For Parents & Grown-Ups

Children can read illustrated stories, explore heritage journeys, discover words, complete simple activities and collect stars and treasures as they learn.

For children: Children do not create their own Heritage Trails accounts. A parent or guardian creates and manages the family account. We do not ask children for an email address, phone number, school, home address or other contact information.

Parent and guardian accounts: A parent or guardian may create an account to manage their family's Heritage Trails experience, including memberships and Explorer profiles. We collect the information needed to create, secure and manage that account, such as the grown-up's name, email address and country.

Explorer profiles: A parent or guardian can create an Explorer profile for a child. We ask only for a first name or nickname. An age range may also be selected to help shape the child's experience. We do not need a child's full name, email address, phone number, school or exact date of birth.

Exploration and progress: Heritage Trails remembers an Explorer's progress on the device being used, including trails explored, stars, treasures and Backpack items. This progress is not currently connected to the grown-up's account, so it may not appear on another device.

Payments and memberships: Paid memberships are bought by a grown-up, never by a child. Payments are handled on our payment provider’s own secure pages. The payment provider currently being prepared for Heritage Trails memberships is Stripe. If we add another payment provider, we will name it here. Heritage Trails does not receive or store full card numbers or other payment credentials.

To run a membership, Heritage Trails keeps: the membership plan and billing interval; the membership and payment status; the amount and currency; relevant payment and access dates (such as start, renewal, cancellation and end dates); which payment provider was used; and the customer, subscription and payment reference numbers the provider gives us. At checkout we also keep a record that the grown-up agreed to our Terms, with the versions of the Terms and policies they agreed to.

Feedback: Grown-ups can send us feedback or corrections through our feedback form. An email address is optional and is used only to reply; we won’t add you to any mailing list. Feedback is kept for about 24 months.

How long we keep information: We keep account, Explorer profile and membership information while the account is open. Payment and checkout agreement records may be kept longer where needed for accounting, tax or legal reasons.

Deleting an account: A grown-up can ask to delete the family account from the Family Account page. There is a 7-day waiting period, during which the grown-up can choose to keep the account. After the waiting period, we process the request. Deletion is handled by our team; it is not automatic. If a membership renews automatically, renewal must be cancelled before a deletion request can be made. Any remaining paid access ends when the account is deleted.

Privacy questions: Contact us at hello@heritagetrailsafrica.com.

Technical information: The services that operate and protect Heritage Trails may process limited technical information, such as device, browser, security and diagnostic information. We use this information to keep Heritage Trails working, secure and reliable.

As Heritage Trails grows: If we introduce a feature that changes the information we collect or how we use it, we will update this Privacy page before or when that feature becomes available.

Heritage Trails draws from history, community memory, oral tradition, family stories and language. Where traditions or accounts differ, we aim to present those differences respectfully rather than pretending there is only one version of the past.

Ask questions. Talk about your own family stories. Ask grandparents and elders what they remember. Heritage becomes even more meaningful when children connect what they discover here with the people and places around them.

Want to know who built Heritage Trails Africa and why? Meet the creator.

We welcome feedback from parents, educators, families and community members.

Grown-ups can email us at hello@heritagetrailsafrica.com.

Or use our short feedback form: