Merritt Family Manager Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

Merritt ("Merritt," "we," "us," or "our") provides a web application, installable on Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android, that helps families organize a shared calendar, meal plans, grocery lists, tasks and chores, rewards, and other household activities ("the Service"). This Privacy Policy explains what personal information we collect, why we collect it, how it is protected, and what rights you have.

This Policy applies to the adults who set up or join a household in Merritt ("Family Members," "you") and to information about the household — including any children in it — that a Family Member enters into the Service ("Household Data").

2. Who We Are

Merritt is operated by ShadowTail Apps, located at 13 Merritt Rd, East York, ON M4B 3K4. For privacy questions, contact us at hello@shadowtailapps.com.

3. Information We Collect

3.1 Device and Account Information

Each device that uses Merritt is automatically assigned an anonymous device identity. You may optionally add an email and password, or link a Google or Microsoft account, so you can sign back in if you lose access to this device. We never see or store your Google, Microsoft, or Merritt account password in plain text — authentication is handled entirely by our identity provider (Firebase Authentication).

3.2 Household and Family Member Data You Enter

As part of using the Service, a Family Member may enter:

• Family member profiles — first name, role (e.g. parent, child, caregiver, or pet), a display colour and initials, and a profile photo, if you choose to upload one.
• Calendar events, meal plans, grocery lists, tasks and chores, star/reward balances, errands, custom lists, and party plans, along with any notes or descriptions entered for these items.

We do not independently collect information about your household. Nearly everything is entered directly by a Family Member — the one exception is optional Google Calendar import, described below.

3.3 Google Calendar Import (Optional)

If a Family Member chooses to connect Google Calendar (Settings → Connected calendars), we request read-only access to that Google account’s primary calendar and copy the next 30 days of events (title, time, location, and description) into the household. This is one-way and on-demand — nothing in Merritt is written back to Google Calendar, and import only happens when a Family Member explicitly requests it, not automatically in the background. Revoking access is done through your Google Account’s third-party access settings.

3.4 Automatically Collected Information

• Basic authentication metadata (such as sign-in timestamps), used for account security.
• Standard server logs (for example, IP address and device type), used for security and troubleshooting.
• If you submit an in-app problem report, your account email (if any), a short technical snapshot (device and screen size), and the report text you write.
• If the Service encounters an unexpected error, a technical error report (what went wrong, and the screen you were on) so we can fix it.

We do not use tracking cookies for advertising, and we do not sell personal information.

4. How We Use Information

We use the information described above only to:

• Provide the core functionality of the Service — storing and displaying your household’s calendar, tasks, and other data.
• Secure your account and prevent abuse, including rate-limiting excessive requests to join a household.
• Maintain an internal activity log of changes to household data for accountability.
• Respond to problem reports you submit and improve the Service.
• Comply with legal obligations and respond to lawful requests.

We do not use Household Data to train AI models, run any AI processing over it, and we do not share it with advertisers.

5. Data Isolation Between Households

Every calendar event, task, grocery item, and other household record is tied to the specific household ("family") it belongs to. Our database security rules enforce this at the infrastructure level: a device can only read or write a household’s data if it is a member of that household — joined either by its creator or by using that household’s invite code — even in the event of a bug in the application itself. Because anyone with a household’s invite code can join it and see its data, treat your invite code the way you’d treat a house key.

6. Where Your Data Is Stored and Processed

Your account and Household Data are stored in Google Cloud Firestore, located in Montreal, Canada. The application’s backend logic (Cloud Functions) also runs on servers located in Montreal, Canada. The Service’s static application files may be delivered through a global content delivery network purely to load the app faster — this means app code (not your household’s data) may be served from an edge location outside Canada. We do not use any other subprocessor outside Canada for your Household Data.

7. Data Retention and Deletion

• You may delete individual items (events, tasks, list entries, and similar) at any time from within the app.
• You can permanently delete your entire household and everything in it yourself, at any time, from Settings → Privacy & security → Delete household — no need to contact us. This immediately and irreversibly deletes every record in the household (including uploaded photos) and disconnects every device from it.
• We retain security and activity logs of changes to household data for 2 years to support accountability, unless deleted earlier as part of a household deletion.

8. Children’s Information

Merritt is a tool used by adult Family Members to organize their household, which may include children. A child’s first name, role, colour/initials, star balance, and profile photo (if one is uploaded) may appear in the Service because an adult Family Member chose to enter it — children do not create their own accounts, sign in, or interact with Merritt’s authentication system directly, and we do not knowingly collect information directly from a child.

9. Your Rights

Subject to applicable law, you have the right to:

• Access the personal information we hold about you — download it yourself from Settings → Privacy & security → Export your data, or contact us at hello@shadowtailapps.com.
• Correct inaccurate information; most fields are editable directly in the app.
• Delete your data (Section 7).
• Withdraw consent by deleting your household, subject to any legal retention obligations.
• Complain to us, or to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (or your provincial equivalent), if you believe we have not handled your information appropriately.

10. Security Measures

We apply layered technical safeguards, including:

• Encryption of data in transit (HTTPS/TLS) and at rest (Google Cloud default encryption).
• Server-side enforced data isolation per household (Section 5).
• Rate limiting on household-join requests to reduce abuse.
• Automated activity logging of changes to household records.
• Optional account recovery via a linked email/password, Google, or Microsoft credential, so losing a device doesn’t mean losing access.

No system is perfectly secure. If we become aware of a breach affecting your information, we will notify affected Family Members and, where required by law, applicable regulators, in accordance with our incident response process.

11. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Policy from time to time. We will update the "Last updated" date above and, for material changes, notify Family Members by email (if we have one on file) or in-app notice.

12. Contact Us

Questions about this Policy or your data can be directed to hello@shadowtailapps.com, or 13 Merritt Rd, East York, ON M4B 3K4.