Privacy Policy

Data we collect

Caregiver account: name and email provided through Clerk (email/password, Google, Microsoft, or Sign in with Apple on iOS).

User profile: first name entered by the caregiver.

Content: categories, pictograms, phrases, photos, and voice recordings added by the caregiver.

Activity: pictogram selection history, questions (?), orders (!), and yes/no answers for the caregiver usage feed.

Technical data: session tokens, operational logs, and, in production when monitoring is enabled, crash/performance diagnostics via Sentry (no advertising).

Billing (if you subscribe): email, customer/subscription identifiers, and subscription status. PicPaul does not store card numbers.

Text-to-speech: on some Android devices, the system TTS engine may send spoken phrases to a manufacturer network service.

Purposes

Provide caregiver authentication, the AAC communicator, catalog sync, vocabulary personalization, and support.

Manage subscriptions and usage entitlements (pictogram limits, professional groups) when you choose a paid plan.

Maintain security, reliability, and production incident diagnostics.

No ads are shown. No sale of personal data. No advertising tracking.

Processors and services

Clerk: caregiver authentication.

Convex: database, file storage, subscription entitlements, and hosting of public legal pages.

Stripe: subscription payments (card and invoicing). Payment data is processed by Stripe; PicPaul keeps only subscription and entitlement references.

ARASAAC: public pictogram search and images.

Sentry: crash and performance logging in production when configured.

System text-to-speech services (device-dependent).

On-device local storage

PicPaul keeps an offline cache of the catalog, media, and a pending activity event queue (selections, questions, orders, yes/no) so the communicator works without network.

When account deletion succeeds, this local cache is cleared. Uninstalling the app also removes remaining local data.

Subscriptions and payments

Paid plans are managed through the PicPaul web portal and Stripe Checkout / Customer Portal. Prices are VAT-inclusive EUR.

Free tier: up to 50 pictograms. Plus plan: unlimited pictograms, monthly or yearly, with a 14-day trial (card required) then automatic renewal.

Professional plans: Ortho / logo (speech-language therapist practice — orthophoniste in France, logopède in Belgium), Team, or sponsored (per caregiver, unlimited pictograms for each covered caregiver). Institutions (IME, SESSAD, MDPH in France; PMS centres, AVIQ / PHARE in Belgium, etc.) may request a quote / invoice (bank transfer) via the portal.

Stripe processes payments. PicPaul stores subscription status and usage caps for the account, without keeping card details. When a cap decreases, a 30-day grace period may apply.

Retention and deletion

Server data is retained while the caregiver account exists.

You can delete the account and associated data from the app (Settings → Delete account), from the signed-in web portal (Account → Access), or by email (see the account deletion page).

After deletion, Clerk, Convex, and related Stripe subscriptions are asked to erase or cancel the account and data, subject to any legal retention duties.

Audience

PicPaul is for anyone who needs augmentative and alternative communication (AAC), including children and adults. The caregiver owns the account; the user uses the communicator, optionally under supervision.

The app does not provide a public social space or sharing between distinct accounts.

Caregiver-space access in v1 is unlocked with an in-app gear control on the client; it is not a server-side gate. Data remains scoped to the authenticated account.

Security

Traffic to our services uses HTTPS.

Clerk session tokens are stored in the device secure store when available.

Device permissions

Microphone: only to record optional pictogram phrases.

Photo library: only to choose optional category or pictogram images.

The camera is not used.