A Parent's Checklist for Evaluating Any AI App for Kids

Ten questions to ask before letting any AI app near your child: photo handling, data sales, training use, content controls, and who is accountable. Works for any product, including ours.

By Justin Ponczek and Seth Gold, Storywish cofounders · Last updated July 20, 2026

AI apps for children are multiplying fast, and their marketing pages all sound alike. This checklist is the set of questions we would want answered before letting any AI product near our own kids. It works on any app. Use it on Storywish too; each item links to where we answer it.

The checklist

  1. What happens to photos I upload?

    Look for a specific answer: kept or deleted, and for how long. "We take privacy seriously" is not an answer. Ours: the original photo is used to create the character, then deleted. See how Storywish handles your child's photo.

  2. Is my child's data used to train AI models?

    Search the privacy policy for the word "training." If it is not addressed, assume the answer is yes and ask. Ours: no, neither photos nor generated content.

  3. Is personal data sold or shared for advertising?

    The policy should say so in one sentence. Ours: we do not sell personal information or share it for marketing.

  4. Who are the vendors behind the app?

    Every app runs on other companies' infrastructure. A trustworthy one tells you which. Ours are listed, with their roles, in the Parents Trust Center sub-processor table.

  5. Can I see and change what my child will see?

    Generative content should never be a black box for the parent. In Storywish you can read every page, rewrite any page, and change any illustration before reading together or printing.

  6. What ages is it actually built for?

    An age range stated plainly signals the content guardrails were designed on purpose. Storywish stories are written for ages 4 to 12.

  7. Can I delete everything?

    Check that stories, characters, and the account itself can be deleted by you, without emailing support. Ours can, from the app, at any time.

  8. What does it really cost?

    Pricing should be public and complete, including what the free tier actually includes. Ours is on one page: plans and pricing.

  9. Are there real people accountable for it?

    Named founders or team members, and an email a human answers. Storywish is built by two parents, Justin and Seth, and seth@storywish.ai reaches a person.

  10. Does the company invite scrutiny?

    A security disclosure channel and a public trust page are good signs the company expects to be checked. Ours: storywish.ai/security and the Parents Trust Center.

How to use it

You do not need all ten to be perfect. But an app that fails the first three, photos, training, and data sales, is asking for more trust than it has earned, whatever its storybooks look like. Print this list, or keep it open in a tab, and make the company answer in writing. The good ones will.

Related: the Parents Trust Center (data handling and sub-processors), plans and pricing, and frequently asked questions.

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