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Kids Remote Privacy Policy

Last updated 3 November 2026. Kids Remote is operated from Queensland, Australia. We handle personal information under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles, and we build the app with children's privacy laws such as the US Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) in mind.

The short version

Who we are

Kids Remote is a household organisation app (the Parent Command app and the Kids Remote Kid app for children). Contact for privacy questions, access, correction or deletion: hello@kidsremote.app. Our privacy officer is Monique Cook, Queensland, Australia (same email).

What stays only on your phones

Some information stays only on the device and is not sent to us:

The phone also keeps a local copy of the household so it still works with no signal. That copy syncs back. The server copy is the one that counts for names, birthdays, jobs, points, rewards and settings. A PIN does not: the copy on the phone that set it is the one that phone checks, and it is not uploaded.

What our server keeps (only if you link family phones)

If a parent links other phones (a co-parent or a child), our server keeps the minimum needed to connect them:

DataWhyHow long
Family ID and the parent-consent record (which statements were accepted, the version and the time)To show a parent agreedWhile the family exists
Linked phones: role (Big Boss, co-parent or kid), a generic device name such as "iPhone", platform, and a hashed sign-in credentialSo each phone can sign in, and a parent can remove itUntil the phone is removed
The household board: people (names and dates of birth for parents and kids), jobs, points, rewards and house settings, plus a small gag-state record (seen flags and a shuffled deck). Photos and PINs are not included.So every linked phone shows the same household. A kid's phone is not sent birthdays. PINs are checked on each phone and are not stored here.While the family exists; removed with that person or when the family is deleted
Linking codes (stored hashed)To join a phoneExpire after 10 minutes
AI settings: on/off, monthly cap, the app's spend estimate, the family's chosen AI model, the last 4 characters of the key and whether Zero Data Retention is onTo run the family AI gate and spend capWhile the family exists; spend resets monthly
Per-child Banjo consent: chat and voice switches, daily limit, region, how the parent was verified, when consent was given or withdrawn, and which version of the consent wording the parent sawTo only let a child chat or talk when a parent agreed, and to show what was agreed and whenUntil the child or the family is removed
Banjo minutes used per child today, and the family time zoneFor the daily time limitOnly today's count is kept
Problem reports (only Banjo's reported words, with your family's names removed and emails and phone numbers stripped again, the reason picked, the ID of the Banjo line or reply, plus the filter type, region (Australia or US) and which app). Never the question or anything the child said or typed. No family ID, device, name, key or IP address. Kept whether or not you link phones.So we can fix bad answers90 days
Banjo's family memory: short lines (up to 160 characters each) taken from what the grown-ups (Big Boss and co-parents) type to Banjo and Banjo's replies (never a child's words), plus the first names of your crew and pets from the setup chat, and the Big Boss's own Banjo instructions if you write some. See Banjo's family memory.So Banjo can remember your household from one chat to the nextEach memory line is deleted 180 days after it was saved (at most 8 "working" lines and 400 archive lines at a time). If nobody in the family uses Banjo for 180 days, the whole record is deleted. "Reset Banjo's memory" or deleting the family removes it straight away.
The family's xAI key and NextDNS key (and NextDNS profile ID), if you add them. Stored encrypted.So Banjo works on every linked phone and web filtering works on every parent phone. All the family's linked phones use the same family xAI key: when a linked phone (including a kid's phone, once a parent has said yes for that child) talks to Banjo, our server uses the stored key to send that request to xAI under your family's own xAI account. The key itself is never sent to any phone other than the one that added it, never shown in plain text in our logs, and never sold or shared.Until you remove the key, unlink the family, or delete the account
Reading progress (which stories or books each child has read and where they're up to)So progress follows the child across family phonesDeleted 180 days after it was last used, or with the child's profile or the family
Setup-guide and help state (which setup steps and tips are done, and the Line setup ticks)So you don't see the same steps on every phoneDeleted 180 days after it was last used, or with the family
Arun's notes: short help-desk notes about which screens and setup steps a parent asked aboutSo Arun, the help desk, doesn't ask the same thing twice on another parent phoneDeleted 180 days after it was last used, or with the family
Banjo line counts (daily totals, no IDs). See Help improve Banjo.To improve Banjo's lines and filters90 days

Apart from Banjo's family memory (below), we do not keep the content of Banjo chats or voice on our server. Linked phones' typed messages, including a kid's messages to Banjo on the kid's own phone, pass through our server to xAI under your family's own xAI account and back, with names removed, and are not otherwise stored. Live voice from every phone, including a kid's linked phone (when a parent has said yes to voice for that child) and the main Big Boss phone, also passes through our server (on Cloudflare) to reach xAI under your family's own xAI account. Voice can't have names removed. Voice isn't recorded or stored, and no voice turn is saved in Banjo's family memory. The household board above is the shared copy. Photos stay on the device that took them and are not uploaded: job proof photos, profile photos and children's drawings never leave that phone, and our server removes any image it is sent. The one exception is a merch order you choose to place: the family picture the app draws for the merch (cartoon cats, pets and the house, no names and no photos) goes to us and the printer as the print file. See Merch orders. Other phones show a note or initials instead. The xAI key and a NextDNS login key, if you add them, are stored encrypted on our server (see the table above).

A kid's phone only gets that child's own progress and kid-safe settings. It never gets parent notes, Banjo's family memory, birthdays, or keys.

Banjo's family memory

Added 9 October 2026.

AI: Banjo, xAI and your own key

Problem reports

Setup interview diagnostics

When the voice setup interview with Banjo ends, stalls, or a parent taps Export log, the parent phone sends a short technical log to Kids Remote so we can fix voice problems: event names, timings, microphone on/off reasons, app version and browser type. What anyone said, names and birthdays are replaced with a length placeholder (for example "[text:12]") before it leaves the phone. No audio, keys or IP address are kept. If the phone is linked, the household is stored only as a one-way code. Logs are deleted after 30 days.

Merch orders

The merch shop isn't open yet. This section says what will happen when it opens. Only a Big Boss (parent) can open the shop, behind the Big Boss PIN; it is never shown on a child's screen or a child's phone.

Children

Anonymous daily usage count

We count how many app sessions are opened each day, as one number for that day. We do not store a family ID, device ID or IP address with this count. We use it only to spot spikes in problems. The daily counts are automatically deleted after 400 days.

Help improve Banjo (Banjo line counts)

To make Banjo's jokes, stories and answers better, each family phone, including a kid's phone, can send Kids Remote a few plain totals, at most once a day: how many times each Banjo line played, was talked over, or got a "Funny!" tap; how many times the safety filter stepped in, by type only (the types are sexual content, self-harm, weapons or violence, drugs or alcohol, personal details, secrets, swearing, and stops by our server's filter or the voice check); and how many questions Banjo couldn't answer, by broad topic only (for example "space" or "animals"). The phone works out the topic. The question itself is never kept or sent.

These totals don't include names, ages, birthdays, what anyone said or typed, recordings, or any family, child or device ID. Our server doesn't keep the IP address they came from. Each phone's totals are added to one combined count for that day, then the phone's batch is thrown away, so we can't tell which family or child a number came from.

Only Kids Remote can read the combined totals, and any count under 10 is shown only as "under 10". Each day's totals are deleted automatically after 90 days. They're stored on our hosting provider (Cloudflare), the same as the rest of our server data. We don't sell them or use them for ads.

It's on unless you switch it off. Before anything is counted, a parent sees a one-time notice in the app and can switch it off there. A parent can also turn off "Help improve Banjo" in Banjo settings at any time. That stops it on every phone in the family and deletes the totals not yet sent from that phone.

QR code scanner on Android (Google ML Kit)

When you link a phone to your family, the Android app reads the QR code with Google ML Kit, a tool from Google LLC that is built into the app. Google states that ML Kit processes the camera image fully on the phone, and that neither the image nor what it reads from the QR code is sent to Google's servers. The linking details in the QR code go only to our server, as described above.

Google also states that ML Kit may contact Google's servers from time to time to receive bug fixes, model updates and hardware compatibility information, and sends Google metrics about how the scanner performs and is used in the app. These metrics may include basic device and app information and an install identifier. Google uses them to measure performance, fix problems, maintain and improve ML Kit and detect misuse, under Google's Privacy Policy. We don't receive these metrics, we don't link them to your family, and they aren't used by us for ads or tracking. The scanner only runs when you choose to scan a code.

The iPhone and iPad app does not include Google ML Kit. It reads QR codes with Apple's own camera tools on the device. The web version doesn't use ML Kit.

Who else handles data

We don't sell or rent personal information, and we don't share it for advertising.

Deleting data

Security

Traffic is encrypted in transit (HTTPS). Sign-in credentials and linking codes are stored hashed. Profile PINs are not stored on our server. The xAI and NextDNS keys are stored encrypted on our server and are never sent to a kid's phone. Linked phones only use the xAI key through our server, and only while Zero Data Retention is confirmed on for your xAI account: if xAI doesn't confirm ZDR on a reply, or a check (at least every 10 minutes) doesn't confirm it, linked phones stop using Banjo until it does.

Overseas disclosure

xAI, our hosting provider (Cloudflare), NextDNS and Google may store or process information in the United States or other countries. If you order merch, Stripe and Printful may process your order in the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union or Australia (see Merch orders). We take reasonable steps (such as name redaction and requiring ZDR for kids' Banjo on every phone) to protect it.

New Zealand families

Access, correction and complaints

Email us to access or correct information, or to complain. We aim to reply within 30 days. If you're not satisfied, you can contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (oaic.gov.au). In New Zealand, you can contact the Office of the Privacy Commissioner (privacy.org.nz). US parents can also contact the Federal Trade Commission (ftc.gov).

Changes

We will update this page and the date above when things change, and tell parents in the app before any change that affects children's data.

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