Privacy Policy

1. Who we are

ParentHQ is a UK family-organisation service operated by Shaun Heatherington trading as ParentHQ. For UK data-protection purposes, the ParentHQ operator is the controller of personal data described in this notice.

2. Who ParentHQ is for

ParentHQ accounts are intended for adults managing a family or household. Children are not intended to create ParentHQ accounts themselves. Adults may add information about children and other household members where they have a lawful reason and appropriate authority to do so.

3. Information we may process

• Account and security information: name, email address, sign-in/session information, household membership, permissions and security events.
• Family information: child names or nicknames, ages or dates relevant to planning, household relationships, routines, responsibilities, preferences and information you deliberately add.
• Plans and organisation: tasks, events, reminders, routines, watch items, attendance/planning choices and family activity history.
• Location and discovery: postcode, search radius and related preferences used to personalise Discover results.
• Smart/Connected Inbox information: mailbox metadata needed to identify likely family-admin items, plus the content of an email, image, document or other item only when you deliberately ask ParentHQ to review/process it.
• Billing information: plan, subscription status, billing owner, Stripe customer/subscription references, invoices and payment status. ParentHQ does not need to store your full card number; card/payment details are handled by Stripe.
• Technical and support information: device/browser details, service/security logs, error information and messages you send to support.

4. Why we use information

Depending on the activity, ParentHQ relies on one or more lawful bases under UK data-protection law:

• Contract: to create your account, provide the family-organisation service, operate paid plans and deliver optional features you activate where processing is objectively necessary for that feature.
• Legitimate interests: to secure ParentHQ, prevent abuse, diagnose reliability problems, improve the service in privacy-conscious ways and operate the service effectively, balanced against the rights of adults and children.
• Legal obligation: where records or disclosures are required by law, including appropriate billing, tax, consumer-protection or regulatory obligations.
• Consent: where the law requires consent or where we choose consent for a genuinely optional use. You can withdraw consent for that use without affecting earlier lawful processing.

We do not use family information for third-party behavioural advertising.

5. Connected Inbox and AI

Connected mailboxes

Gmail and Outlook connections are optional. ParentHQ may use limited mailbox metadata to identify likely family-admin items. The content of a connected email is not automatically treated as family-plan content: you choose Review before ParentHQ accesses/processes the selected content for organisation.

Temporary source material

The original Smart Inbox source (for example pasted text, a screenshot or document) is removed when you Add or Discard the reviewed item. If you leave an item waiting for review, the raw source is automatically removed after a maximum of 7 days.

AI processing

AI processing is used when you deliberately ask ParentHQ to understand selected content or use an AI feature. ParentHQ is designed so AI suggestions are reviewed/approved before they become family Tasks or Events. For provider requests, ParentHQ uses settings intended to minimise retained AI output; provider-side safety or abuse retention can still apply under the provider's own data controls.

Sensitive information

ParentHQ is not designed to be a medical, safeguarding or credential vault. Please avoid submitting unnecessary sensitive information. Obvious sensitive pasted text may be screened before AI processing. An uploaded image or document can require processing to read it before sensitivity can be assessed; where sensitive details are flagged, ParentHQ is designed not to turn them automatically into structured Tasks or Events.

6. Sharing and service providers

We use carefully selected providers to operate ParentHQ. Depending on the feature, recipients/processors may include:

• Supabase for database, authentication and backend infrastructure.
• Vercel for web hosting and delivery.
• Stripe for subscriptions, payments, invoices and the customer billing portal.
• Resend for transactional service/billing email.
• Google and Microsoft when you choose to connect Gmail or Outlook.
• AI service providers when you deliberately use an AI-powered review or intelligence feature.

We may also disclose information where required by law, to protect users or the service, or as part of a genuine business transfer subject to appropriate safeguards. We do not sell personal data to advertisers.

Some providers may process data outside the UK. Where UK transfer rules apply, we use the provider arrangements and safeguards required by law, such as applicable adequacy regulations or approved contractual safeguards.

7. How long information is kept

• Smart Inbox originals: removed on Add/Discard or automatically after 7 days if left waiting.
• Structured family details, plans and routines: kept while useful to the household until removed or the household/account is deleted, subject to any records we must retain by law.
• Unused household invitations: designed to expire automatically.
• Billing/accounting records: retained for the period reasonably required for billing, dispute, tax and legal obligations.
• Security/operational logs: retained for a limited period appropriate to security, reliability and abuse prevention.

8. Your data-protection rights

Depending on the circumstances, UK data-protection law may give you rights to access, correct, erase, restrict or object to processing, receive portable data, and withdraw consent where consent is the basis. You can request help through ParentHQ or email support@parenthq.app.

We may need to verify your identity and household authority before acting on a request, particularly where a request affects another household member or child. Some information may need to be retained where the law requires it.

You also have the right to complain to the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO).

9. Security

ParentHQ uses access controls, server-side household permissions, encrypted transport, managed authentication, least-privilege service access and other technical/organisational measures intended to protect family data. No online service can guarantee absolute security, so please use strong sign-in methods and keep account access private.

10. Changes to this notice

We may update this notice as ParentHQ develops, providers change or legal requirements evolve. Material changes will be presented through the service or another appropriate channel before they take effect where required.