Privacy Policy

Who we are

Canto is Kevin’s personalised book studio, operated from Hong Kong. For all data-related questions, contact: hello@cantostory.com.

What we collect

• Order details: your email, name, shipping address, phone number, payment confirmation and order status, collected during your brief and Stripe checkout.
• Book content: the hero’s name, age, interests, personality, physical description, the chosen setting, memories, relationships, story ideas and dedication, provided through Bookie or the order form. Questions sent to Sabo’s help chat are separate from your order brief.
• Reference photos: any images you choose to upload to help the illustrator. Uploading photos is entirely optional; we’ll happily work from a written description instead.
• Payment data: handled entirely by Stripe. We never see or store your card number.

How we use it

• To collect your brief through Bookie, so Kevin can use your story details and reference photos to write your personalised story and direct each scene.
• To create illustrations with AI image tools under Kevin’s written direction, then check and refine the book.
• To fulfil your order, printing the book and shipping it to the address you provided.
• To send you order updates by email.
• To respond to your questions or refund requests.

We do not use your data for advertising. We do not sell or share it with marketers.

Photos: how we handle them

• No training by Canto: we do not use your photos to train a model. Processing by service providers is governed by their service terms; we do not make a blanket promise about every provider’s retention or training practices.
• Deleted within 30 days: reference photos are removed from our storage within 30 days of order delivery.
• Processing your references: photos may be passed to Google’s Gemini API to help understand the reference and create artwork for your book. Kevin directs and checks the illustrations. We will tell affected customers about significant changes to how their information is used.
• No marketing reuse: we will never use your photos (or the resulting illustrations) in marketing without your explicit written permission.

Who processes your data on our behalf

• Stripe: payment processing. Your name, email, address, and phone number flow through Stripe.
• Google (Gemini API): processes Bookie and Sabo conversations and references used for artwork under its API terms.
• Supabase: database and storage hosting. Order data, saved briefs and uploaded references are stored here.
• Vercel: website hosting, request logs and limited performance and usage analytics.
• Resend: delivers transactional emails, including confirmations, preview links and order updates.
• PostHog, when enabled: receives limited usage events, such as a page visit or an order step being completed. We disable automatic interaction capture and session replay; events do not include your story text, reference photos or contact details. Admin and private review pages are excluded.
• Print and shipping partners: receive your approved print file and the recipient details needed for delivery.

These services may process information outside Hong Kong. We share what is needed for the relevant service; we do not sell information to marketers.

How long we keep it

• Active orders: until the book is delivered, then for up to 1 year as a support / warranty record.
• Reference photos: deleted within 30 days of order delivery.
• After 1 year: support records are removed or anonymised when no longer needed. Financial and dispute records are retained separately for as long as applicable obligations require.

Access, corrections and deletion

You can ask us to:

• Access the personal data we hold about you.
• Correct anything that’s wrong or out of date.
• Delete your data (subject to legal obligations to keep transaction records).
• Withdraw consent for future use of your data.

To exercise any of these, email hello@cantostory.com. We’ll respond within 14 days.

Drafts, browser storage and analytics

The order flow can save your unfinished brief and reference photos in your browser on the current device so you can resume after an interruption. A local draft expires 30 days after its last save. The order flow removes expired drafts when you next return to it; until then, those files may remain on your device. Clearing a draft or your browser’s site data removes that local copy; it does not cancel a paid order or remove information already sent to us.

We use browser storage and essential cookies where needed for the site and payments. Limited analytics may measure page visits, errors and performance. We do not use advertising cookies or record your order conversation through session replay.

If you use a shared device, clear your draft when you finish. To ask us to delete an uploaded reference or saved order information, email hello@cantostory.com.

Data security

We use HTTPS, controlled access to stored orders and server-side credentials to protect information. The studio and relevant service providers process it for the purposes described above.

About children

Books are for children, but they’re not sold to children. The customer must be an adult (18+ in Hong Kong). The child’s name, age, and physical description are provided by the adult customer; the child does not interact with our service directly.

If you’re buying a book where the hero is an adult (partner, parent, friend, yourself), the same rules apply — you must be 18+ in Hong Kong to make a purchase.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. Significant changes will be emailed to recent customers. The “Last updated” date at the top will always reflect the current version.

Contact

For anything privacy-related, email hello@cantostory.com.