Privacy Policy

1. Who we are

Penny Note is operated by Penny Note ("we", "us"). You can reach us at support@penny-note.com.

2. Information we collect

Account information

• Username (chosen by you)
• Password (stored hashed; we never see your plain-text password)
• Display name (optional)
• Email address (optional unless you signed in with Google; required for parents giving consent for a child)
• Phone number, birthday, short bio, avatar (all optional)

Content you create

• Todos, calendar events, journal entries, mood check-ins, habits, homework subjects and assignments, savings goals and entries, study quiz history, coin transactions, vision-board items, game scores, feedback messages

Sign-in information

• If you sign in with Google, we receive your Google account ID, name, and email from Google. We do not get your Google password.

Payment information

• If you (or a parent) subscribe to Penny Note Plus, payment is handled entirely by Stripe. We never see or store credit-card numbers. We store a Stripe customer ID and the subscription status.

Technical information

• A session cookie so you stay signed in. No third-party trackers, no analytics pixels, no advertising cookies.
• Standard web-server logs (IP address, browser type, request paths). We use these only to keep the service running and to investigate abuse.

3. How we use it

• To provide the app: save your todos, sync across devices, show your stats, run the games.
• To bill Plus subscriptions (via Stripe).
• To answer your feedback messages.
• To keep the service secure and prevent abuse.

We do not use your data for advertising, profiling, or sale to anyone.

4. Children's privacy (COPPA)

Penny Note is designed for kids, including kids under 13. We follow the U.S. Children's Online Privacy Protection Act ("COPPA").

Age check

Every new account asks for the user's birthday. If the user is under 13, the account cannot be created until we have verified consent from a parent or legal guardian.

How parental consent works

1. The child enters a parent's email address.
2. We send the parent a notice describing exactly what data we collect, how we use it, and what choices the parent has.
3. To verify the parent is in fact an adult, we use a small charge to a credit or debit card (currently $0.50, refunded immediately). This is one of the verification methods specifically approved by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission.
4. Only after consent is verified do we create the child's account.

Parents' rights

• Review. A parent can ask to see everything we have stored for their child.
• Delete. A parent can ask us to delete their child's account and all associated data at any time. Deletion is permanent.
• Revoke consent. A parent can withdraw consent at any time. We will stop collecting new information and delete the account on request.
• Limit collection. A parent can ask us to maintain the account but stop collecting any additional information.

To exercise any of these rights, the parent can use the parent dashboard inside their consent confirmation email, or email support@penny-note.com from the same address used for consent.

What we do not do with kids' data

• We do not show advertising of any kind inside Penny Note.
• We do not enable public profiles, chat, or social features where kids can be contacted by strangers.
• We do not sell or rent any data to third parties.
• We do not condition a child's participation in any activity on disclosing more personal information than is reasonably necessary.

5. Who we share information with

• Google, only if you choose to sign in with Google. Google's handling of that data is governed by Google's privacy policy.
• Stripe, only when a parent or adult user pays for or manages a Plus subscription. Stripe's handling is governed by Stripe's privacy policy.
• Hosting provider (Render). Render runs our servers. They do not access account data except as needed for operations.
• Law enforcement, only when required by a valid legal process.

We do not share data with marketers, data brokers, or advertising networks. Period.

6. How we keep your information safe

• All traffic to Penny Note is encrypted (HTTPS).
• Passwords are stored using PBKDF2 with a per-user salt; we never store plain text.
• Session tokens are signed with a server-side secret. A stolen token alone cannot be used to change passwords or billing.
• Payment cards never touch our servers — they live with Stripe.

No method of storage is 100% secure. If we ever discover a breach that affects you, we will notify you as required by law.

7. Your choices

• Export. Plus users can export everything in their account as a JSON file from the profile page. We will provide the same export to free users on email request.
• Delete. You can delete your account from the profile page at any time. We delete the account immediately and remove all per-user data from active storage. Encrypted backups roll off within 30 days.
• Cookies. Penny Note uses one session cookie. Blocking it will sign you out but does not affect anything else.

8. Data retention

We keep your data for as long as your account is active. Once you (or, for a child, a parent) delete an account, we permanently delete the data from active systems within 7 days. Encrypted backups roll off within 30 days. We may retain anonymized, aggregated metrics (e.g. "how many users played pool this month") indefinitely.

9. International users

Penny Note's servers are in the United States. If you use the app from outside the U.S., your data will be transferred to and processed in the U.S. By using Penny Note you consent to that transfer.

10. Changes to this policy

We will post any changes here and update the "Last updated" date. If a change is material — for example, a new way we use children's data — we will notify parents by email and require fresh consent before the change applies to existing accounts.

11. Contact

Questions, requests, or concerns: support@penny-note.com.