Privacy policy

Mathfinch is a maths learning app for children and young people, made by Red Line Security Limited (company number 15419410, registered in England and Wales), “we” below. This policy covers this website, mathfinch.com, the Mathfinch app in a web browser, and the Mathfinch apps for iPhone, iPad and Android.

The short version

• We don’t collect any personal data. Mathfinch has no accounts, no sign-in, no adverts, no analytics, no cookies and no tracking.
• Progress stays on the device. Nicknames, school years and answers are saved only on the device the app is used on, in the app or the browser. We never receive them.
• Nothing is sent unless a grown-up chooses to send it. A grown-up can save a progress file or a question-report file and send it themselves, for example by email. Only the person they choose receives it.

What the app stores on the device

To work, the app saves the following on the device only:

• each learner’s nickname (we ask for a nickname, not a real name) and school year;
• their answers: which questions were tried, whether they were right, hints used and when, and for answers not marked right, a short copy of what was typed;
• any marks a grown-up changed and any questions a grown-up reported, with the reason and an optional note;
• display settings (text size, motion).

In the phone and tablet apps this is kept in the app’s private storage, with a backup copy in the app’s private files so progress isn’t lost if the system clears temporary storage. In a web browser it is kept in the browser’s storage for mathfinch.com. We can’t see it either way. It is removed when you use For grown-ups → Delete everything, when you delete the app, or, in a browser, when you clear this site’s data.

Using Mathfinch in a web browser

• Storage, not cookies. The website and web app set no cookies. The web app keeps the data above in your browser’s storage, and keeps a copy of its own program files so it can work offline. Neither is used to identify or track you.
• Hosting. The website is hosted by Vercel Inc. Like any website, when your browser asks for a page, Vercel’s servers receive technical details needed to send it, such as your IP address, the page asked for and your browser type, and keep them in logs for a short time for security and to keep the service running. We don’t use these details to identify anyone, and no learner data is ever sent.
• No third parties. Fonts and every other file come from mathfinch.com itself. There are no adverts, analytics, social media buttons or embedded content from other companies.

Files a grown-up chooses to share

In For grown-ups, behind a simple check that keeps young children out, a grown-up can:

• save a progress file: a copy of everything listed above, to move progress to another device or keep a backup;
• save a question-report file: only the questions reported as wrong, with the reason, any note and what was typed. It doesn’t contain nicknames, school years or answer history. Nicknames saved on the device are replaced with “[name]”, but other names typed into a note can’t be detected, so the app shows the file’s contents first.

In the phone and tablet apps, either file is passed to the device’s share sheet. In a browser, it is saved to your downloads. The grown-up chooses where it goes. If you send a question report to us at hello@redlinesecurity.net, we use it only to fix the question. We keep the message no longer than needed to do that, and we don’t use it for anything else.

Read to me

“Read to me” reads questions, hints and feedback aloud. In the phone and tablet apps it uses the voice built into the device, and the app doesn’t send the words anywhere. In a web browser it uses the browser’s own speech feature. Most voices work on the device, but some browsers offer online voices (for example, voices marked “Google” in Google Chrome), which may send the words being read to the browser maker to turn into speech. The words are the lesson’s own text; the app doesn’t include a learner’s nickname in what is read aloud.

App stores

When you download Mathfinch from the App Store or Google Play, Apple or Google handle the download under their own privacy policies. If your device settings allow it, they may give us anonymous, combined statistics (such as the number of downloads) and crash reports. These don’t identify you or your child, and the app itself sends us nothing. On the App Store the app’s privacy label is “Data Not Collected”; on Google Play its data safety section says no data is collected or shared.

Children

Mathfinch is designed for children, so it is built to collect nothing: no accounts, no contact details, no location, no device identifiers, no adverts and no third-party code that tracks. This follows the UK Age Appropriate Design Code (the Children’s Code), and means we don’t collect personal information from children under 13 as defined by the US Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). Grown-ups’ areas sit behind a check that keeps young children out (it isn’t security, and doesn’t confirm who someone is). The only links to other websites inside the app are to the official curriculum documents on its About page and to this website’s privacy policy, terms and help pages. They open in the device’s browser.

Who is responsible, and on what basis

Red Line Security Limited is the data controller for the little personal data we do handle: emails you choose to send us, and the website’s server logs. We handle emails to answer and act on them, and server logs to keep the website secure and running. Both rely on our legitimate interests under UK data protection law. Vercel processes server logs for us under a data processing agreement; its servers may be outside the UK, including in the United States, with the safeguards UK law requires for such transfers.

How long we keep things

• Learner data on your device: we never hold it. It stays until you delete it, delete the app or clear the browser’s data.
• Emails to us: as long as needed to answer or fix the question, then deleted, and in any case within 12 months.
• Website server logs: kept by Vercel for a short period, then deleted automatically.

Your rights

Because we don’t hold any personal data about you or your child, there’s nothing for us to access, correct or delete. Everything is on your device and you control it, and For grown-ups → Delete everything removes it. There is no account to delete. If you have sent us an email, you can ask us for a copy of it, or ask us to delete it, at any time.

Changes

If this policy changes, we’ll update the date above and the app’s store listings. We will not start collecting personal data without updating this policy and the app’s privacy labels first.

Contact

Red Line Security Limited, Regent88, 210 Church Road, Leyton, London E10 7JQ, United Kingdom. Email hello@redlinesecurity.net.
If you’re unhappy with how we’ve handled your data, you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ico.org.uk).