Privacy Policy

for the “BabySteps” app and this website · Last updated: 25 October 2026

This is a translation. If the two versions differ, the German version prevails.

1. Controller

The controller for data processing in the BabySteps app and on this website is:

Gollalei Schokory
Große Seestr. 10, 60486 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Email: schokorygroup@gmail.com
Contact form: babysteps-d3682.web.app/contact

2. Using the app without an account

You can use BabySteps without an account. The app then stores your children, entries, notes and photos only locally on your device. They are not sent to us, and we have no access to them.

Even without an account, these features may process data:

• advertising (section 8);
• usage statistics, only if you switch them on (section 9);
• crash reports, only if you allow them (section 10).

Your memories, photos and child data are never part of this.

If you delete the app or use “More” → “Delete all local data”, the local data is gone. Without an account, we have no backup copy.

3. Account and sign-in

An account is optional. You can sign in with email and password, with Google, or with Apple on Apple devices. Sign-in is handled by Google’s Firebase Authentication.

• Data:
  • email address;
  • for email sign-in, your password, stored only as an encrypted hash that we cannot read;
  • an internal account ID (user ID);
  • the sign-in provider;
  • when the account was created and when you last signed in;
  • technical sign-in data, for example your IP address at sign-in.
• Display name: We use the name provided by Google or Apple. If there is none, we use the part of your email address before the “@”. A person you share a child with also sees your display name (see section 6).
• Sign in with Google: Google sends us your email address, your name and, if available, the address of your profile picture. BabySteps does not use the profile picture.
• Sign in with Apple: Apple requires us to revoke the link to your Apple ID when you delete your account. For this we store a token issued by Apple. When you delete your account, the token is revoked with Apple and then deleted. If you use “Hide My Email”, we only see Apple’s relay address.
• Forgotten password: Firebase Authentication sends the reset email on our behalf.
• Purpose: to set up and secure your account, to back up and sync your data, and to link purchases and shared access to your account.
• Legal basis: contract for the use of the app (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR).

4. Backup and sync

When you are signed in and have consented (see section 5), BabySteps backs up your data to the cloud. You can then restore it on a new device and use it on several devices. Without consent, the app sends nothing to the cloud. For this we use Google Firebase services:

• Cloud Firestore (database),
• Cloud Storage (photos),
• Cloud Functions (server-side processes).

What is backed up

• Children:
  • name;
  • due date or date of birth;
  • sex, if you enter it;
  • birth details: time, weight, length, place;
  • description, profile picture, chosen colour theme.
• Entries (memories, milestones):
  • title, date, time and category;
  • your note and photos;
  • who created or last changed the entry;
  • timestamps.
• Account settings:
  • language and display name;
  • Premium status (see section 7);
  • the child whose photos stay backed up after Premium ends;
  • a scheduled account deletion;
  • the record of your consent (version, time, language).
• Technical logs: When Cloud Functions run, logs are created. They contain your user ID and the outcome of the process, for example “purchase verified” or “files deleted”.

Photos

The app resizes photos you add. When it does, it removes metadata such as the location where the photo was taken (GPS). If the app cannot convert a picture, it does not import it and tells you instead. This way, no picture with location data gets into the app.

How the data is protected

• Data is encrypted in transit (TLS), and Google stores it in encrypted form.
• Server-side access rules ensure that only your account can access a child’s data, plus the person you invited, if any.
• Photos can only be retrieved when signed in. There are no public links.
• We do not look at your content. The exception is when you explicitly ask us for help and it is necessary for that help.

Location

The data is stored in Google data centres in the European Union and the United States:

• Cloud Functions run mainly in Belgium (europe-west1).
• Photos are stored in the US (us-west1).

See section 14.

Clean-up

When you delete a child, an entry or a photo, the app also removes the related data from the cloud. A server process confirms that the files were deleted. In addition, leftover files that no longer belong to anything are regularly found and removed.

Legal basis: contract (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR) and your consent (Art. 6(1)(a), Art. 9(2)(a) GDPR, see section 5).

5. Pregnancy and health information

Some information can be health data, a specially protected category under Art. 9 GDPR. This includes:

• the due date, which shows a pregnancy;
• birth details;
• notes or photos you enter yourself, for example about check-ups or ultrasound scans.

How we handle it:

• On your device: You process this data yourself. We do not receive it.
• Before the first backup: The app asks you explicitly whether it may store your information in the cloud, including information about pregnancy and health. You tick a separate box for this. Only then is anything transferred. The legal basis is your explicit consent (Art. 9(2)(a) GDPR). We store the time and version of your consent as a record.
• If you do not consent: The app signs you out again. If you wish, it has your account deleted right away (permanently after 30 days). In both cases your data stays only on your device.
• Withdrawal: You can withdraw your consent at any time for the future, under “More” → “Withdraw consent to cloud backup” or by email. From the moment you withdraw, nothing more is backed up. Cloud backup is not possible without consent, so your account and cloud data are permanently deleted after 30 days (see section 15). The data on your device is kept. Withdrawal does not affect the lawfulness of processing before it.
• Purpose: We use this data only to provide the app to you. We never use it for advertising or statistics.

6. Shared access (partner)

With Premium, you can share a child with one other person, for example the other parent (at most one person per child). To do this, you create a one-time invitation code, valid for 7 days, and pass it on yourself.

• The invited person sees all data and photos of the shared child. With the role “View & edit”, they can also add and change entries. They cannot see your other children or your account.
• You see each other’s display names. The invited person also sees whether your Premium is active. Each entry records who created it and who last changed it.
• If your Premium ends, the invited person can still view the child but can no longer edit.
• You can end the access at any time. The invited person can leave the shared child at any time. If you delete your account, they keep access until the final deletion at the end of the 30-day period.
• Legal basis: contract (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR); for health data, your consent (Art. 9(2)(a) GDPR).

Please only share a child with people who are entitled to see this data.

7. Premium and purchases

Premium is a subscription that you buy through the Apple App Store or Google Play. Payment, invoicing, cancellation and refunds are handled entirely by the store, which is itself responsible for them. We receive no payment data, so no card or bank details.

Purchase verification

Premium should apply on all your devices and for a shared child. For this, the app has our server verify the purchase with Apple or Google. We process:

• the receipt issued by the store and the purchase identifiers, for example the transaction or order number or purchase token;
• the product (monthly or yearly), the expiry date and the status (active, cancelled, expired, refunded);
• the link to your user ID;
• an account marker: if you are signed in when you buy, the app passes the store an identifier derived from your user ID (a checksum). The identifier is pseudonymous. It ensures a purchase can only be assigned to your account.

Our server checks the status of your subscription with Apple or Google regularly: about every 6 hours. Active subscriptions are checked every time, ended ones about once a day. This lets it detect renewal, expiry, cancellation and refunds.

After Premium ends

• Ads return immediately, and the Premium features are no longer available.
• For three months (90 days), the cloud backup and export stay unchanged.
• After that, we reduce the cloud backup of photos to the free level: one of your own children and up to 30 photos. The remaining photos are deleted from the cloud. They stay on your device. Texts, dates and milestones remain fully backed up.

Legal basis: contract (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR). In addition, our legitimate interest in preventing misuse, for example one purchase being assigned to several accounts (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR).

Offers and promotions

On special occasions (for example Black Friday, Christmas, Ramadan or Mother’s Day), the app may show a Premium offer. The app loads whether a promotion is running via Firebase Remote Config. Google processes technically necessary data for this, including IP address, a random installation identifier of the app (Firebase installation ID), app version, operating system and its version, language, country or region and time zone. Remote Config receives no names, email addresses, content, photos or data about children. How often you have already seen an offer is stored only on your device. The price is set by the store alone.

Only if you have agreed to promotion notices via Google can an offer also appear via Firebase In-App Messaging. This is a separate consent, independent of usage statistics and crash reports. The app asks for it during setup on the “Improve BabySteps” page; you can change it at any time under “More” → “Privacy” → “Promotion notices via Google”. Google then processes the installation identifier and information about the display, such as whether a message was shown or tapped. Without this consent, In-App Messaging is switched off and the app shows offers only by itself.

Legal basis: For Remote Config, our legitimate interest in showing current offers without an app update (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR). The identifier is used only for technical delivery, not for analysis or advertising. For In-App Messaging, your consent (Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR, § 25(1) TDDDG).

8. Advertising (Google AdMob)

The free version shows ads via Google AdMob, a service of Google Ireland Limited, Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland. With Premium, no ads are loaded or shown.

Consent: On first launch, a consent form from Google asks what Google may do. It uses the Google User Messaging Platform, based on the TCF standard. You can change your choice at any time under “More” → “Change advertising consent”. Depending on your choice, there are three cases:

1. Personalised ads, if you agree to them: Google may store and read identifiers on your device and use information about your use of the app to select and measure ads. On Android this includes the advertising ID.
2. Non-personalised ads, if you only agree to storing and reading on your device: ads are based only on context, for example the app and your approximate region. Identifiers are used only for frequency capping, fraud prevention and measurement.
3. Limited ads, if you also refuse storing and reading on your device: Google shows only limited ads without access to your device, or none at all.

In all cases, Google processes technically necessary data such as IP address, device type and approximate region.

• iPhone: After the advertising consent, BabySteps uses Apple’s “App Tracking” request (ATT) to ask whether your iPhone’s advertising identifier (IDFA) may be used for advertising. Only if you allow this can Google personalise ads and measure their performance with it; otherwise the advertising identifier is not used and ad performance is measured only via Apple’s privacy-friendly SKAdNetwork. Your photos, memories and data about your child are never used for this. You can change your decision at any time in your iPhone settings under “Privacy & Security” → “Tracking”.
• Never used for advertising: your memories, notes, photos and child data.
• Legal basis:
  • Storing and reading on your device, and personalised ads, require your consent (§ 25(1) TDDDG, Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR).
  • The remaining processing for non-personalised and limited ads is based on our legitimate interest in funding the free version (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR).
  Google processes some of this data as an independent controller. More information: How Google uses information.

9. Usage statistics (Google Analytics for Firebase)

Usage statistics are off by default. During setup the app asks you on the “Improve BabySteps” page – only after the advertising consent and (on iPhone and iPad) after Apple’s tracking prompt, and independently of both. You can change your choice at any time under “More” → “Privacy” → “Usage statistics”. Only then does Google Analytics for Firebase record how the app is used, for example:

• screens viewed;
• events such as “memory saved”, “export started” or “purchase completed”;
• device type, operating system, app version and language;
• approximate region;
• a random app instance ID.

The data is pseudonymous. We send no names, email addresses, texts, photos or child data, no advertising ID and not your user ID. You can switch statistics off again at any time. Data on the device that has not been sent yet is then deleted too.

Legal basis: your consent (Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR, § 25(1) TDDDG).

10. Crash reports (Firebase Crashlytics)

During setup, the app asks you on the “Improve BabySteps” page whether it may send crash reports – independently of Apple’s tracking prompt. Only if you agree does it send a report to Firebase Crashlytics after a crash or serious error. If you have not agreed, Crashlytics keeps the report of a crash on your device; at the next start the app asks you once whether this one report may be sent. If you decline, it is deleted. The report contains:

• the technical error trace;
• device type, operating system and app version;
• the time;
• a random installation ID.

It contains no names, texts, photos or child data. You can change your choice at any time under “More” → “Send crash reports”.

Legal basis: your consent (Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR, § 25(1) TDDDG).

11. Notifications, photos and export

• Notifications: The app schedules reminders locally on your device, for example about a new pregnancy week, a birthday or the end of the Premium grace period. No data is sent to us for this. You allow or block notifications in your device settings and in the app.
• Photos: The app only accesses your photos when you choose a picture yourself. Only the selected pictures are imported. The app removes metadata such as the location (see section 4).
• PDF export and photo book: both are available with Premium and during the grace period. The files are created on your device. You decide yourself where to share or save them, using your device’s share function.

12. Contacting us by email or contact form

If you email us or use the contact form, we process your details to handle your request:

• your name, if you give it;
• your email address;
• the content of your message.

We store messages from the form in Cloud Firestore (Google Firebase). To protect against mass requests, your IP address is checked briefly in memory but not stored with your request. Google’s technical access logs usually contain it for up to 30 days (see section 13). We delete requests once they are resolved, and after 12 months at the latest, unless we are legally required to keep them.

Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(b) or (f) GDPR. Our legitimate interest is answering your request.

13. This website

This website is served via Google’s Firebase Hosting. When you visit it, Google processes technically necessary data: IP address, time, page requested and browser information. This is used to deliver the site and protect it against attacks. These logs are usually deleted after 30 days. The website sets no cookies and uses no analytics or advertising services. The legal basis is our legitimate interest in providing the site securely (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR).

14. Service providers and international transfers

We have agreed Google’s Firebase data processing terms with Google (processing agreement under Art. 28 GDPR). Apple and Google handle purchases, payments and sign-in with their accounts as independent controllers, under their own privacy policies.

Transfers outside the EU: Some data is processed in the United States, including the photos. Google LLC and Apple Inc. are certified under the EU-US Data Privacy Framework, so an adequacy decision of the European Commission applies (Art. 45 GDPR). In addition, the European Commission’s standard contractual clauses apply (Art. 46(2)(c) GDPR). Your explicit consent covers the transfer of your health data (see section 5).

We do not sell personal data. We only pass your content to:

• the service providers listed above, where this is necessary to run the app;
• anyone we are legally required to disclose it to.

15. Retention and deletion

Inactive free accounts: If you have not opened the app for 12 months with a free account and active cloud backup, we remind you by email at the address you signed in with (after 12, 14, 16 and 17 months, usually in German or English). For this we store when you last opened the app and the state of the reminders. If you open the app again, the period starts over. If the account stays unused for 18 months and the last reminder was delivered at least 28 days earlier, we delete the photos stored in the cloud. Texts, dates and milestones as well as the data on your device are kept. Accounts with Premium are exempt, as are children shared with a person who has Premium or still uses the app. We do this so that we do not keep storage for unused accounts indefinitely. Legal basis: our legitimate interest in economical and secure operation (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR). The emails are sent by an email service provider on our behalf.

Deleting your account: in the app under “More” → “Delete account”, or by email. Instructions are on the page Delete account and data. When you delete your account, we remove:

• all your children, with their entries and photos;
• your invitations;
• your purchase links;
• your account.

For children that were shared with you, we only end your access. If you signed in with Apple, we also revoke the link to your Apple ID.

Deleting your account does not cancel a running subscription. Please cancel it yourself in your app store’s subscription settings.

16. Your rights

You have the right at any time to:

• access your data (Art. 15 GDPR);
• rectification of inaccurate data (Art. 16 GDPR). You can change most details directly in the app;
• erasure (Art. 17 GDPR);
• restriction of processing (Art. 18 GDPR);
• data portability (Art. 20 GDPR). On request, you get your data in a machine-readable format. With Premium, you can also export your memories as a PDF yourself;
• object to processing based on our legitimate interest (Art. 21 GDPR);
• withdraw consent for the future (Art. 7(3) GDPR), directly in the app or by email.

Email us at schokorygroup@gmail.com or use the contact form. Please write from the email address your account uses, so that we don’t give your data to anyone else.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with a data protection supervisory authority. The authority responsible for us is: Der Hessische Beauftragte für Datenschutz und Informationsfreiheit, Postfach 3163, 65021 Wiesbaden, Germany, datenschutz.hessen.de.

17. Data about children

BabySteps is intended for adults: expectant parents and parents. It is not directed at children. As a parent or legal guardian, you enter data about your child yourself. You decide yourself whether to back it up or share it with another person. Please only enter data you are entitled to enter.

18. Security

We protect your data with technical and organisational measures:

• encrypted transfer;
• server-side access rules for every child and every file;
• no public photo links;
• removal of photo metadata;
• server-side checks for Premium, shared access and deletions;
• secret keys stored separately.

No one can guarantee absolute protection. Please also protect your sign-in details and your device.

19. Changes to this policy

We update this policy when the app or the law changes. The current version is always available in the app and on this page. We will inform you about material changes in the app. If the scope of your consent changes, we will ask you again.