Version 2026-10-05 ยท Effective October 5, 2026
This is the one privacy policy for every Tidy app and site: TidyFamily (tidyfamily.me), TidyKid (tidykid.me), TidyChef, TidyCash, TidyWealth, TidyHealth, TidyRead, TidyLearn, TidyLife and TidyPlan ("Tidy", "we", "our"). It says what we collect, why, who can see it, how long we keep it and how to delete it. We wrote it to match what the apps do today. Some apps are open only to founders while we build them; this policy covers them too.
A grown-up's account. You sign in with Google. It's the only way to sign in. We get your name, your email address, Google's ID for your account and your Google profile photo. We never see your Google password.
Kids' profiles. A parent adds each kid. We keep their first name or nickname, an avatar, their date of birth (which we use to work out their age, so chores and recipes fit), and an optional PIN of 4 to 8 digits. We store the PIN scrambled (hashed), never as the digits. If a parent adds them, we also keep a kid's food allergies. We store a kid's email address only when a parent gives it: the kid's Google account, when a parent links it (below), or a contact address for reminders that a parent entered on the kid's profile. We don't collect kids' phone numbers or home addresses.
A kid's own Google account (optional, with a parent's consent). A parent can link a kid's Google account so the kid can sign in to TidyKid as themselves. With that parent's consent we store the account's email address, its name and Google's ID for it and, only if the parent allows it, its profile photo. We record which parent consented and when. We use them only to let the kid sign in and show who is signed in. We don't read the kid's Gmail, contacts or calendar. Unlinking the account, or removing the kid from the family, deletes them. Google accounts for kids under 13 are supervised through Google Family Link, and a parent may have to approve the sign-in on Google's side.
Household activity. Chores and who did them, points, allowances and what's owed to each kid, check-ins (like "tired" or "big homework night"), meal plans, shopping lists, the pantry, recipes, and the questions asked of the kitchen helper.
A grown-up's own records. If a grown-up uses them: their health notes, workouts and food profile (TidyHealth), their budget and accounts (TidyCash) and their assets and net worth (TidyWealth). These apps are for grown-ups only; kids can't open them.
Money accounts (TidyCash and TidyWealth, open to founders now). If you connect a bank or brokerage, we keep what you enter to connect it and the balances and transactions it sends us. That can include a Plaid key, or the email, password and authenticator code for a Monarch account. We seal these with Google Cloud's key service before we store them. Account names are free text, so don't put a kid's full name in one.
Camera and microphone, only when you use them. A fridge, pantry or spice-rack photo when you take one. Voice commands while cooking: your browser turns speech into text, and we get the text, not the recording.
Payments. You pay through Stripe's own checkout page. Your card details go to Stripe, never to us. Stripe tells us your email address and the IDs of your purchase and subscription.
We use your information to run the Tidy apps for your household. That's all. We don't show ads, we don't use ad trackers or analytics services, and we don't sell or rent anyone's data. We never use kids' data for marketing.
We use Google's Gemini AI (on Google Cloud's Vertex AI, in the United States) for three things. Google processes this data for us.
| Feature | What we send to Gemini |
|---|---|
| Kitchen helper (TidyChef and TidyFamily), when a question isn't a simple command like a timer | The question as text, the cook's first name, and the recipe step and ingredients |
| Fridge and pantry scan | The photo, and the cook's first name, age and cooking level. We don't keep the photo, only the items found in it. |
| TidyPlan planning helper (grown-ups only) | The grown-up's message and the plan's title and template. We don't add kids' details. |
We never send a kid's date of birth to an AI. The household assistant in TidyFamily doesn't use AI: it answers from your household's own data.
| Company | What they do for us |
|---|---|
| Google Cloud | Hosts the apps and stores the data (Cloud Run, Firestore, Cloud SQL, Firebase Hosting), seals bank credentials (Cloud KMS), runs the AI (Vertex AI) and handles Google sign-in |
| Stripe | Takes payments on its own checkout page |
| Plaid | Connects bank accounts in TidyCash and TidyWealth, when a grown-up chooses to |
| Monarch | Sends account data to TidyCash and TidyWealth, when a grown-up connects it |
In TidyWealth a grown-up can also connect a brokerage they choose (Alpaca, SnapTrade or Robinhood). Price lookups send ticker symbols only.
Parents. The lead parent can invite a co-parent by email. Once they join, a co-parent sees and can change the household's data, kids included. The lead parent can remove them at any time.
The household's record. We keep a record of who joined, left or was removed, invites, kid links, join codes, connected apps and staff visits. The lead parent can see it in TidyFamily.
Tidy staff. Tidy staff (the founders) can open a household to help it. They see what a lead parent sees, including kids' dates of birth and email addresses. They can't change anything. Each visit is written in the household's record (once a day for each staff member), so the lead parent can see it.
Connected apps. The lead parent can give another app a key that reads kids' names and avatars, check-ins and household settings. It can't change anything, and the lead parent can disconnect it at any time.
A parent can, at any time:
You can also email privacy@thetidyway.com to ask for any of these. We'll answer, and we'll check it's you (or the kid's parent) first.
Data travels between your device and our servers over HTTPS. Each household's data is kept apart from every other household's, and our servers check who you are and what your role allows on every request.
When we change this policy in a way that matters, we change its version, and the lead parent of each household is asked to accept the new version before adding or linking any more kids.
Privacy: privacy@thetidyway.com
Billing: billing@thetidyway.com