Privacy Policy

Begonia Software, LLC · effective October 11, 2026

Begonia is an app that childcare centers use to run their day: attendance and room ratios, the staff clock, daily notes and photos for families, messages, enrollment, tuition, and the records a license requires. This policy explains what information Begonia holds, why, who else handles it, and the choices you have. It covers the Begonia app and the Begonia website at begonia.care.

Who we are

Begonia is made and run by Begonia Software, LLC, a North Carolina limited liability company. In this policy, "Begonia", "we" and "us" mean that company. You can reach us at hello@begonia.care.

Your center is in charge of its records

Each childcare center decides what to record about its children, families and staff, and who at the center may see it. In data protection terms, the center is the controller of that information. Begonia is its processor: we store and handle the information on the center's behalf and follow the center's instructions.

So a request about a child's or a family's records usually goes to the center first. We help centers answer these requests. We act directly when a center asks us to, and when you ask us to delete your own login (see Deleting your account).

What we collect

Your account

• Your name, email address, phone number, and your role, such as owner, teacher or parent.
• Your sign-in details. Owners and directors also set up two-step verification, using a code sent by text message or a code from an authenticator app.

Children and families

The center enters this information, and families can add to it where the center allows.

• A child's name, date of birth, room, enrollment dates, attendance, and check-in and check-out times.
• Guardians, emergency contacts and the people allowed to pick the child up, with their phone numbers, email addresses and home addresses.
• Health information the center needs to care for the child and meet licensing rules: allergies, medications and when they were given, medical conditions, immunizations, sleep checks, and the child's doctor.
• Daily notes a teacher records, such as meals, naps, diapers and bottles, and incident reports.
• Photos, where the family has agreed to them.
• Documents, forms and signatures.
• Tuition charges, payments, balances and any subsidy.
• Messages between the family and the center.

Staff and job applicants

• Contact details, role, schedule, rooms, and hours worked.
• Certifications and training, their expiration dates, and background check status.
• Pay rate and payroll records, and any wage deduction the center records.
• For applicants: the application, work history, references and certifications they upload.

Location, only when clocking in or out

A center can require staff to be at the center to clock themselves in or out. When a staff member clocks in or out, or starts or ends lunch, on their phone or from the Begonia home screen widget, Begonia asks the phone where it is at that moment. This happens only while the app or widget is being used. The location is compared with the center's location, on the phone or on our server, and is not kept. The clock record may note that the person was at the center and about how far from the center's point they were.

Begonia does not follow your location in the background. If you do not allow location, a director can still clock you in or out from the Floor.

Location during a transport run

If a center uses Begonia for its vehicles, a driver can choose to share the vehicle's location during a run. While sharing is on and the app is open, the phone sends its location about every 20 seconds, and those points become part of the run's record. Sharing stops when the driver stops it or leaves the screen.

Photos, documents and video calls

• Begonia uses your camera and photo library only when you choose to take or add a photo or scan a document.
• Photos staff share for a child's day or the center's memories, and profile photos. Teachers tag which children are in a photo. A child whose family has said no to photos cannot be tagged. Begonia does not use face recognition.
• Video calls between the center and families, or among staff, use your camera and microphone only during a call. Calls connect the people on the call directly where possible. A call is recorded only if someone on the call starts a recording, and then everyone on the call sees that it is being recorded. Recordings are kept in the center's private files.

Messages, texts, email and phone calls

• Messages in the app between families and the center, and among staff, with any photos, videos, audio or files attached to them.
• Text messages and emails a center sends through Begonia, such as reminders and notices. These go to the phone number or email address on file. Reply STOP to a text from your center to stop its text messages.
• Email sent to a center's Begonia email address.
• If a center uses Begonia for its phone line, calls on that line may be recorded, and recordings and voicemails may be turned into text and summarized for the center's records.

Payments

Card and bank details are typed into secure fields provided by our payment processor. Begonia never sees or stores full card or bank account numbers. We keep only what the center needs to recognize a payment method: the card brand, the last four digits and the expiration date, or the bank's routing number and the last four digits of the account, plus a token from the processor that stands in for the number. We send the processor the name, billing address and email it needs for a payment.

When someone authorizes a bank draft, we keep a record of that authorization: the words they agreed to, the amount and schedule, their name, the date and time, and the internet address it came from. We also keep each payment's amount, status and history.

Your device

• If you turn on notifications, your phone's notification token from Apple or Google, and a label for the device, such as its model.
• On iPhone, the home screen widgets keep the clock and calendar they show, and the sign-in they need, on the phone itself, in the iPhone's keychain. Signing out clears them.

Error reports and activity records

• When something goes wrong in the app, it sends an error report to our own database: what failed, on which screen, when, and the phone's model and system version. The report is linked to your center and, for staff, to your staff record.
• Begonia keeps records of important actions and who took them, such as changes to financial records, changes to staff access, and attendance and clock changes.
• We do not use analytics or advertising services.

Why we use it

Purpose	Examples
Caring for children safely	Ratios, allergies, medications, who may pick up a child
Meeting licensing rules	Attendance, immunizations, staff certifications, incident reports
Keeping families informed	Daily notes, photos, messages, calendars, menus, notifications
Running the center	Enrollment, tuition and payments, staff hours, payroll records
Keeping Begonia safe and working	Two-step verification, activity records, error reports

We do not sell personal information. We do not share it for advertising. We do not use it to train artificial intelligence models.

Who can see it

Access is set by role and checked by the database on every request, not only by what the screen shows.

• Parents and guardians see their own children only.
• Teachers and other staff see what their role needs for the day's work, and their own records.
• Owners and directors see what running the center requires. They must use two-step verification, and money, payroll and staff access records stay closed without it.
• Begonia staff look at a center's records only when needed to support the center or the service, or when the law requires it.

Who we share it with

We use service providers to run Begonia. Each one receives only what its job requires.

Provider	What they do
Hosting and database providers	Store Begonia's records and files, run sign-in and our server functions, and serve the website
Payment processor	Handles card and bank payments
Text message and phone provider	Sends and receives text messages, and carries calls on a center's Begonia phone line
Email provider	Sends and receives email
Push notification services from Apple and Google	Deliver notifications to your phone
Artificial intelligence service provider	Reads text from receipts and documents, translates messages for families who read in another language, and summarizes phone calls, where a center uses these features
Speech-to-text provider	Turns call recordings and voicemails into text, where a center uses Begonia for its phone line
Bank connection provider	Shows a center its own bank transactions, if the center connects its account
Video call connection service	Helps the devices on a video call find each other. It sees the devices' internet addresses, not the call.

Error reports stay in our own database with our hosting and database provider. We do not use an outside error tracking or analytics service. We also disclose information when the law requires it.

Children's information

Children do not use Begonia and do not have accounts. Begonia is used by adults: center staff and parents or guardians. Information about a child is entered by the center and by the child's family, and is kept to care for the child and to meet the center's legal duties. Begonia is not directed to children. If you believe a child has given us information directly, write to us and we will delete it.

Photos

Photos of children are shared only where the family has agreed. A family can withdraw that agreement through the center at any time. After that, the child can no longer be tagged in new photos. To have photos already taken removed, ask the center.

How we protect it

• Every connection to Begonia is encrypted in transit.
• Our hosting and database provider encrypts stored data.
• Owners and directors must use two-step verification.
• Access is checked by the database on every request.
• Accounts are individual and start with a single-use invitation. There are no shared logins.
• Files are stored privately and opened through short-lived links.
• Removing someone's access ends their sessions on every device, and is recorded.

How long we keep it

We keep a center's records while the center uses Begonia, and for as long as the law requires the center to keep them. Childcare licensing rules require centers to keep some records for set periods. In North Carolina, for example, a child's file is kept for a year after the child leaves, and attendance records and incident reports are kept for as long as the center's license is valid. Records a center must keep by law are kept for the center, even after a parent or staff member deletes their own account.

Deleting your account

• Families and staff can delete their login in the app. Open Account, then Account settings, then Your account, and tap Delete my account. You can also reach Account settings by tapping the circle with your initials at the top of the screen. A staff member's record stays with the center as its personnel and time record. An owner first hands the center to another owner.
• Without the app, email hello@begonia.care from the address on your account, with your center's name. We complete requests within 30 days.

What is deleted, and what a center may have to keep, is explained on our account deletion page.

Your choices

• Notifications. Turn them on or off in the app, or in your phone's Settings under Begonia.
• Location. Allow or deny it in your phone's Settings. Without it, you cannot clock yourself in on your phone, but a director can clock you in.
• Camera, photos and microphone. Begonia asks only when you use a feature that needs them. You can change your answer in your phone's Settings.
• Photos of your child. Agree or decline through your center.
• Text messages. Reply STOP to a text from your center.
• Your information. You can ask to see the information held about you or your child, correct anything that is wrong, get a copy, or delete anything the law does not require the center to keep. Ask your center, or write to us. We answer within 30 days.

If something goes wrong

If information is exposed, we will contain it, find out what was affected, and tell the centers, families and staff involved, and any authority the law requires, as quickly as we can.

Changes to this policy

If we change this policy in a way that matters to you, we will update the date at the top of this page and tell the centers that use Begonia.

Contact

Questions about this policy, or a request about your information, can go to your center or directly to Begonia Software, LLC at hello@begonia.care. Help with the app is on our support page.