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Privacy

Your family's photos stay yours

We use what you share for one thing: making, printing and shipping your book. Here's exactly how.

Last updated September 28, 2026

The short version. We only use your photos to make your book. We delete them 30 days after your book is delivered, or sooner if you ask. We never use them to train AI models, and we never sell your data.

Who we are

MiniMeBooks makes personalized learning picture books for children aged 1 to 6. The Digital Edition is available worldwide, and we print and ship the hardcover to the USA and Canada; other countries on request (contact hello@minimebooks.com). MiniMeBooks is operated by Platinum States Corporation, 170 Masterman Crescent, Oakville, ON L6M 0W9, Canada. When this policy says "we" or "us", it means MiniMeBooks. You can reach us any time at hello@minimebooks.com.

What we collect

  • Photos you upload of your child, and any family members you add, like Mom, Dad or grandparents.
  • Names and details you type, like your child's first name, what they call you, a pet's name or a dedication.
  • Your contact and shipping details: your email address and the address we ship to.
  • Payment is handled by Stripe. We never see or store your card number. Stripe just tells us whether your payment went through.
  • Basic technical data our servers need to run the site safely, like your IP address and browser type, kept in short-lived logs to prevent fraud and fix errors.

Why we use it

We use your information only to:

  • make your book, with your family on the pages,
  • show you the cover preview, and for a hardcover every page so you can approve it,
  • print it and ship it to you,
  • talk to you about your order, like sending the preview link or tracking details,
  • remind you about a preview you didn't finish (see below), with a link that brings back your photos and preview, and
  • send offer emails, only as described below.

Unfinished previews: when you make a free preview, we save it with the email and name you gave us, so you can come back to it. If you don't order, we send up to four short reminder emails: 1 hour, 1 day, 3 days and 7 days after the preview. They stop as soon as you order, and every one has an unsubscribe link.

We don't use your photos or your child's details for advertising, and we don't show them anywhere public.

Offer emails: now and then we email news about new books and offers. We send them only if you ticked "Send me new books and offers by email" when you ordered or made a preview (the box is never ticked for you), or if you bought from us in the last 2 years, as Canada's anti-spam law (CASL) allows for customers. We never send them to someone who only made a preview without ticking the box. Every offer email says who we are, gives our mailing address and has an unsubscribe link that works with one click. Once you unsubscribe, we stop for good. To do this we keep a customer record with your email, name, country, the books you bought and your children's first names, and when and how you agreed. We keep it while you're a customer, and we delete it on request. The address from a preview without an order or a tick is deleted with the preview after 90 days.

Who helps us

A few trusted service providers handle data for us, only to do their part of the job and under contracts that require them to keep it safe and confidential:

  • Secure cloud storage, which keeps your photos and book pages private and encrypted while we make your book.
  • Our AI illustration studio partner, used by people around the world, which helps bring your family into the pictures. It may use your photos only to make your book pages, never for anything else.
  • Our printing partner, which receives the finished pages and your shipping address so it can print and send your book.
  • Stripe, which processes your payment.
  • Email delivery, so we can send you order updates.
  • An AI chat helper, which answers questions you type into the chat on our site. It only sees what you type there, and only once you send a message. We don't keep chat messages, and we don't use them to train AI models.
  • Meta, to measure our ads. See "Cookies and ad measurement" below.

We never sell your data, and we never share it for someone else's advertising.

Want to know exactly which companies handle your data? Email privacy@minimebooks.com. Ask us and we'll tell you privately who they are.

Where your data is processed

We're based in Canada. Some of our service providers process data outside Canada, in the US and in Asia. Wherever your data goes, our contracts with those providers require them to protect it, use it only for our work, and delete it when we ask. While it's outside Canada, it may be subject to the laws of that country, including lawful requests from its authorities.

How long we keep it

  • Photos and book pages: deleted 30 days after your order is delivered, or sooner if you ask, and never kept longer than 1 year after upload. The 30 days give you time to spot a printing problem so we can reprint.
  • Unfinished previews: if you don't order, the photos and preview pictures are deleted 30 days after the preview, and the rest (your email, your name and your child's first name) after 90 days. Photos from a form you didn't finish, with no preview made, are deleted within 7 days.
  • Order records (what you bought, when, what you paid and where it went): kept as long as tax and accounting law requires, usually up to 7 years. These don't include your photos.

Face match (biometric data)

This section, with our photo and face match consent page, is our public retention and destruction policy for biometric data. That includes under the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA), the Texas biometric identifier law (CUBI), Washington's biometric and My Health My Data laws, and the Colorado Privacy Act.

  • What we do: our own server compares the faces in the photos you upload with the pictures in your book, only to check that everyone looks like themselves. To do it, it computes a temporary face measurement for each face and keeps only a match score.
  • Face measurements are never stored. They're worked out in memory during the check and destroyed straight after. They're never saved, logged or sent to anyone, including our image-generation provider.
  • When photos and pages are destroyed: 30 days after your order is delivered, and in every case no later than 1 year after you uploaded the photos, even if an order is never finished. Sooner if you ask.
  • No selling, no sharing, no identifying. We never sell, rent, trade, lease or share face data, never profit from it, and never use it to identify or recognize anyone.
  • Your consent comes first, and it's separate. On step 1 of the order form, a box just for photos and the face match asks for your consent before we make your preview or compare any faces. It isn't bundled with these policies. We keep a record of the version you agreed to and when.
  • Withdrawing. Email hello@minimebooks.com any time. Before we make your book, we'll stop and delete your photos. After delivery, we delete them right away.
  • In the EU and UK, we rely on your explicit consent under Article 9(2)(a) of the GDPR and the UK GDPR. In Canada, including Quebec, we ask for your express consent, and we don't keep a database of faces or use the face match to verify anyone's identity. Everywhere else, including Australia, the UAE and Saudi Arabia, we treat face data as sensitive and use it only with your explicit consent.

We never train AI on your photos

Your photos and your child's details are used to make your book and nothing else. We don't use them to train or improve AI models, and our providers are only allowed to use them to make your pages.

Children's privacy

MiniMeBooks is for parents and guardians, not children. Children shouldn't use the site or send us anything themselves.

  • We only accept a child's photo and details from their parent or legal guardian. By uploading, you confirm that's you.
  • Every adult who appears in the book must agree to their photo being used. By uploading a grown-up's photo, you confirm they've said yes.
  • Brothers and sisters in the book are children too. By uploading their photo, you confirm you're a parent or legal guardian of each of them and consent for them. We cut each face out of that photo only to use as their reference, and delete it with your other photos.
  • If we learn that a child sent us information directly, or that a photo was uploaded without the right permission, we'll delete it.

Your rights

You can ask us at any time to show you what we hold about you, correct it, or delete it. Email hello@minimebooks.com from the address you ordered with, and we'll reply within 1 business day and finish the request within 30 days. If you delete your photos before your book is printed, we won't be able to finish it, and we'll talk to you about a refund.

If you live in the US

Our site is for adults. The US children's privacy law (COPPA) is built for sites that collect information from children themselves, and we don't. We still follow its spirit: we take a child's photo and details only from their parent or guardian, only to make the book they ordered, and a parent can review or delete it, or withdraw consent, at any time by emailing us. Depending on your state, you may have extra rights, like knowing what we collect and asking us to delete it. We'll honor those requests the same way. We never sell personal information. Under California and some other state laws, letting the Meta pixel measure our ads can count as "sharing" for advertising. You can opt out any time with "Your privacy choices" at the bottom of every page, and we treat a Global Privacy Control signal from your browser as an opt-out too.

If you live in Canada

We follow the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) and applicable provincial laws. We collect only what we need to make and ship your book, with your consent, and you can withdraw that consent at any time. You can access and correct your information by emailing us. Ad measurement is off until you tap Accept, as Quebec's Law 25 requires. If you're not happy with how we handle a concern, you can contact the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.

If you live in the EU or the UK

We use your information on these legal grounds: to make and deliver the book you ordered (our contract with you); your explicit consent for photos and the face match; our legitimate interest in keeping the site safe and fixing errors; your consent for ad measurement and offer emails (or, for customers, our legitimate interest in telling you about similar books, which you can stop at any time); and our legal duty to keep tax records.

When your data leaves the EU or the UK, we protect it with the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses or the UK's international data transfer agreement. Ask us for a copy.

You can complain to your local data protection authority. In the UK, that's the Information Commissioner's Office.

Cookies and ad measurement

We use essential cookies: the small files that keep your order form, your book preview and your checkout working. These are always on, because the site doesn't work without them.

When you arrive from one of our ads or links, we keep the link's campaign label (for example, which ad it was) in a cookie on this site for 30 days, and save it with your order so we know which ads work. It's only the label on the link: nothing about you or your child, and it never leaves our site.

We also use the Meta pixel to measure our ads on Meta's apps, but only if you allow it. It tells Meta which pages you visit here, which book you look at and, when you buy, the order number, which books and the amount. Your email address is hashed (scrambled one way) before it's sent, so Meta can match the sale to an ad without us handing over your email. We never send Meta your child's name, your photos, gift details or anything else you type into the order form.

How you choose:

  • In Canada, the EU, the UK, or if we can't tell where you are: the pixel stays off until you tap Accept on the cookie banner.
  • In the US: the pixel is on by default. Tap Decline on the banner, or turn on Global Privacy Control in your browser, and it stays off. That's your "Do not sell or share my personal information" choice.
  • Change your mind any time with "Your privacy choices" at the bottom of every page.

We keep your answer in a cookie on this site for 12 months, then ask again. When you place an order, we save your answer with it, and we only tell Meta about the purchase from our server if you allowed ad measurement. You can also turn off ad tracking in your Meta ad settings.

Keeping it safe

Photos are stored in private storage, sent over encrypted connections, and only a small number of people who need to check your book can see them. No system is perfect, but if something ever went wrong, we'd tell you quickly and explain what we're doing about it.

Changes to this policy

If we change how we use your information, we'll update this page and the date at the top. If it's a big change, we'll email customers with open orders before it takes effect.

Contact us

Questions, requests or worries about privacy? Our privacy officer is in charge of protecting your personal information. Reach them at privacy@minimebooks.com or by mail at 170 Masterman Crescent, Oakville, ON L6M 0W9, Canada. For anything about an order, email hello@minimebooks.com. You can also read our terms and our shipping and returns policy.