Privacy Policy

The short version

We collect parent email addresses for account authentication and billing. We collect no personal contact information from children. We require no legal child names, photos, or identifying information. Child display names (like "Ellie" or a nickname) and progress data are isolated to your family account. We run no ads, sell no data, and share nothing with third parties for marketing.

1. Who we are

Awen Software Limited is an educational technology company based in Cardiff, Wales, UK (Company No. 17153930). We operate the Bucket Filler application (iOS, Android, and web) and the website bucketfiller.co.uk. We are the data controller for personal data processed under this policy.

Contact: info@awensoftware.co.uk · Cardiff, Wales, UK

2. What data we collect

Parent accounts

When you create a parent account, we collect:

Your email address (used for account authentication and service communications)
A secure password (hashed and managed securely; we never see or store your plaintext password)
Subscription and payment status (processed securely via Apple App Store, Google Play, or Stripe for web billing; we never receive or store your payment card numbers)

Children's data

Children use anonymous profiles linked to the parent account. No child email address, legal surname, date of birth, home address, or government identifiers are collected or stored on our servers. Parents enter an optional child display name (such as "Ellie" or a preferred nickname) to personalise learning practice, streak tracking, and rewards. All child learning data is strictly isolated to your family account.

Avatar selections or profile icons chosen by children are stored locally on the device only and are never uploaded to our servers.

Usage data

We store the following in your family's account data:

Points, XP, level, and badge progress per child profile
Per-topic question accuracy (counts only, no question text is stored against a user)
Reward requests, custom rewards set by parents, reward history, and quest records
Streak data, shield status, and daily session history
Parent notification preferences and parent PIN settings

This data is used solely to deliver the learning experience and is never sold to third parties.

Website data & cookies

When you visit bucketfiller.co.uk, we use essential cookies strictly necessary for site navigation and session security. With your consent via our cookie banner, we use Google Analytics to understand aggregate website usage and Google Ads to measure the performance of our advertising campaigns. Cloudflare provides DNS, caching, DDoS protection, and security routing for our web services.

3. How we use your data

To authenticate your parent account and maintain account security
To sync your family's learning and streak progress seamlessly across devices
To send push notifications you have opted into (e.g. reward requests, streak reminders)
To send account emails to the parent: a welcome email when you sign up; if you start the 14-day free trial on bucketfiller.co.uk, a reminder about 3 days before it ends with the date and amount of the first charge and how to cancel; a reminder before an in-app trial ends; and an email inviting you back if a trial ends without a subscription. The welcome, in-app trial and win-back emails have an unsubscribe link. The web trial reminder is a service message about your payment, so it is always sent
To process and manage your subscription via the Apple App Store, Google Play, or Stripe
To generate parent-only progress insights and learning summaries using our AI service provider
To respond to support requests and feedback sent to info@awensoftware.co.uk

We do not use your data or your child's learning data for third-party advertising, commercial profiling, or marketing brokerages.

We work with trusted service providers to operate Bucket Filler under strict data protection terms:

Google Firebase / Google Cloud: Authentication, cloud database (Firestore), push notifications (Cloud Messaging), and cloud functions. Data is processed under Google's Cloud Data Processing Addendum.
Apple App Store & Google Play: In-app subscription processing and mobile app delivery. We receive only transaction receipts and subscription status, never payment card details.
Stripe: Secure web payment processing and billing portal management. Payment details are handled directly by Stripe under PCI-DSS Level 1 compliance; we never store card numbers.
Google Analytics & Google Ads: Website analytics and conversion tracking on bucketfiller.co.uk, loaded only after cookie consent is given.
Cloudflare: Content delivery network, web security, and DDoS protection for website infrastructure.
Gmail / Google Workspace: Customer support emails and the account emails described in section 3 (welcome, trial reminder and win-back).
Our AI service provider: Processes de-identified learning progress metrics and topic accuracy counts to generate parent-facing progress summaries. No legal child names or identifying contact information are shared, and processing takes place in the United States. This transfer is protected by the EU Standard Contractual Clauses together with the UK International Data Transfer Addendum issued by the Information Commissioner, under our provider's data processing agreement.

We do not sell, rent, or share personal data with third parties for commercial marketing.

If you are based in the UK or EEA, you have full statutory rights under UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018:

Access: You can request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
Rectification: You can ask us to correct inaccurate data.
Erasure: You can request permanent deletion of your account and all associated data directly in the app (Settings → Delete Account) or by emailing us.
Portability: You can request your data in a structured, commonly used format.
Restriction: You can ask us to restrict processing of your data in certain circumstances.
Objection: You can object to processing based on legitimate interests.

To exercise any of these rights, email info@awensoftware.co.uk. We respond to all requests within 30 days, free of charge.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk.

6. Data retention

We retain your account data for as long as your account is active. If you delete your account (via the app or by request), all your family data, including child display names, progress, rewards, and quests, is permanently and immediately deleted from Firestore. Backups are purged within 30 days.

Authentication records are removed immediately upon account deletion.

7. Security

All communications are encrypted in transit using industry-standard TLS encryption
Data stored in Google Cloud Firestore is encrypted at rest by default
Firestore security rules enforce strict family-level isolation so your data is inaccessible to any other user
Device linking is protected with rate-limiting
We do not store payment card data; all transactions are processed securely by Apple, Google, or Stripe

8. Children's privacy (COPPA & UK Children's Code)

Bucket Filler is designed for children in Years 3–6 (ages 7 to 11), and safeguarding children's privacy is central to how we design our service. In compliance with the UK Age Appropriate Design Code (Children's Code), the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), and UK GDPR:

Children do not create independent accounts and are never asked to provide contact information
Children access practice through an anonymous child profile linked by a family pairing code
Parents control all profile setup, including display nicknames and reward configurations
No third-party advertising SDKs, behavioural trackers, or data-broker tools are present in the child experience
Children cannot make purchases, subscribe, or modify billing settings; all financial features require parent authentication
No open chat, external links, social networking, or unmoderated public communication features exist for children

9. Changes to this policy

If we make material changes to this policy, we will notify parent account holders by email at least 14 days before the changes take effect. The current version is always accessible at bucketfiller.co.uk/privacy.html.

10. Data requests

You can request a copy, correction, or deletion of any personal data we hold about you at any time:

In the app: Settings › Delete Account. Account deletions are immediate and permanent.
By email: write to info@awensoftware.co.uk from the email address linked to your family account. We reply within 30 days, usually far sooner.

Please specify your request type (access, rectification, erasure, portability, restriction, or objection) and your account email address.

11. Contact

For any questions about this policy, data requests, or privacy practices:

Awen Software Limited
Company No. 17153930
Cardiff, Wales, UK
info@awensoftware.co.uk