GoParents Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy explains how Edwin G. Encarnacion Villar, doing business as GoParents (“GoParents,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) collects, uses, shares and protects information when you use the GoParents mobile app and related services (the “Service”). GoParents is offered only in the United States. By using the Service, you agree to this Policy. If you do not agree, please do not use the Service.
The short version
- No accounts. You never give us your name, email or phone number to use GoParents.
- Location is optional. We use it to show kid-friendly restaurants, restrooms, nursing rooms, activities, and hospitals and clinics near you. Searches use your location rounded to about 1 km, never your exact spot.
- Your location is shared with people only if you choose, through Stay Together, for 7 days at most. If you press DANGER ALERT, your location and a notification go right away to those same people.
- Family groups share lists, never locations. Organize lists stay on your phone unless you share one with your family group.
- Most things stay on your phone: settings, favorites, unshared lists, reminders and your supporter badge. The Dino show collects nothing.
- Shared data is deleted automatically when it’s no longer needed. Settings → Privacy → Delete my data erases everything we keep about your phone, at any time.
- No ads, no selling. We do not sell your personal information, show ads, or use your data for targeted advertising.
1. Information we collect
a. Random IDs instead of accounts
GoParents has no sign-ups or log-ins. Instead, the app makes two random IDs on your phone, which aren’t linked to who you are:
- A phone ID for sharing (an anonymous Google Firebase sign-in). It connects your Stay Together invites, shared locations and alerts, and your family group.
- An install ID for our server. Our server uses it to limit abuse (how many requests a phone makes). Where your quick tags and answers about places are saved, it is stored only in a scrambled (hashed) form that can’t be turned back into the ID.
“Delete my data” deletes both IDs, and the app starts over with new ones that aren’t connected to the old ones.
b. Information you give us
- Names you enter. For Stay Together, for example “Mom” or “Alex” for the person you invite, and the name you want them to see for you. For a family group, the name you choose for yourself in the group.
- Shared lists. If you share an Organize list with your family group: the list’s name, its items and notes, and who ticked an item.
- Quick tags and answers about places. When you tap a tag such as “Clean,” “Kids menu,” “Fenced in” or “Nursing room,” or answer “Changing table here?”, we save your answer with the place and the scrambled install ID described above, so each phone counts once. Other parents see only totals (for example, “3 parents say it’s clean”), never who answered. When you tag a “Nursing room,” we also save that place’s name and location, so other parents nearby can find it. We never save your own location with a tag.
- Messages you send us. When you use “Send feedback” or email us, we receive your email address, your message and the app version.
- Tips. Tips (“Fuel the app”) are paid through the Apple App Store or Google Play. They handle the payment; we receive a confirmation of the purchase and its amount, but never your card details, name or billing address. Tips don’t unlock anything: every feature is free for everyone.
c. Information collected when you use the Service
- Precise location. With your permission, we use your phone’s location (GPS, Wi-Fi and cell signals) to find places near you, show distances and show you on the map. Location is optional. Without it, you can still pick an area by name, but features that need your location, such as Stay Together and danger alerts, won’t work.
- Place searches. To find restaurants, restrooms, nursing rooms, activities, and hospitals and clinics, the app sends your location rounded to about 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) to our server, which asks our place-data providers (see Section 3). Your exact location is not sent for searches.
- Area searches. When you type an address, a place name, a city or a ZIP code in “Choose an area,” what you type is sent to our server and to Geoapify to find matches in the United States. It isn’t linked to you. Our server keeps the answer to each search for up to a day so the same search is faster, then forgets it. The area you pick is saved only on your phone, and searches near it use the rounded location described above.
- Place details. When you open a place’s details, our server looks up that place’s photo, rating and reviews using the place’s name and location. Your own location and identity are not included.
- Location while the app is closed (only if you agree). When you share with Stay Together, GoParents asks whether to keep sharing while the app is closed. It only does this if you say yes on our explanation screen and choose “Always” (iPhone) or “Allow all the time” (Android) in your phone’s permission. Background location is used only while sharing is on: to update your location for the people you chose, and to send it more often during a danger alert. It stops as soon as sharing ends. While it runs, your phone shows it: iPhone displays a location indicator, and Android keeps a GoParents notification on screen. You can turn it off at any time in the app (“Share when the app is closed”) or in your phone’s settings. If you say no, sharing still works while the app is open.
- Stay Together location sharing. While you share, your location and when it was last updated are sent to the people you invited, through our database. Sharing lasts 7 days at most, then stops automatically. To keep sharing after that, you have to choose to share again.
- Danger alerts. When you send a danger alert (or “I’m safe now”), we process the time of the alert with your location, and send a notification to the people you share with.
- Invites. Invite codes, the names on the invite, how long sharing should last (Stay Together), and whether the invite was accepted. When someone opens an invite link, our server shows a small web page that opens the app; it doesn’t look up or show anything about the invite.
- Notification addresses. If you allow notifications, we keep your phone’s push-notification address and app language: while you share with someone (so danger alerts can reach you), and while you’re in a family group (so members can send “I’m at the store”). Only those people can reach you, and only through our server.
- Approximate location from your internet connection. Like any app that goes online, your IP address is visible to our servers and service providers. An IP address can show roughly where you are, such as your city. We use it only to deliver the Service and keep it secure (for example, to limit abuse). We don’t use it to track you.
- App integrity check. To make sure requests to our server come from the real GoParents app, the app asks Google (Play Integrity) or Apple (App Attest) to vouch for it, and sends that answer with its requests. See Section 3.
- Crash reports. If the app crashes or hits an error, it sends a short report so we can fix it: what went wrong and where in the app’s code, the app version, and your phone’s model and operating system. Reports contain no name, no location, and no screenshots or screen recordings; web addresses in them have locations removed, and our crash-report provider is set not to store IP addresses.
- App updates. The app checks our app-update service for small updates (fixes and improvements), which shares your app version and phone platform with that service.
d. Information stored only on your device
These are stored on your phone and are not sent to us:
- your settings: language, appearance, text size, accessibility options, distance units, search radius, default filters, kids’ age groups, weather moments and Explore tips, and Dino show choices
- your favorite places, with the details saved with them (address, hours, phone and website) so they work without a signal
- Organize lists you haven’t shared
- list reminders (“Remind me the night before”), which your phone schedules itself
- your supporter record (for example, the Coffee club badge after a tip)
Deleting the app deletes them. “Delete my data” clears them too.
e. Information we do not collect
We do not ask for your contacts, photos, microphone, camera or health data. The Dino show plays sounds but never records. We do not track your location for advertising. “Read screens aloud” uses your phone’s built-in text-to-speech. The “Rate GoParents” pop-up is shown by Google Play or the App Store; we don’t see what you choose.
2. How we use information
- To provide the Service: finding nearby places and their details, showing maps and distances, running Stay Together and family groups, and delivering danger alerts and family notifications.
- To show parents’ quick tags and answers about places, as totals.
- To keep the Service safe and working: preventing abuse, confirming requests come from the real app, fixing crashes and bugs, and protecting our users.
- To respond to you when you contact us with feedback or a question.
- To process tips you choose to give.
- To follow the law.
We do not sell personal information. We do not “share” it for cross-context behavioral advertising, and we do not use it to build advertising profiles.
3. How information is shared
- People you choose. Stay Together shares your location only with people you invite, and only after both of you agree; danger alerts go only to those same people. Shared lists and “I’m at the store” go only to your family group. Family groups never see anyone’s location. What you share with people may be seen, saved or screenshotted by them.
- Other parents, as totals only. Quick tags, changing-table answers and nursing-room places are shown to everyone as totals, never with who answered.
- Service providers. These companies process data for us, only to run the Service, under their own privacy policies:
- Google Firebase (United States): our database for Stay Together, family groups and shared lists, the anonymous phone ID, and App Check.
- Cloudflare: our server, which runs place searches and details, invite links, parents’ tags and answers, and notifications.
- Expo: delivers push notifications (with Apple and Google) and app updates.
- Geoapify (with data from OpenStreetMap) and Refuge Restrooms: place and restroom listings. They receive your rounded location from our server, not from your phone.
- OpenStreetMap (Overpass): nursing rooms nearby. It receives your rounded location from our server.
- Google Places and Wikimedia Commons / Wikidata: photos, ratings and reviews of places. Our server sends them the place’s name and location, never yours, and passes the photos on to your phone. Tapping “See all on Google Maps” opens Google Maps, where Google’s own privacy policy applies.
- U.S. National Weather Service (weather.gov): whether it is raining or snowing near you, for the optional weather moments. It receives your rounded location from our server and never learns who you are. You can turn weather moments off in Settings.
- Google Maps (Android) and Apple Maps (iPhone): the maps in the app. To draw a map, your phone downloads it from Google or Apple, who can see the area shown.
- Google Play Integrity and Apple App Attest (through Firebase App Check): confirm that requests come from the real GoParents app on a genuine phone.
- Sentry: crash reports, as described in Section 1.
- Apple App Store and Google Play: tips and the “Rate GoParents” pop-up.
- Our email provider, when you write to us.
- Not with other companies for their own use. We don’t combine your GoParents information with data from other apps or social networks.
- Legal and safety reasons. We may share information when we believe it is required by law, subpoena or court order, or needed to protect someone from serious harm.
- Business transfers. If GoParents is involved in a merger, acquisition or sale of assets, information may be transferred. This Policy (or one at least as protective) will continue to apply.
4. Emergencies: an important limitation
Danger alerts notify only the people you share your location with. They do not contact police, fire, ambulance or any emergency service. Alerts depend on your phone, network connection, battery, location accuracy and notification settings, and may be delayed or not delivered. The Emergency page’s list of hospitals and clinics comes from public map data and may be incomplete or out of date. In an emergency, always call 911 first.
5. How long we keep information
| Information | How long we keep it |
|---|---|
| Shared locations and danger alerts | Deleted when sharing ends or you stop it. If your phone can’t do that (for example, the app was deleted), they are deleted automatically within about a day after sharing ends, and never more than 8 days after sharing started. |
| Shares (who shares with whom, and names on them) | Deleted when either person stops sharing, or automatically within about a day after the chosen time runs out. |
| Stay Together and family-group invites | Until accepted or cancelled. Unused invites expire after 48 hours and are then deleted automatically within about a day. |
| Family group (members and the names they chose) | Until the last member leaves. Leaving, or “Delete my data”, removes you. |
| Shared lists | Deleted 6 months after their last change, when someone stops sharing them, or when the last member leaves the group. |
| Notification addresses | For Stay Together: deleted when sharing ends, or automatically within about a day after your last share ends. For a family group: removed when you leave the group, or automatically 60 days after you last opened the app. |
| Quick tags, changing-table answers and nursing-room places | Kept so other parents can benefit from them, tied only to a scrambled ID. Tap a tag again to take it back; “Delete my data” removes all of yours. |
| Random phone ID and install ID | Until you use “Delete my data”. On their own they hold no information about you. |
| Crash reports | Up to 90 days, under our crash-report provider’s settings. |
| Abuse-prevention counters (how many searches and saves came from a phone and from an internet connection today, stored under a scrambled form of the random install ID or internet address, mixed with the date) | Deleted after a day or two. They can’t be turned back into your ID or address, or linked from one day to the next. |
| Technical logs (including IP addresses) | Kept by our hosting providers for a limited time for security and troubleshooting, under their policies. |
| Emails and feedback | As long as needed to respond, and no longer than 1 year. |
| Tip records (from Apple or Google) | As long as tax and accounting laws require. |
| Information stored only on your phone | Until you clear it, use “Delete my data”, or delete the app. |
6. Your choices and controls
- Location. Turn location access on or off at any time in your phone’s settings (Settings → Privacy & Security → Location Services on iPhone, or Settings → Location on Android). Some features will not work without it.
- Stop sharing. Tap “Stop sharing” in Stay Together, or remove any person, at any time. Sharing also ends automatically when the chosen time is up.
- Sharing while the app is closed. Turn “Share when the app is closed” on or off in Stay Together, or change the app’s location permission from “Always” to “While using” in your phone’s settings.
- Deleting the app doesn’t stop sharing by itself. Once the app is gone, your phone stops sending new locations, but the people you shared with may still see your last location until sharing ends (7 days at most). Tap “Stop sharing”, or “Delete my data”, before deleting the app.
- Family groups and lists. Stop sharing a list at any time (it goes back to your phone only), or leave your family group.
- Tags and answers. Tap a tag again to take it back.
- Notifications. Turn notifications off in your phone’s settings. If you do, you will not receive danger alerts, “I’m at the store” messages or list reminders.
- Weather moments and tips. Turn them off in Settings.
- Favorites. Clear them in Settings → Privacy.
- Delete my data. Settings → Privacy → Delete my data stops all sharing and immediately deletes everything we keep about your phone: shares, invites, shared locations, danger alerts, your notification addresses, your quick tags and answers, your place in your family group (and the group’s shared lists, if you were the last member), and both random IDs. It also clears your favorites, Organize lists, reminders and supporter record on your phone. Because there are no accounts, we can’t look you up by name or email, so this button is the fastest way. For anything else, such as feedback emails you sent us, email us at the address below.
7. Your privacy rights
Depending on the state you live in, you may have the right to:
- know and access the personal information we hold about you
- correct it
- delete it
- receive a copy of it in a portable format
- limit the use of sensitive personal information, such as precise location
- opt out of the sale or sharing of personal information, or of targeted advertising (we do none of these)
- not be discriminated against for using these rights
Use “Delete my data” in the app, or email edwin_nar@hotmail.com. We will respond within the time the law requires (usually 45 days). Because GoParents has no accounts, the information we hold is tied only to random IDs, so we may ask you to use the in-app controls to act on data we can’t otherwise connect to you. You may use an authorized agent where the law allows. If we deny your request, you may appeal by replying to our answer, and we will respond within the time the law requires.
Information for residents of California and other states with privacy laws
In the past 12 months we have collected these categories of personal information:
- Identifiers: the random phone ID and install ID, names you enter for Stay Together and family groups, your notification addresses, and your email address if you contact us
- Precise geolocation, which is sensitive personal information
- Internet or device information: IP address, device type, operating system, app version, app integrity checks and crash reports
- Commercial information: records of tips you gave (amount and date, from Apple or Google)
- Content you create: shared lists, quick tags and answers about places, and messages you send us
We collect them from you and your device, for the purposes in Section 2, and keep them as described in Section 5. We use precise geolocation only to provide the Service you request. We do not sell or share personal information, as those terms are defined by California law, and we have no actual knowledge of selling or sharing the personal information of anyone under 16.
8. Children’s privacy
GoParents is designed for parents and guardians. Children may use Stay Together and danger alerts only when a parent or guardian has set this up and agreed to it. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13 without verifiable parental consent, as required by the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). The Dino show, made for young children, collects no information at all.
A parent or guardian can review the personal information we hold about their child, ask us to delete it, or refuse further collection, by emailing us or by using “Delete my data” on the child’s phone. If we learn that we collected a child’s personal information without the required consent, we will delete it promptly.
9. Security
We protect information with safeguards appropriate to its sensitivity, including:
- encryption in transit (HTTPS/TLS) for everything the app sends
- database rules that let only the people you chose see your location, and only your family group see your shared lists
- checks that requests come from the real GoParents app (App Check)
- API keys and secrets kept only on our server, never in the app
- scrambled (hashed) IDs for parents’ tags and answers
- limits on how often each phone can make requests
- deleting location data as soon as it’s no longer needed
No method of transmission or storage is 100% secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security. If a data breach affects you, we will notify you as the law requires.
10. Where your information is stored
GoParents is offered only in the United States. Our database is located in the United States. Some of our service providers, such as Cloudflare and Sentry, run servers in other countries to respond quickly, and may process requests there under their own safeguards.
11. Do Not Track
We do not track you across other apps or websites, so we do not respond to “Do Not Track” browser signals. We honor Global Privacy Control signals where the law requires.
12. Changes to this Policy
We may update this Policy from time to time. We will change the “Last updated” date above. If the changes are significant, we will let you know in the app, or by other appropriate means, before they take effect.
13. Contact us
If you have questions or requests about this Policy or your information, contact us at:
Edwin G. Encarnacion Villar, doing business as GoParents
Email: edwin_nar@hotmail.com
Mailing address: 320 Lincoln Blvd, Unit 320, Middlesex, NJ 08846