Fonoli privacy policy

Last updated 2026-09-22.

Fonoli is a reading-practice app for families. A parent creates the account, adds their children, and the app generates short illustrated stories at each child's reading level. This page explains what Fonoli stores, what it is used for, and how to remove it.

What we store

• Parent account. Your email address and name, and the Google profile basics (name, email, avatar) if you sign in with Google. Sign-in is handled by Clerk; Fonoli never sees your password.
• Children. A first name or nickname, a reading level, interests, and an optional avatar. No surname, birthdate, school, or location is asked for.
• Household cast. The people, pets, and places you choose to add to stories: a name, a relationship label (“Mom”, “Grandpa”), and a short description. Photos are optional and off by default.
• Reading activity. Which stories were read, how many words and pages, which words needed help, and the rewards you set up. This is what the progress screens and rewards are built from.
• Devices. A record of each paired tablet or phone so it can be signed out from the parent app.

Stories and pictures

Stories are written by an AI text model and illustrated by an AI image model. The request includes the child's first name, reading level, interests, and the names and descriptions of the cast members you chose. Models are accessed through Vercel's AI Gateway or directly from the provider; Fonoli uses only provider tiers that do not train on your prompts.

If you opt in to photos for a cast member, the photo is used only to write a stylized description of that person and as a reference for a cartoon character sheet. Photos are never attached to story-page image requests, never produce photorealistic images, and can be deleted at any time from the cast screen.

Read-aloud audio

When a child reads aloud, speech is recognised on the device and the audio is discarded. If the active speech engine is a cloud service, audio is streamed to it only while the child is reading and is not stored. If a parent turns on “keep clips for review”, clips of at most three seconds for words the child needed help with are stored privately, are visible only to the parents in that household, and are deleted automatically after 30 days.

Where data lives

Data is stored in a Neon Postgres database and Vercel Blob storage in the United States, with access limited to your household through row-level security. Photos, audio clips, and story art are in private storage and served only through short-lived signed links. Notifications to parents go through Firebase Cloud Messaging.

What we don't do

• No advertising, no analytics trackers, no selling or sharing of data.
• No accounts for children. Children use a paired device under a parent's account.
• No reading of a device's contacts, location, or other apps.

Deleting your data

Parents can delete individual photos, audio clips, cast members, children, and paired devices from the app. To delete an entire household and account, email the address below and it will be removed within 30 days.

Contact

Questions or deletion requests: dannyhines@gmail.com.