SaySprout
Privacy Policy
The short version. SaySprout collects nothing. The app has no networking code of its own — the only network activity is Apple's own App Store system handling the optional one-time Premium purchase, which a grown-up must approve behind a parental gate. Your child's voice is turned into words by Apple's speech recognition running on your device; no audio is ever recorded, saved to storage, or sent anywhere. There is no account, no sign-in, no advertising, no analytics, and no third-party software of any kind inside the app.
Who we are
SaySprout is made by a single independent developer. If you have a question about this policy, email eldenkamfei@gmail.com.
1. The microphone and your child's voice
SaySprout is a game where a spoken word makes the character move. To do that, it asks for two permissions the first time your child plays: Microphone and Speech Recognition.
- Sound from the microphone goes straight into Apple's speech recognizer running on your own device, in memory only.
- SaySprout switches on Apple's on-device-only setting. If a device or a language cannot do speech recognition on-device, SaySprout refuses to listen at all rather than fall back to an online service.
- No recording file is ever created. Nothing is written to storage and nothing is uploaded.
- The only thing the app does with what it hears is compare it to the word shown on screen and decide whether to celebrate. The result is discarded immediately; nothing is kept — unless a grown-up switches on the optional play log described in section 5, which keeps the recognised words (never audio) on the device.
- You can turn either permission off at any time in Settings › Privacy & Security › Microphone (or Speech Recognition) › SaySprout. The game stays playable: when SaySprout cannot listen, it shows its large on-screen buttons instead — even when a grown-up has switched on "Must say the word", because a microphone that cannot work never blocks play.
2. What is stored, and where
Everything SaySprout saves is stored in the app's own storage on the device it is running on, using Apple's standard app preferences. None of it is transmitted anywhere. We never see any of it.
| What | Why |
|---|---|
| The four practice words a grown-up chooses | So the game asks for the right words |
| The chosen word focus | To remember the last choice |
| Sound, haptics and "give younger players more time" switches | To remember the last choice |
| "Must say the word" and "Accept close attempts" switches | To remember the last choice |
| Whether the one-time intro has been seen | So it is not shown twice |
| Whether the one-time Premium unlock has been bought (a yes/no flag only) | So the extra games open without asking the App Store on every launch |
| Counters: total words said, best voice streak, how many times each word was said, breaths taken, lessons passed | To show progress in Grown-up settings and to award stars |
| An optional first name, typed by a grown-up | To print on the "You passed!" certificate — see section 3 |
| The optional play log, only if a grown-up switches it on — see section 5 | So a parent can read what happened during play |
If you back your device up to iCloud or a computer, that backup is made by Apple's operating system and is under your own Apple Account — we have no access to it.
3. The child's name on the certificate
Grown-up settings has one free-text field called "Name on certificate". It is optional and blank by default, it is meant to be filled in by an adult, and its only use is printing a first name on the paper-style certificate at the end of a lesson. It stays on the device. It is never transmitted, never shared, and never seen by us. Clear the field to remove it.
4. What SaySprout does not do
- No networking code of its own. The app never talks to any server except Apple's App Store, and only for the optional purchase described in section 6. It makes no requests to us — we run no servers.
- No account. No sign-up, no sign-in, no profile, no email address.
- No advertising of any kind, and no advertising identifier.
- No analytics, telemetry, or crash-reporting software.
- No third-party software. There are no external libraries or SDKs in the app.
- No tracking of any kind, across this app or any other.
- No location, contacts, photos, camera, or calendar access — the app never asks, because it never uses them.
- No links out to websites, social networks, or other apps. No chat, no messaging, no way for a child to send anything to anyone.
- Nothing is sold or shared. There is nothing to sell or share.
5. The optional play log (off unless you turn it on)
- Grown-up settings has a "Keep a play log" switch. It is off by default, and while it is off no log exists at all.
- When a grown-up turns it on, SaySprout keeps a play diary on the device: which games were opened, which words the game asked for, and the words Apple's speech recognition heard during play. Never audio — words only.
- The log never leaves the device by itself. The only way to send it anywhere is the "Share play log" button, which sits behind the parental gate and hands the files to iOS's share sheet for you to share however you choose. The app still contains no networking code.
- Turning the switch off stops new entries. "Delete play log" removes every entry, and deleting the app removes them too. Only the newest fourteen play sessions are ever kept.
6. The optional Premium purchase
- SaySprout offers one optional purchase: "SaySprout Premium", a one-time unlock of the extra games and word packs. There is no subscription and nothing recurring.
- The purchase screen sits behind a parental gate (a typed arithmetic question), so a child cannot reach it alone.
- Payment is handled entirely by Apple through the family's Apple Account, under Apple's own privacy policy. SaySprout never sees names, payment details, or any account information.
- The only thing SaySprout stores about the purchase is a yes/no unlock flag on this device. Apple's receipt system restores the purchase on a new device ("Restore previous purchase" on the Premium screen, behind the same parental gate).
7. Third parties
There are none. SaySprout has no service providers, processors, advertising networks, analytics vendors, or data brokers, because no data leaves the device for anyone to receive.
The speech recognition and the spoken-word voice are features built into Apple's operating system on your device. Because SaySprout requires on-device recognition, nothing is sent to Apple's servers either.
8. How to delete everything
- The name: open Grown-up settings and clear the "Name on certificate" field.
- Everything else: delete the app. Removing SaySprout removes its storage from the device, and with it every setting and every counter. On iOS use Delete App, not Offload App — offloading deliberately keeps the app's data so it comes back if you reinstall.
- Backups: if you want it gone from an existing device backup too, delete the app and then make a fresh backup, or manage backups in Settings › [your name] › iCloud.
Retention: we hold nothing, so there is no retention period on our side and no server copy to delete. On-device data stays on the device until you clear it or delete the app.
Requests: we cannot look up, export, correct, or delete information about a particular person, because we do not have any. If that ever changes, this page will change first.
9. Children
SaySprout is designed for young children. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone of any age, including children, because the app does not collect information at all. There is no sign-up, no profile, no messaging, no photo or video upload, no advertising, and no way for a child to send anything to us or to anybody else. The only free-text field in the whole app is the optional first name described in section 3, which an adult types and which never leaves the device.
10. Changes to this policy
This page always describes the version of SaySprout currently on the App Store. If a future release changes anything here — for example if it ever adds an online feature — we will update this page before that version is released, and change the date at the top. (That is what happened for version 1.5, when the optional Premium purchase was added and described above.)