Privacy Policy

Last updated: October 12, 2026

This policy explains, in plain words, what information RootSketch (PlayDelay LLC, doing business as RootSketch) keeps, why, who helps us, and the choices you have. We do not sell your information, and we do not use it for advertising.

What we keep

Your account: your name, email address, family name, a scrambled (hashed) copy of your password, your plan, and the permission form you signed.
Your uploads: the pictures and PDFs you send us. We always keep the original exactly as you sent it, plus a cleaned-up copy.
What we make from them: the typed-up words, titles, dates, places, descriptions, names found in the writing, answers you give to our questions, the names you give to faces, and life sketches.
Messages: messages you send us in your account and in the “Need help? Chat with us” box (and the email address you give there, if any).
Payments: if you pay online, Stripe handles your card. We never see or store your full card number; we keep the Stripe customer and subscription numbers and whether your plan is active.
Basic records of use: for security and to keep the service working, we keep simple logs such as sign-ins, uploads and errors.

How we use it

Only to provide RootSketch to your family: to store and show your records, type them up, help you name people, write sketches, answer your questions, send you notices, take payment, keep your account secure, and improve how well the service works. The RootSketch team can see your family's records when needed to provide or fix the service.

Computer help (AI) by xAI

To type up your records, describe photos, find names, ask you about hard-to-read words, write life sketches and answer help-chat questions, we send the needed picture or text to xAI, an AI company, which returns the result to us. We send only what is needed for that task. xAI's own terms and privacy policy apply to its processing.

Faces in photos

To help you name the people in your photos, our own server finds faces in your photos and makes a face “fingerprint” (a list of numbers) for each one. Face data is used only to help your family label your own photos. It is only compared with other photos in your own family's account, never with other families. It is never shared or sold, it is not sent to xAI, and it is deleted when the record is deleted. A suggestion such as “Is this Grandpa Joe?” only becomes a name when someone in your family says yes. (Your photos themselves are still sent to xAI to be described and typed up, as explained above.)

Who else helps us

Render runs our website, database and file storage in the United States.
Resend sends our emails (sign-in links, password resets, and notices such as replies to your help-chat questions).
xAI provides the AI described above.
Stripe processes payments, when online payment is turned on.

These companies may only use your information to provide their service to us. We do not share your information with anyone else unless the law requires it.

Family members you invite (Heritage plan) can see your family's records. We record which member added or last edited each record and show that to your family.

Cookies

We use only the cookies the site needs: one to keep you signed in, one that protects forms from misuse, one that remembers light or dark mode, one that remembers your language, one for the help chat, and one that remembers which tips you hid. We do not use advertising or tracking cookies.

Living people and children

We treat people as living (private) until you tell us they have passed away, and we never write life sketches about living people. RootSketch accounts are for adults (18 and over).

Keeping it safe

Your records are private to your family's account. Pictures are only shown after we check you are signed in to the right family. Everything travels over a secure (HTTPS) connection, and passwords are stored scrambled. We keep backups of the database so your records can be recovered if something goes wrong.

Your choices

Download: press “Download all my records” on the Privacy page in your account to get one .zip file with every picture you sent, the cleaned-up copies, the typed-up words, people and life sketches.
Fix: you can edit a record's title, date, place and description yourself, rename people, and hide or remove names.
Delete a record: deleted records go to “Recently deleted” for 30 days, where you can restore them. After 30 days they are removed for good, including their pictures and face data.
Delete everything: press “Request deletion of all our data” on the Privacy page, or email hello@rootsketch.com. We confirm with you, then delete your family's records, pictures, face data and sketches. Copies in our backups roll off within about 30 days.
After cancelling: see our Cancellation & Refund Policy.

Changes

If we change this policy, we will post the new version here and tell you in your account or by email before important changes take effect.

Questions? Email us at hello@rootsketch.com. PlayDelay LLC, doing business as RootSketch, Gilbert, Arizona, USA.