Privacy Policy

• •Book creation: Your photos and stories are used solely to create your personalized storybook
• •AI illustration: Photos are processed by AI services to generate custom illustrations for your book
• •Character consistency: Face detection and comparison ensure characters look consistent across pages
• •Order fulfillment: To process payments and ship printed books
• •Account management: To manage your account and book library
• •Communication: To send order updates and, with your consent, occasional product news
• •Service improvement: Anonymized data to improve our platform

To create your personalized storybook, your photos and stories are processed by specialized AI services. Here's exactly what happens:

• •Story writing: Your memories and details are processed by an AI language model to craft your unique story text
• •Illustrations: Your photos are processed by AI image generation to create custom illustrations in your chosen art style
• •Face detection: AI-powered face detection identifies faces in group photos so we can correctly assign characters
• •Character consistency: AI-powered face comparison ensures your child looks the same across all illustrations
• •Quality checks: AI reviews each illustration for quality before including it in your book

Your photos are transmitted securely (encrypted) and are only processed for the specific purpose described. None of these providers retain your photos after processing.

We share data only with service providers strictly necessary for operating our service:

• •AI service providers: US-based providers for story generation, illustration creation, face detection, and quality assurance. All operate under data processing agreements prohibiting use of your data for training.
• •Payment processor: Secure payment processing (we never see your card number)
• •Cloud infrastructure: Secure database, file storage, and website hosting
• •Printing partner: Receives only the final book files needed for printing (not raw photos)

We do not sell your personal information to anyone. A detailed list of our service providers and applicable data transfer safeguards is available upon request at support@whimbel.com.

When you upload group photos, we use face detection and comparison technology to ensure characters in your book look consistent. This involves:

• •Detecting faces and extracting facial landmarks from uploaded photos
• •Comparing facial features across generated illustrations for consistency

This data is processed in real-time and not permanently stored. Face geometry data is discarded after your book is generated. We do not build face databases or retain biometric templates. For complete details on our biometric data practices, retention schedule, and your rights, please see Section 14 of our Terms of Service.

You can opt out of face processing by choosing to describe characters instead of uploading photos, or by contacting us at support@whimbel.com.

We use the following cookies:

• •Essential: Authentication cookies to keep you signed in (always active)
• •Analytics: Google Analytics to understand how our service is used (only with your consent)

We do not use advertising cookies or tracking pixels. Analytics cookies are only set after you provide consent.

Whimbel is a service for parents and guardians. We do not knowingly collect information directly from children. All account creation and book ordering is done by adults. When you upload your child's photos and information, you do so as their parent or legal guardian and consent to its processing as described in this policy. For details on your child's data rights, see our Terms of Service, Section 12.

You have the right to:

• •Access: Request a copy of all data we hold about you and your child
• •Correction: Update any inaccurate information
• •Deletion: Request complete deletion of your account and all associated data
• •Portability: Receive your data in a machine-readable format
• •Withdraw consent: Revoke consent for data processing at any time (this does not affect the lawfulness of prior processing)
• •Objection: Opt out of non-essential communications at any time
• •Restrict processing: Request that we limit how your data is used

For EU/EEA residents: These rights are guaranteed under GDPR. You may also lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority.

For California residents: These rights are guaranteed under CCPA/CPRA, including the right to limit use of sensitive personal information.

For Illinois residents: See Section 6 above and our Terms of Service, Section 14 for your biometric data rights under BIPA.

Our service and data processors are based in the United States. If you are located outside the US, your data is transferred using appropriate safeguards: the EU-US Data Privacy Framework for certified providers, and Standard Contractual Clauses for others. For details, see Section 15 of our Terms of Service.

• •Active accounts: Data retained while your account is active
• •Biometric data: Not retained beyond book generation (see Section 6)
• •Deleted accounts: All data permanently deleted within 30 days
• •Order records: Retained for 7 years as required by law
• •AI providers: Do not retain your data beyond each processing request

We use industry-standard security measures including HTTPS encryption, encrypted data storage, secure authentication, and regular security reviews. Biometric data receives the same level of protection as other confidential and sensitive information.

We may update this policy from time to time. Significant changes will be communicated via email to registered users at least 14 days before taking effect.

For privacy-related questions, to exercise your rights, or to request data deletion, contact us at support@whimbel.com.