What Lil’ Sass is, and is not
Lil’ Sass is a storytelling app. A child — or a grown-up working with their inner child — chooses a feeling, talks it through with a storybook character, and receives an illustrated book in which they are the hero and learn a simple physical way to feel the feeling all the way through.
It is not therapy, counselling, medical care or crisis support, and it does not replace any of them. The characters never diagnose, never give advice about medication or treatment, and never tell a child what to do about a person or a situation. If a child says something that suggests they are not safe, the story stops and they are shown how to reach a trusted grown-up and the helplines below.
Children under 13
A child under 13 never holds an account. A parent or guardian creates the account, confirms their email, and gives two separate, verifiable consents before any story can be made for that child:
1. Consent to collect and use the child’s information in the app.
2. Consent to send the child’s typed words to the AI services named below so the story can be written and drawn. This can be declined on its own; the profile is kept and only story-making is closed.
A parent can review, withdraw either consent, and delete everything at any time from “Me”. Withdrawal takes effect on the next request.
Who receives what
Anthropic (Claude)
Receives the words a child types in the interview and, on Ultimate, in Sass AI (with their name replaced by a placeholder), the chosen feeling, the paraphrased story notes, and — for Keep talking — that profile’s own book titles and story text, holding the conversation and writing the story.
Google (Gemini)
Receives each page's scene description and the hero's appearance as enumerated ids — never a name, never the child's own words, drawing the pictures.
OpenAI (speech to text)
Receives a recording of what is said into the microphone in the story conversation, only between tapping the mic and tapping the red button, and only where the parent has consented to the conversation itself, turning that speech into words in the reply box. Lil' Sass passes the recording straight through and never stores it; only the words you choose to send are kept.
Your browser's speech service (Google in Chrome, Apple in Safari)
Receives the sound of your voice, only while the microphone button is on in the story conversation (on the web), showing the words in the reply box as they are said. Lil' Sass never receives or keeps that recording; only the words you choose to send reach us.
Supabase
Receives the account, profiles, books and pictures, hosting the database and file storage.
Vercel
Receives requests to the app and its server functions, including request logs, hosting the app.
A child’s first name is replaced with a placeholder before anything leaves the browser, so no AI service receives it. Appearance travels as fixed option ids, never as free text.
What we keep, and for how long
Grown-up account (email, display name, consent record)
Where: Supabase (our database), US region
How long: Until you delete the account
Why: To sign you in, keep your books, and prove consent was on file
Deleted by: "Delete everything" under Me — immediate, and it removes everything below with it
Child profile (first name, age band, look, cape color, favorite thing)
Where: Supabase
How long: Until you remove the profile or delete the account
Why: To make books for that child without re-entering their look
Deleted by: Remove under Profiles, or "Delete everything"
The words a child types in the interview
Where: Sent to Anthropic for the reply, with the name replaced by a placeholder. Not stored by us unless the grown-up chooses to keep the conversation (the two rows below).
How long: Not retained by Lil’ Sass. Kept in the browser tab only until the book is written.
Why: To hold the conversation and paraphrase the story notes
Deleted by: Closing the tab. Anthropic’s own API retention applies to what it received.
A half-made book the grown-up taps “Save and finish later” on (its conversation so far)
Where: Supabase, readable only by that account
How long: Until the book is finished, the draft is discarded, or the account is deleted
Why: So the conversation can be picked up where it stopped
Deleted by: “Discard” under My Books, finishing the book, or "Delete everything"
The private journal: entries the grown-up writes, and a story conversation they choose to save to it
Where: Supabase, readable only by that account — not by the Lil’ Sass team
How long: Until the entry is deleted, the profile is removed, or the account is deleted
Why: A private place to keep what came up, by the family’s own choice
Deleted by: Delete on the entry, removing the profile, or "Delete everything"
Sass AI (Ultimate): conversations with the guide, per profile — stored encrypted
Where: Supabase, readable only by that account. Each message is sent to Anthropic for the reply with the name replaced by a placeholder; the guide is also given that profile’s book titles and story text, never another child’s
How long: Until “Start fresh”, the profile is removed, or the account is deleted
Why: So the guide remembers the earlier talks, as the family asked
Deleted by: Deleting the conversation in Sass AI, removing the profile, or "Delete everything"
Story notes (paraphrased facts the guide gathered)
Where: Passed to the story request; not stored after the book is written
How long: Until the book is written
Why: To write the story
Deleted by: Automatically
The finished book (text, scene descriptions, pictures)
Where: Supabase database and file storage; pictures are served from a public URL
How long: Until you delete the book or the account
Why: So you can read, re-read and order it
Deleted by: "Delete everything" — removes the pages and the picture files
Scene descriptions and appearance ids sent for pictures
Where: Sent to Google (Gemini). Never a name, never the child’s own words.
How long: Not retained by Lil’ Sass beyond the book
Why: To draw the pictures
Deleted by: Google’s own API retention applies to what it received
Safeguarding log entry (account id, profile id, book id, time — never the words)
Where: Supabase, admin-only
How long: 24 months
Why: So a disclosure of harm is never silently lost, and the grown-up alert can be traced
Deleted by: Automatically after 24 months; earlier on request
Server request logs
Where: Vercel
How long: Up to 30 days (Vercel’s window)
Why: To diagnose failures
Deleted by: Automatically
Terms, in plain words
Books are for personal, family and classroom use. The characters, the story structure and the artwork are © Lil’ Sass, published by UpLevel Productions; the book you make is yours to read, print and share.
You must be 13 or older to hold an account. You are responsible for the children you add to it.
Stories are generated by AI from what a child says. We screen them, but a story may still be imperfect; read it with your child.
We may change this policy; the version number above changes when we do, and your consent record shows which version you agreed to.