Your household. Your iPhone.

What stays on the iPhone

The iPhone app is separate from this website. It keeps one household on the device. That household holds the names you choose, each child’s jobs, routines and rewards, the points and credits for that child, and the friend, colour and picture settings they keep. Children do not need Apple IDs.

Preferences stay in the app’s storage on the device, including which child was last selected and whether sounds are on. None of that is sent to this website.

The parent PIN

The parent PIN is a six-digit code stored in the device keychain. That item stays on this iPhone. Choosing a grown-up’s name does not unlock parent controls. Parent changes ask for the PIN on the parent screen.

The PIN session ends when the app goes to the background or the profile changes. It also ends when you leave the parent screen, when you go back to the Family tab, or after five minutes without a parent action. After five wrong codes, the next try waits half a minute. This website never receives the PIN.

Photos

A photo can come from the camera, from Photos, or from Files. The app validates the file and copies it into app-owned storage. A file that is not a usable image, or is larger than 15 MB, is refused and is not kept. The app does not add a second copy to your photo library.

Photos wait for parent review when you require one. You see the picture in the parent inbox and approve that piece of work, or you ask the child to try again. A required photo has to be there before you can approve the job. A job you did not mark for a photo or a look can add its points when the child finishes it.

Encrypted backup

Settings can seal an encrypted backup with a recovery key. The sealed copy includes the household and the photos the app is holding. That is not live family sync. The phones do not update one another on their own, and the backup screen asks you to keep using one board at a time.

If iCloud is available, that sealed copy can be saved through iCloud. If iCloud is not available, the copy stays on the device. Keep the recovery key somewhere you trust. The app can show it in Settings. If you make a new recovery key, the latest sealed copy opens with the new key.

An invalid package must not replace the current family. A package that does not open, or that is older than the family already on the phone, is turned away, and the current family stays. Restoring onto a phone that does not yet have a household asks for the recovery key and a new six-digit PIN on that device.

Siri and the widget

Siri can be asked for a named child’s next job. A job that needs a photo stays in the app, so the picture can be added and reviewed there. Siri does not unlock parent controls and does not receive the PIN. The name chooses the child on this device. It is not a sign-in.

The widget can show one child’s job and progress on the Home Screen. A routine timer can show on the Lock Screen. Both use the household already stored on the device. The timer never awards points.

Removing the household

There is no account on this website to close. The household, the points and the copied photos live in the app on the iPhone. Removing the app removes that local copy.

A sealed backup already saved through iCloud, and a recovery key you wrote down, are separate copies. Delete those yourself if you do not want to keep them. If a saved household file cannot be opened, the app leaves the file in place.

This website

This website does not ask for a name, email, or PIN. There is no account, newsletter or analytics product. The character and egg interactions stay in your browser. The ideas form sends what you choose to submit, as explained below. The hosting provider may process standard request information, such as an IP address, to serve and protect the website.

Marco, Ali and Jo are sample kids. Choosing one of them, or opening the egg, stays in the browser. It changes only this page. It does not create a household, and loading the page again starts fresh.

Ideas you send

The ideas form on the home page sends only what you write, or the recording you make, and only after a grown-up ticks the box and presses Send. It does not ask for a name or an email. A recording stays in the browser until Send is pressed, and deleting it before then removes it.

Each idea is kept on this website’s host and emailed to the Bumblebeak team, so we can read it while we plan the app. Please leave out a child’s full name, school, address or anything else private.

What this website cannot do

This website cannot see a household, reset a PIN, or restore a backup. It cannot approve a job, change points, or open the app on your iPhone. The support page explains the board. Apart from an idea you choose to send, it does not collect a name, an email, a PIN, or a household.

Changes

If these practices change, this page will be updated. For privacy questions or to request removal of an idea you sent, email ideas@bumblebeak.com. Describe the idea and approximate date; please do not send a child’s private details.