Routine privacy policy

Last updated: October 28, 2026

Routine helps kids through their morning and bedtime routines. It's made by Down to a Science, LLC ("we", "us"). This policy explains what information Routine handles, where it's kept, and the choices you have.

The short version

• Routine works without an account. Your kids' names, avatars, routines, stars and prizes stay on your device, and we never receive them.
• If you sign in, we receive your email address, so you can sign in on another device, and Routine speaks its lines in its own voice.
• Signed in, the words Routine speaks (its routines' steps, and your kids' first names in lines like "Great job, Ava!") go to ElevenLabs to be voiced.
• If you then choose to keep your devices in step, we store your family's Routine information (your kids' first names, avatars, routines and progress) so every device you sign in on shows the same. Apart from the lines Routine speaks, nothing about your kids leaves your device until you say yes.
• We don't show ads, we don't sell your information or share it for advertising, and the app has no analytics or tracking.

Information on your device

When you set up Routine, you enter your kids' first names, choose how their avatars look, and set up routines, prizes and prices. As your kids use it, Routine records their progress: which routines they did, how long each step took, and the stars they earned and spent. You also choose a parent PIN.

All of this is stored on the device, in the app's own storage. Unless you sign in (for Routine's voice, below) or choose to keep your devices in step (also below), we don't receive it and the app doesn't send it anywhere. The PIN is stored scrambled (hashed), not as the digits themselves. Without an account, Routine doesn't speak.

Deleting the app from the device deletes this information there. Signing out keeps it on the device.

If you sign in

Signing in is optional. It's for parents who want to use Routine on more than one device, and for premium features as they arrive.

When you sign in, we receive and keep:

• your email address;
• an account ID and a family ID that Routine creates, and when they were created.

To sign in with your email, we email you a one-time code; there's no password. If you choose to sign in with Google (or, later, Apple or Facebook), that company tells us your email address and confirms it's yours. We don't ask it for anything else.

Once you're signed in, Routine speaks its lines (like "Brush your teeth" or "Great job, Ava!") in its own voice, made by ElevenLabs. To voice a line, Routine sends its words, which can include a child's first name, to ElevenLabs. Each voiced line is kept in a library shared by all families, so it's made only once; it isn't linked to your family or account, and its words aren't stored with it.

We use this information only to sign you in and to keep your devices in the same family account. The only emails we send are the sign-in codes you ask for (and, in future, invitations you ask us to send to another parent). We never send marketing email.

If you keep your devices in step

After you sign in, Routine asks whether to keep your kids, routines and stars the same on every device you sign in on. Only if you say yes, it stores your family's Routine information on our servers, to send to your other devices:

• your kids' first names, the colors you chose for them, and how their avatars look and are dressed;
• your routines and their steps;
• what your kids have done: each routine run, when its steps were started and finished, and the stars it earned;
• the prizes they've bought, changes you make to their stars, and the prize prices you set;
• your play time, voice and reminder settings, and your parent PIN (scrambled, never the digits themselves).

We use it only to keep your devices in step. We don't look at it, analyse it or share it. If you choose "Not now", none of it leaves your device, and you can change your mind later in the app. Turning syncing off (by signing out) stops a device syncing; what's already stored stays until you delete your account.

Who handles it for us

• Amazon Web Services (AWS) runs Routine's sign-in, servers, storage and email, in the United States. AWS handles this information on our behalf and doesn't use it for its own purposes. Like any internet service, it sees your device's IP address when Routine connects to sign you in; we don't keep it.
• ElevenLabs turns the words of Routine's lines into speech, for signed-in families. It receives the words of each line it voices (which can include a child's first name), and nothing else about you.
• Google (and, later, Apple or Facebook), only if you choose to sign in with them. Their own privacy policies apply to your account with them.

We don't sell personal information, and we don't share it with anyone else unless the law requires us to.

Children's privacy

Routine is meant to be set up and managed by a parent or guardian. Kids use it on a device a parent has set up. Routine doesn't ask children for personal information. What parents enter about their kids stays on the device, unless the parent chooses to keep their devices in step; then it's stored only to do that, as described above. Parent mode, including signing in and syncing, is behind the parent PIN.

If you believe a child has sent us personal information, contact us and we'll delete it.

Keeping and deleting information

We keep your account information, and your family's information if you keep your devices in step, until you ask us to delete it. To delete your account, email admin@downtoascience.com from the address you sign in with, and we'll delete your account, your family account and everything stored for it within 30 days. (Deleting your account from inside the app is coming.) Our backups of this information are kept for up to 35 days, then deleted.

Our servers keep short technical logs, such as errors, to keep Routine running. They don't include your kids' information or your email address, and they're deleted after 30 days.

You can also ask us for a copy of your account information, or to correct it.

Security

Routine connects to its servers over encrypted connections (HTTPS), and what's stored there is encrypted. Only a parent signed in to the family can get it. On your device, your sign-in is kept in the device's secure storage (the Keychain on iPhone and iPad, the Keystore on Android).

Changes to this policy

If we change this policy, we'll update this page and the date at the top. If a change affects what leaves your device, the app will tell you before it happens.

Contact us

Questions, or a request about your information: admin@downtoascience.com.