Toppen – KunnskapsfjelletLæringsapp for barneskolen, 1.–7. trinn
Toppen needs no account, contains no advertising, no tracking and no third-party analytics, and never asks a child for an e-mail, phone number, photo, address or school. What the app knows about the child is a nickname, an animal, a school year and the progress – and that stays on the device. Three things may leave the device: (1) anonymous usage statistics and anonymous crash reports, (2) the parent's e-mail address and the child's nickname and progress if a parent chooses to enter an e-mail for the weekly report (the nickname and progress are then personal data about the child, which we process only for the report and the backup, at the parent's request), and (3) the App Store / Google Play receipt if the family subscribes. All of this is described below, together with how it is deleted.
When a child creates a player, the app stores a first name or nickname, the chosen animal, the chosen grade and the progress in the app. This is stored on the device, in the app's own storage. It is only sent to the cloud if a parent enters an e-mail for the weekly report (see below) – a backup of the progress is then stored too. Without an e-mail we have no access to it, and deleting the app deletes the progress. Parents can delete a player under Parents → Delete player, either from this device only or from the whole family in the cloud.
In the English speaking exercises the app may ask for microphone access to check the child's pronunciation. Recognition is done by the operating system's built-in service (on iPad and iPhone: Apple's speech recognition). The app does not record or store the audio and never sends it to us. Depending on the device and its settings, Apple may process the audio on the device or in its own service, under Apple's privacy policy. Without microphone access the speaking exercises are skipped.
The app sends anonymous usage statistics to our own server in Norway: that the app was opened, which subject and unit was practised, whether a lesson was completed and the share of correct answers (rounded to the nearest ten per cent), the chosen school year, device type and app version. It contains no name, no e-mail, no location and no IP address (none is stored) – only a random app identifier used solely for statistics and crash reports. It is not the identifier used for the family in the cloud or for the subscription, so the statistics cannot be linked to an e-mail address. The statistics are used solely to improve the content and are never shared.
If the app crashes or hits a programming error, it sends a short error report to our database provider Supabase in the EU (Ireland): the error message, which screen the app was on, app version, device type (e.g. “iPad”) and the same random app identifier used by the statistics. It contains no name, e-mail, progress or IP address, is used only to find and fix bugs, and is deleted automatically after 90 days.
The app is made for children. Personal data about the child (nickname, animal, school year and progress) is stored in the cloud only after a parent has entered and confirmed their e-mail, and is deleted when the parent removes the e-mail or the player. We never ask children for anything beyond a nickname – no e-mail, phone, photo, address or school – and there are no outbound links a child can tap. E-mail, subscription and all outbound links are on the parents' section behind a parental gate.
A parent may enter their own e-mail address in the app (behind the parental gate) to receive a short report every Sunday about what the child practised and what to practise more. The address must be confirmed via a link in the first e-mail before anything is sent. Once an e-mail is entered we store the address, a random device identifier (different from the statistics one) and the child's progress (nickname, animal, grade, completed lessons, skills and points) with our database provider Supabase in the EU (Ireland), so the family can continue on a new device and so the report can be generated. E-mails are sent through Resend (a US company). The e-mail contains the nickname and the week's practice figures; Resend keeps it only as long as needed to deliver it and to show us whether it arrived. The address is used only for the weekly report and for messages about the subscription – never for marketing – and is not shared with anyone. The parent can unsubscribe at any time via the link in the e-mail, or delete the e-mail on the parent page in the app; this immediately deletes the address and all progress in the cloud.
The first camp on every mountain is free. The rest requires the Toppen Familie (up to 6 players) or Toppen Lærer (up to 30 players) subscription, purchased through the App Store or Google Play. Payment is handled by Apple or Google; we never see card details. To know whether a subscription is active the app uses RevenueCat, which receives the store receipt linked to a random app identifier (and the e-mail address, if entered, so the subscription follows the family). RevenueCat notifies our server when a subscription starts, renews or expires, so that the teacher licence and class code work. The subscription renews automatically until cancelled under Subscriptions in the App Store or Google Play.
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