Privacy policy

Effective 26 September 2026 · applies to the Hornbook app ("Hornbook: Homeschool Tracker") on Android and iOS.

The short version

• There is no account: no email address, phone number or password is ever asked for.
• Your household's record is shared only with the people who joined with your household code.
• Hornbook never uses your location, camera, microphone or contacts.
• The app is free and shows ads from Google AdMob, which uses your device's advertising identifier.
• Anonymous usage statistics show which features help; they never include names, notes or anything else you type.
• You can delete your data at any time in More → Delete my data.

What the record stores

Hornbook keeps your household's record in Google Firebase (Google LLC), on Google Cloud servers in the United States, so that everyone in the household sees the same thing. It stores:

• a random, anonymous user identifier created by Firebase Authentication for each phone;
• the name each person chooses to show the household (for example "Mom" or "Grandpa");
• each student's first name and grade, the subjects you teach, and the school year's dates and targets, including any days and hours you enter as done before the record began;
• each lesson: the student, the subject, the date and start time, the minutes, an optional note on what was covered, and who logged it;
• days counted without a lesson, with their note (for example "Field trip");
• the household's six-letter code and time zone.

This data is visible only to the members of your household. When someone leaves, their name is removed and the lessons they logged stay. When the last person leaves, or deletes their data, the household's record is deleted.

The timer, reminders and the printed record

A lesson being timed is kept on your phone until you save it. The weekday reminder is scheduled on your phone; no push notification token is collected. The printed year record is made on your phone and shared only where you send it.

Advertising

Hornbook shows banner and occasional full-screen ads through Google AdMob; full-screen ads never appear while a lesson is being timed. To serve and measure ads, Google collects your device's advertising identifier (Android Advertising ID; on iOS the identifier for vendors — Hornbook does not ask for permission to track you across other companies' apps), your IP address for approximate location, and how you interact with ads. In the European Economic Area, the UK and Switzerland you are asked for consent before personalised ads are shown, and you can change your choice in More → Ad privacy choices. You can also reset or limit your advertising identifier in your phone's settings. Google's use of this data is described at policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites.

Usage statistics

Hornbook uses Google Analytics for Firebase (Google LLC) to count how the app is used — for example how many households finish setting up, invite someone, log a lesson or print the record. These events carry a random app-instance identifier, your device model, operating system and app version, and an approximate location (country or region) derived from your IP address. They never include names, notes or anything else you type. In the European Economic Area, the UK and Switzerland they are used only as far as you allow in the privacy message. Google keeps this event data for a limited time (at most 14 months).

Crash reports

If the app crashes, Firebase Crashlytics sends a technical report: the error, the device model, the operating system and app versions, and a random installation identifier. Reports are used only to fix bugs.

Children

Hornbook is made for parents and other adults who teach at home: a parent keeps the record for their children, and an older student may log lessons on a household device with their family. It is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal data from them. A child's first name, grade and lessons are entered by their family, only to keep the family's own record.

Your rights

You can see everything in your household's record in the app itself, and delete your data with Delete my data (see how deletion works). For any question or request — including access, correction or deletion under the GDPR, the CCPA or other privacy laws — write to [email protected]. The legal bases we rely on are performing the service you ask for (the shared record), our legitimate interest in fixing crashes, and your consent where the law requires it for advertising and usage statistics.

Changes

If this policy changes, the new version will be posted here with a new effective date.