This policy is written specifically for BabyNook — not a generic template — and describes what we actually collect and why. If you only read one section, read Your rights and Who we share data with.
1. Who we are
BabyNook is operated by Maximilian Doepp, trading as "AI Shift Solutions", Moosmühlenweg 3a, 85375 Neufahrn bei Freising, Germany ("BabyNook", "we", "us"). We are the controller responsible for your data under the EU/UK General Data Protection Regulation ("GDPR") for the babynook.app website, the BabyNook web app, and the BabyNook iOS and Android apps (together, the "Service"). For questions about this policy or your data, contact office@ai-shift.solutions. See our Imprint for full company details. Given the size of our business, we are not required to appoint a data protection officer under Art. 37 GDPR / § 38 BDSG.
2. Scope & whose data this covers
BabyNook is a family app used by parents and caregivers ("account holders") to track a child's growth, development and everyday moments. To create an account you must be an adult with parental responsibility (or another legal basis) for the child whose data you enter. The child is not an account holder and does not use the Service directly — they are a data subject whose personal data (e.g. their name, birth date, growth and milestone records, and photos) is entered and managed by the account holder. If you invite a co-parent or other caregiver to a baby's profile, they become an additional account holder for that profile with the access level you grant them.
By entering another person's data (a child, or a co-parent you invite), you confirm you are entitled to do so and that the information is accurate.
3. Data we collect
We collect only what is needed to run the features you use. Here is the complete list:
| Category | Examples | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Account data | Email address, password (hashed by our authentication provider, Firebase Authentication — we never see or store it in plain text), display name, chosen app language | Create and secure your account, sign you in |
| Baby profile & development data | Child's name/nickname, date of birth, sex (optional), growth measurements (height/weight/head circumference), milestone and "leap" progress, activity completion | Core tracking features, growth charts, milestone timeline |
| Photos & videos | Media you upload to a baby's timeline or milestone/activity gallery | Photo journal; see Security for how this is end-to-end encrypted |
| Family sharing data | Email addresses of people you invite, invite links, member roles | Let multiple caregivers share one baby profile |
| Comments & reactions | Text comments and emoji reactions you post on milestones, activities or photos, visible to other members of the same baby's family | Let family members celebrate moments together |
| Memories & questionnaires | Free-text answers you optionally fill in (e.g. birth story questionnaires) | Keepsake content you choose to record |
| AI chatbot ("Alex") conversations | Questions you type, optional photo/PDF attachments | Answer parenting questions; see Who we share data with for the AI providers involved |
| Notification data | Push tokens (FCM for Android, APNs for iOS, Web Push for browsers), per-baby notification preferences | Send milestone reminders and digest notifications you've opted into |
| Subscription data | Selected plan (Free/Premium/Ultra/Full Journey), purchase confirmations from Apple, Google or Paddle. We never see or store your full card number — payment is handled entirely by Apple, Google or Paddle. | Grant the features your plan includes |
| Gear link clicks | Which product recommendation you tapped | Understand which recommendations are useful; you're then redirected to Amazon |
| Diagnostics | Crash reports and error logs (Sentry); on iOS/Android, basic product-analytics events (Firebase Analytics) | Find and fix bugs, understand feature usage in aggregate |
| Technical/log data | IP address, timestamp, user agent, device locale | Rate limiting, abuse prevention, security |
| Waitlist & contact-form data | Email address (waitlist sign-up on the marketing site); message content (feedback form) | Notify you at launch; respond to your message |
| Free-tools input | A date of birth you type into the public milestone/activity calculators on the marketing site | Calculate results on the spot — not stored against an identity, only rate-limited by IP |
4. Health-related data about your child
We only process this data because you, as the account holder, choose to enter it, and we rely on your explicit consent (Art. 9(2)(a) GDPR) given when you create a baby profile and add this information. You can withdraw this consent at any time by deleting the relevant entries or the baby profile, or by contacting us (see Contact). We do not use this data for any purpose other than showing it back to you and the family members you've shared it with — we do not sell it, and we do not use it for advertising.
5. Legal bases for processing
- Contract (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR): account creation, core tracking features, family sharing, subscription fulfilment.
- Explicit consent (Art. 9(2)(a) GDPR): growth and developmental data about your child (see above).
- Consent (Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR): optional features you actively opt into — the AI chatbot, push notifications, the waitlist.
- Legitimate interest (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR): security and abuse prevention, crash diagnostics, aggregate product analytics, gear-link click counting. You can object to processing based on legitimate interest at any time.
- Legal obligation (Art. 6(1)(c) GDPR): where applicable, e.g. retaining invoicing records as required by German tax law.
6. Who we share data with
We do not sell your data, and we do not share it for third-party advertising. We use the following processors and recipients, each only for the purpose described:
| Recipient | Purpose | Data involved |
|---|---|---|
| Google LLC / Google Ireland Ltd. — Firebase Authentication | Sign-in, password reset, email verification | Email address, hashed password |
| Google LLC — Firebase Cloud Messaging | Push notifications (Android) | Device push token |
| Apple Inc. — Apple Push Notification service | Push notifications (iOS) | Device push token |
| Google LLC — Firebase Analytics | Aggregate, privacy-respecting product usage analytics (iOS/Android) | Usage events, device/app identifiers |
| Google LLC — Gemini API | Generates "Alex" chatbot answers, optionally grounded with Google Search | Your chat question and any attached image/PDF |
| DeepSeek (Hangzhou DeepSeek Artificial Intelligence Co., Ltd., China) | Independently verifies "Alex" chatbot answers before they're shown to you | Your chat question and the draft answer |
| Functional Software, Inc. (Sentry) | Crash and error monitoring | Error/stack trace data, which may incidentally include technical context |
| RevenueCat, Inc. | Subscription/entitlement management across platforms | Purchase and entitlement status, device/user identifier |
| Paddle.com Market Ltd. | Merchant of record for web checkout — handles your payment directly | Payment and billing details (Paddle is an independent controller for this data — see Paddle's own privacy policy) |
| Apple Inc. / Google LLC | App Store / Google Play billing for iOS and Android subscriptions | Payment handled entirely by Apple/Google under their own privacy policies |
| Google Cloud Platform | Hosting for our backend (Cloud Run, europe-west3 / Frankfurt), our database (TiDB Cloud, eu-central-1 / Frankfurt), file storage for encrypted media (Cloud Storage), and secret management — all in the EU | All account, baby-profile, media and app data |
| Cloudflare, Inc. (101 Townsend St, San Francisco, CA 94107, USA) | Content delivery network, DNS, and hosting for the babynook.app marketing website | Standard web request/traffic data |
| Amazon | Destination of gear affiliate links — Amazon is an independent controller once you click through | No personal data is passed to Amazon by us; see Amazon's own privacy notice for what Amazon collects on its site |
Where a recipient acts as our processor (Google Cloud, Firebase, Sentry, RevenueCat), we have a data processing agreement in place with them limiting their use of your data to providing the service to us. Paddle, Apple, Google (as payment processors), and Amazon act as independent controllers for the data they collect directly from you in those specific contexts.
We may also disclose data where required by law, to protect our legal rights, or to investigate fraud or security issues.
7. International data transfers
Our core infrastructure — the backend, database, and encrypted media storage — runs in the EU (Frankfurt, Germany). Some of the recipients listed above are nonetheless located outside the EU/EEA, including in the United States (Google's authentication/push/analytics/AI services, Sentry, RevenueCat, Apple) and China (DeepSeek). Where we transfer personal data to such countries, we rely on the EU Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses (Art. 46 GDPR), the EU-US Data Privacy Framework where the recipient is certified, or your explicit consent where applicable (Art. 49(1)(a) GDPR) for optional features like the AI chatbot.
8. How long we keep data
- Account & baby profile data: for as long as your account exists, plus a limited grace period after deletion to reverse accidental deletions and comply with backup cycles.
- Photos & videos: until you delete them or your account, subject to the same grace period.
- AI chatbot conversations: processed transiently to generate the answer; not retained for training purposes by us. Our providers' own retention practices are governed by their agreements with us and their own policies.
- Diagnostic/crash data: typically retained for up to 90 days, then deleted.
- Server/security logs: typically retained for up to 30 days.
- Waitlist and feedback-form entries: until the purpose is fulfilled (launch notification sent, or your message answered), or until you ask us to delete them.
- Billing records: where German tax law requires it, invoicing-related records may be retained for up to 10 years (§ 147 AO), limited to what that law requires.
9. Security
We use TLS encryption for data in transit, and passwords are handled by Firebase Authentication — we never see them in plain text. Photos and videos you upload are end-to-end encrypted on your device before upload: they are unlocked with a key only you (and the family members you've shared it with) control, so, by design, we cannot view the contents of your media on our servers. Please keep your device and account credentials secure, since account access is what unlocks your data within the app.
10. Children's privacy
BabyNook is intended for use by adults — parents and caregivers. It is not directed to children, and we do not knowingly allow children to create their own accounts. A child's data is entered and controlled entirely by the account-holding parent/guardian, who is responsible for the accuracy of that data and for authorizing its processing. If you believe a child has created an account directly (rather than a parent adding the child's profile), please contact us and we will remove it.
11. Cookies & local storage
The babynook.app marketing website does not currently set any tracking or advertising cookies. It only stores a language preference locally in your browser, which is strictly necessary for the site to remember your choice.
The BabyNook web app (app.babynook.app) stores your sign-in session and local app settings in your browser's local storage — not cookies — solely so the app functions; this is not used for cross-site tracking or advertising. If we introduce analytics or advertising cookies in the future, we will ask for your consent first via a cookie banner, as required by § 25 of the German Telecommunications Digital Services Data Protection Act ("TDDDG").
12. Your rights
Under the GDPR, you have the right to:
- Access the personal data we hold about you (Art. 15)
- Rectify inaccurate data — much of this you can edit directly in the app (Art. 16)
- Erasure of your data ("right to be forgotten") (Art. 17)
- Restrict processing in certain circumstances (Art. 18)
- Data portability — receive your data in a structured, machine-readable format (Art. 20)
- Object to processing based on legitimate interest (Art. 21)
- Withdraw consent at any time, without affecting past processing (Art. 7(3))
You can delete photos, comments, milestones and baby profiles directly within the app. To request full account deletion, data export, or to exercise any other right, email office@ai-shift.solutions — we will respond within one month as required by Art. 12(3) GDPR.
You also have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority. As we are established in Bavaria, Germany, our lead authority is:
Bayerisches Landesamt für Datenschutzaufsicht (BayLDA)
Promenade 18, 91522 Ansbach, Germany
Website: www.baylda.bayern.de
You may also contact the data protection authority in your own EU member state instead.
13. Requirement to provide data
Providing some data is required by law (e.g. tax-related invoicing data) or is necessary to enter into our contract with you. To create an account you must provide an email address and password; to use the core tracking features you must provide a baby profile (at minimum a name and date of birth). Without this data, we cannot create your account or provide the corresponding features. Providing any other data — photos, comments, memories, growth measurements beyond the minimum, chatbot usage — is optional.
14. Automated decision-making
We do not use automated decision-making that produces legal effects concerning you, or similarly significantly affects you, within the meaning of Art. 22 GDPR. Growth percentile calculations and the "Alex" chatbot's answers are informational only — they do not automatically make or trigger any decision about you or your account.
15. Additional notice for US users
We do not sell personal data, and we do not share it for cross-context behavioral advertising. If you are a California resident, you may have additional rights under the CCPA/CPRA, including the right to know what personal information we hold and to request its deletion. Contact us at office@ai-shift.solutions to exercise these rights.
16. Changes to this policy
We may update this policy as BabyNook's features evolve. We'll update the "last updated" date above, and for material changes we'll notify you in the app or by email before they take effect.
17. Contact
Maximilian Doepp (trading as AI Shift Solutions)
Moosmühlenweg 3a, 85375 Neufahrn bei Freising, Germany
Email: office@ai-shift.solutions