Privacy Policy

Privacy Policy — Smart Steps Reading Last updated: August 2026

Smart Steps Reading was built by a teacher and a mom, and we treat your family’s information the way we’d want ours treated. This policy explains what we collect, why, and your choices. It applies to smartstepsreading.com and the Smart Steps Reading apps.

1. Information we collect from parents.

• Contact details you provide (name, email) when subscribing or contacting us.
• Payment information is collected and processed by Stripe, our payment processor. We never see or store your full card number.
• Standard website analytics (see “Cookies and analytics” below).

2. Information relating to children. We deliberately collect as little as possible:

• First name or nickname only. Our apps ask for a child’s first name so lessons and progress can be personalized. We never ask a child for a last name, email, address, or other contact details.
• Lesson progress is stored on your own device (in the browser). For families on tutoring plans, lesson position is also visible to your child’s teacher so they can teach effectively.
• Reading recordings. The apps invite children to record themselves reading. On app-only plans, recordings stay within the app experience. On Daily Listening and tutoring plans, recordings are securely transmitted to your child’s teacher, used only to review your child’s reading and track progress, and deleted after review (a small number may be retained as progress evidence shared with you). Recordings are never made public, never sold, and never used for advertising or to train AI systems.

3. Children’s privacy (COPPA). Our services are purchased and managed by parents. We collect children’s information (first name, progress, recordings) only with parental consent, given when you subscribe, and only as needed to provide the service. You may review your child’s information, ask us to delete recordings, or withdraw consent at any time by emailing heather@smartstepsreading.com — withdrawal of consent may mean the listening features can no longer be provided.

4. How we use information. To provide and improve the services, process payments, respond to you, send service emails (welcome, receipts, progress notes), and understand how the apps are used so we can make them better. We do not sell personal information.

5. Who we share with. Only service providers who help us run the business, and only what they need: Stripe (payments), Cloudflare (hosting and secure storage for the apps and recordings), our website host, Google (site analytics), and Meta (advertising measurement — see below). Teachers/tutors working with Smart Steps access student first names, progress, and recordings solely to provide tutoring services.

6. Cookies and analytics. Our website uses cookies for basic functionality and analytics (Google Analytics) to understand site traffic. If we run advertising, we use the Meta pixel to measure whether our ads led to signups; this involves cookies set by Meta. You can control cookies through your browser settings. Our apps themselves use browser storage on your device to save your child’s progress — clearing your browser data will remove locally stored progress.

7. Data retention. Recordings are deleted after teacher review as described above. Account and billing records are kept as long as needed for the business and legal requirements. You may request deletion of your information at any time.

8. Security. Recordings and student data are transmitted over encrypted connections and stored with reputable providers (Cloudflare, Stripe). No system is perfectly secure, but we keep the data we hold minimal on purpose — the less we store, the less there is to protect.

9. Your choices. Email us anytime to access, correct, or delete your information, or to ask questions about this policy: heather@smartstepsreading.com.

10. Changes. If this policy changes materially, we’ll update this page and the date above.