Privacy Policy

Last updated: 21 April 2026

This policy explains, in plain English, what information Myopia Focus collects, what we do with it, where it is stored, and the rights you have over it. We have written it to match how the platform actually works rather than using a generic template.

1. Who we are

Myopia Focus provides a mobile and web application that helps parents track their children's eye growth and helps eye care practitioners support those families. The platform is operated by the Myopia Focus team. You can contact us at any time at info@myopiafocus.org.

We have designed the platform to minimise the amount of personal data collected and stored.

2. Who this policy applies to

Parents (account holders)

Adults who create an account to track one or more of their own children's clinical measurements.

Practitioners (account holders)

Eye care professionals who create an account to manage their patients within the Practitioner Dashboard.

Children

Children do not hold their own accounts. A parent or a linked practitioner enters and manages the child's clinical record on their behalf. Practitioners may also create patient records directly as part of providing care, with the expectation that they have the appropriate authority to do so and that a parent or guardian will be linked where appropriate.

3. What we collect

From parents

• Account details: name, email address.
• Password: stored only as a one-way bcrypt hash — we never see or store your plain password.
• Optional location: country and town, used to set sensible defaults for ethnicity reference curves.
• Research-sharing preference: a yes/no flag and a timestamp of when you set it.

From practitioners

• Everything in the parent list above, plus:
• Practice details: practice name, professional type, optional practice address, optional practice email, optional registration number and registered body.

About each child (entered by the parent or practitioner)

• Nickname, sex, birth month and birth year, ethnicity / population reference group.
• Optional treatment information (e.g. ortho-K, atropine dose).
• An internal "Myopia Focus child ID" used purely for practitioner linking.

Clinical measurements

• Date of measurement.
• Axial length (mm) for left and right eye.
• Refractive error (dioptres) for left and right eye, where recorded.
• Treatment type at the time of measurement, free-text notes, and which user entered the record (parent or practitioner).

Practitioner ↔ child links and notes

• A record of which practitioner is linked to which child, the status of that link (pending, approved, declined, unlinked) and an optional next-appointment date and notes.
• Practitioner-only notes attached to a child's record.
• Treatments prescribed by the practitioner, with dates and dosing details.

Research dataset (only if you opt in)

If you switch on "Contribute to Research" in your Profile, a copy of some measurement data is added to a separate, anonymised research dataset. See section 5 for what is and is not included.

4. What we do not collect

• We do not load any third-party analytics, advertising or tracking SDKs in the app or the website.
• We do not collect biometric data, photos of your child, or device location.
• We do not sell or share personal data with marketers.
• The live Vision Simulator camera feed stays on your device — frames are not uploaded.

5. The opt-in research dataset

The research dataset is designed so that the records cannot reasonably be linked back to you or your child. Each child is given a private, opaque token; the research records reference that token only.

What is included

• Year of birth (not the month), sex, ethnicity / reference group, country.
• Axial length (left and right), refractive error (left and right), treatment type, measurement date.

What is never included

• Name, email, town/city, exact birth month, account ID or any other identifier.
• Practitioner notes, treatment dose details, or appointment information.

You can switch the opt-in off at any time from your Profile screen. Records already in the anonymised dataset cannot be individually removed (precisely because they cannot be linked back to you), but no new data will be contributed once you withdraw.

6. How we use the information

• To run the service: authenticate you, show your child's growth chart, let practitioners manage their patients, send password-reset emails.
• To improve the service: diagnose problems and refine population reference curves.
• For research — only the anonymised dataset described in section 5, and only if you opt in.

Legal basis for processing (UK/EU users)

We process your data in order to provide the service you request, including account creation, sign-in, child profile management, and use of the app. Where you choose to contribute to research, we rely on your consent, which you can withdraw at any time.

The app is designed for educational and tracking purposes and does not provide medical advice or diagnosis.

7. Where data is stored

Myopia Focus is hosted on Replit Deployments, in the United States. The PostgreSQL database that stores the information described above is therefore located on US infrastructure managed by Replit.

Email delivery (for password resets) is handled by SendGrid, also based in the United States.

8. How long we keep it

• Account and clinical data are retained for as long as your account is active.
• If you delete your account, your account record, your child profiles, their measurements, practitioner-link records and any treatment records linked to your children are removed.
• Practitioner notes are controlled by the practitioner who created them. If you delete your account, those notes may remain in the practitioner's records. You can request their removal by contacting us at info@myopiafocus.org.
• Anonymised research records remain in the research dataset after deletion, because they are no longer linked to you and cannot be re-identified.
• Password-reset tokens expire one hour after they are issued.

9. Your rights

• Access — view your account, your child profiles and the measurement history at any time inside the app.
• Correction — edit your profile, child profiles and individual measurements directly in the app.
• Deletion — delete your account from Profile → Delete Account, or by emailing us.
• Withdraw consent — turn off research sharing at any time from Profile → Research & Privacy.
• Export / portability — use the in-app PDF export to take your child's data with you.
• Complain — UK / EU users may complain to their national data protection authority.

10. Children

Children do not register accounts. The service is intended to be used by a parent or practitioner acting on the child's behalf. By creating a child profile, you confirm that you have the authority to do so.

11. Cookies

The website uses a small amount of local browser storage to keep you signed in and to remember in-app preferences. We do not use any third-party tracking cookies.

12. Changes to this policy

If we make material changes to this policy we will update the "Last updated" date at the top and, where appropriate, notify account holders by email or in the app.

13. Contact

Questions, requests or complaints about privacy: info@myopiafocus.org.