Privacy Policy
Last updated: September 7th, 2026 Effective: August 2nd, 2026
TL;DR
Lively Art stores your children's drawings on your device. There is no sign-up, no username and no password, we do not have a server that holds your library, and we cannot see your drawings.
Three features are exceptions, and all three are opt-in and under your control:
| Feature | What leaves the device | Where it goes |
|---|---|---|
| "See it real" (photo) | The drawing image | Google's Gemini image model, via our server function |
| "Bring it to life" (video) | The drawing image | Google's Veo model, via our server function |
| Backup | Drawings, photos, videos and their details | A private folder in your own Google Drive |
If you never use those features, nothing about your drawings ever leaves your device.
One thing is not optional, so we want to be straightforward about it. The picture and animation features cost us money to run, so the app gives every installation a small allowance of credits. Keeping that count honestly requires keeping it on our side rather than on the phone, which means each installation is given a random anonymous ID the first time it opens, and we hold a record against that ID: how many credits are left, and a line per generation you ask for. It contains no name, no email, no drawing and nothing about your child, and it is not connected to you, your device or a Google account. Section 3 sets out exactly what is in it.
1. Who is responsible for your data
Lively Art is published by Thang Nguyen, an individual developer, in Omaha, NE, USA.
For any privacy question, or to exercise the rights described in section 8, contact hello@livelyart.app.
For the purposes of the UK and EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), Thang Nguyen is the data controller for the limited processing described below.
2. Who this app is for
Lively Art is set up and managed by parents and other adults, who install it, create the child profiles and scan the artwork. We also expect children to use it alongside them — looking through their gallery and watching their drawings come to life. We therefore treat Lively Art as a mixed-audience app rather than an adults-only one.
The app has no child-facing account, no social features, no chat, no user-to-user contact, no advertising and no third-party tracking.
Because the app records information about a child, and because a child may be using the device, this policy describes both: what is handled about the child, and what a child can do in the app.
3. What information the app handles
Stored only on your device
- Drawing images — the scanned photo and its cropped version.
- Details you add — a title, and an approximate date the drawing was made.
- Child profiles — a first name (or nickname — it does not have to be a real name), a birth year, and a color. The birth year is used only to display an approximate age range next to a drawing.
- App settings — whether you've seen the intro screen, whether Kid Mode is on, when you confirmed you understood the AI features, and a copy of your credit balance kept only so the number appears instantly when you open the app.
This information is held in your device's private app storage. It is not transmitted to us. We have no ability to read it. If you delete the app, it is deleted with it (unless you turned on backup — see section 5).
Held on our servers: the credit record
This is the only thing we hold about you, and unlike the features in section 4 and section 5 it is not something you switch on — it exists from the first time the app opens.
When you first open Lively Art, the app asks Google's Firebase service for a random anonymous identifier. There is no sign-in: nothing is asked of you, and nothing about you is sent. Against that identifier we store:
- Your credit balance — a single number.
- The date the app was first opened, recorded once when the identifier is created.
- One record per generation you request — which of the two features it was, how many credits it cost, whether it is still running, finished or was refunded, and the times it started and (once it resolves) ended. Two references are kept alongside it: a short random job reference generated by the app, so a request retried after a lost connection cannot be charged twice, and for animations the tracking number Google's service gives us, so we can ask it whether your video is ready.
What we do not store against it: no name, no email address, no drawing, no title or date, no child profile, no advertising ID, no device identifier, no location and no IP address. Nothing in it describes your child or the artwork — only that a generation was asked for, and what it cost.
Separately from that record, the servers running the app's functions keep ordinary short-lived request logs, as any web server does; those include the connecting IP address. We do not read them to identify anyone and we do not join them to the credit record.
Why it exists. Generating a picture or an animation costs us real money, so the app includes a limited allowance. If that count lived on the phone it could simply be edited, and the allowance would mean nothing — so the balance is held on our side and the app is given no way to change it.
It does not identify you. The identifier is random and we hold nothing else to match it against. It is nonetheless specific to your installation, so we treat it as personal information and give it the same rights as everything else in this policy (section 8).
We do not move it between devices ourselves, and we have no way to look yours up. What happens when you reinstall is decided by your phone, not by us: iPhone and Android both have their own backup and password-storage behavior that can restore an app's saved sign-in, so reinstalling on the same device may well come back to the same identifier and the same balance. Installing on a different phone starts fresh — unless you have turned on Drive backup (section 5) and separately chosen to include your credit ID in it, in which case restoring that backup on a new device also brings your credit balance across. That choice is entirely yours, made when you first back up, and changeable at any time from the Backup screen. If you want the record gone rather than left behind, section 8 explains how.
Not collected at all
Lively Art contains no analytics, advertising, tracking or crash-reporting SDK. We do not collect advertising IDs, location, contacts, or usage statistics, and we do not collect the identifiers your phone assigns for advertising or device tracking. The only identifier we hold is the random one described just above, which exists to count credits and is used for nothing else.
We also do not collect biometric data. Where the app asks an adult to confirm — before opening the credits screen, or before leaving Kid Mode (section 11) — it uses your device's own screen-lock prompt (fingerprint, face, or PIN/passcode), shown by the operating system. The app receives only a yes/no result; it never sees or stores your fingerprint, face data, or passcode.
We do not build profiles, and we do not sell or share personal information for advertising. There is no "sale" or "sharing" of personal information as those terms are defined under California law.
4. AI generation ("See it real" and "Bring it to life")
These features are optional and run only when you tap them for a specific drawing.
What is sent. The image of that one drawing, plus a fixed text instruction. No name, no age, no date and no other drawing is included. The anonymous credit identifier from section 3 travels with the request, because that is what the credit is deducted from — it is not passed on to Google's AI models, which receive only the image and the instruction.
Where it goes.
- Photo — sent to our own server function, which passes it to Google's Gemini image model and returns the result to your device.
- Video — sent to our own server function, which passes it to Google's Veo model. The finished 6-second clip is written to our Google Cloud Storage bucket, and your device is given a private link valid for one hour to download it. Direct access to the bucket is blocked; only that time-limited link and our own server function can reach the file.
In both cases your device talks only to our server. It never contacts Google's AI service directly, and the app contains no key that would let it.
How long we keep it. The generated video is automatically deleted from our storage within 48 hours, and usually within 24. We keep no copy of your drawing and no copy of the generated picture — once downloaded, it lives on your device like any other drawing.
What does remain is the one line in the credit record described in section 3: that a generation of that type was requested, what it cost, and whether it worked. That line is what makes the allowance add up and what lets a failed attempt be refunded. It holds nothing about the drawing itself, and it is tied only to the random identifier, not to you.
Google's role. Generation runs on Google Cloud's Vertex AI, under the Google Cloud Platform Terms of Service. Under those terms Google acts as a data processor and we are the controller: Google processes the image on our instructions, for the single purpose of returning a result to us, and not for its own purposes. It does not use the drawing, the instruction, or the generated result to train or improve its models. Google may retain the request for a limited period to detect abuse of its service and to meet legal requirements.
This is a change from how the app previously worked, and it is a deliberate one. Generation used to run on the Gemini Developer API, where the equivalent protection was conditional on our account being on the paid tier — on the free tier of that API, submitted content could be used to develop Google's products and could be read by people. The Cloud terms carry no such condition, and the controller/processor structure is the arrangement designed for a service like this one, where the data concerns children. We moved for that reason.
Google's processing may be transient or cached in any country where it maintains facilities (see section 9).
Please note: this means a drawing made by your child is transmitted to a third-party AI service. That is why the app asks you to confirm the first time you use one of these features, and why the features are off by default. If you would rather no image ever left your device, simply don't use them — every other part of the app works without them.
5. Backup to your Google Drive
Backup is off unless you turn it on.
If you connect it, the app signs you in to Google and requests a single narrow permission,
drive.appdata. This gives Lively Art access to a hidden, app-private folder inside your own
Google Drive — and nothing else. The app cannot see, read or modify any other file in your
Drive, and no human at Lively Art can access this folder.
What is uploaded: your drawing images, any generated photos and videos, and the accompanying details (titles, dates, child profile names, birth years and colors).
Your credit ID is a separate choice. The first time you back up, the app asks whether to also include your anonymous credit identifier (section 3) and a randomly generated recovery code, so that restoring this backup on a new device can bring your credit balance with it. If you say no, your drawings still back up normally — you simply start with a fresh credit balance on a new device, same as anyone who never enables backup at all. You can change this choice at any time from the Backup screen. The recovery code is generated for this purpose only, is stored in your Drive folder alongside your drawings, and we keep only a one-way cryptographic hash of it on our servers — never the code itself — so it can verify a restore without letting us or anyone who doesn't have your Drive backup use it.
Your control:
- Delete the whole backup at any time — Backup screen → Delete cloud backup. This permanently erases everything in the folder. The drawings on your device are not affected.
- Deleting a drawing or a child profile in the app permanently deletes the corresponding images from the backup folder too.
- Disconnect at any time from the Backup screen, or revoke access in your Google Account settings. Disconnecting stops further backups; it does not delete what is already there. Use Delete cloud backup first if you want it gone.
Please note: uninstalling the app does not delete the backup. Google Drive is a separate service and is not told that you removed the app from a device. This is deliberate — it is what allows you to restore your library onto a new phone. It does mean that if you uninstall without deleting the backup first, the copy remains in your Drive.
How to delete it after you've already uninstalled. Because the folder is hidden, you can't reach it through the normal Drive file list. On a computer:
- Open drive.google.com and sign in with the same Google account.
- Click the gear icon (top right) → Settings.
- Open Manage apps in the left-hand menu.
- Find Lively Art, click Options, and choose Delete hidden app data.
That removes the folder and everything in it, permanently. You can also choose Disconnect from Drive there to revoke the app's access entirely.
If you would rather we walked you through it, or you can't find the option, email hello@livelyart.app and we will help — though we cannot do it for you, because we have no access to your Drive.
Storage. The backup counts towards your own Google Drive storage allowance (15 GB free on a standard account). A large library of photos and videos can use a meaningful amount of it.
Backup exists for recovery — restoring your library onto a new device — not for us to hold your data. We never receive a copy.
6. Legal bases for processing (UK/EU users)
- Running the app itself (storing drawings locally): performance of our agreement with you — and in practice no processing by us occurs, since the data stays on your device.
- The credit record (section 3): performance of our agreement with you. It is what lets us offer a free allowance at all, and it is deliberately the minimum needed to count it. This one is not consent-based, because the app cannot honestly offer the feature without it — and presenting something as optional when refusing it would break the feature is not a real choice.
- AI generation: your consent, given by confirming the feature and choosing to generate.
- Backup: your consent, given by connecting your Google account.
You may withdraw consent at any time by ceasing to use the AI features and by disconnecting backup. Withdrawal does not affect processing already carried out. If you would rather we held nothing at all, section 8 explains how to have the credit record erased.
7. Retention
| Data | Retained |
|---|---|
| Everything on your device | Until you delete it or uninstall the app |
| Generated videos in our cloud storage | Deleted automatically — always within 48 hours, usually within 24. The rule marks a clip for deletion once it is a day old, and the sweep that acts on it runs on its own schedule |
| Download links for those videos | Expire after 1 hour |
| Your Drive backup | Until you delete it — either in the app ("Delete cloud backup", or by deleting individual drawings), or through Drive → Settings → Manage apps. It is not deleted by disconnecting or by uninstalling the app (see section 5) |
| Your credit ID + recovery code in Drive backup (if you opted in) | Same as the rest of your Drive backup — deleted only when you delete the backup, or if you switch the choice off (removed on the next backup) |
| The credit record (section 3) | Kept indefinitely. Nothing deletes it automatically — not uninstalling (we are not told that you did) and not the passage of time. Email us to have it erased |
| Server logs | Short-lived operational request logs, including the connecting IP address; no drawings, no names and no email addresses |
Apart from the credit record, we hold no database about you: no accounts, no profiles, and no copy of your library.
8. Your rights
Depending on where you live, you may have rights to access, correct, delete, restrict or object to processing of your personal information, to data portability, and to lodge a complaint with your data protection authority. California residents have rights to know, delete, correct, and to opt out of sale or sharing — noting that we do not sell or share personal information.
In practice, you already hold and control almost all of the data directly: it is on your device and, if you enabled backup, in your own Google Drive. Deleting a drawing in the app deletes it in both places, and "Delete cloud backup" erases the Drive copy entirely. If you have already uninstalled the app, section 5 explains how to delete the hidden Drive folder from Drive's own settings.
The one thing you cannot delete yourself is the credit record (section 3). Email hello@livelyart.app and we will erase it. Two honest caveats:
- To find it we need the anonymous identifier, which is shown on the Credits screen — send it with your request. Without it we cannot tell which record is yours, because the whole point of the design is that we hold nothing else to match you against.
- Erasing it also erases the credit balance attached to it, and we have no way to restore that.
If you need help exercising a right, or want to ask what we hold, contact hello@livelyart.app and we will respond within one month.
Exporting your data (portability). You can export your whole library at any time — the menu's Download all bundles your drawings, along with any generated photos and videos, into a single zip file you can save or share through your device's normal share options. This runs entirely on your device; the file is not sent to us. Once you save or share that zip, the copy is outside the app and its safekeeping is up to you.
9. International transfers
Google's processing may take place on servers outside your country, including in the United States, and its terms note that data may be stored transiently or cached in any country where Google or its agents maintain facilities. Where required, these transfers rely on the safeguards Google maintains for its cloud and AI services, such as Standard Contractual Clauses.
To be specific about the two AI features, because they differ:
- "Bring it to life" (video) is processed in a named United States region (
us-central1). - "See it real" (photo) uses a multi-region endpoint, which means Google may route the request to any region in which the model is available rather than to one we have named. We use it because that is the only way the model is offered.
Our own storage — the bucket a finished video passes through, and the credit record — is in the United States. Your Drive backup, if you turn it on, is in whatever region Google holds your own Google account's storage; that one is between you and Google, not us.
10. Security
Drawings are held in your device's private, sandboxed app storage. Traffic to Google's services uses encrypted connections. Our cloud storage denies all direct access, and generated videos are reachable only through a short-lived signed link. Access to our backend is gated by Firebase App Check, which is designed to reject requests that do not come from a genuine copy of the app.
No system is perfectly secure, but note that the design deliberately minimizes what we could lose: we do not hold your library.
11. Children's information
The app records a child's first name or nickname, a birth year, and their artwork — supplied by the parent or guardian using the app. This information stays on the device unless you enable backup or use the AI features, as described above.
A child using the app can view the gallery and generate a picture or animation from a drawing. They cannot create an account, contact anyone, see advertising, or share anything outside the app, because none of those features exist. Nothing in the app can be bought — credits are not for sale, and there is no payment of any kind, so a child cannot spend money in it.
The credits screen is placed behind a confirmation using your device's own screen lock. Note the limit of that honestly: if the device has no screen lock set up, the app cannot ask for one, and the confirmation passes straight through. On a phone or tablet a child uses, setting a passcode is what makes these checks meaningful.
Kid Mode. For handing the device to a child, the app includes an optional browse-only Kid Mode. With it on, the child can look through the gallery and star favorites, while adding, editing, deleting and generating pictures and animations are all switched off. Leaving Kid Mode is placed behind the same device screen-lock check, with the same limitation described just above. Kid Mode is a convenience and safety control; it does not change what data the app handles.
We do not knowingly collect personal information directly from children — the profile details are entered by the adult setting the app up. If you believe a child has provided information in a way that concerns you, contact hello@livelyart.app.
A practical suggestion: profile names are free text and never verified, so a nickname or an initial works perfectly well if you'd prefer not to record a real name.
12. Changes to this policy
If this policy changes materially — particularly if we ever change what leaves your device — we will update the date at the top and surface the change in the app before the change takes effect.
13. Contact
Thang Nguyen Omaha, NE, USA hello@livelyart.app