Privacy Policy
Effective October 30, 2026
Better Answer (“the app,” “we,” “us”) is made by Better Answer, LLC. It helps parents get timely replies from their children: a parent sends a check-in or task, and if the child doesn’t reply by the deadline, Apple’s Screen Time limits apps on the child’s iPhone until they do. This policy explains what information the app handles, why, who processes it, and how to delete it.
1. What we collect
Everything below is stored in our Google Firebase project and is visible only to members of your family (plus our service providers, as described in section 5).
| Information | Details | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Account ID | A random identifier created by Firebase Anonymous Authentication when you first open the app. We don’t ask for an email address, phone number, password or Apple ID. | To sign you in and link you to your family. |
| Profile | The display name you type (for example “Dad” or a child’s first name), your role (parent or kid), and an optional language setting. | To show who sent what, and to check replies in the right language. |
| Family settings | The family name (from the last name the first parent enters, e.g. “Price Family”), the family’s join codes, whether “Locate” opens Find My or Life360, and any extra reply words parents add. | To run the family group. |
| Messages and activity | Check-ins, tasks and notes parents send; children’s replies; “I called” and “task done” status; approvals, deadlines and timestamps; and which parent approved or cleared an item. | This is the core of the app. |
| Task photos | Photos a child takes or chooses to show a finished task. The app only gets the photo you pick or take; it can’t browse your photo library. | So a parent can approve the task. |
| Push token | A notification token from Firebase Cloud Messaging / Apple Push Notification service for your device. | To send you notifications. |
| Lock status | On a child’s phone, the open deadlines are sent to that phone inside notifications, and if a lock can’t be scheduled, a short technical error message is saved to the child’s profile so parents can see it. | So the phone locks and unlocks on time, and parents know if something’s wrong. |
| Security records | The times of attempts to join a family or enter the parent code, kept with your account ID. | To limit code guessing (10 tries an hour). |
| Technical logs | Our server functions log errors (such as a failed notification). Google Cloud may also record standard request information, such as IP addresses, when the app talks to Firebase. | To operate and secure the service. |
2. What stays on your device
Some information never leaves the phone:
- Screen Time. Apple’s Screen Time authorization and the apps and websites a parent picks to stay open during a lock stay on the child’s iPhone. Apple gives the app only opaque tokens for those choices, not app names or usage, and we never upload them.
- App usage. We don’t read or receive Screen Time reports, app usage, browsing history or how long the phone is used.
- Lock schedule and preferences. The phone’s copy of its lock schedule, your inbox layout, and your default ride, food and money apps are stored only on your device.
3. What we don’t collect
- Location. “Locate” just opens Find My or Life360. We receive nothing from those apps.
- Calls and texts. We don’t see your phone calls or Messages. When a child says “I called,” they tap a button and a parent confirms it.
- Payments and orders. Ride, Food and Money open Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, Uber Eats, Grubhub, Venmo, Cash App, Apple Cash (Messages), PayPal or a bank’s Zelle page. We don’t see or process any ride, order or payment. The only thing saved is the optional note a parent chooses to send (for example “Uber ride is on the way.”). Those services have their own privacy policies.
- Contacts, email, phone number, advertising ID, analytics or crash-reporting data. The app has no advertising or analytics SDKs.
4. How we use information
Only to provide the app: running your family group, delivering check-ins, replies, tasks and notes, checking whether a reply is a real answer, locking and unlocking the child’s phone on time, sending notifications, keeping the service secure, and responding to support requests. We don’t use your information for advertising, profiling or training AI models, and we don’t sell or “share” it (as those words are used in U.S. state privacy laws).
5. Who processes it
We use these service providers to run the app. They process information on our behalf under their own terms:
- Google Firebase (Google LLC): Authentication (anonymous sign-in), Cloud Firestore (database), Cloud Storage (task photos), Cloud Functions (server logic) and Cloud Messaging (notifications). Data is stored in [DATA REGION, e.g. the United States]. See Firebase privacy and security.
- Apple: Apple Push Notification service delivers notifications, and Screen Time runs on the device under Apple’s own privacy terms.
Notification text (such as “Dad needs a reply” and the message itself) passes through Apple and Google to reach the phone. Inside your family, parents can see everything in the family; a child sees their own inbox. We may disclose information if required by law, or to protect the safety of a person, and in connection with a sale or merger of the app (in which case this policy would continue to apply).
6. Retention and deletion
We keep information while your account and family exist. Messages and photos aren’t deleted automatically; the app shows the last 7 days plus anything still open. You can delete data inside the app at any time:
- Parents: Settings → Delete my account. Deletes your account, the check-ins and tasks you sent (including their photos), and your sign-in. If you’re the only parent, this deletes the whole family.
- Parents: Settings → Delete family and all data. Deletes every member’s account, all messages, replies, tasks, photos and join codes. Children’s phones are sent an unlock first.
- Parents: Settings → Members → Remove. Removes a member and deletes their data (for a child: their inbox, replies and photos).
- Children: Settings → Ask to delete my account. A parent approves the request in the app, and the child’s account, messages and photos are then deleted and their phone is unlocked.
Deletion removes the data from our active database and storage right away. Copies may remain for a short time in service-provider logs or backups before they’re overwritten. You can also email us to delete your data (section 11).
7. Children’s privacy
Better Answer is a family app meant to be set up and managed by a parent or legal guardian. It isn’t directed to children on their own, and it isn’t in the App Store’s Kids category.
- Parent setup and consent. A parent creates the family, chooses to give the kid code to their child, and approves Apple’s Screen Time permission on the child’s phone with the parent’s own Apple ID through Family Sharing. By setting up a child’s account, the parent consents to the collection described here.
- What we collect from children: the first name or nickname entered for them, their replies, “I called” and task status, task photos they choose to send, their push token, account ID and lock status. Nothing else, and only to run the app for their family.
- No ads, tracking or public profiles. Children can’t make anything public or contact anyone outside their family through the app.
- Parents’ review and deletion. Parents can see their child’s messages, replies and photos in the app, remove the child (deleting their data) under Settings → Members, or delete the whole family. Parents can also contact us to review or delete their child’s information, or to refuse further collection.
If you believe a child’s information was collected without a parent’s permission, contact us and we’ll delete it.
8. Security
Data is encrypted in transit (HTTPS/TLS) and stored on Google’s infrastructure, which encrypts it at rest. Database and storage rules let only members of a family read that family’s data. Only the server can create families, add members, set roles or mark a check-in as answered, and join codes are checked on the server with a limit on attempts. Photos can be viewed only by family members. No system is perfectly secure, so keep your parent code private and make new codes in Settings if one is shared.
9. Your choices and rights
- You can turn off notifications, or Screen Time access, in iOS Settings at any time (the app won’t be able to lock or notify without them).
- You can change names in the app and delete your data as described in section 6.
- Depending on where you live (for example California or the EU/UK), you may have the right to access, correct, delete or get a copy of your information, and to object to or limit some processing. Email us to make a request. We won’t treat you differently for using these rights. If you’re in the EU/UK, we rely on providing the service you asked for (contract) and our legitimate interest in keeping it secure, and you can complain to your local data protection authority.
10. Changes to this policy
If we change this policy we’ll update the date above and, for significant changes, tell you in the app before they take effect.
11. Contact us
Better Answer, LLC
Email: support@betteranswer.app
Website: https://betteranswer.app