Privacy Policy

Smudgeful · Last updated November 10, 2026

In short: Smudgeful is made for young children. It has no ads and no tracking. In the app there are no accounts: your child's pictures and name stay on your device, and the only information that leaves the app is a record of the one-time purchase, if you buy it. On the website, a grown-up can sign in with Apple to keep pictures saved across devices.

This policy covers the Smudgeful app for iPhone and iPad, the Smudgeful website where children play (play.smudgeful.com, also reachable at smudgeful.vercel.app) and the Smudgeful information site (smudgeful.com). Smudgeful is made by David Lim, an independent developer in Quebec, Canada ("I", "me").

What stays on your device

In the app, everything your child makes and chooses is stored only on your device:

• colored pages, drawings, stickers and progress
• the first name you can type in so the app can greet your child
• settings, such as sounds and the home screen look

I never receive any of this. Deleting the app removes it for good.

If you save or share a picture, it goes only where you send it, using your device's own save and share options.

The one-time purchase

The app is free to download, with a one-time purchase that unlocks everything. Payment is handled entirely by Apple. I never see your name, Apple ID or payment details.

To know whether the purchase was made, the app uses RevenueCat, a service that checks App Store purchases. RevenueCat receives:

• a random ID created by the app, not linked to your identity
• the purchase record from Apple: what was bought, when, and the price and country
• basic technical details: device model, system version, app version and IP address

This is used only to unlock the app and restore the purchase on your other devices. It is not used for advertising or tracking.

What Smudgeful does not do

• no ads
• no analytics or tracking tools
• no accounts or sign-in in the app
• no camera, microphone, contacts or location
• no chat or contact with other people
• no selling or sharing of information with anyone

Children's privacy

Smudgeful is designed for children and does not knowingly collect personal information from them. In the app, the child's first name is optional, stays on the device, and is never sent to me or anyone else. On the website, it is only saved online if a grown-up signs in (see below). The purchase screen is behind a grown-up check, so children can't buy anything on their own.

The website

On the website, a grown-up signs in with Apple so the pictures are saved and follow you to other devices. Sign in with Apple gives me only a random ID for your account. I don't keep your name or email address. Apple handles the sign-in under Apple's privacy policy.

Linked to that ID, the website saves, for each child you add:

• colored pages, drawings, stickers and progress
• the first name you typed in, if any
• settings, such as sounds and the chosen colors

This is stored privately with Vercel, which hosts the website, and is used only to show you your own pictures. Removing a child in the website deletes their saved pictures. A cookie keeps you signed in; it isn't used for tracking.

Vercel also keeps short-lived server logs (such as IP addresses) to run and protect the service. The website's lettering is loaded from Google Fonts, so Google receives your IP address when the page loads. The website uses no analytics.

The launch email list

On smudgeful.com, a grown-up can leave an email address to hear when the app arrives in a store. I keep only that email address and the date it was left, stored privately with Vercel. It is used for that one announcement and nothing else: never shared, never sold, never added to other lists. Once the announcement is sent, the list is deleted. You can ask me to remove your address at any time.

smudgeful.com uses no cookies and no analytics. Like the play website, its lettering comes from Google Fonts and Vercel keeps short-lived server logs.

Your choices and rights

You can delete everything the app keeps on your device at any time by deleting the app. To ask about, get a copy of, or delete your website account and everything saved with it, your launch-list email, or the purchase record kept by RevenueCat, email me and I'll take care of it within 30 days. Apple keeps its own record of your purchase under Apple's privacy policy.

I am the person in charge of protecting personal information for Smudgeful.

Changes

If this policy changes, I'll update this page and the date at the top. If a change affects how information is collected, I'll update it before that change reaches the app.

Contact

Questions? Email SmudgefulKids@gmail.com.