Privacy policy

Who we are

SparqKids Inc. ("we," "us," or "our") is a Delaware corporation that operates sparqkids.co and discovery.sparqkids.co, a platform helping Bay Area families discover local children's enrichment activities.

What we collect

When you sign up for our newsletter or join our waitlist, we collect your email address.

When you create a SparqKids account, we collect:

• Your name
• Your email address
• Your city and state
• The number of children in your household
• Your children's age ranges (for example, "3–5 years")

We don't ask for your children's names or birthdates, and we don't require any other information about them.

If you write a playground review, we collect the text you submit. In a future update, you'll be able to attach a photo to your review — see "Reviews" below for how that will work.

If you save places to lists, we store the places you save and any list name or notes you add.

If you check in to a park, we store the timestamp of your check-in, tied to your account email address.

If you RSVP to a library event through SparqKids, we store which event you RSVP'd to, tied to your account. See "Event bookings and RSVPs" below for more detail.

Accounts and signing in

Signing in is passwordless. You can sign in with Google or with a one-time link we email you. If you use Google, Google confirms your identity and shares basic profile information. We use only your email address to run your account, and we do not display or use your Google name or photo. Our authentication provider, Supabase, does keep your Google sign-in record, which includes that basic profile data, as part of your identity. We never see or store a password, and the one-time sign-in links are delivered by our email provider, Resend.

How we use it

We use your email address to sign you in, keep your account, and send you the newsletter, reminders, and SparqKids updates if you opt in. We use your city and state, and the number and age ranges of your children, to personalize your experience — for example, showing age-appropriate activities and events near you. A display name, if you add one, will appear alongside your contributions in a future version. We do not use your information for any other purpose without your consent.

Notifications

Email reminders. We may email you reminders about saved events, RSVPs you've made, or upcoming library events near you. You can turn these off anytime from your account settings, and every reminder email includes an unsubscribe or preference link.

Push notifications (mobile app). Once our mobile app launches, we may send push notifications for similar reminders, such as upcoming events you've saved. You can turn these off anytime in your device's notification settings or from within the app.

Lists and sharing

When you save places to a list, we store the list, the places in it, and any name or notes you add, so you can find them when you sign in. Lists are private to your account by default. If you choose to share a list, we create a secret link, and anyone who has that link can see the list name, your notes, and the places in it, without signing in. You can make a list private again at any time, which turns the link off. Please share only notes you are comfortable making visible to anyone who has the link.

Reviews

Parent account holders can write reviews of playgrounds. In this version, reviews are text only. Your review is visible to other SparqKids users on the relevant playground page. You can edit or delete your own reviews at any time from your account, or contact us to have one removed.

In a future update, you'll be able to attach a photo to your review. When that launches, any photo you upload will be stored on our servers and shown alongside your review. If your photo includes your child, that inclusion is entirely your choice — we don't request, require, or independently collect any information about your child through this feature.

Event bookings and RSVPs

Our events primarily come from public libraries across the San Francisco Bay Area. When you RSVP to an event within SparqKids, we store which event you RSVP'd to, tied to your account, so you can see your upcoming plans. If an event requires registration, you register directly on the library's own website or system — we do not pass your name, email, or any other information to the library. Any information you provide directly to a library is governed by that library's own privacy practices, not ours.

Park check-ins

When you check in to a park, we store the timestamp of the check-in, tied to your account email address. We don't store precise device location as part of a check-in — see "Location" below for how we use your device's location.

Calendar invitations

If you add an event to your calendar from SparqKids, we generate a standard calendar file (.ics) with the event details for you to save to your own device or calendar app. This file is created for you to download or add — we are not connected to Google Calendar, Apple Calendar, or any other calendar service, and we do not access, read, or store your existing calendar.

What we don't do

We do not sell, rent, trade, or share your personal information with third parties for their marketing purposes. Ever.

Email communications

You can turn the newsletter on or off anytime from your account, and every newsletter email includes an unsubscribe link. We use Buttondown to manage our mailing list, which means your email address is stored on their servers subject to their privacy policy. Account reminder emails are separate from the newsletter and are covered under "Notifications" above.

Feedback you send us

If you send feedback through the feedback link on our site, it opens a Google Form and we receive what you submit. The form does not ask for your email address, so please do not include personal information you would rather not share.

Service providers

We share data only with the providers that run SparqKids, and only as needed to operate it. Supabase stores your account information (name, email, city and state, children's age ranges, and optional display name), your lists and saved places, your park check-ins, your event RSVPs, and your reviews. Buttondown manages the newsletter list, Google provides sign-in if you use it, Resend delivers sign-in emails, and Cloudflare hosts the site. Each processes your data on our behalf under its own privacy terms. We do not share your data with anyone else, and we do not pass any information to the libraries whose events we list — registration happens directly on their own sites.

Links to other sites

Our site links to other websites, such as a place's own page, its listing on a map provider, a library's event registration page, or our feedback form. We do not control those sites and are not responsible for their content or privacy practices. Please review their own privacy policies before sharing information with them.

Analytics and cookies

We use privacy-focused, cookieless analytics (Umami and Cloudflare Web Analytics) to understand how visitors find and use our site, for example which pages are popular and which filters get used. These tools do not use cookies, do not collect personally identifiable information, and do not track you across other websites. Because our analytics do not track you across sites, a browser "Do Not Track" signal does not change what we collect.

What we store on your device

To keep you signed in, we store a login session token on your device. On our website, this is stored in your browser's local storage; on our mobile app, this is stored using your device's secure storage (such as the iOS Keychain or Android EncryptedSharedPreferences). We also store small preferences locally, such as your newsletter choice during sign-up and a map location you've chosen. These items stay on your device, are not used for tracking, and are cleared when you sign out or delete your account. This is separate from our analytics, which stay cookieless.

Location

The map can center on your area when you tap "Near me." That uses your device location with your permission — on our website, through your browser, and on our mobile app, through your device's location permission, which you can change anytime in your device settings. The location is remembered only in local storage on your device, to recenter the map on your next visit. We do not store it on our servers. We may also estimate your approximate area, such as your city or region, from your IP address to show relevant nearby places.

Our mobile app

We are developing a SparqKids mobile app, which is not yet publicly available. This policy already covers how the app will handle sign-in, notifications, and local device storage — see the sections above. Two additional points specific to the app:

Device identifiers. In the future, we plan to use device identifiers (such as an advertising or device ID) in the mobile app, primarily to support app functionality and analytics. We will update this policy with further detail before that use begins, and where required by app store or platform rules, we will ask for your permission first (for example, through Apple's App Tracking Transparency prompt).

App store disclosures. The data types listed in our Apple App Privacy details and Google Play Data Safety section are intended to be consistent with this policy. If you notice any discrepancy, please let us know at hello@sparqkids.co .

Children's privacy

SparqKids is intended for adults, specifically parents and caregivers. You must be an adult to create an account, and we do not knowingly collect personal information directly from children under 13.

When you create an account, we ask for the number of children in your household and their age ranges. This is information about your children that you, the parent or guardian, choose to provide in order to personalize your experience. It is not information we collect from your child directly, and we do not collect your children's names or birthdates.

If a future feature lets you submit a review photo, any image of a child in that content is shared voluntarily by the submitting parent or guardian, under our Terms of Service — we do not request, require, or independently collect information about any child.

If you believe a child has provided us with their own information, or that a photo of your child was shared without your consent, please contact us at hello@sparqkids.co and we will review and remove it promptly.

Data security

We take reasonable measures to protect your information. However, no method of transmission over the internet is 100% secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

How long we keep it

We keep your account information (name, email, city and state, and children's age ranges), your lists and saved places, your park check-ins, your event RSVPs, and your reviews only while your account exists. When you delete your account, that data is removed, and we also remove your email from our newsletter list entirely. If that newsletter removal does not go through, you can still unsubscribe using the link in any email. Newsletter subscribers without an account are kept until they unsubscribe. If you unsubscribe but keep your account, we keep a record that you opted out, so that you are not added back by a later sign-up or import; email us at hello@sparqkids.co if you would rather we erased that too.

Your rights

You can update your account information and permanently delete your account at any time from your account page. Deleting your account removes your name, email, profile, lists, check-ins, RSVPs, and reviews from SparqKids. You can also request access, correction, or deletion by emailing us at hello@sparqkids.co , and we will respond within 30 days.

California residents

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act (CCPA/CPRA), California residents have the right to know what personal information we collect, to access and request deletion or correction of it, and to opt out of the sale or sharing of personal information. We do not sell or share your personal information, and we will not discriminate against you for exercising these rights. To make a request, contact us at hello@sparqkids.co .

Changes to this policy

As SparqKids grows and our product evolves, this policy will be updated to reflect new data practices. We will notify subscribers of material changes via email.

Contact us

Questions about this policy? Reach us at hello@sparqkids.co .