Notice to Parents

From KindCircl.com, the company that runs KindCircl
700 N. Central Ave., Suite 530, Glendale, CA 91203 · kindcircl@yahoo.com · kindcircl@yahoo.com · (818) 579-2188

You are setting up KindCircl for your child. U.S. law (COPPA) requires your verified permission before we collect personal information from your child. We will not collect, use or share any information from your child unless you give that permission.

What we have collected so far

Only your email address and password, which you gave us to create a parent account. We use your email to ask for your permission and to contact you about your child. If you do not finish verification within 30 days and have not added a child, we delete your parent account.

What we will collect from your child

  • A username you pick together (not their real name)
  • Their age group (8 or under, 9 to 12, or 13 to 15), not a birthday
  • An emoji avatar and color, and a random friend code
  • The messages and stickers they send, and names and descriptions of Circls (clubs) they create
  • Their friends, clubs, CirBux (pretend coins with no cash value) and shop items
  • Safety records: kindness checks, Mindful Breaks, reports (including details your child types) and blocks
  • Sign-in information: an account ID, sign-in token, and when the account was created and last used

The app does not ask kids for a real name, birthday, photos, voice, location, contacts, school, phone number or email.

How we use it

To run KindCircl's clubs, games, chat and shop; to keep kids safe with our kindness filter, Mindful Breaks, caring support messages, reports and blocks; and to show you your child's activity and alerts. No ads, no selling data, no tracking, no marketing to kids.

Who can see it

  • Other KindCircl kids see your child's username and avatar, and Circls your child creates. Members of a Circl see its member list and messages.
  • Squads: your child can start or join a private group chat with up to 11 friends you already approved. Other members see the member list and the chat. You can see each Squad's name and who is in it in your dashboard, but not the chat (like Circl chat). Squad chat goes through the same kindness filter, rate limits, reports and 90-day deletion as all chat.
  • Game Hub: 16 games (card games with Pals, game shows like a spinning-wheel word puzzle, a survey board, a category quiz board, a price guessing game and a 15-step coin ladder, and quick games). Kids can practice alone or against Pal bots that run on their own device; their best score per game is saved. Answers are picked from cards, letters and number pads, never typed as free text.
  • Live games: your child can start or join a live game (a quiz, a card game or a game show) with 2 to 8 kids from one of their Squads, a Circl they belong to, or a private chat with an approved friend. There are no strangers and no public matchmaking, kids who blocked each other cannot play together, and there is no typed chat in a game, only five fixed reactions. Finishing a game earns a few CirBux (inside the daily limit). The first time each day your child plays, you see a note in Activity. Game rooms are deleted after 30 minutes without activity.
  • Teams: a coach, scout leader, teacher or team parent can set up a private Team Circl and share a team code with the other parents. Your child joins a team only when you use that code or link and pick your child. Teammates see each other's usernames and avatars and the team chat (same kindness filter, safety tools and 90-day deletion as all chat). The organizer, who is another verified parent, sees the roster (usernames and only the first letter of each parent's email), the team chat and their own announcements. The organizer never sees your child's private messages, Squads, friends or anything else. Friend requests between teammates still need both parents. You can take your child out of a team at any time.
  • Squad streaks and weekly challenges: a Squad's streak grows on each day 2 members play or chat together, and every Squad gets the same friendly weekly challenge. Rewards are a few CirBux (inside the daily limit), free card packs at some milestones, and badges for the Squad's trophy shelf. We record which days members did something together and how much each one helped, never extra message content. Reminders are only inside the app (no push notifications) and stop at 8pm Pacific; each Squad gets one automatic "streak freeze" a month so a busy day is never a big deal.
  • Limited Pal Drops: once a month a small themed set of Pals is available in a Drop pack, bought only with earned CirBux, with the same published odds as other packs. When the month ends the set retires; kids keep the cards they found.
  • Invite links: your child can share a link with a friend's grown-up. Anyone who opens it sees your child's username and avatar. We never collect the friend's phone or email, and the friend request still needs both parents' approval.
  • Approved friends (and their parents) can see private messages with your child. Private messages are off until you turn them on, and a friendship needs both parents' approval.
  • Our service providers: Google (Firebase hosting, login and database, in the U.S.) and Stripe (the 50 cent card check for parents only; Stripe never receives your child's information). They may only use data to provide their service to us.
  • NCMEC or law enforcement, only when the law requires it or a child's safety is at risk.

We do not give your child's information to other companies for their own use. If we ever want to, we will ask for your separate permission first, and you can say no and still use KindCircl.

How long we keep it

Messages are deleted after 90 days, safety reports and your activity feed after about 1 year, and account information when you delete the account. See the full schedule in our Privacy Policy.

Your rights

You can review your child's information, change their settings, withdraw consent (which pauses their account), or delete their account, or your own account and all your kids, at any time in the app or by emailing kindcircl@yahoo.com.

How to give permission

The quick way (about 1 minute): a card check. In the app, tap Verify with card. Stripe's secure checkout opens and charges 50 cents to your credit card, debit card, Apple Pay or Google Pay. As soon as it goes through, you are verified and we refund the 50 cents in full right away (it can take a few days to show on your statement). This is a method COPPA allows (16 C.F.R. 312.5(b)(2)(ii)): your card issuer notifies the account holder of the charge. We never see or store your card number. We keep only Stripe's reference numbers, the amount and whether the refund went through.

No card? Sign our parental consent form instead:

  1. In the app, tap No card? Use the signed form instead, then Open the form to print (or go to kindcircl.com/consent-form).
  2. Print it, fill it in, and sign it by hand.
  3. Take a photo or scan it and upload it in the app.

A KindCircl admin checks that the form is complete, signed, and matches your account, usually within 24 hours. Once approved, you can add your child. If something is missing, we delete the upload and tell you what to fix.

What we keep from the form: the photo or scan (with your name, signature, date and any usernames you wrote), the name you typed, and when you sent it. Only KindCircl admins can see it. We keep an approved form as proof of your consent while your account exists and delete it when you delete your account. Forms we send back are deleted right away. The files are stored with Google Cloud Storage in the United States (Oregon).