Privacy Policy | KindWatch

Effective date: February 16, 2026

KindWatch (“we”, “us”, “our”) operates the kind.watch website and the KindWatch Android application. This policy explains what data we collect, why, and how we protect it.

About KindWatch

KindWatch is a family safety app designed to help guardians stay connected with aging parents or other vulnerable family members. The app is installed with the knowledge and consent of the person being monitored. It runs visibly on the device with a persistent notification indicating that monitoring is active.

KindWatch is not a covert surveillance tool. Both the guardian and the monitored family member are aware the app is running.

Before any data is collected, the app presents a prominent disclosure screen that describes exactly what data is collected, how it is used, and who can see it. The monitored user must explicitly tap “I Agree” to proceed — dismissing or navigating away does not count as consent.

The monitored user (your family member) must:

Review and accept the in-app disclosure before any data collection begins
Install the app themselves or be present during installation
Grant each permission explicitly through Android’s standard permission dialogs
See a persistent notification at all times indicating KindWatch is active

The guardian sets up a linked account to receive check-in alerts and weekly safety reports. Both parties understand and agree to the monitoring arrangement.

Google Play Protect may display an additional notification on the monitored device indicating that a monitoring app is installed. This is expected behavior.

What We Collect

From the Website

Email address — when you join the waitlist
Optional message — anything you choose to share with us
Analytics data — we use Google Analytics 4 (GA4) to collect anonymized usage data such as pages visited, referral source, browser type, and general geographic region. This helps us understand how visitors find and use our site. Google Analytics uses cookies; see “Cookies & Tracking” below.
Conversion tracking — we use Google Ads conversion tracking to measure the effectiveness of our advertising campaigns. When you sign up for the waitlist after clicking a Google ad, a conversion event is sent to Google Ads. Ad storage, ad personalization, and ad user data are denied by default — we do not use Google advertising cookies or build ad profiles.
Campaign parameters — we capture UTM parameters and Google Click IDs (gclid) from URLs in your browser’s session storage to understand which campaigns bring visitors to our site. These are stored only for the duration of your browser session and are sent alongside waitlist signups.

From the Android App

Notification metadata — app name, title, and body text of notifications as they appear in the notification shade. This includes previews of text messages and incoming call alerts, but we do not access the SMS database or call log directly. This data is used to detect scam and spam patterns.
Screened call data — when call protection is enabled, KindWatch logs the phone number, screening decision (allow/block), and reason for each call from numbers not in the device’s contacts. This data is only shared with the guardian if the user opts in to sharing (Level 1+). Call blocking only activates at higher opt-in levels.
Check-in events — when your family member unlocks their phone (screen unlock events are throttled to once per hour)
Device info — phone model, battery level, charging status, and uptime (for reliability monitoring)
Service events — app start, stop, and restart events (to ensure the app stays running)
Guardian profile photo — if the linked guardian has a Google profile photo, the app downloads and caches it locally on the monitored device. It is displayed as the notification icon so the monitored user can see who is looking out for them. The photo is stored only on-device and is deleted when the guardian is disconnected.

What We Do NOT Collect

Call audio or recordings
The full SMS/text message database (we only see message previews that appear as notifications)
Photos, camera, or gallery data
Contacts list
Browsing history
Location or GPS data
Keyboard input or passwords
Data from apps that do not post notifications

How We Use Your Data

Check-in monitoring — to alert guardians when a daily check-in is missed
Scam detection — to flag suspicious call and notification patterns (e.g., unknown numbers, repeated spam)
Weekly reports — to generate AI-powered safety summaries for the designated guardian
Missed check-in alerts — to send SMS notifications to emergency contacts
Product improvement — aggregated, anonymized usage patterns to improve KindWatch

We will never sell your data. We will never share it with advertisers.

Who Can See Your Data

The guardian — can see weekly reports, check-in history, and call/notification summaries for linked devices
The monitored family member — sees the check-in screen and a persistent notification that KindWatch is active. They do not see reports or analytics.
KindWatch team — we may access data for debugging or support, under strict access controls and only when necessary
No one else — we do not share personal data with third parties for marketing or advertising purposes

Third-Party Services

We use the following services to operate KindWatch:

Service	Purpose	Data shared
Amazon Web Services (AWS)	Hosting, compute	All data (processed and stored on AWS infrastructure)
Turso	Database	All app data (encrypted at rest)
AI providers (currently Anthropic; may include Google or OpenAI)	Weekly report generation	Notification summaries (app name + up to 3 sample titles/previews per app, truncated to 200 characters). Used to generate safety reports. Data is sent via API and is subject to each provider’s data usage policy. We do not use providers that train on customer data.
Twilio	SMS alerts	Guardian and emergency contact phone numbers (for missed check-in alerts only)
Google Analytics / Google Ads	Website analytics and ad conversion tracking	Anonymized page views, referral data, and conversion events (website only — not the Android app). Ad storage and ad personalization are denied by default.
Google OAuth	Guardian sign-in	Email, name, and profile photo URL (used to identify the guardian and display their photo on the monitored device’s notifications)

The Android app does not contain any advertising SDKs, analytics trackers, or data brokers. Website analytics are described in the “Cookies & Tracking” section below.

Permissions & Why We Need Them

Permission	Why it’s needed
Notification Access	To read notification metadata for scam/spam detection. You enable this manually in Android Settings.
Internet	To sync data with KindWatch servers and receive check-in schedules.
Foreground Service	To keep the monitoring service running reliably in the background. Displays a persistent notification.
Boot Completed	To restart monitoring automatically after the phone reboots.
Post Notifications	To display the persistent monitoring notification and check-in reminders.
Battery Optimization Exemption	To prevent the phone’s battery saver from stopping the monitoring service. You grant this explicitly.
Call Screening (Caller ID & spam)	To screen incoming calls from unknown numbers. You choose the protection level: log only, block foreign numbers, or block all unknown callers. Only calls from numbers not in your contacts are screened.

We request only the permissions necessary for core functionality. We do not request access to your camera, microphone, contacts, location, or storage.

Cookies & Tracking (Website Only)

The kind.watch website uses the following tracking technologies. The Android app does not use any cookies or tracking SDKs.

Technology	Purpose	Details
Google Analytics 4 cookies (`_ga`, `_ga_*`)	Anonymized site analytics	Measures page views, session duration, and referral source. Analytics storage is granted; ad storage, ad user data, and ad personalization are denied by default.
Google Ads conversion tag	Measures ad campaign effectiveness	Fires a conversion event when a visitor signs up for the waitlist after clicking a Google ad. No ad cookies are stored.
Session storage (UTM params, `gclid`)	Campaign attribution	Stored in your browser’s session storage (cleared when you close the tab). Sent alongside waitlist signups so we can understand which campaigns are effective.

We do not use Meta Pixel, Microsoft Clarity, Hotjar, retargeting pixels, or any other third-party trackers. We do not build advertising profiles or sell data to ad networks.

Data Storage & Security

All data is encrypted in transit (TLS 1.2+) and at rest
Backend hosted on AWS (US-West-2 region)
Database hosted on Turso (SQLite edge database, encrypted)
Access to production systems is restricted to authorized KindWatch personnel
API authentication uses device-specific bearer tokens

Data Retention

Active accounts: Data is retained for as long as the account is active
After deletion: All personal data is permanently deleted within 30 days of a deletion request. Anonymized, aggregated data may be retained for product improvement.

Account & Data Deletion

You can delete your KindWatch account and all associated data at any time:

From the dashboard: Sign in at kind.watch, go to Settings, and select Delete Account.
By email: Send “Delete my account” to privacy@kind.watch from your registered email. We will process your request within 7 days.
Via the API: Authenticated guardians can call DELETE /auth/account to immediately delete their account and all associated data.

Deletion permanently removes: your guardian profile, all registered devices, notification data, screened call logs, check-in schedules and history, weekly reports, emergency contacts, and service event logs.

For more details, see our account deletion page.

Your Rights

Both the guardian and the monitored family member can request to:

View all data we have collected
Delete the account and all associated data (see above)
Revoke consent — the monitored user can uninstall the app at any time to stop all data collection immediately

Email privacy@kind.watch for any data requests. We will respond within 14 days.

Children’s Privacy

KindWatch is designed for adults (guardians and seniors). We do not knowingly collect data from children under 13. If we learn we have collected data from a child under 13, we will delete it promptly.

Changes to This Policy

We may update this policy as the product evolves. We will notify users by email at least 14 days before material changes take effect. The “effective date” at the top of this page will be updated accordingly.

Contact

Questions or concerns? Email hello@kind.watch.