Spelling Trail Privacy Policy
Spelling Trail is a spelling app for children in kindergarten through 5th grade, made by Crawl Walk Run Games (“we”, “us”), for Android phones and tablets and for iPhone and iPad. This policy explains what happens to information when you or your child use the app. It covers both versions; where they work differently, it says so.
The short version
Spelling Trail does not collect, store on a server, share or sell any information about you or your child. The app never connects to the internet, so it cannot send anything anywhere. Everything your child creates in the app is kept on your device, and Spelling Trail never sends it anywhere (see “Device backups” for the one copy your device itself can make).
There are no ads, no analytics, no tracking, no accounts and no sign-in.
Information stored on your device
To work, the app keeps some information in its private storage on your device:
- Profiles: the name your child types in (a first name or nickname is all it needs), the avatar they pick, their word list and their game mode.
- Progress: which words they have spelled, where they are in a word list, which words needed a hint, stars, practice days and the stickers on their Success Board.
- Word lists that a grown-up creates, and words added to them.
- Settings such as sound, reading voice and reading speed, and whether the full version has been unlocked.
We never receive any of this. It is not sent to us or to anyone else. Other apps on the device cannot read it.
Photos of spelling lists
In the full version, a grown-up can add words by taking a photo of a spelling list or choosing one from the device. This is behind a grown-ups-only question.
- On Android, the photo is taken by your device’s own camera app, or chosen through Android’s photo picker. Spelling Trail does not ask for permission to use your camera or to browse your photos.
- On iPhone and iPad, the first photo taken asks for permission to use the camera, and you can say no or change your answer later in Settings. A photo chosen from your library comes through Apple’s photo picker, which hands the app only the one photo you pick; Spelling Trail does not ask for access to your photo library.
- The photo is placed in the app’s private storage, and the words are read from it on the device, using text recognition built into the app on Android and built into iOS on iPhone and iPad. The photo is never uploaded.
- The photo is deleted as soon as it has been read. If a scan is interrupted before that, the leftover photo stays in the app’s private storage, where nothing else can see it, and is cleaned up automatically the next time a scan is started once it is more than a day old, or sooner if your device clears the app’s temporary files.
Moving a child to another device
“Move to Another Device” shows a child’s progress as QR codes on the screen, and a second device takes a photo of them. Nothing is sent over the internet, Bluetooth or any network. The photo on the receiving device is handled the same way as a spelling-list photo: read on the device, then deleted. On iPhone and iPad, taking that photo uses the camera permission described above. Both steps are behind a grown-ups-only question.
Purchases
The full version is a one-time in-app purchase. Before the purchase screen opens, the app asks a grown-ups-only question. We do not receive your name, email address or payment details.
- On Android, the purchase is made through Google Play and handled entirely by Google Play under Google’s Privacy Policy. The app only asks the Google Play app on your device whether the full version has been bought, so it can unlock it.
- On iPhone and iPad, the purchase is made through the App Store and handled entirely by Apple under Apple’s Privacy Policy. The app only asks the App Store whether the full version has been bought, so it can unlock it, including when you tap Restore Purchase.
Spoken words
Words and letters are read aloud by a reading voice built into the app, which turns the word into speech on your device. Nothing is sent anywhere to make the sound. The app keeps the spoken words it makes in its private cache so it does not have to make them again; your device may clear that cache at any time, and it is not included in device backups.
When the built-in voice cannot say a word (for example a name a grown-up typed in), or on a device without enough memory for it, the text-to-speech engine installed on your device reads it instead. The app passes that engine the word being practiced, and nothing else.
Device backups
- On Android, if backup is turned on, Android may include Spelling Trail’s data in your device backup to your Google account. That backup is created, stored and encrypted by Google.
- On iPhone and iPad, if iCloud Backup is turned on, or you back up to a computer, the backup may include Spelling Trail’s data. That backup is created and stored by Apple or on your computer.
Either way, the backup lets your child’s progress be restored on a new device, it is not made by us, and we cannot access it. You can turn backup off in your device’s settings.
Crash reports
Spelling Trail contains no crash-reporting or analytics tools. If you have chosen to share usage and diagnostics data with Google (on Android) or to share analytics with app developers (on iPhone and iPad), Google or Apple may give us anonymous crash reports and aggregated performance statistics about the app. These do not identify you or your child.
Children’s privacy
Spelling Trail is designed for children and follows Google Play’s Families policy and the App Store’s rules for apps made for children. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children, and the app is built so that it cannot: it never connects to the internet, and Spelling Trail never sends a child’s name or progress anywhere. The app does not use advertising identifiers, location or device identifiers.
Deleting information
Because everything is on your device, you are in control of it:
- Delete a child’s profile from My Profiles in the app.
- On Android, delete all of the app’s data by uninstalling the app, or through your device’s settings (Settings → Apps → choose the app → Storage → Clear storage).
- On iPhone and iPad, delete all of the app’s data by deleting the app (touch and hold its icon, then Remove App → Delete App).
- Device backups can be managed in your Google account’s backup settings on Android, or in iCloud or on your computer on iPhone and iPad.
Changes to this policy
If this policy changes, we will update this page and the effective date above. If a future version of the app ever changes how information is handled, we will update this policy before that version is released.
Contact
Questions about this policy or your child’s privacy can be sent to Crawl Walk Run Games at support@crawlwalkrungames.com, or through our contact form.