Privacy policy

WriteBuddy is used through a parent or carer account

WriteBuddy is designed to be set up and supervised by an adult. Accounts are created by a parent or carer, and the account holder is responsible for the account and for supervising the child using it. We do not create separate logins for children, and we do not knowingly allow children to sign up on their own.

What we collect from the parent or carer

• Your email address and a securely hashed password (or the details returned by the sign-in provider you choose).
• Purchase records such as the product bought, amount, currency, date and a payment reference from our payment provider. We do not receive or store your full card number.
• Basic account activity such as assessment credits used and remaining, and support messages you send us.
• Standard technical information created when any website is used, such as log and error information used to keep the service working and secure.

What we collect about the learner

• A nickname or first name that you choose, used only to label the learner's writing journey.
• A school year level, which defaults to Year 3.
• The writing the learner submits, including typed drafts and photographs of handwritten work.
• The feedback WriteBuddy generates about that writing, so progress can be shown over time.

We deliberately minimise information about children

We ask for as little about the child as possible. We do not ask for a surname, date of birth, school, address, location, phone number or gender, and you should not include those details in a nickname. Please also avoid including personal details about the child or other people inside writing submissions or photographs where you can.

Writing and photographs are processed by AI

To create educational feedback, writing submissions and uploaded images are sent to third-party artificial intelligence services that we use for transcription and marking. This processing happens on our servers, and the results are returned to your account as a practice report. AI can make mistakes, so feedback should be treated as practice guidance rather than a formal assessment.

We do not use your family's writing to train our own AI models, and we do not sell it or use it for advertising. If we ever want to use submitted writing to improve models, we will ask for your explicit consent first.

Why we collect this information

• To create and secure your account and keep you signed in.
• To generate writing feedback and show progress over time for each learner.
• To process purchases and keep an accurate record of assessment credits.
• To provide support, fix problems and protect the service from misuse.

How information is stored

Account data, writing submissions and feedback are stored in our managed cloud database. Uploaded photographs are stored in private storage that is not publicly accessible by link. Access is restricted so that an account can only reach its own family's records, and data is transmitted over encrypted connections. Some of our service providers may store or process data outside Australia.

No online service can promise perfect security. We take reasonable steps to protect your information, and we do not claim any security or privacy certification that has not been independently verified.

Service providers we rely on

We use trusted providers to run WriteBuddy, including cloud hosting and database services, AI transcription and marking services, a payment provider for purchases, and email delivery for account messages. These providers process information on our instructions and only for the purpose of running WriteBuddy.

How long we keep information

We keep account information, submissions and reports while your account is active, so you can see progress over time. You can delete an individual learner and their writing, or your whole account, at any time from your account settings. Deleting removes the associated writing, images, reports and purchase history from the live service.

Our payment provider keeps its own record of payments, including any tax records it is required to hold, and that record is not removed when you delete your WriteBuddy account. Routine backups of our own systems may hold copies for a short period before they expire.

Access, correction and deletion

You can view and correct your account details in your account settings, and you can ask us for a copy of the personal information we hold about your family. To request access, correction or deletion, send us a message using the form on the Contact page. We may need to confirm you are the account holder before acting on a request.

Contact us

A public contact address for questions, privacy requests or complaints is not currently available. See our Contact page for availability. You can raise privacy concerns with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as WriteBuddy develops. When we make a significant change we will update the date on this page and, where appropriate, let account holders know.