Privacy Policy

Effective date: July 1, 2026

Koalie is a mobile application for parents and guardians. We take your family's privacy seriously. This policy explains what data we collect, why, and how it is protected. We do not sell your data. We do not use your data for advertising. Ever.

1. Who We Are

Koalie is developed and operated by Brian McDaniel (contact: hello@koalie.app). When this policy refers to "Koalie," "we," "us," or "our," it means us.

2. Who Uses Koalie

Koalie accounts are created by and for parents and guardians (adults). Children do not have Koalie accounts and do not directly interact with our service. We do not knowingly collect personal information directly from children under 13. All data about a child is entered and controlled by the parent or guardian who created the account. This approach is consistent with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).

3. What We Collect

We collect the following information:

Account information: Your name and email address, provided when you create an account.
Child profile data: Information you enter about your children — first name, grade level, school, date of birth, teacher name, allergies, medications, medical conditions, doctor information, emergency contacts, and media release preferences. You control this entirely and can delete it at any time.
Reading and academic data: Books logged, AR goals and points, STAR scores (if entered or imported), reading plans, homework assignments, and grades — all entered by you or received from your child's school with your authorization.
School communications: Messages, announcements, forms, and newsletters sent to you by your child's school through Koalie's connected school platform (Basin).
Messages to and from school staff through the ParentBox feature. These messages are retained as permanent school records for FERPA compliance and dispute resolution. Neither party can delete them.
Device information: Push notification tokens (to send you alerts). Device type and operating system (for app compatibility). We do not collect advertising identifiers.
Usage data: General app usage patterns (screens visited, features used) to improve the product. This data is not linked to your identity or shared with third parties.

4. How We Use Your Data

To provide the Koalie service — syncing your family's data across devices, powering the AI assistant, sending push notifications.
To enable school communication features — delivering school announcements, newsletters, forms, and ParentBox messages.
To power AI features — your child's profile and reading data are sent to OpenAI's API to generate book recommendations, reading plans, and AI chat responses. OpenAI does not train on this data (we use their API with data privacy protections in place).
To send you the morning briefing and other push notifications you have enabled.
To improve Koalie — we analyze anonymized, aggregated usage patterns to make the app better.

5. Who We Share Data With

We share your data only with the services that make Koalie work:

Supabase (database and authentication) — your data is stored on Supabase servers hosted on AWS. Supabase is SOC 2 compliant.
OpenAI (AI features) — your child's profile context and reading data are sent to OpenAI's API to power the AI assistant. We use API data protections; OpenAI does not use this data to train models.
Expo (push notifications) — device push tokens are used to deliver notifications through Expo's push service.
Your child's school — when you use school communication features, relevant data (your name, messages, form responses) is shared with the school administrators and teachers you are communicating with.

We do not share your data with advertisers, data brokers, or any third party for commercial purposes. We do not sell your data.

6. FERPA

Koalie handles educational records as directed by parents. We do not independently disclose educational records to third parties. School communications and records shared through Koalie remain subject to FERPA protections. ParentBox messages are maintained as permanent school records consistent with FERPA record-retention requirements.

7. Data Security

All data is encrypted in transit (TLS 1.3) and at rest (AES-256). Access is protected by row-level security — each user can only access their own family's data. We use secure, industry-standard authentication. We do not store passwords in plain text.

8. Data Retention and Deletion

You can delete your account and all associated data at any time by contacting us at hello@koalie.app. We will delete your account data within 30 days of your request. Exception: ParentBox messages are retained as school records per FERPA requirements — we will work with the school to facilitate access to those records as required by law.

9. Your Rights

Access: You can request a copy of the data we hold about you and your children.
Correction: You can correct inaccurate data directly in the app at any time.
Deletion: You can request deletion of your account and data as described above.
California residents: You have additional rights under CCPA/CPRA, including the right to know what personal information we collect, the right to delete it, and the right to opt out of its sale (we don't sell it). Contact us to exercise these rights.

10. Children's Privacy (COPPA)

Koalie is designed for parents and guardians, not children. Children under 13 do not create accounts or directly submit data to Koalie. All child data in Koalie is entered and managed by the parent or guardian account holder. If you believe a child under 13 has submitted data to us directly without parental authorization, please contact us at hello@koalie.app and we will promptly delete it.

11. Changes to This Policy

We may update this policy as Koalie grows. We will notify you of material changes through the app or by email at least 14 days before they take effect. Continued use of Koalie after changes take effect constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

12. Contact Us

Questions, requests, or concerns about this privacy policy: hello@koalie.app