How we look after your family's information

Who we are

smallgrief ("we", "us") runs smallgrief.com and is responsible for the personal information described here. You can contact us about privacy, or anything else, at hello@smallgrief.com.

What stays on your device

Most of smallgrief works without sending anything to us. These stay in your browser on your device, and we can't see them:

• everything your child writes, draws, records or saves in activities and workshops
• the words they write, which are checked for safety on the device (see below)
• how the person died, if you choose to tell us

Because we don't hold this information, we can't recover it if it's lost. Clearing your browser's data, or choosing "Delete everything" in Controls, removes it from that device.

What we collect, and why

If you create an account: your email address, a password if you choose one (stored scrambled, so nobody can read it), your child's first name or nickname, their age group, who died and what your child calls them (optional), your region and your settings. We use these to provide smallgrief and to let you use it on more than one device. Our legal basis is providing the service you've asked for.

A summary of what your child has done: which activities and workshops they've finished and when, the feelings weather and feelings they pick each day, and the date and activity of any safety alert. Never what they wrote, drew or said. We keep it so you can see how your child is doing from your own device. Because feelings can be information about health, we only keep it with your explicit consent, which you give when you create your account. You can withdraw it at any time by choosing "Delete everything" in Controls, which clears it from your account too, or by deleting your account.

If you subscribe to the family plan: payments are taken by Stripe. Stripe collects your card details, name, email and billing location, and handles them under its own privacy policy. We never see your card details. We keep a record of your subscription: its Stripe references, whether it's active, the amount, currency and when it renews. If you use a code from a hospice, school or charity, we record which code was used. Our legal bases are providing the service and keeping records the law requires.

Emails we send: only the emails your account needs, such as log-in links, confirming your email and resetting your password. We don't send marketing.

Security records: the companies that host smallgrief keep short-term technical records, such as IP addresses, browser type, pages requested and log-in attempts, to keep the service secure and working. Our legal basis is our legitimate interest in keeping smallgrief and your account safe.

If you email us: we keep your message and contact details so we can reply. If you tell us you're worried about a child's safety, we follow our safeguarding policy.

What we never do

• show adverts, or let advertisers or trackers onto smallgrief
• use analytics or tracking cookies
• sell, rent or share your information for marketing
• build profiles of you or your child, or make automated decisions about you
• use your family's information to train AI
• let children contact, or be contacted by, anyone else
• ask children for their surname, birthday, school, photo or location

Children

smallgrief is made for children, but accounts are only for parents and carers aged 18 or over. A grown-up sets up a child's space, chooses what their child can use, and can change or delete it at any time. We don't knowingly collect personal information directly from children. If we learn that a child has created an account, we'll delete it.

We've designed smallgrief with the UK Information Commissioner's Age Appropriate Design Code in mind: high privacy settings by default, as little data as possible, no nudges, no location tracking, and clear explanations for children. In the United States, we've designed smallgrief to meet the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). The child's first name is provided by their parent, who can review or delete it at any time.

Some children's activities check what a child writes for phrases suggesting they may not be safe. This check happens on the device. If it finds something, the child is shown help straight away and their grown-up sees an alert with the date, never the words. The words are never sent to us; your account keeps only the date and which activity it was, so you see the alert on your own device.

Who else handles your information

We use a small number of trusted companies to run smallgrief. They may only use your information to provide their service to us:

• Supabase: accounts, our database and account emails. Our database is stored in the European Union (Ireland).
• Vercel: hosts the website.
• Stripe: takes payments. Stripe is responsible for the payment information it collects.

We'll only share information with anyone else if the law requires it, or if we believe a child is at risk of serious harm (see our safeguarding policy).

Some of these companies are based in, or process information in, the United States. When information leaves the UK, it's protected by recognised safeguards, such as the UK International Data Transfer Agreement or the UK–US Data Bridge.

How long we keep it

• Your account: until you delete it. Deleting your account removes it from our database straight away, and from our backups within 30 days.
• Payments: Stripe keeps payment records for as long as the law requires. Please cancel your subscription before deleting your account, so you aren't charged again.
• Security records: for a short time, usually no more than 30 days.
• Emails to us: for as long as we need them to help you, and no longer than two years. Safeguarding records may be kept longer where guidance requires it.
• Information on your device: until you delete it.

Your rights

You can ask to see the information we hold about you or your child, to correct it, to delete it, to limit how we use it, to object to how we use it, or to have a copy to take elsewhere. You can delete your account yourself at any time on your account page. For anything else, email hello@smallgrief.com. We'll reply within one month.

Parents and carers in the United States can also review or delete their child's information, and refuse further collection, at any time in the same ways.

Keeping it safe

Everything is sent over an encrypted connection. Passwords are stored scrambled, so nobody can read them. Our database only lets each parent see their own family's details. The best protection is holding very little, so we keep as little as we can.

Cookies and storage on your device

We don't use advertising or analytics cookies, so there's no cookie banner. We use your browser's storage only for things smallgrief needs to work: your family's space, your settings, and keeping you logged in.

The "Read to me" buttons use your device's built-in voice. Some browsers send that text to the company that makes the browser to read it aloud.

Questions and complaints

If you're unhappy with how we've handled your information, please tell us at hello@smallgrief.com. We'll acknowledge your complaint within 30 days and tell you what we're doing about it.

You can also complain to the UK Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk or on 0303 123 1113.

Changes to this notice

If we change how we handle information, we'll update this page and the date at the top. If you have an account and the change is significant, we'll email you before it takes effect.