child safety and privacy
Straight answers for parents
Scavvi is played by children, including the eleven-year-old whose idea it was. Here are the straight answers to what a parent actually wants to know, without the legal fog. The full detail lives in our privacy policy.
Three things to know first
No email address needed to play.
Players get an anonymous account. There's nothing to sign up for.
No public feed, no open chat with strangers.
Chat is a Pro feature and only reaches players in the same hunt.
The free version has ads. Pro has none.
Photos are never sold or used for advertising.
Questions parents ask
The straight answers
Is Scavvi safe for my child to use?
Scavvi is a game you play with people you choose. There's no public feed and no open chat with strangers. A hunt you set up is private: people join with its five-character code. City trails work a little differently (see the next answer).
Who can my child play with?
On a hunt you set up, only people with the code. On a city trail, the trail page also lists up to ten groups waiting to start on that trail, from the last two hours, with the host's display name, and anyone viewing the trail can join one. If you'd rather your child only plays with people you know, start your own group and share the code. Chat is a Pro feature and only reaches players in that hunt.
What happens to the photos my child takes?
A photo is taken to show a find. It's checked by an AI that answers one question: does this picture show the thing on the list? The photo is stored with that hunt, so you can look back at the finds afterwards. Photos are never sold, never shared with advertisers, and never used to identify or profile anyone.
Does Scavvi track my child's location?
Scavvi uses location while a hunt is being played, for two things: awarding explorer points for moving between finds, and checking you're really at the landmark on a city trail. Each find is saved with where it was taken, as part of that hunt. Location isn't used to follow anyone around when they're not playing.
Does anyone else see my child's data?
We never sell your child's details. A few services help run the app, and the privacy policy lists them all. To score a find, the photo is sent to our AI checking service (OpenAI), which doesn't keep it permanently. Other players in the same hunt can see that hunt's photos. The free version shows ads from Google AdMob, with its settings for children switched on, and Pro has none. If we make experiences with museums or other places in future, they'd see grouped totals only, with small groups hidden: never an individual child, their photos or where they went.
Are there ads?
The free version shows occasional ads from Google AdMob, configured for a family audience. Scavvi Pro removes ads entirely. We do not sell personal data to advertisers.
What do I control as a parent?
You control the account name and avatar, whether notifications are on, whether location and camera permissions are granted at all, and whether you subscribe. You can delete your data by contacting us, and cancel a subscription at any time through the App Store or Google Play.
Who built this?
Scavvi is made by The Hopium Lab Ltd, a UK company. It began as an idea from Harper, who was eleven at the time, and is built by her dad. It is a small family project, which is exactly why the privacy answers here are short and blunt rather than buried in legal text.
Still want to ask something?
A real person reads every email. Usually the one who built it.
Running a group or a school trip? See Scavvi for schools and clubs.