Privacy policy

Effective November 10, 2026

Who we are

Sapling (sapling.lilsprout.app) is made by Saw Tech Solutions LLC ("we", "us"), who also make Sprout. Questions about this policy: shawn@lilsprout.app.

Information that stays on your device

To work, Sapling saves the following in your browser's local storage, on your device only:

• The 4-digit grown-up PIN you choose.
• Each kid's profile: first name, school grade and the world they're in.
• Progress: shells, the level of each game, right and wrong answers and how quickly they came, which mystery cases and story chapters are done, story choices, daily quests, and minutes played over the last 8 days.
• What they build: pieces placed in each world, the home garden, Game Room games in progress, and Arcade best scores.
• Settings: the daily time limit, sound and voices on or off, and whether the daily report is on.

We never receive this information. It is not sent to us or to anyone else. If you use Backup in Grown-ups, the file is saved where you choose; we never see it. You can delete a kid's data by removing them in Grown-ups, or delete everything by clearing this website's data in your browser settings.

Anonymous daily usage report

Once a day, the first time Sapling opens, each device sends one short report so we can see how Sapling is used and what to fix. It contains only:

• the date, the week Sapling was first opened on the device, how many days since then, and how many days it has been played;
• the app version;
• how many kid profiles there are, and their grades (2 to 5);
• for the day before, added up across all kids on the device: minutes played, rounds finished in each game, daily quests done, and pieces built;
• whether the device is a phone, tablet or computer, and whether Sapling was opened from the home screen or in a browser tab;
• the kind of operating system and browser (for example "iPadOS" and "Safari"), never version numbers or the browser's full identification text;
• whether it came from sapling.lilsprout.app or another address;
• how many times the app ran into a technical error the day before, and the names of the screens where it happened (for example "market"). Never the error message or any technical details from the device.

It never contains names, the PIN, answers, anything a kid typed or built, a device ID, an advertising ID, or anything else that could identify a kid, a family or a device. Reports are stored with our database provider, Supabase, and can only be read by us. If a device is offline, the reports wait on the device and are sent later. To turn the reports off, go to Grown-ups, then Privacy; any reports still waiting are deleted.

No website analytics

Sapling's website and app don't use Google Analytics, Vercel Web Analytics or any other visit counter. The daily report above is the only usage information we receive.

Sapling Plus purchases

Everything in Sapling is free while we test it with families. When Sapling Plus goes on sale, it is bought by a grown-up from Grown-ups, behind the grown-up PIN. Payment is handled by Stripe, which collects the buyer's email address and card details under its own privacy policy (stripe.com/privacy). We never receive card details. In our Stripe account we can see the buyer's email address, the amount and the date, which we use only for receipts, refunds and replacing a lost key. We don't copy email addresses into any other system.

After paying, Stripe returns you to a Sapling page that sends the checkout's reference number to our server (the same server that handles Sprout Plus, at lilsprout.app) once. Our server asks Stripe whether that checkout was paid and, if so, returns your Sapling Plus key, which is saved on your device. Along with the key you get a short code you can type in instead of pasting the long key; typing it sends only the code to our server, which returns the matching key. If you bought Sprout and Sapling together, a Sprout Plus key comes back too.

If your home already has Sprout Plus, you can paste your Sprout key into Sapling to get the lower price. That key is checked on your device and is not sent anywhere.

We keep a short record of each key we issue: an internal key code, its short code, whether it was bought or given to family, the date, the Stripe checkout reference and whether it has been canceled (for example after a refund). This record is stored with Supabase and contains no names, email addresses or anything about your kids. A device that has Sapling Plus checks at most once a day for a list of canceled keys. That request sends nothing about the device or your kids; the check happens on the device.

Hosting and server logs

Sapling's pages and files are delivered by Vercel. The daily report and the key record are stored with Supabase, and purchases go through Stripe. To deliver their services, these providers process your device's IP address and basic browser information, and may keep it in short-lived security and operations logs. We do not use this information to identify anyone. Sapling's fonts, pictures, voices, 3D models and code are all served from our own website; Sapling does not load anything from advertising networks, social networks or Google.

The read-aloud button in Island Mysteries uses your device's built-in voice. On some devices, the operating system may use an online voice service for that; the text sent is the mystery's own text, never anything your kid typed.

Children's privacy

Sapling is made for kids in grades 2 to 5, to be set up by a parent or other grown-up. It is designed so that we do not collect personal information from children: there are no accounts, no chat, no ads, no links out of the app and no third-party trackers, and a kid's name and work stay on the device. Kids can't reach the Sapling Plus checkout; it is behind the grown-up PIN. Because we don't collect children's personal information, there is nothing for us to share, sell or delete on our side. If you think we have received a child's personal information by mistake, email us and we will delete it.

Cookies

Sapling does not use cookies. It uses local storage only to save your kids' profiles and progress on your device, and a service worker to keep a copy of the app for offline play.

Selling and sharing

We do not sell or rent information, we do not show ads, and we do not share information with advertisers or data brokers.

Your choices

• Turn off the daily usage report in Grown-ups, then Privacy.
• Delete a kid's data by removing them in Grown-ups, or delete everything by clearing this website's data in your browser.

Changes to this policy

If we change how Sapling handles information, we will update this page and its effective date. If a change means collecting anything new, we will update this page before the change takes effect.

Contact

Saw Tech Solutions LLC, shawn@lilsprout.app