Privacy & trust

How VOIS Handles Your Child's Information

VOIS Team · 27 July 2026 · Updated 9 October 2026

When you create communication cards for your child, you may use photos of familiar people, favourite foods, everyday places, and voices they know and trust. Those details can make AAC more meaningful — and they're personal.

We believe you should understand how that information is handled before you add it to VOIS. This article gives you a plain-language overview. For the full detail, please read our Privacy Policy.

Why privacy matters in AAC

A child's first name, photographs, communication boards, and therapy information can all be personal information. For many families, those things are part of a child's everyday voice and independence.

That's why privacy can't be an afterthought. Parents, guardians, educators, and therapists should know what information is being used, why it's needed, and what choices they have.

What POPIA means for children's information

POPIA is South Africa's privacy law. It sets rules for how organisations collect, use, store, and protect personal information.

Children's information needs particular care. VOIS accounts are created and managed by responsible adults, not by children. When a child profile is created, the adult doing so confirms that they're the child's parent or guardian, or have the authority and consent needed to add that child.

For home and family accounts, VOIS only requires a child's first name to create a profile. We don't ask for a surname, date of birth, ID number, or diagnosis.

We want you to have the answers before you need to ask the questions.

What we collect

VOIS collects the information needed to provide the service, including your account details, a child profile's first name, the boards and cards you create, and any images you add to cards.

For Professional accounts used by schools, clinics, and therapy centres, the service may also hold clinical information entered by authorised staff, such as therapy notes, goals, progress records, and attendance information.

Voice recordings

Recordings are made by you — a parent, a therapist, an educator — so your child hears a familiar voice when they tap a card. They're normally your voice, saying the word on the card.

Recordings are backed up to VOIS's storage on servers in Ireland, and a copy is kept on each device you sign in on so playback is instant and works without a connection. That means a recording made on one device is available on every other device your account signs in on — and if a tablet is lost, replaced, or reset, your child's board comes back with it.

We don't listen to, transcribe, or analyse recordings. They're used for one thing: playing back in the app.

If you delete a card, its recording goes with it — from our storage, and from each device the next time that device signs in.

Where information is stored

The information that needs to sync across devices — such as account details, boards, card images, voice recordings, and clinical records — is stored with VOIS's database and storage provider on servers in Ireland, within the European Union.

VOIS uses safeguards designed to protect information while it's sent between your device and the service, and account-level controls are used to help keep each account's information separate.

Who information is shared with

VOIS doesn't sell or rent personal information, and it doesn't use personal information for advertising.

Like most online services, VOIS relies on a small number of trusted providers to keep the service running. These include providers for database storage, website hosting, payments, and account or support email. They process information only as needed to provide those services.

Payment details are handled directly by Payfast. VOIS doesn't collect or store your card or banking details.

Your choices and rights

You can ask VOIS to help you:

• Access the personal information held about you or your child
• Correct information that is inaccurate or out of date
• Delete an account or associated information
• Object to certain processing of your information
• Withdraw consent you have previously given

For home and family accounts, information is kept while the account remains active. If you ask for deletion, VOIS removes information from active systems within 30 days and from backups within a further 90 days.

Professional accounts work slightly differently. The school, clinic, or therapy centre is responsible for the child's clinical information, and VOIS supports that institution in handling requests about it.

Questions are always welcome

You should never feel awkward about asking how your child's information is handled. It's an important question, and you deserve a clear answer.

For the complete detail, read the VOIS Privacy Policy. If you have a privacy question, contact our Information Officer, Noel Ross, at noel.ross@getvois.co.za.