Privacy Policy

Overview

SmileCharts ("we," "our," or "us") is committed to protecting the privacy of educators, students, and families who use our service. This Privacy Policy explains how we handle information when you use SmileCharts.

The short version: We designed SmileCharts to be "stateless"—meaning we don't store any student data on our servers. Your behavior charts, student names, and goals exist only in your browser and in the QR codes you generate.

Information We Do NOT Collect

SmileCharts does NOT collect or store:

• Student names or identifying information
• Behavior goals or chart content
• Parent contact information
• Teacher personal information
• School or district data

Information We May Collect

To improve our service and ensure reliability, we may collect limited anonymous usage data:

• Analytics data: Page views, feature usage, and general traffic patterns (via Vercel Analytics). This data is aggregated and cannot identify individual users.
• Error logs: Technical errors that occur during use, which help us fix bugs. These logs do not contain student data.
• Translation requests: When you translate text, the content is sent to our translation service (OpenAI). We do not log or store this content, and it is processed in accordance with OpenAI's data usage policies.

How Your Data is Stored

Browser Storage

Your chart data is stored in your browser's local storage. This data:

• Never leaves your device unless you print or share a QR code
• Persists until you clear your browser data
• Is not accessible to SmileCharts or any third party

QR Code Encoding

When you generate a QR code, the chart data is encoded directly into the QR code image using compression. This means:

• The data travels with the printed chart, not through our servers
• Anyone with access to the QR code can decode and view the data
• We recommend not including sensitive information in charts

FERPA Compliance

SmileCharts is designed with FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act) compliance in mind. Because we:

• Do not collect or store student education records
• Do not maintain any database of student information
• Process all data client-side (in your browser)

We are not considered a "school official" under FERPA and do not require a data sharing agreement. However, we recommend that educators:

• Use only student first names (not full names)
• Avoid including sensitive behavioral or medical information
• Consult their school's data privacy officer if unsure

Third-Party Services

SmileCharts uses the following third-party services:

• Vercel: Hosting and analytics. See Vercel's Privacy Policy
• OpenAI: Translation services. Content sent for translation is subject to OpenAI's Privacy Policy

Cookies

SmileCharts uses minimal cookies necessary for the website to function. We do not use tracking cookies or advertising cookies. Any analytics cookies are first-party and do not track you across other websites.

Children's Privacy

SmileCharts is designed for use by educators, not directly by children. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, please contact us so we can delete it.

Your Rights

Because we don't store your data, you have complete control:

• Access: Your data is in your browser's local storage and any QR codes you've generated.
• Deletion: Clear your browser's local storage to remove all chart data from your device.
• Portability: Print or save your charts as PDFs at any time.

Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify users of any material changes by posting the new policy on this page and updating the "Last updated" date.

Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or our data practices, please contact us.