Privacy Policy
Pollinate is an app for parents and caregivers, made by Pollinate LLC ("we" or "us"). This policy explains what the app keeps, what it never collects, and what can reach us and how. It covers the Pollinate app (including test versions installed through Apple's TestFlight or a Google Play testing track, and the web version some testers use) and this website, pollinatebloom.com.
The short version
- No accounts, no ads, no tracking, and we never sell data.
- A problem-report draft contains technical details and your child's age range, but no child name or answers. You review it and decide whether to send it.
- If you test through TestFlight or Google Play, Apple and Google share some basic test information with us, such as crash reports.
1. What the app keeps on your phone
When you set up Pollinate, you choose your child's age range and answer a few questions about play. You can also enter a first name, a nickname or an initial, or leave the name blank. As you use the app, it remembers the ideas it has suggested, the ideas you save, and the quick feedback you give, such as whether an idea was a hit or didn't fit.
The app keeps a local recovery copy so it can restore your answers if its display storage is cleared. Normal app updates keep this information, but uninstalling or clearing the app's data removes it. Save a separate copy before changing phones.
To delete the app's answers, open Your data and choose Delete everything on this device. Deleting your answers clears the app's current answers and recovery copy. In the TestFlight and Google Play versions, deleting also removes the temporary copies the app kept on the phone for sharing. If the app can't remove them, it tells you, and uninstalling Pollinate removes them. Copies you saved or sent elsewhere stay where you put them; delete those separately if you want them gone. Deleting local answers does not delete information already sent to us or the hosting provider. Email us to delete what you've sent.
Uninstalling the app removes the information held inside it. The TestFlight and Google Play versions exclude their app data from iCloud and Android device backups; don't rely on your phone's backup to move your answers. Before changing phones, choose Your data › Save a copy of my answers, keep the file somewhere you can reach from the new phone, then use Your data › Restore from a saved copy there. Copies you saved or sent elsewhere are not removed when you uninstall.
2. What the app never collects
The app never asks for your name, email address, phone number or home address. It doesn't use your location, camera or microphone, and it never reads your contacts, photos or browsing history. There are no analytics, advertising or tracking tools in the app.
The TestFlight and Google Play versions don't ask for any permission that needs your approval, such as camera, microphone, location, contacts or photos, and don't connect to the internet on their own.
3. Information we keep to run the test
To run the test, we keep a small amount of information outside the app: your name and email address, which we use to invite you and stay in touch, and the emails, replies and feedback you send us. We use it only to run the test and improve Pollinate.
For the web fallback, we keep the access details and any contact information needed to give you access. Your invitation explains the access method used for that test. This access gate does not store or sync your app answers.
Your test information is kept separate from any future public release of Pollinate, and nothing is carried over without your review and consent.
If you send us a backup file to help fix a problem, we remove the copy we use to fix the problem from our inbox and tools once the problem is fixed. We keep emails that identify you until 30 days after Test 3, the follow-up test, ends, unless you ask us to delete them sooner. After that, we keep only notes with no names.
We keep your name and email address in our inbox and tools until 30 days after Test 3 ends; then we delete them from our inbox and tools and keep only notes with no names. If we gave your household access to the web version, we remove its access details when that access ends, and no later than 30 days after Test 3 ends.
4. No accounts, no ads, no selling data
There is no Pollinate account to create. The web version used in testing opens only after a private sign-in, so that only invited testers can use it; that sign-in is an access gate, not an account, and it doesn't store or sync your answers.
The TestFlight and Google Play versions have no sign-in.
There are no ads in Pollinate. We don't sell, rent or trade information about you or your child, and we don't share it for advertising.
5. Backup files you choose to save
Under Your data, Save a copy of my answers creates a small backup file. It contains the app's settings for your child: the age range, the optional name, your setup answers, the ideas suggested and saved, your feedback choices, and app version details. It never includes browser history, contacts or photos.
The app also keeps local technical history, such as when it was opened, storage-check results, setup timing and activity interactions. These details and a locally generated child reference are included in a saved copy.
In the TestFlight and Google Play versions, you choose where the copy goes through your phone's share or save-to-files screen; in the web version, your browser downloads the file. The destination may be a local folder, a cloud service or another app. Pollinate does not upload it automatically. We receive a copy only if you send it to us. The destination's own privacy and storage rules apply, and anyone you share the file with can read it.
6. Problem reports: how a report reaches Tom
If you tap Something's wrong, Pollinate opens a draft email in your own email app, addressed to Tom (you'll see the address in the To line). The draft includes a few details to help fix the problem: the app version, the part of the app you were on, whether saving works, the result of the app's storage check, your child's age range, how many setup answers are recorded, and your browser's description of your device, which can include your phone model and system version. It does not include your child's name or your answers. You can read, change or delete anything in the draft, and nothing is sent unless you tap Send.
In the TestFlight and Google Play versions, Something's wrong works the same way: it opens your email app with a draft you can review before sending.
When you send a report or email us, we receive your email address and whatever you choose to include. Tom reads it to help you and to improve Pollinate. We don't sell it or share it for advertising; only the service providers we use to run Pollinate, such as our email provider, handle it for us. You can ask us to delete it at any time.
Email to hello@pollinatebloom.com is forwarded by Cloudflare Email Routing to a Gmail inbox Tom reads; Tom may also use AI assistants to help sort messages and draft replies.
7. Children's privacy
Pollinate is for parents and caregivers and is not directed to children. It isn't designed for children to use. The app asks the adult for a child's age range and a few play preferences, and optionally a first name or nickname. A problem report includes the age range, but not the name.
We don't knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has sent us information, email us and we'll delete it. When you send a screenshot, please crop out personal details such as names, phone numbers, family photos and notifications.
8. Store testing programs (TestFlight and Google Play)
If you test Pollinate on an iPhone, you install it through Apple's TestFlight app. If you test on Android, you install it from a private Google Play testing track. To invite you, we add the email address you gave us to the tester list in Apple's App Store Connect or Google's Play Console.
Apple runs TestFlight invitations and installs. For Google Play, we add your eligible account to the test and send you the opt-in link; Google handles joining the test and installing the app. Each platform handles feedback submitted through its service under its own policy.
Some test information reaches us through each platform:
- Apple TestFlight: Apple shares some information with developers, such as the email address you were invited with and your name, your device model and system version, crash logs and usage information (such as how often the app is opened), and any feedback or screenshots you send through TestFlight. See Apple's TestFlight & Privacy page and Apple's Privacy Policy.
- Google Play testing: Google Play may share device information, app usage information and user-triggered events with developers as part of testing. Android vitals includes performance and crash information from users who have opted to share usage and diagnostics with Google. Private feedback you submit through Play also reaches us. We use the information we receive to run the test and improve Pollinate. See the Google Privacy Policy and Google Play's help page on testing apps before release.
We use this information only to run the test and fix problems.
9. This website and the web version
This website and the web version of Pollinate are hosted on Cloudflare. Like any web host, Cloudflare processes basic technical information, such as your IP address and the pages requested, to deliver pages and keep them secure. For the web version, the host also checks the private sign-in used to open it. See Cloudflare's Privacy Policy.
This website doesn't set cookies or use analytics or tracking. Because it doesn't track visitors, it works the same whether or not your browser sends a Do Not Track signal.
We don't receive or keep copies of these logs; Cloudflare keeps them under its own privacy policy.
10. How to contact us
Email hello@pollinatebloom.com with any privacy question or request, including a request to delete something you've sent us.
Pollinate LLC · Indiana, USA
11. Changes to this policy
If we change this policy, we'll update this page and the effective date at the top. If a change affects how your information is handled, we'll tell testers by email before it takes effect.