Privacy Policy

Presto Math ("Presto", "we") is a maths practice app for children, set up and managed by a parent or guardian. It is run by Allan Thöle, an individual trading as Presto Math (the "operator"), of 170B Bucklands Beach Road, Bucklands Beach, Auckland 2012, New Zealand, who is responsible for the Presto Math apps and this website. This policy explains what information the Presto apps and this website collect, why, and what you can do about it. We keep it short because there is little to say: no ads, no third-party tracking, and we never sell your family's data.

Who this is for

A parent or guardian creates the account. Children do not sign up on their own, and we do not ask a child for their real name, date of birth, address, phone number, photos or location. (A parent can choose to tell us a learner's age as a number: see below.) A child profile is just a label a parent chooses (for example a first name or nickname).

What we collect

Account information (the parent)

• Email address and password, used to sign in. Passwords are handled by Google's Firebase Authentication; we never see or store your password in readable form.
• Optional email addresses for the weekly progress email. If you add one or more addresses in Settings, we store them to send a weekly summary of your children's practice. You can switch this off, or remove the addresses, at any time.
• A parent PIN that locks the parent settings. It is a convenience lock, not a security boundary.
• Which version of the app your account last used. When you open the app signed in, it saves the platform (iPhone or Android), the app version and the phone's system version, with the time, against your account. It is saved at most twice a day. We use it only to see who is still on an old version, so we can ask testers to update and fix problems that newer versions have already solved. It holds no email address, name or device identifier.
• Which country your account is in. The app works out a country from the region setting on your phone (New Zealand, Australia, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, South Africa or Singapore; anything else is "Other"), or uses the one you pick in Parent Settings or when the app asks "Where do you live?". It saves that country, whether it was worked out or picked by you, what your phone's setting said, and the time, against your account. We use it to show money the way it is written where you live (R, £ or $), to see where Presto is being used so we can plan which countries to support, and, in South Africa, to ask a parent for their agreement. It is a country only, never a precise location, and it holds no email address, name or device identifier.

Practice information (each child profile)

• The child profile's label, and their practice history: when each run happened, which exercise, how long it took, how many mistakes, and which questions were answered wrongly (so the app can bring weak facts back for review).
• Progress: which levels are passed or mastered, streaks, and achievements.
• Optional: a learner's age. When you add a learner, or later in Settings, you can tell us their age as a number (you can also choose "Prefer not to say"). It is never shown anywhere in the app. We use it only to understand how long learners of different ages take on each level, so we can set fair level times. It is not a date of birth, you can change or remove it at any time, and we store the age you gave together with the date you gave it so we can keep it up to date over the years.
• How long each question took, and whether it was answered correctly first time, for each timed run, so we can set fair level times.
• When a learner opens a level's Learn page or does an untimed practice run there, and, for a practice run, how many questions, how many mistakes and how long it took. Practice runs never count towards levels or medals; we keep this so we can see whether practising with Learn helps children pass.

Help questions (optional, parents only)

• Only if you use the optional "Ask our AI helper" box on the Help screen: the question you type is sent to our AI provider to write an answer (see "Who handles your data for us" below). We do not store it, and it is not linked to your account.

Problem reports

• If you or your child send a report from the bug button, we receive what you type, the screen and question that were showing, basic device details (such as the platform, system version and app version), and the account it was sent from, so we can reply and tell which report came from which family. Reports are stored in our database with your account's email address and the learner's name, for support. The ticket we create from a report in our private issue tracker does not include your email address or your child's name: only what was typed, the screen and question, device details and a shortened account ID.
• An optional screenshot. In the app you can attach a picture from your photos to a problem report. It is only sent if you choose one, and it shows whatever was on that screen, so please avoid pictures that include anything you'd rather we didn't see. The picture is stored with the report (in Google Cloud Storage) and linked from the private ticket we create. The picture is deleted when you delete your account, which also stops that link working.

Crash reports (automatic)

• If the app crashes or hits an unexpected error, it sends a crash report to Google's Firebase Crashlytics so we can find and fix the fault. A report contains the technical details of the error (which part of the app's code failed), basic device details (such as the model, system version, free memory and app version) and a random ID that Crashlytics creates for the installation, so we can count how many devices a fault affects. The app also tells Crashlytics when it is opened, so we can see what share of uses end in a crash. Crash reports do not contain your email address, your children's names, their answers or their progress, and they are not linked to your account.

We do not collect payment card details, precise location, contacts, photos, or advertising identifiers.

How we use it

• To run the app: showing progress, working out streaks, and choosing review questions aimed at each child's weak spots.
• To send the weekly progress email you have asked for.
• To remember your email choices. Every optional email we send has an unsubscribe link, and you can choose which kinds you get (test updates, the weekly progress email, and news and new features, which we only send if you opted in). We keep your choice against a one-way coded form of your email address, not the address itself.
• To fix problems and improve the curriculum. Where we look across many families to spot patterns (for example, "this kind of question is too hard"), we use aggregated, de-identified results only, never an individual named child's history.
• To set fair level times. Where we compare how long learners (including learners of different ages) take on each level, we look at results with no names or email addresses attached.
• To check that Learn helps. Where we compare how children do on a level with and without practising in Learn first, we look at results with no names or email addresses attached.

We never sell personal information, never use it for advertising, and never share it with advertisers or data brokers. The apps contain no advertising and no analytics or tracking software. The only automatic reporting is the crash reports described above, used only to fix faults.

Who handles your data for us

We use a small number of service providers, only to run Presto:

• Google Firebase (Authentication, Firestore database, Cloud Storage, Cloud Functions, Hosting) stores account and practice data and runs the weekly email job. Your account and practice data are stored in Google's Sydney, Australia data centre (Firestore location australia-southeast1). Some supporting services run elsewhere: the weekly email job runs on Google servers in the United States, and Google may handle sign-in and website traffic from other locations too, so your information can be processed outside your own country.
• Google Firebase Crashlytics receives the app's crash reports (see "Crash reports" above). It is a global Google service, so reports may be processed wherever Google has facilities, including the United States. It deletes them after 90 days.
• Zoho Mail delivers our email, including the weekly progress email, and receives messages you send to our support address.
• Problem-report tools: reports are stored in our database and a ticket is created in a private issue tracker on GitHub, by our own Google Cloud function in Sydney. GitHub is based in the United States, so ticket text is processed and kept there, and it keeps its own copy: deleting your account does not remove it (see "What stays after you delete" below). Tickets do not contain your email address or your child's name.
• Help questions (optional, parents only): if a parent types a question into the Help screen, the text of that question is sent to Anthropic (United States), who run the AI model that writes the answer. We send only the question, with email addresses removed, together with Presto's own help pages. We do not send your account details, your children's names or their progress, and we do not keep the question or the answer ourselves. Anthropic is not allowed to use the question to train its AI models. It keeps requests for 30 days, and may look at them for safety and security; if its automated safety systems flag a request, or the law requires it, it may keep it for longer (up to 2 years). The question is not linked to your account, so we cannot find or delete a single question on request. Please don't put names or other personal details in a question.
• Apple and Google distribute the app. Presto is free and takes no payments, so neither receives any payment from you through Presto.

We may also disclose information if the law requires it.

If you sign up to test Presto or join the waiting list

Adults can sign up to test new versions, or to join the waiting list when places for their country are full, through our sign-up form, which is a form run by Tally. Your answers are then kept in a private list in Notion (United States), which only Presto staff can open. The form asks for your name, the email of your Presto account, which device you will use and whether your child will use their own, your country, the age bands (never the names) of your children and, for Android families, your Google account email and, if your child has their own Android device, theirs. If you reached the form from a link we posted somewhere (a Facebook group, for example), it also records a short code for that post, so we can see which posts bring testers; no cookie or tracker is used for this. We use these only to run the test: to send you the install emails (sent automatically from our own mail service, Zoho Mail, and from a small automation we run in Google Cloud), to add Android testers to the Google Play test list, to match your in-app reports to you and to note when your Presto account has been created, and to contact you about testing. We do not share or sell them, and you can ask us to delete them at any time by emailing support@prestomath.com. Test invites are sent through Apple TestFlight or Google Play, which handle them under their own policies.

Who at Presto can see your data

Presto is run by a very small team. Staff can open a restricted admin site (by named, role-limited accounts with a verified email) that shows an account's email address, its learners' names, recent practice runs and problem reports. We use it only to help you with support, fix problems and handle deletion requests. Staff can also delete an account there. Every time staff open a family's details, and every change, is written to an audit log. The operator also has access to the underlying Google Firebase project. Presto is run from New Zealand, so staff open these tools from there, wherever your family lives.

Keeping and deleting data

We keep account and practice data for as long as the account exists, so a family can pick up where it left off. You are in control:

• In the parent settings you can delete an individual run, all of a child's runs, or reset a child's progress.
• You can delete your whole account in the app (parent settings, Danger Zone). This permanently removes every child's history, progress, settings and problem reports (including any screenshots you attached), and your login. It cannot be undone.
• If you cannot sign in, email us from the address on your account and we will delete it for you. Full steps: how to delete your account.

What stays after you delete

Deleting an account removes the data above, but a few things remain for a limited time or by necessity:

• Recovery copies, up to 7 days. Our database keeps a 7-day point-in-time recovery window, so deleted data can still be restored from it for up to 7 days before it disappears.
• Weekly backups, up to 8 weeks. Once a week we save a backup copy of the database in Google Cloud Storage in Sydney, so we can recover from a serious fault. Each copy is deleted after 8 weeks, so a deleted account's data is gone from every backup within 8 weeks. If we ever restore from a backup, we delete again any account that was deleted after that backup was made.
• Crash reports are not linked to your account, so we cannot find them by account; Crashlytics deletes them after 90 days.
• Our admin audit log keeps a record that an account was deleted, including its email address, so that changes to accounts are accountable.
• Problem-report tickets already created in GitHub (United States) stay there, without your email or your child's name. Reports sent before October 2026 also passed through a webhook service (Pipedream, United States), which we have stopped using. Email us and we will delete a ticket on request.
• Help questions sent to our AI provider are not linked to your account. They are held there for up to 30 days (longer if its safety systems flag them) and cannot be deleted on request.
• Your email choices (which kinds of email you have turned off, as a coded form of your address) stay after you delete your account, so that an email you asked us to stop is not sent again if the address is used later.
• Emails you sent us stay in our support mailbox (Zoho Mail) until we delete them. Ask us and we will.

Children's privacy

Presto is designed for children to use under a parent's supervision. Parents control account creation, the PIN and all settings. We collect only what the app needs to work, as described above. If you believe a child has given us information without a parent's involvement, contact us and we will remove it. A parent can review what we hold about their child, ask us to delete it, and refuse any further collection (by deleting the account or emailing us).

We aim to follow the children's privacy rules that apply in the countries Presto is offered, including COPPA (United States), the Children's Code (United Kingdom), the Australian Privacy Principles, and New Zealand's Privacy Act 2020.

Where you live

Presto is currently offered to families in New Zealand, Australia, the United Kingdom, the United States, South Africa and Singapore. Wherever you live, your family's information is stored in Sydney, Australia, some of our providers work from the United States, and Presto is run from New Zealand (see "Who handles your data for us"). This means it is handled outside your own country, and the courts and authorities of those countries may be able to ask for access to it under their laws. What we do in particular places:

Canada

• Presto is not offered to families in Canada (including Quebec) at this time. If you live in Canada, please don't create an account. If you already have one, email support@prestomath.com and we will close it and delete its information.

South Africa

• The "responsible party" for your family's information is Allan Thöle, trading as Presto Math (address below). Our information officer is Allan Thöle, support@prestomath.com.
• South African law treats anyone under 18 as a child. A parent or guardian creates every account and agrees to this policy for the family, and that covers each child profile. We keep your children's profile labels and practice history to run the app, and that information is kept outside South Africa (in Sydney, Australia, with some providers in the United States). We do not ask children for consent.
• The first time a South African account opens Presto, we ask a parent or guardian to agree. We save that you agreed, the date, the version of the wording and your answer to the optional email box, against your account.
• This is separate from email. The weekly progress email goes only to addresses you add in Settings. We send news and test-build emails to a South African account only if you tick a separate box that starts unticked, and every optional email has an unsubscribe link.
• You can withdraw your agreement by deleting your account in the app, or by emailing us. If you are unhappy with how we handle your information, you can complain to the Information Regulator (South Africa) at inforegulator.org.za.

Singapore

• A parent or guardian creates every account and agrees to this policy for the family. For children under 13, a parent's consent is the only consent we rely on; we do not ask children for their own.
• Your family's information is sent outside Singapore: stored in Sydney, Australia, with some providers in the United States.
• You can withdraw consent by deleting your account in the app or by emailing us. Questions about your family's information go to support@prestomath.com.

Your choices and rights

You can ask us to show you the information we hold about your family, to correct it, or to delete it. Email support@prestomath.com and we will respond promptly. Deleting your account in the app achieves the same as a deletion request.

Security

Data is stored with Google Firebase, which encrypts data in transit and at rest, and our database rules keep each account's data separate from every other account. No online service is perfectly secure, but we take reasonable steps to protect your family's information.

Changes to this policy

If we change what we collect or how we use it, we will update this page and its date, and tell you in the app or by email if the change is significant. Presto is free during its launch period and will become a subscription app. We will give at least 30 days' notice before the free period ends. Before that happens, and before any move to a company, we will update this page and tell you in the app; a company would take over this policy and our responsibilities under it.

Terms of Use

Using Presto is also subject to our Terms of Use.

Contact

Allan Thöle, trading as Presto Math
170B Bucklands Beach Road, Bucklands Beach, Auckland 2012, New Zealand
Questions or requests: support@prestomath.com