Children's Privacy & Safety

1. Who counts as a child

On MIND-IDIA a "child" is anyone under 18. Our child age groups are Early Explorers (4–6), Young Learners (7–9), Junior Thinkers (10–12) and Teen Thinkers (13–17). The EU sets the age of digital consent between 13 and 16 depending on the country (16 in the Netherlands), and the US sets it at 13. To keep things simple and safe, we require parental consent for every profile under 18, whatever the country.

2. How parental consent works

• Only an adult (18+) can create a MIND-IDIA account, and confirms their age when signing up.
• The adult must confirm their email address before the account works.
• When adding a child profile, the adult ticks a box confirming they are the child's parent or legal guardian and consent to the child using MIND-IDIA as described here. We record the date and time of this consent.
• The parent sets a parent PIN before adding a child profile. Children cannot add profiles, change settings or give consent without it.
• A parent can withdraw consent at any time in Parent controls. Play stops straight away and progress is kept. To erase the child's data, delete the profile (or the whole account) in Parent controls, or email support@mind-idia.com.

If we learn that a child's data was collected without a parent's consent (for example, a child created an account pretending to be an adult), we will delete it promptly. Please tell us at support@mind-idia.com if you believe this has happened.

3. What we collect about a child

• A first name or nickname (we recommend a nickname).
• An age group — not a date of birth.
• Game progress: scores, XP, achievements, favourites and play minutes.

We never ask a child for an email address, phone number, surname, photo, voice, school, address or location, and children cannot upload anything.

4. How we use it

Only to run the games, save progress, choose age-appropriate content and difficulty, enforce play-time limits, and show the parent an activity report. We never use children's data for advertising, marketing, selling or profiling, and never to train external AI models.

5. Safety by design

• No communication: no chat, messaging, friend requests, comments or voice between players. Children cannot contact anyone and no one can contact them.
• No public profiles: a child's nickname and scores are only visible inside their own family account.
• No advertising and no links that take children to other websites during play.
• No purchases by children: subscriptions are managed only by the adult account holder; pricing and payment pages are aimed at adults.
• No manipulative design: no loot boxes, gambling-like mechanics, countdown pressure to buy, or rewards for playing longer than the limit.
• Family-safe content for all ages: no sexual content, dating, gambling, gore, violence or hate. Every question is checked before it is published, and anything reported is reviewed.
• No chatbot or AI assistant talks to children. In simple words for your child: "No robot or computer brain talks to you on MIND-IDIA. If something looks wrong or upsets you, tell your parent." See How MIND-IDIA Uses AI.

6. Screen time and wellbeing

• Each profile has a daily limit between 15 minutes and 3 hours (180 minutes is the absolute maximum, for every age).
• Parents can also set allowed play hours (for example, not after bedtime).
• Limits are checked on our servers, so they cannot be bypassed by refreshing or changing the device clock.
• Parent settings are protected by the parent PIN, which locks for 15 minutes after 5 wrong attempts.
• We encourage breaks, outdoor play and playing together as a family.

7. Learning, not medical claims

MIND-IDIA offers cognitive engagement, learning and problem-solving practice. It is not a medical, diagnostic or therapeutic product. We do not claim to raise IQ, treat or prevent any condition, or diagnose learning differences, and scores are not clinical measurements.

8. Parents' rights

As a parent or guardian you may at any time: review the information we hold about your child, ask us to correct or delete it, refuse further collection, withdraw consent, and receive a copy (use Download data in Parent controls). Most of this you can do yourself in Parent controls; for anything else email support@mind-idia.com from the account's email address. We reply within one month.

9. Teens (13–17)

Teens play under a parent's account like younger children. We write explanations and messages in language teens can understand, and they may contact us directly at support@mind-idia.com about their own privacy; we will involve the parent where required by law.

10. Reporting a concern

If you see any content that seems unsuitable, or have any safety concern, email support@mind-idia.com with the game name and what you saw. We aim to respond within 48 hours and will remove unsuitable content immediately while we review it. Our full Harmful Content Reporting Procedure explains response times and when we report to the police and other authorities, including in the UAE.

11. Consent records, renewal and withdrawal

For every child profile we keep a consent record showing: the adult account that gave consent, the child profile it covers, the purpose (playing MIND-IDIA games and saving progress, play time and results), the policy version, the method used, the date and time, and whether it is active or withdrawn. Consent is given before a child can play and is checked by our servers each time a game starts.

You can withdraw consent at any time in Parent controls. Withdrawal stops play straight away; progress is kept so you can give consent again later, or you can delete the profile and its data. When we make a material change to this policy we raise the version number and ask you to give consent again before the child can keep playing.

12. How we confirm a parent's consent

We confirm consent in three steps: (1) only an account holder who has confirmed they are 18 or older, through their verified email address, can create a child profile or give consent; (2) the action needs the parent PIN; and (3) we then send a confirmation email to the account holder's address, explaining what was agreed and how to withdraw it if they did not do this. A child's information is used only to run the games for that family. It is never sold, shared with advertisers, shown publicly or disclosed to third parties, other than service providers who host the service for us under contract.

Because the data is used only internally, this approach follows the "email plus" method that the US FTC accepts for internal-only uses under the COPPA Rule (16 CFR 312.5(b)(2)). It is also our "reasonable effort, taking into account available technology" under GDPR Article 8(2), and our documented, withdrawable consent under Article 7 of the UAE Child Digital Safety law. We do not collect ID documents, card details or biometric data, so we collect no more information than we need. If the UAE or another authority later requires a specific stronger method, we will adopt it and tell parents. If you believe a child profile was created without a parent's permission, email support@mind-idia.com and we will suspend and delete it.

13. Ages and different countries

Laws set different ages for different things, and countries do not all use the same consent rules. In the EU, a parent must consent for children below an age each country sets between 13 and 16 (GDPR Article 8; see the European Commission's guidance). In the UK the age is 13, and the ICO's Age Appropriate Design Code (a statutory code of practice) asks services to put children's best interests first, with high privacy by default. In the US, COPPA protects children under 13 (FTC COPPA FAQs). The UAE treats everyone under 18 as a child and sets extra rules for under-13s. Contracts generally need someone aged 18 or over. MIND-IDIA's own rule is stricter than most of these: accounts and payments are for adults 18+ only, and everyone under 18 plays only through a child profile with parental consent, wherever they live.

14. United Arab Emirates

The UAE Federal Decree-Law No. 26 of 2025 on Child Digital Safety (official text) came into force on 1 January 2026. It covers websites and gaming platforms used by children in the UAE, and services have until 1 January 2027 to adjust (Article 18). Many details, including how platforms are classified, which age checks are needed and which consent methods are accepted, will be set by UAE Cabinet decisions that we are monitoring.

What MIND-IDIA does today, in relation to the law's main points:

• Parental consent (Article 7): a parent or guardian gives consent for each child, recorded with date, time and policy version, and can withdraw it at any time in Parent controls without penalty to the child.
• Age checks (Article 8): account holders confirm they are 18 or over, and changes are protected by a parent PIN. We do not collect ID documents or biometric data.
• Private by default (Article 10): no public profiles, chat, messaging, advertising, targeted advertising, in-game purchases by children or behavioural profiling.
• Parental controls and time limits (Article 10): parents set daily play time (up to 180 minutes) and play hours; limits are enforced by our servers.
• No betting or gambling (Article 9): MIND-IDIA has no betting, wagering or prizes of value.
• Reporting (Article 10): any harmful content or concern can be reported to support@mind-idia.com or with the "Report this question" link in every game.
• Children's data: used only to run the games for that family, never for commercial or advertising purposes, and parents can see, download and delete it.

We will update these measures once the UAE implementing decisions are published. This summary is not legal advice and is not a statement that a UAE authority has reviewed MIND-IDIA.

15. Teens' own privacy requests

Support and privacy requests are handled only through the parent or legal guardian. If a teen (13–17) has a privacy question or wants to stop using MIND-IDIA, they should ask their parent to contact support@mind-idia.com or use Parent controls. If a teen writes to us directly, we will not discuss their data with them; we will pause the profile if they ask to stop, and tell the parent account holder.

More information

This policy is part of our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

16. Version history and amendments

This version is the current and final policy. It replaces all earlier versions from its effective date. Children's profiles need consent at the current version before they can play.