Privacy notice
BeFF is in beta. You can now create a BeFF account, and parents can create accounts for their children. We use one sign-in cookie and nothing else: no analytics, ads or tracking. This notice describes exactly what BeFF stores, where, and for how long.
What we collect today
When you visit beffai.com, our web server automatically records basic technical information about each request, as almost every website does:
- your IP address;
- the date and time;
- the page you asked for, and the page that linked you to it (the "referrer");
- your browser's name and version (the "user agent").
We use these records only to keep the site secure and working, for example to spot abuse or fix errors. We don't use them to identify you, build profiles, or advertise to you.
If you create an account, we keep what's listed under "Accounts" below. We never ask for your name. When you sign up we ask for your date of birth only to work out your age group; we keep the age group and throw the date away. The site can also send us your voice, only after you tap the mic, until you stop or the conversation ends (see below).
Accounts
For an account of your own (13 or older), BeFF keeps:
- your email address and a password stored only as a one-way hash;
- your age group (13 to 17, or 18 and over), not your date of birth;
- sign-in sessions, which end after 24 hours without use and after 14 days at most.
We use your email only for your account: to confirm it, to let you reset your password, and, for parents, the consent emails described below. Emails come from do-not-reply; if you reply, your message goes to customer service. To delete your account, write to privacy_policy@beffai.com and we delete it. Sign-ups that are never confirmed are deleted after 48 hours.
Children's accounts and parents
Children under 13 can't sign up themselves. A parent or guardian (18 or older, with a confirmed email) reads our notice and creates the child's account in the Parent avatar or on the parent page. Creating it is the parent's consent, and we keep a record of when it was given. We email the parent a confirmation the next day, with a way to withdraw.
- A child's account has a username the parent chooses (we suggest not using the child's real name) and a password stored as a one-way hash. No email address, no date of birth.
- The parent chooses what the child can use (mic, BeFF voices, learning how they speak, tone of voice, picture upload) and sets screen time: daily minutes, allowed hours, breaks.
- To keep those limits the same on every device, the child's device sends BeFF one number a day: the minutes used. We keep these for 60 days. If the child asks for more time, we keep that request until the parent answers.
- Nothing the child says or types, and no recordings, are sent to us for this; they stay on the child's device.
- The parent can see what we hold, reset the password, and withdraw consent at any time. Withdrawing deletes the child's account and all its data straight away; we keep only the record that consent was given and withdrawn.
The waitlist
If you join the waitlist, we keep only your email address, to tell you when BeFF opens. It's for parents and guardians, and for students who are 13 or older: you tick a box to say so. Please don't join if you're under 13; a parent can join instead.
- We'll send you one email to confirm. If you don't confirm within 30 days, we delete your address.
- You can remove your address at any time with "remove it" under the waitlist form, and we delete it straight away.
- We don't use it for anything else, and we don't sell or share it.
Microphone and voice
The mic is only on when you tap it. Your voice is sent to BeFF's own server to be turned into text and is not kept there. Your recordings stay on this device, and you can delete them at any time.
- BeFF turns your voice into text with its own speech recognition, on its own server. No other company hears it, and the server doesn't save the audio or the text.
- Your recordings (the newest 50) are kept in your browser's storage on this device, never on BeFF's server. Use "My recordings on this device" in the voice panel to delete them.
- If you turn on 'Learn how I speak', BeFF keeps a few numbers about your practice words on this device only; no recordings or messages, nothing is sent, and you can delete them.
Public pictures
You can choose a picture for an avatar's public page. Only if you choose one, it is kept on BeFF's server, because other people need to see it.
- Before it is uploaded, your device crops it and removes hidden details such as the camera and the location. BeFF's server makes its own copy of the picture, so nothing hidden is kept.
- Nobody else sees it until BeFF has checked it. A picture BeFF doesn't approve is deleted.
- You can remove it at any time in the avatar's settings; it is deleted at once.
- On a child's account, a public picture is possible only if the parent turns it on.
- Public pictures are coming soon: for now only you see yours, until BeFF's own safety check is ready.
- Only if you tick the box (on a child's account, only if the parent allows it), BeFF keeps a copy to check its safety tools. A person on the BeFF team may look at it. It is never used to train the tools, it is deleted after 12 months, and you can delete it any time.
What we don't do
- One cookie only, to keep you signed in. It's needed for accounts, so there's no cookie banner. No other cookies.
- No analytics, advertising, tracking pixels or social-media plugins.
- No third-party scripts or fonts. Everything, including fonts, is served from beffai.com, so your browser doesn't contact other companies when you visit.
- We don't sell or share personal information.
How long we keep it
| Information | Kept for |
|---|---|
| Web server records (including IP address) | 14 days, then deleted automatically |
| Your voice, when you tap the mic | Not kept: turned into text on the server, then discarded |
| Your recordings | On your device only, until you delete them (newest 50) |
| What BeFF learned, if you turn on 'Learn how I speak' | On your device only, until you delete it |
| Your email, if you join the waitlist | Until BeFF opens or you remove it; deleted after 30 days if you don't confirm |
| Your account (email, password hash, age group) | Until you ask us to delete it; unconfirmed sign-ups 48 hours |
| Sign-in sessions | 24 hours without use, 14 days at most |
| A child's account, the parent's settings, and minutes per day | Until the parent withdraws consent; minutes per day 60 days |
| The record of a parent's consent | Kept, with the date it was withdrawn if it was |
| Your layouts and screen-time count | On your device only |
| A public picture you choose for an avatar | Until you remove it (or the account is deleted); a picture BeFF doesn't approve is deleted |
| Server backups | 14 days, then deleted automatically |
Where it's stored
Our server and backups run on Google Cloud in the United States. Google acts as our service provider and may use this information only to provide hosting to us. If you visit from outside the US, including from the EU, the UK or China, your request is handled on servers in the US.
Children
BeFF is built for students, including children under 13. A child's account needs a parent's or guardian's consent first, as the US Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and similar laws in other countries require (see "Children's accounts and parents" above). The waitlist is only for parents, guardians and students 13 or older.
Your rights
Depending on where you live, you may have the right to ask what information we hold about you, to have it corrected or deleted, or to object to how we use it. These rights come from US state privacy laws, the EU and UK GDPR, and China's Personal Information Protection Law. Because we keep only short-lived server records that aren't linked to a name or account, there is usually nothing we can connect to you. Ask us anyway and we will check.
Contact
Privacy questions, requests to see or delete information, and parents' requests about a child's information: privacy_policy@beffai.com. For anything else, see all our email addresses.