1. Who we are
Tinkerwith (“Tinkerwith”, “we”, “us”) runs electronics, robotics and AI learning for children and teenagers at tinkerwith.me, online and in Nairobi. Tinkerwith is a product of Wakara Technologies Limited, a company in Nairobi, Kenya, which is the data controller for the information described here.
Contact for anything about privacy: tinkerwithanne@gmail.com or WhatsApp +254 117 784 724.
2. What we collect
When you create an account
- Name and email address, and a password if you choose one (passwords are handled by our sign-in provider; we never see them).
- If you sign in with Google: your name, email address and profile picture from your Google account (see section 3).
When you take a course
- Which courses you are enrolled in, which lessons you have completed, and your quiz scores.
- The name you type onto a certificate.
When you play the free games
- Game progress is saved only in your own browser, not sent to us.
- If you choose to post a score to the Train an AI leaderboard, we store the nickname you type, your score, the number of tests and the time taken. The page asks children to use a made-up nickname, never their real name.
When you contact or pay us
- Messages you send by WhatsApp or email, and M-Pesa confirmation details you share so we can unlock a paid course. Payments themselves are made through M-Pesa or our HustleSasa store; we do not receive or store card or M-Pesa PIN details.
Automatically
- Usage statistics from Google Analytics, such as pages visited, approximate country and device type (see section 11).
3. Signing in with Google
If you choose “Continue with Google”, Google shares your name, email address and profile picture with us. We request no other Google permissions: we cannot see your Gmail, Drive, contacts or any other Google data.
We use this information only to create and identify your Tinkerwith account, show your name in the course pages and on certificates, and let us enrol you in courses by email. Our use and transfer of information received from Google APIs adheres to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements. We do not sell it, use it for advertising, or use it to train AI models.
4. How we use information
- To provide your account, courses, progress tracking and certificates.
- To enrol students in paid courses after payment, and to answer questions.
- To keep the service secure and prevent misuse (for example, blocking rude leaderboard nicknames).
- To understand, in aggregate, which pages and courses are useful so we can improve them.
Our lawful bases under Kenya’s Data Protection Act, 2019 are: performing our agreement with you (providing courses), your or your parent’s consent (accounts for children, leaderboard posts, analytics) and our legitimate interest in running a safe, working service. We do not make automated decisions that have legal or similarly significant effects on anyone.
5. Children’s privacy
Our courses and games are made for children, so we take extra care:
- Accounts for children should be created by a parent or guardian, using the parent’s email address, or with the parent’s consent. By creating an account for a child, the parent consents to the processing described in this policy.
- We collect the minimum needed: a name (a first name is enough), an email address, and course progress.
- We never show a child’s personal information publicly. The only public item is an optional made-up leaderboard nickname.
- We never sell children’s information, use it for advertising, or build profiles of them.
- A parent can ask at any time to see, correct or delete their child’s information, or to withdraw consent, by emailing tinkerwithanne@gmail.com. If we learn we hold a child’s information without a parent’s consent, we will delete it.
6. Who we share information with
We do not sell or rent personal information. We share it only with service providers that run parts of Tinkerwith for us, under contracts that require them to protect it and use it only to provide their service:
| Provider | What it does | What it handles |
|---|---|---|
| Clerk, Inc. | Sign-in and accounts | Name, email, password (hashed), Google sign-in details |
| Supabase, Inc. | Course database | Account ID, name, email, enrolments, progress, quiz scores, leaderboard entries |
| Google LLC | Google sign-in; Google Analytics | Sign-in, if you choose it; anonymised usage statistics |
| GitHub, Inc. | Hosts the website | Standard web server logs (such as IP address) |
| HostAfrica | Our email | Emails you send us |
| Meta (WhatsApp) | Messages, if you choose to contact us there | Your messages and phone number |
We may also disclose information if the law requires it, or to protect the safety of a child or anyone else.
7. Where information is stored
Our service providers store information on servers outside Kenya, including in the European Union and the United States. We use providers that apply appropriate safeguards for international transfers, as required by the Data Protection Act, 2019.
8. How long we keep information
- Accounts, enrolments and progress: for as long as the account exists. Delete your account (or ask us to) and we remove it within 30 days, apart from anything we must keep by law, such as payment records.
- Leaderboard entries: until removed. We may clear old entries, and remove any on request.
- Analytics: Google Analytics keeps event data for up to 14 months.
9. Your rights
Under Kenya’s Data Protection Act, 2019 you (or a parent, for a child) have the right to:
- be told how your information is used (this policy);
- access the information we hold about you;
- correct information that is wrong;
- have your information deleted;
- object to, or withdraw consent for, any processing; and
- receive your information in a portable format.
Email tinkerwithanne@gmail.com and we will respond within 7 days where we can, and always within the time the law allows. If you are unhappy with our answer, you can complain to the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner in Kenya.
10. Security
Information travels over encrypted connections (HTTPS). Database rules ensure each student can only read their own progress, and only Tinkerwith staff can see enrolments. No system is perfectly secure, but if a breach affecting your information ever happens, we will tell you and the Data Protection Commissioner as the law requires.
11. Cookies and analytics
- Essential: our sign-in provider sets cookies to keep you signed in. The site cannot work without them.
- Saved in your browser: game progress and certificate names are kept in your browser’s local storage, on your device only.
- Analytics: Google Analytics uses cookies to count visits and see which pages are popular. It does not tell us who you are. You can block it with your browser’s privacy settings or the Google Analytics opt-out add-on.
12. Changes and contact
If we change this policy we will update the date at the top, and tell account holders by email about important changes. Questions or requests: tinkerwithanne@gmail.com, WhatsApp +254 117 784 724, or Wakara Technologies Limited, Nairobi, Kenya.