ChoreBuddy Privacy Notice
1. About this privacy notice
This notice explains how Ground Control Solutions AS processes personal data when you use the ChoreBuddy app, related websites and customer support.
ChoreBuddy helps families and other households organise chores, goals and rewards. The service may be used by adults and by children or other restricted users who are given access through a household managed by an adult.
This notice covers data we receive from you, data other members enter about you, and data generated when the service is used. Restricted users will also receive a shorter and simpler privacy explanation.
2. Controller
Ground Control Solutions AS is the controller for ChoreBuddy.
Norwegian organisation number: 934 177 924
Address: Kamfjordåsen 64, 3227 Sandefjord, Norway
Email: post@grnd-ctrl.no
Website: https://www.grnd-ctrl.no
3. Whose data do we process?
We may process data about people who create an adult account, own or belong to a household, are created as restricted users, are invited to a household, or contact us.
You must be at least 18 to create an adult account. A restricted user does not enter into the ChoreBuddy agreement independently. The adult who creates or invites that user must have the necessary authority or permission.
4. Data we process
Account and profile
- name, display name, nickname, email address, year of birth and selected language
- profile image and technical image information
- user ID, account type, roles, status and creation time
- data used for sign-in, email verification and account recovery
- for restricted users: device identifiers and data linking access to a device
Passwords are not stored in readable form.
Household
- household name, owner, administrators and members
- memberships, roles, permissions and status
- time zone, language, currency and other settings
- invitations, expiry times and who created or accepted them
Chores, goals and rewards
- names and descriptions of chores, lists and missions
- assignment, completion, approval, rejection and any reason given
- status, progress, times, reminders and history
- points, time rewards, recorded monetary amounts and goals
Recorded monetary amounts merely describe a private reward within the household. ChoreBuddy does not make the payment.
Images
You may upload images linked to chores. We process the image, file type, time, related chore, uploader and any comments. The image can be seen by all members who have access to the chore.
Subscriptions
For purchases through the Apple App Store or Google Play, we may process the app store, product and subscription identifiers, transaction identifier, protected verification value, status, expiry time, last verification and whether the purchase relates to a test or production environment. Apple or Google handles payment; we do not normally receive card numbers or complete payment details.
Notifications, operation and security
If you enable push notifications, we may process an installation ID, platform, device type, push channel or device token, technical tags and notification preferences. You can disable notifications in the app or your device settings.
We may also process IP address, time, requested function, technical status, device and browser details, sign-in sessions, security events, error reports and logs where necessary for operation and security.
Communications and records
We may process enquiries and replies, email verification, password recovery, privacy requests, and the version and language of legal documents accepted by an adult together with the time of acceptance.
Reporting and blocking
When you report a user or content, we process information about the reporter, the household and user or content concerned, the selected reason, any free-text explanation and the time of the report. We also store case status, internal assessments and notes, recorded actions and who handled the case and when. A report may therefore contain personal data about both the reporter and other affected people.
When you block a user, we store who blocked whom, the household concerned and necessary timestamps. We use this to limit the content displayed to the person who blocks. You can undo a block in the settings.
You can also send reports to safety@grnd-ctrl.no. We then process the sender's address, message, any attachments and correspondence needed to follow up the matter. Avoid sending unnecessary personal data or sensitive attachments. Reports received by email are handled manually.
Reports are accessible to authorised system administrators who need them for their work. The household administrator role does not grant access to reports. Notifications of new reports are sent through Brevo to system administrators and our reporting inbox. These notifications contain the report ID, content type and reason category, but not the report's free text or the image itself. The reporting inbox provider processes emails sent to that inbox.
The purposes are to handle reports, protect users, prevent misuse and apply users' blocking choices.
5. Where the data comes from
We receive data directly from you; from adults or other household members; automatically from the app, device and our systems; from the Apple App Store or Google Play when verifying a subscription; and from suppliers that assist with operation, email, storage, notifications and security.
If another person has entered data about you, you may contact that person or us to have it explained, corrected or erased.
6. Purposes and lawful bases
- Account, household and access: necessary to enter into or perform our contract with the adult user.
- Chores, goals, rewards, images and sharing: necessary to perform the contract with the adult. For children and others who are not parties to the contract, we rely on our legitimate interest in providing a private, adult-managed household service, balanced against the person's privacy and the child's best interests.
- Restricted users: our legitimate interest in providing the service safely and in an age-appropriate manner. The adult must have the necessary authority or permission.
- Trial and subscription: performance of the contract and our legitimate interest in preventing errors and misuse.
- Notifications and service messages: delivery of selected features or our legitimate interest in providing relevant operational and security information. We obtain consent where the law requires it.
- Customer support and account security: performance of the contract and our legitimate interest in assisting users and protecting accounts.
- Operation, troubleshooting and security: our legitimate interest in providing a stable and secure service.
- Records and legal duties: compliance with a legal obligation where one applies, and our legitimate interest in documenting agreements and establishing, exercising or defending legal claims.
Our interests must not override your rights and freedoms. We carry out specific assessments where children's data is involved. You may ask about our balancing assessments and object to processing based on legitimate interests.
You may withdraw voluntary consent at any time. This does not affect the lawfulness of earlier processing.
ChoreBuddy is not designed for health data, biometric data or other special categories of personal data. Do not enter such data.
7. Visibility within the household
Members of the same household can see personal and activity data where their role and the relevant feature permit access. This may include names, profiles, chores, approvals, goals and rewards. Images can be seen by all members with access to the relevant chore.
When a member leaves or is removed, they lose access. Data forming part of shared history may need to remain for other members, but it will be limited or disconnected from the former user where possible and necessary.
8. Children and restricted users
Children merit specific protection. We aim to use the minimum amount of children's data, apply privacy-friendly default settings and limit the data to the household.
The adult normally provides the data, manages access and must explain the use in an understandable way. We also provide a separate, simplified privacy explanation.
A restricted user's account is deleted when the user is removed from the household. Related content is handled under section 12 and with regard to other members.
We do not sell children's personal data, use it for targeted advertising, or make automated decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects for a child.
9. Recipients
We do not sell personal data. Where necessary, we may share data with:
- Microsoft Azure for hosting, databases, image storage and push notifications
- Brevo for verification, security and account recovery emails and notifications of new moderation reports
- Apple and Google for app distribution, subscription verification and push notifications
- professional advisers, auditors and operational or security suppliers with a need to know
- public authorities or others where required by law or necessary for legal claims
Processors may use data only on our instructions and must be bound by a data processing agreement and security requirements. Apple, Google or others may act as independent controllers for parts of their own services.
10. Transfers outside the EEA and the United Kingdom
Some suppliers may process data outside the EEA or the United Kingdom. We must then use a valid transfer mechanism, such as an adequacy decision or approved standard contractual clauses, and carry out any necessary assessments and safeguards. Contact us for information about the relevant safeguards.
11. Security
We use technical and organisational measures to protect data against accidental or unlawful erasure, loss, alteration, disclosure and access. These include access controls, protected communications, secure storage, logging, secure password handling and role-based access.
If a personal data breach occurs, we investigate and manage it and notify affected people and authorities where required by law.
12. Retention and erasure
- Account and profile data is kept whilst the account is active and erased or anonymised following approved account deletion, subject to lawful exceptions.
- Household content and images are kept until the household or content is deleted. Deleting a household removes its content from active systems.
- A restricted user's account is removed from active systems when the user is removed. Data may remain in backups until they are overwritten in the ordinary cycle.
- Unused invitations expire after the technically defined period. Invitation data is erased when no longer needed for security and records.
- Refresh tokens are valid for up to 30 days and ordinary password-reset codes for up to 3 hours. Records are erased when no longer needed for security and records.
- Subscription references, legal acceptances, support matters and privacy requests are kept for as long as necessary for the service, legal obligations, contractual records or claims.
- Operational, error and security logs are kept for a limited period based on operational and security needs.
- Backups are overwritten in the ordinary cycle. Erased data that remains in an isolated backup is not used for ordinary purposes.
Reports and case histories are not automatically erased when an account, household or reported content is deleted. The need for retention must be assessed separately, considering whether the case is ongoing, whether follow-up is necessary and whether records are needed for specific legal obligations or legal claims. The same applies to reporting correspondence and email notifications. Data that is no longer necessary must be erased or anonymised.
13. Deleting an account
You may request deletion in the app or by emailing post@grnd-ctrl.no. The feature is on the page where you create or join a household.
For ordinary account deletion, you must first delete households you own and be removed from all other households. This resolves shared content, roles and access. This requirement does not restrict your right to request erasure of personal data. Contact us if you cannot or do not wish to complete the steps; we will assess the request and any lawful exceptions individually.
A restricted account is deleted when the user is removed from the household. Uninstalling the app does not delete the account. Account deletion does not necessarily cancel an app-store subscription.
14. Your rights
Depending on the circumstances, you may have rights to information, access, rectification, erasure, restriction, objection, data portability, withdrawal of consent and protection from certain solely automated decisions. Statutory exceptions apply.
Send requests to post@grnd-ctrl.no. We may verify your identity. We respond without undue delay and normally within one month; we will notify you of any lawful extension.
Children have their own rights. An adult may assist a child, but we consider the child's age, maturity and interests, and who may represent the child.
15. Complaints
You may contact us or complain to a data protection authority. In Norway this is Datatilsynet. You may also contact the authority where you live or work, or where a possible infringement occurred. In Sweden this is IMY, and in the United Kingdom the ICO.
16. Required and optional data
An email address and necessary account and sign-in data are required for an adult account. Certain household and membership data is required for core features. A profile image, some profile fields, push notifications and content you choose to add are optional.
17. Automated decision-making and profiling
We do not use personal data for solely automated decisions producing legal or similarly significant effects. Nor do we use activity for targeted advertising or commercial profiling.
18. Changes
We may update this notice when the service, suppliers or law changes. Where necessary, we inform you of material changes in the app or by email before they take effect. New processing requiring consent is presented separately. Previous versions are retained for record-keeping.
19. Contact us
Ground Control Solutions AS
Email: post@grnd-ctrl.no
Address: Kamfjordåsen 64, 3227 Sandefjord, Norway