do not use advertising networks, analytics platforms, or social media tracking pixels.

Data Retention and Deletion

We retain your account data for as long as your account is active. If you delete your account, all associated data — including your email address, encrypted family data, child profiles, events, and push tokens — is permanently deleted from our servers within 30 days. Backups are purged on the same schedule.

To request deletion of your account and all associated data, contact us at privacy@kidlinks.app.

Your Rights Under PIPEDA

As a Canadian resident (and to the extent applicable, as a user in any jurisdiction), you have the right to:

• Access: Request a copy of the personal information we hold about you
• Correction: Request corrections to inaccurate or incomplete personal information
• Withdrawal of consent: Withdraw your consent to certain processing activities (note that withdrawing consent may limit your ability to use the app)
• Complaints: File a complaint with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada if you believe your privacy rights have been violated

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at privacy@kidlinks.app.

Children's Privacy

KidLinks is intended for use by parents and guardians (persons 18 years of age or older). We do not knowingly collect personal information directly from children. Information about children (such as names and ages in child profiles) is entered by parents or guardians on their behalf and is stored in encrypted form that we cannot access.

Contact Us

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

Email: privacy@kidlinks.app

We will respond to privacy inquiries within 30 days.

Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we do, we will revise the "Effective date" at the top of this page. We encourage you to review this policy periodically. Continued use of KidLinks after changes are posted constitutes your acceptance of the updated policy.