Privacy Policy

WhatThat Privacy Policy

WhatThat is a parent-held app that helps parents and guardians answer young children's everyday "what's that?" questions. This policy explains what we collect, why we collect it, and how parents can delete it.

Last updated: May 5, 2026

Short version

  • WhatThat is not social media. There are no public profiles, comments, feeds, direct messages, or public photo sharing.
  • We do not sell personal information and we do not use third-party advertising or cross-app tracking.
  • The app uses an anonymous family account on the device instead of requiring an email login.
  • Photos are used to answer the parent's question, generate optional diagrams or avatars, and save the family's Wonder Book. They are not shared publicly.
  • Parents can delete account data from the app or by contacting support@whatthat.app.

1. Scope

This Privacy Policy applies to the WhatThat iOS app, the WhatThat web app used inside the iOS app, and the WhatThat support and marketing pages that link to this policy.

WhatThat is designed for use by a parent, guardian, or other adult caregiver. Children should use WhatThat only with that adult's involvement. If you are a child, please ask your parent or guardian before using the app or contacting us.

2. Information we collect

Anonymous family and device information

WhatThat creates an anonymous family account for the app. The iOS app stores an account identifier, installation identifier, and installation secret in the device Keychain. Our server stores the anonymous family identifier, installation identifier, a protected digest of the installation secret, app version, device name, onboarding state, and last-seen timestamps.

Child profile information

Parents can create child profiles so answers fit the child. A profile may include a first name or nickname, an answer style, and an avatar choice. If a parent uploads a profile photo to create a custom avatar, the photo is used to generate a stylized avatar. WhatThat does not use profile photos for face recognition, biometric identification, or creating a biometric template.

Wonder content

When a parent creates a Wonder, we may collect the photo the parent chooses or takes, object names or hints, tap location on the image, generated object candidates, child-friendly answers, follow-up questions, generated diagrams, read-aloud audio, and Wonder Book history.

Subscriptions and purchases

WhatThat uses Apple StoreKit for iOS subscriptions. Apple handles payment information. We receive and store subscription-related records such as product IDs, transaction IDs, original transaction IDs, subscription status, environment, purchase and expiration dates, revocation/refund information, signed transaction payloads, and entitlement state.

Usage, moderation, and security information

We collect first-party onboarding events and feature usage events so the app can enforce subscriptions, operate rate limits, investigate abuse, and understand whether the setup flow works. Usage events may include feature type, timestamps, the relevant family account, the relevant Wonder, and a protected hash of the IP address. Moderation records may include whether content was allowed or blocked, the content field involved, a protected text hash, category, reason, and timestamps.

Support communications

If you email support, we collect the email address and information you choose to send, such as screenshots, device details, or descriptions of an issue.

3. Photos and child images

WhatThat does not ask parents to upload photos of children as part of the normal Wonder flow. A parent usually takes or chooses a picture of the thing the child is asking about, such as a bug, toy, plant, sign, or fire hydrant.

The iOS app asks for camera or photo library access only when the parent chooses to take or select a photo. The current native upload path resizes and re-encodes Wonder photos before upload instead of uploading the original file unchanged. We do not intentionally collect precise location from photos, and parents should avoid uploading sensitive images, private documents, or images that include people when they are not needed for the question.

Photos and generated media are used to provide the app's features, including object explanation, visual "Show Me" diagrams, child profile avatars when requested, saved Wonder history, troubleshooting, safety checks, and abuse prevention. They are not posted publicly or shared with other WhatThat families.

4. How we use information

  • Provide the app, including child profiles, camera upload, Wonder Book, explanations, follow-up answers, generated diagrams, and audio.
  • Personalize answers to the selected child profile and answer style.
  • Process subscriptions, restore purchases, and enforce trial or paid entitlements.
  • Moderate child-facing content and block high-risk or inappropriate requests.
  • Detect, prevent, and respond to abuse, automated usage, excessive usage, fraud, and security incidents.
  • Operate, debug, secure, and improve WhatThat.
  • Respond to support requests and legal obligations.

5. AI processing

WhatThat uses AI service providers, including OpenAI, to analyze photos, produce short child-friendly explanations, create optional diagrams, create optional profile avatars, and generate read-aloud audio. We send only the information needed for the requested feature, such as the selected photo, object hint, child profile answer style, the question, and relevant Wonder context.

AI-generated answers can be incomplete or wrong. Parents and guardians are responsible for deciding whether an answer is appropriate before relying on it or saying it to a child. WhatThat is not a source of medical, legal, emergency, safety-critical, or professional advice.

6. When we share information

We do not sell personal information. We also do not use third-party advertising networks or cross-app tracking in WhatThat.

We share information only as needed to operate the app:

  • Service providers. We use hosting, database, storage, worker, email, and AI providers to run WhatThat. These providers process information for us so the app can function.
  • Apple. Apple processes App Store purchases, subscription management, refunds, restore-purchase flows, and related App Store services.
  • Support and operations. We may use support tools or administrative access to investigate issues you report, debug production problems, or enforce safety and abuse rules.
  • Legal and safety. We may disclose information if required by law or if necessary to protect users, children, WhatThat, or others from harm, fraud, abuse, or security threats.

7. Children's privacy

WhatThat is built for parents and guardians, not for children to create accounts, post content, or communicate with others. The parent or guardian controls the child profile, the photos submitted, and the Wonder Book.

Because the app can include information related to a child, parents and guardians should use WhatThat only for their own family or where they have permission. Parents can review, correct, or delete child profile information and Wonder content in the app. Parents can also contact us at support@whatthat.app for help deleting data.

8. Retention and deletion

Saved Wonder records remain available in the family's Wonder Book until they are deleted, the child profile is deleted, or the account data is deleted. Uploaded Wonder photos, generated images, and saved Wonder speech audio are subject to media-retention cleanup and may be purged after about 90 days. Temporary read-aloud audio is scheduled for deletion after about 1 hour.

Deleting a child profile removes that profile and its saved Wonders. Deleting account data removes child profiles, saved Wonders, associated media, device installation records, usage events, and moderation decisions tied to the family account. Some records may be retained where needed for subscription, refund, tax, fraud prevention, security, legal compliance, backup integrity, or App Store compliance. These retained records are limited to what is reasonably needed for those purposes.

9. Your choices and rights

  • Camera and photos. You can manage camera and photo library permissions in iOS Settings.
  • Profiles and Wonders. You can edit or delete child profiles and delete saved Wonders in the app.
  • Account data deletion. You can delete account data in app settings or contact support for help.
  • Subscriptions. You can manage, cancel, or restore subscriptions through your Apple ID and App Store settings.
  • Privacy requests. Depending on where you live, you may have rights to access, correct, delete, export, or restrict certain personal information. Contact us to make a request.

10. Security

We use technical and organizational safeguards intended to protect WhatThat data, including private storage for media, scoped family access controls, secure transport, server-side entitlement checks, rate limits, moderation gates, reduced sensitive logging, and deletion workflows. No system is perfectly secure, and parents should avoid uploading sensitive images or information that is not needed for a question.

11. International processing

WhatThat and its service providers may process information in countries other than where you live. Privacy and data protection laws may differ from country to country, but we take steps designed to protect information consistently with this policy.

12. Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy as WhatThat changes. The "Last updated" date above shows when it was last revised. If changes are material, we will provide notice in a reasonable way, such as through the app or support site.

13. Contact

For privacy questions, child data requests, deletion requests, or support, contact support@whatthat.app.